"Do you think it's them?" Ophelia asked as she climbed into the Deuce.

"I hope so," answered Eddie. "This whole not knowing shit is killing me." He saw that Lita, who was standing nearby, wasn't making to get in. "Hey, you coming?"

She shook her head. "This could be a ploy to lure you away from the town, and if something attacks while you're gone..."

Eddie smirked. "Gotcha. Good job thinking like a queen by the way."

With that they were gone, gunning into the thick of danger while Lita was left to watch them until they were out of sight. She sighed, and nearly jumped out of her skin when Mangus appeared at her side.

"Guess you wanted to go off and fight too, huh?" said the engineer.

"Yes... fight..."

"Ah don't worry," he went on without realizing he was on the wrong track. "There hasn't been much action lately, but it looks like there will be now." He gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder, then headed back into town.

Lita gave herself a shake and figured she better find something to do before she dwelled herself into insanity. Quickly she decided she would check on the Kill Master and their 'guest.'

When she entered the tent she nearly reeled. The flaps were all closed, so that the interior was dark and swelteringly hot, and the air was thick with smoke courtesy of the Kill Master. The man was slumped in the only chair, his legs stretched out before him and his head tilted back, his mouth hanging open as he snored softly. At his insistence either he, Eddie, or one of his men kept watch over the Guardian at all times, and seeing as he was the one taking most of the watches, it was no wonder that he fell asleep.

Lita gently placed a hand on his knee. He sat up with a snort, and she could see his bleary eyes blinking at her as his sunglasses had slid down his nose.

"Hey," she said. "Why don't you go lay down for awhile? I'm sure nothing terrible will happen if you get some rest."

He took his glasses off so he could wipe the sleep from his eyes before replacing them. "Can't take that chance," he growled.

She smiled and shook her head. "Weren't you the one who strong armed me into letting him stay?"

"We need him," he paused to yawn, "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Eddie trusts him."

With his brain operating at half capacity, it took awhile for him to decipher what she said and come up with an appropriate response. He said, "Eddie takes things at face value, but under that nice little human-looking shell there is... I don't know... a heartbeat, but no heart, no blood; a soul that bleeds instead... and something else... dark and empty...

"You're rambling, and you can barely keep your head up," said Lita. She crossed her arms and got a bit more forceful. "Go lie down. I'll keep watch if it's that important to you."

If he was a little more alert, the Kill Master might have realized that leaving the leader of the free humans alone with the thing he feared might wake up and kill them all was a bad idea. Instead he muttered, "S'pose an hour or so couldn't hurt."

Lita helped him get up and supported him as he stumbled from the tent. Once out in the sunlight she saw that he was flushed and - fearing heat-stroke - she called one of his men over to lead him away and look after him.

The first thing she did when she returned to the tent was open all the flaps to let in the faint breeze and allow the smell of cigarette smoke to dissipate. She figured Kill Master must have fallen asleep earlier that morning before the heat had really started to become unbearable, and then failed to wake up when things got unbearable.

With that thought, she checked on the tent's new owner.

The Guardian of Metal was sprawled on his back on the wooden, fur covered single bed, one leg dangling off the edge of it. He had been stripped of his glasses, as well as his chains and rings and things. The objects were dumped haphazardly onto the tiny table next to the bed. He was also stripped of his robe, leaving him in a light grey tank-top and a pair of black and white polka-dot boxers.

Strangely enough, he was pale as ever, and there was not a drop of sweat on his body. He could have been a corpse if not for the slow rise and fall of his chest. Other than that he looked fine, and after Eddie described the place he came from, she wasn't really surprised that he was unaffected by the heat.

Knowing that the Kill Master was going to need a lot longer that an hour, Lita sat down and made herself comfortable in his vacated chair.

Between the Deuce's already impressive speed, the advanced Nitro boosters installed, and Eddie's numerous death-defying 'shortcuts,' it took he and his girlfriend no time at all to reach the source of the flair.

The car screeched to a halt on a ridge so that the couple could look down on the unusual scene below. It was a small scale battle in the middle of the road. A single Warfather stood amongst a contingent of demons that had the patrol pressed back amongst the bones of some massive, ancient beast, while the remains of a Headsplitter continued to smoke nearby. Behind them a Thunderhog that got separated from the group was driving around in circles with a bunch of Soul Kissers in pursuit. Every time they got close, the little demons tried to drag the rider off his bike.

"God damnit!" said Eddie with a disappointed pout. "It's just the Tainted Coil."

Ophelia leaned across him to get a better look. "But they haven't attacked in months. And what are they doing?" She pointed at the strange game of tag their medic was caught in.

"Hold on." Eddie gunned it, careening them over the ridge. A Punishing Party looked up when they heard Ophelia's whoop of delight just in time for the Dominatrixes to jump out of the way as the Deuce landed on their Slave. The roadie did a 180 on time to plow down the angry demon females before they could jump on the car.

He hit the brakes inches before the only Skull Raker planted his flail/head in the hood, and it ended up deep in the ground in front of the car instead.

While the Skull Raker strained to retrieve his head, Eddie got out of the Deuce. He put his hands out for Ophelia to jump on them, and launched her towards the demon. As she left Eddie's grip, she gave a twist with her ankle so that she spun through the air, and when she hit her unfortunate target, she cut into him like a drill.

The patrol, who were watching this all go down in a matter of seconds cheered.

The demons, on the other hand, made to bum-rush the couple until the Warfather put up his hand, halting them. Eddie and the old creature zeroed in on each other, the man with a smirk, and the demon's face somehow becoming forlorn.

Eddie leaned towards Ophelia. "Go help the biker," he said. "I've got this guy."

The dark haired woman nodded and ran over to the Soul Kissers, clashing her blades against their scissor-like faces.

Eddie pulled out his trusty axe and ran at the crowd of demons, cutting through them in an effort to get to the Warfather. He knew from experience that if he didn't kill the hierarchy class demon first, he'd be facing an endless swarm of lesser ones, but when he reached the target he got a nasty surprise.

Just as he swung his weapon at the tall, skull headed figure, the demon summoned a thick metal stave that bore similar markings to his axe, and used it to expertly block the blow.

"So you are the infamous Axe Man," he said as he tucked his unholy tome into his robe with the hand he wasn't using to hold Eddie off. Once it was safe, he aimed a kick that connected squarely with the roadie's chest, knocking the human backwards.

The demons would have swarmed him, but the patrol saw this in time and all of the uninjured members broke from cover to join the fray.

Eddie stood up and rubbed at his new bruise. "Hey! You guys aren't supposed to fight back!"

The Warfather clicked his teeth together and said, "Forgive me. I am rather more experienced than my counterparts in the ways of combat." He pointed his stave at Eddie in a threatening gesture. "Now, what have you done with Succoria?"

"Uh... what?" It came out so unexpectedly that it left Eddie confused.

With a growl, the demon dived at him and started raining blows on the startled human. Eddie managed to block them and tried to put some distance between himself and his opponent so he could fry the demon with his guitar, but the Warfather wasn't giving him an inch.

"That is her axe you wield," said the demon. "Her shirt you wear like a trophy. You stole these things from her."

"What? No!" Eddie started to panic as he saw the conclusions his opponent must be jumping to.

"Do not play games with me, you vile little monstrosity." The demon's voice was as calm and stately as ever, but it now carried a dangerous edge.

One of the Razor Girls who was in a gunfight with some Dominatrixes heard that and yelled, "At least he doesn't have exhaust pipes growing out of his head!"

She was doomed to be ignored though.

The demon managed to pin Eddie against the rock ledge that lined one side of the road, and as he held the human there he leaned in and said, "Her blood... I smell her blood on you... Tell me where she is and perhaps I will make your death a swift one."

"I hate to break it to ya," Eddie mustered his strength, pushed with his axe in one hand and got enough leeway to punch the demon in the face with the other, "but Succoria's dead, man. She's been dead for ages." He rolled out of reach, switched his axe for his guitar, and hit just the right note to cause a roman candle to flair out of the ground at the Warfather's feet.

The old demon quickly side stepped the attack. "I see," he said. He regarded Eddie with a cool hatred as he pulled his book from his robe.

Eddie started firing off lightening as soon as he saw the tome, but they were all strangely absorbed into its unholy pages.

"You will die, human. If not by my hand, than by that of my master." The Warfather began to read strange words aloud.

Eddie, fearing the worst, switched his instrument for his axe and rushed at the demon, but it was too late. The Warfather and his entire contingent - even the bodies of those slain - were gone.

Ophelia was a little battered, but no worse for wear. She was the first to approach her boyfriend, grabbing him by the vest and yanking him down to her level so that she could hiss, "You're an idiot," in his ear.

He blinked at her in confusion and disappointment. "What did I do?" he whispered back.

She gestured towards his troops, who were standing in a semicircle around them and gaping at Eddie in awe. He was still confused for a second, and then the implications of his words caught up with him. "Oh shit..."

A Bouncer stepped forward and said, "Dude, is it true?"

"Yeah Eddie," that was the Razor Girl who had yelled earlier, "Did you really kill Emperor Succoria?"

Eddie looked to Ophelia, desperate for some out from this situation, but all she could do was shrug. He bit his lip and looked at the eager soldiers. There was no way... he couldn't tell them the truth. If they didn't tun him out for it, Lita surly would, so he said, "Uh... sorta?"

It wasn't really a lie after all.

Back at Bladehenge, Lita was startled out of her chair by a sudden loud noise. She must have nodded off from bordom, but any doubt about the source of the sound that woke her was rested when a yell of, "Fucking SHIT!" came from the bed.

The Guardian of Metal was awake.