Chapter 6

Devil by Night

-x-

Millie and Moxxie sat in a flat in the slums overlooking Crimson's Greed residence. They had been taking shifts so that no visitor to the Knolastname family home would go unnoticed. It was Millie who first saw Striker mosey up to the main gate in the dusk of the night, and attempt entry.

"Moxxie, look." Millie called her husband over to the window.

"Oh, crumbs! He really is working with Crimson!"

"He still has to buzz in for entry." Millie pointed out. "Yer dad doesnt trust him that much."

"Crimson doesn't trust anyone that much."

An hour later Striker left the house with a set of large black saddlebags.

"Lets go, Millie."

Moxxie pulled a black beanie over his white hair. Didn't need that natural moonglow shade exposing his location. Grabbing a backpack of weapons, he climbed out the window and up to the roof. He would take the high ground and watch for goons. He rang Millie and activated his earbud.

Millie grabbed a similar bag and ran out of the apartment to a black scooter parked in the shadows of a dumpster. She activated her own earbud and answered Moxxie's call.

"He's loading those bags on his horse right now." Moxxie informed Millie.

"Great, Let me know when I can start following." Millie started the scooter in anticipation.

"Now, honey!" Moxxie erupted into her ear. "Turn left when you head out and keep straight."

Millie pulled out. "Keep eyes on my back, baby. Let me know if Im being followed.

"On it Sweetie. He's riding at a full gallop."

"Right on Excess." Millie could hear Moxxie leaping from rooftop to rooftop as she relayed Strikers route to him.

Piff-piff*

Millie hears the sound of Moxxie's rifle.

"Everything good up there Honey?"

"Yep, don't mind me."

"Left on Avarice. He's heading to the warehouse district. Any tails back there?" Millie asked.

"Not anymore, your rear is clean sweetie, but keep your eyes open. The closer we get to that area the more surveillance cameras and goons there will be."

"Thats why I wore this cute black cat suit, so I can slip in and out of the shadows. Take another right on Esurience. Looks like he's stopping at the old vibrator factory. Im parking the scooter."

Moxxie caught up and crouched behind the ledge of a roof. He pulled a pair of binoculars from his bag and did a quick scan of the area. This was definitely the place circled on Striker's map of Greed. The building Striker had entered had no cameras but the warehouses adjacent had three focused on it. There was a camera centered directly on the front entrance, one on the east side and one on the west side. Moxxie focused on the camera on the west side with his rifle and fired at the eye. That side provided the most cover and there was a good access point to the roof. One camera malfunction wouldn't be enough to trigger a wave of goons.

"Millie, he's got the bags and he's going in. Looks like theres a single window on the roof of that building. I took out the Camera on the west side. You should be able to get up from there. Im headed over."

"I'll be there soon, baby." Millie replied.

Moxxie disconnected the call. He took a deep breath and ran accross a thick cable connecting the warehouse to the factory. He set hoof onto the concrete roof of the brick building and looked back over his shoulder. Blitzø would have been proud of that run.

Millie dismounted the scooter, repositioned the bag on her back and scurried past the cameras and the henchmen. She climbed up the brick wall on the darkest side of the building, avoiding the dim glow coming from the high set windows. Moxxie was in position at the iron framed skylight. A quick vault over the edge and a short run and she was in place by his side.

"Striker just walked in and set the saddlebags on the far table." Moxie updated his wife. "I haven't seen anyone else. Its like he's the only one here, but somebody had to let him in."

"What are in all those crates?" Millie asked.

"Not sure. They're marked like they're coded for shipment." answered Moxxie.

Millie nudged Moxxie with her elbow and drew his attention to the opposite side of the building. Three pastel individuals entered the main warehouse from a back room.

"Did he send it?" The yellow one asked.

"Yep. The finest dust this side of Pride." Striker gestured to the table.

The blue one moved to the bag, opened it and proceeded to take inventory of the packages, transferring them to a basic cardboard box.

"Ohhh God Yes!" The blue creature shoved his head in the bag and sniffed in a small quantity of loose dust. This is quality, Keenie."

"COLIN!! You WILL respect the Lord's name." Demanded the lamb.

"He abandoned us!! I don't have to respect SHIT!!" the little blue sheep flipped off Keenie and walked over to a crate. He pulled two guns from its packaging and flew over to a white table where a pink human looking child was currently sitting. He slammed a rifle down in front of the child making him jump up out of his seat.

"You jerk, you scared me on purpose!" The little pink one hovered above the chair.

"Cletus, sit your whiny ass down." Colin replied taking a seat at the table.

"Stop squabbling and get started. We have a deadline you know!" ordered Keenie

The two beings glared murderously at each other and prepared to begin their work.

"Wait a minute, I recognize those three!" Moxxie whispered to Millie. "They're those TV cherubs that killed our client at the opera 2 years ago!"

"What are they doing here in hell?"

"I'm not sure, Mill. I had assumed they were sent to purgatory. That little Deer cherub told them they couldn't return to heaven."

Striker leaned against a support column watching the scene play out.

"Can't help but see the irony in a bunch of fallen cherubs trading services for Angel Dust."

"We shouldn't even be here!" growled Cletus. "Those rotton imps tricked us!" His pale pink aura turned fuchsia in anger.

"That dust gives us the same feeling we get passing through Heaven's gates." added Colin

"And as long as your boss can keep us at Heaven's gates, we will keep upgrading your inventory." finished Keenie.

Colin and Cletus laid hands on the weapons before them and began chanting in unison. A white glow surrounded the objects. As the cherubs completed their verses a painfully bright ribbon of concentrated light worked its way over each weapon leaving a distinct scrollwork pattern in its wake.

"Did..they just BLESS those guns?" Millie questioned.

"Shit, shit, shit!!! This is bad! This is SO bad." Moxxie pulled the beanie over his eyes. They were BANISHED from HEAVEN!! How the FUCK are they able to do that!"

"Well, well, well." A tall shark demon walked up from the opposite side of the roof with a rifle raised. "Thought I saw something odd over here."

M and M turned, Moxxie returning aim with his pistol, Millie brandishing her favorite knife.

"Oh crumbs, Titus!" Moxxie recognized the goon. "You know him?" Asked Millie "He works for Crimson."

" Moxxie! Never expected to see you and the missus here. You do know I cant let you leave right?" The shark bared his pointed yellow teeth in an evil grin.

"Oh we're going and taking a piece of your ass with us!" retorted Millie.

The shark fired a round that skirted past Millie's head, singing her hair with a yellow glow as she dove out of range. He was firing Blessed rounds!

Moxxie threw himself out of sight of Titus.

Millie rolled, threw her knife at the shark and pulled her ax from her bag.

Moxxie lept on Titus' from behind, pulling his head back and preventing him from seeing a target as Millie's throw found its home in the shark's leg.

Titus snarled and fired blindly hitting the old "Ozzie's Tremoussoirs" sign releasing it from one corner and banging loudly against the building before falling to the ground. Millie rushed in from the side slicing her axe through the middle of the demon. Moxxie jumped off the shark's shoulders as it dropped, dark blood pooling from each half of the body.

Moxxie took the rifle and bandolier from the upper body as Millie retrieved her knife from the lower half.

"Fuck that was loud!" Whispered Moxxie. "Stay low, honey." Moxxie dropped the bandolier over his head and checked the rifle for rounds.

"Should we just kill them now?" Millie asked. "With Striker and the cherubs dead we can put all our focus on Stella."

"We could, but If we kill them now, we may never reach her. We dont know how invested she is in all this. I think we need to talk to Blitzø."

Millie confirmed with a quick nod.

-x-

"What was that?" Keenie looked up at the roof nervously.

"I didn't hear nothing." Striker was in the process of rolling a cigarette and licked the edge of the paper to complete the seal.

"You're paranoid. The only noises here are those two birds singing their blessings."

Bang! Clang, Clung, Thunk!

"Did you hear THAT?" Demanded the lamb.

Striker lit his cigarette and glared at the lamb from under his hat. He dropped the match on the floor and ground it under his boot.

"Yes... ma'am. I did." He snarled. Striker exited the building with his pistol drawn. He took in his surroundings, listening for unusual sounds. He heard the rats of hell scurrying accross the lot and the dull roar of the wind as it blew in strong gusts down the road. He scanned the roof lines of the surrounding buildings and saw nothing. Striker walked toward the west side of the factory listening intently for unfamiliar sounds.

Crunch

Striker looked down to find he had stepped on the old steel sign that had hung from the roof.

The faded image of a Victorian era Osmodeus seemed to laugh at him from the dust. A broken, rusted suspension ring lay in the dirt a few feet away. He looked up at the rusted framework that had held the sign, confirming where it had hung.

"Fucking Cherubs." He turned and re-entered the building.

-x-

The Imps peeked over the edge of the roof to see that Striker had exited the warehouse door, pistol raised. He walked cautiously around the front of the building scanning the area for disturbances. He stepped onto the fallen sign and studied it for a moment. Striker turned his head upward then, seeing nothing, holstered his weapon and returned inside.

M and M climbed to the ground and hid in the shadows making their way, lot by lot to the place Millie had stashed the scooter.

"How were they able to bless those weapons?" Millie broke the silence as they exited the warehouse district.

"I'm not sure. They should have lost the ability as soon as they were barred entrance to heaven. We definitely have to tell the Prince."

"Before or after we tell Blitzø?" Millie asked.

"After."