Seems like nothing has changed since the last time I walked these streets. The sky is still the same red pigment, brimstone rocks are still everywhere, and the same people are out to slaughter one another for territory. Home sweet home here in Pentagram City. The same old same old in the Pride Ring of hell. Although my time away seemed like it was short to me, a lot of things could have changed since my absence. I didn't want the public to know I was back, at least not yet. Seven years is an awfully long time for someone to disappear. Especially when it happens to correlate to others disappearing at the same time. Things are in motion and all I must do now is observe.
So I figured, what better way to observe than in the comfort of my own home. The same towering place where everything started to begin with. To others around me I was a nobody, which is exactly what I was hoping for. I walked the streets in complete cover hoping to keep prying eyes away from me as I approached the gates to the tower.
"Same old tech huh? "I guess some things never change," I said to myself noticing the security cameras on the top of the gate. "I wonder if they'll even notice. What if none of them are even home?" I started to get a little lost in the ideas which lead to slight nervousness to come over me.
Shaking the emotions off I focused on the camera that was pointing right at me. This was child's play. The simple designs of the cameras allowed me to use electrokinesis to travel through the wiring of right into tower with ease. I made sure to pick a camera that didn't have anyone around to jump out of. With the coast clear, I moved around the hall and examined the influenced decorations lining the walls.
"Nice to see that some things really haven't changed," I said to myself touching the hearts on the wall.
I could hear footsteps coming from around a corner nearby. The sounds caused me to jump back into the camera to continue traveling through the electric wiring. Room after room, there was one room I was aiming for. It didn't take long for me to get there. This was the hub of the tower where you could see everything connected to the cameras. Jumping out of one of the monitors, I was welcomed to the blue glow of the room. A room I knew all too well.
The room was lined with monitors showing all kinds of areas of Pentagram City. Where one could simply watch people live out their lives. This was home to me and where I felt like I belonged. I rolled up the sleeves of the large brown sweater to reveal my larger forearms. Along the muscles were ports that allowed me to connect to the interface of the system and control everything with my mind and my body. This system was originally my design after all, it's only fair I double checked the maintenance of it properly.
Once hooked in I was entered into the digital world I had created within the tower. Here is where I started my show with the tower as a welcoming announcement for the crew. First, dim all the lights, then cut all the cameras. Control the speakers within the tower to play something a little more my speed. Some nice electronic sounds melodic to my ears only at first and gradually make it more audible for the others to pick up on. Of course, there would be one person in the tower who would pick up on the sounds far more quickly than the others. If he got here first, then I wouldn't be upset. I think deep down inside, I want him to be the first one to come crashing through those double doors into here.
As I continued to play around with the features of the tower, I started to dig around the system a little bit more. There were a lot of electronic webs I needed to clean up and upgrades I needed to work on. As I kept myself connected and roaming around the digital halls, there was something that caught my eye.
"A breach?" I said confused after finding a hole in the protective security program I had installed. Although the hole was small, it was concerning enough for me to find. The hole itself was about the size of a strawberry within the digital wall of the tower. There were no residual traces of anything that could have been the culprit which led me to believe that there just may be a fault in the code. As I got closer to examining the hole, that's when I heard the doors to the room open. I closed my eyes tight to pull myself out of the digital world and opened them to see the monitors once more.
Just as my eyes were adjusting, I felt hands on my shoulders forcefully ripping me out of the wiring. The movement was enough to toss me down to the ground as the angered tv static voice of Vox yelled at me.
"You have some nerve coming down here you fucker, I will end…" his voice was cut off as I stood up and started to dust myself off.
"Go ahead, finish your sentence. I believe end you is what you were going to say. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that is what you were going to say right?" I said removing the hood from head to reveal my bat like ears poking out of my white wavy short hair. My red sclera eyes locked onto his stunned red eyes within the TV screen that was his head. His normal shark tooth smile was replaced with a look of shock and confusion. So, in his confusion I smiled with my large smile to show my shark like teeth.
"Vi?" He asked with the TV static in his voice gone.
I looked at him up and down to see him wearing a navy-blue pinstripe suit lined with aqua stripes. But what caught my attention the most were the wifi symbols on his little black hat containing his antenna and the same symbol underneath his red bow tie. It was touching to see a symbol like that on him, almost as if he didn't want to forget about the past.
"Well, are you just going to stand there like an idiot?" I asked, holding out my arms to embrace him in a hug.
Vox didn't hesitate to pick me up and swing me around in a hug. I was no match for him and his seven-foot-tall frame vs my five-foot eleven stature.
"I thought you were gone for good. I thought something happened to you during the extermination. Where have you been? Why haven't you called, messaged, something to say that you were fine?" Vox kept saying holding onto me tighter and tighter after each question.
The door opened once again as two more individuals walked through the door. A slender woman with curly mixed color hair tied back wearing a very fashionable outfit right from a vogue magazine. Standing next to her was an extremely tall individual wearing his fluffy moth-like wings out with anger on his face. However, once he saw Vox spinning me around, he pulled his wings around his body like a fluffy jacket covering his second set of arms for the moment.
"Well, I'll be damned," he said lighting up a cigarette in its holder and bringing it to his mouth.
"You fucker! We thought you were dead!" the woman shouted as Vox put me down on the group keeping a hand on my shoulder. "And what is this shit that you're wearing. No, no, no, this is awful," she said pulling on the sweater I was wearing off to reveal the plane t-shirt I was wearing underneath. "Oh darling, this is even worse than I thought!"
"It's good to see you haven't changed Velvet."
"Of course I haven't. We're the fuck have you been and who dressed you?"
"Ya..Vivi, you have a lot of explaining to do. Really bold of you to disappear for as long as you did and appear out of nowhere just like that," the mothman said lowering his glasses as he approached. His towering frame intimidating alone as Vox tightened his grip on my shoulder.
"Valentino," Vox angrily said with his TV static as his left aqua lined eye got bigger. His shark-like teeth snarled at Valentino as the hypnotic patterns appeared in that same eye.
I reached up and grabbed Vox's hand sending a small little shock through him to cause him to relax.
He took a deep breath, "Vi has an explanation, I'm sure. But let's just welcome her back home and ask those questions later."
Valentino leaned down to my level and narrowed his eyes towards me. "I suppose," he replied with a bit of a growl and moth-like squeak.
Velvet linked her arm with mine as we all started to walk out of the room, "Don't mind the little prince. He's just been on edge lately since his precious little toy has been gone."
"Angel Dust?"
"That's the one!"
"Huh, that explains a lot."
"Darling, you don't even know half of what's going on," Velvet shouted as she nearly was dragging me out of the room.
She pulled me into her room where I sat on her bed. Valentino left to do his own thing, while Vox tried to walk into her room. Velvet was quick to kick him out like a high school girl. No boys allowed were the words she said as the static charge from Vox could be heard behind the closed door.
The room was well decorated in various shades of pink and reds. Everything about this room screamed "fashion designer". Mannequins were in the corner with bits of fabrics thrown together in random pieces to combine into some sort of outfit project. Posters of her designs line the walls of her room mixed with various lighting items used for pictures.
She dug through her closet throwing clothes out of it all over the ground. Each piece did not pass the "vibe check" according to her.
"Vel, it's not a big deal. What I'm wearing is fine," I said after a barrage of clothes ended up in my face.
"Fuck you bitch! What you're wearing is nowhere near acceptable. Here put this on. We'll fix this situation tomorrow," she shouted holding out and ensemble she managed to create.
Velvet and I aren't similar in body types, with hers being small and slim while mine was not. Valentino had put it I had a body perfect for porn. The thought of his words caused a shiver to run up my spine at the idea.
I calmly grabbed the clothes from Velvet and proceeded to change in front of her. She sat on the bed with a smug look on her face as she watched me struggle to put the clothes on.
I peered over my shoulder as I could feel the seams of a shirt start to tear, "Uh Vel, a little help would be nice."
"What and miss this sad effort? Ugh, fine," she rolled her eyes as she flicked her finger to change the shape of the clothes.
It was still a tighter fit, but it at least fit a lot better to my body than before. The ensemble screamed Velvet more than it did for me. She had dressed me up like a little doll wearing a V-neck black tank top with pink hearts and a type of pleather black pants. To top things off she gave me a black choker with a white heart on it and some type of boot with a heel on it. I was completely out of my element wearing her clothes, but it was good to see the smile on her face again.
When all was perfect in her eyes, I was welcomed to the sight of Vox in the hallway patiently waiting. He raised an eyebrow towards the get-up I was wearing but didn't question it. Simply kept whatever he was thinking to himself which probably was for the best around Velvet. Once again, Velvet linked up her arm with mine as we walked down the hall to the main living room. I wasn't paying any attention to what she was saying. She kept going on and on about projects she was working on, things she saw on Voxtagram, the list goes on. Even though Vox was walking behind us, I could feel his eyes on me. It had been so long that I forgot how protective he was. The feeling is nice, but sometimes it could be a little much especially with someone like Vox.
Once in the living room, I walked into the smell of cigarettes and cologne. Valentino was already there scrolling on his phone. When we walked in, he was quick to make eye contact with me and furrow his brow. I broke eye contact as quickly as possible and not a moment too soon. Valentino got up from the couch and decided to head out of the room.
"Woah, woah, woah, where are you going!" Velvet shouted angrily.
"Away," Valentino replied.
"We just got here! You're not going to hang out with us?"
"Nope," he replied once again closing the door behind him.
"What an asshole!"
"Velvet, please don't push it. It's not rocket science to know that Val has some kind of disdain towards me. He'll come around, I'm sure. But things take time. It's best to just leave it be for now and let him calm down," I said gazing back at the door.
"Ugh, I hate it when you're right," Velvet replied letting go of my arm and throwing herself on the couch. "So, are you going to explain yourself or what?"
I sat down on the other couch and placed my hands together on my knees. Vox sat next to me and placed his hand over top of mine. I looked up at him as the glow from his screens felt very welcoming. His eyes softened waiting for my response.
"Well, it's kind of hard to explain really. I'm not exactly even sure how to put it. It's as if there is some sort of gap in my memory. One second, I'm covered in blood, the next I'm blinded by white light, and then…" I started to feel static emanating from my hands as I tried to recall the memories. My hair started to shift the more I tried to process the thoughts.
"Vi, its ok. Don't overdue the charge," Vox said shaking my hand a little bit to pull me out of my thoughts.
I looked up at him as it was apparent that he was worried. Velvet shared the same expression as I realized the lights in the room had been flickering as they started to come on one by one.
"Upside is, it seems like I have all my powers," I said with a smile trying to lighten the mood.
Velvet and Vox made eye contact with each other. Their expressions were still the same, which caused my smile to drop. I couldn't let them know of everything that was going on. Although there were pieces of my memory missing, there still was more than I was letting on. All in good time, but for now they didn't need to know. What mattered was the Vees are back together again for however long we have left together.