Caught in the Crossfire

by GeekyGirl183

Ayden finds herself "caught in the crossfire" when she follows Angel Dust on a new adventure at the Hazbin Hotel while keeping her secret of being a half human half hellcat hybrid from those who'd want to use her as a weapon. I don't own anything but my OCs and rated M for all the warnings that are shown at the start of each chapter. PLEASE READ THEM!

6. Scrambled Eggs

HEAVY WARNING FOR:

Uncensored curse words, graphic descriptions of gore, violence, and injury, and mentions of sexual language and activities

Basically a whole lotta triggering and depressing shite so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

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3rd Person POV

*Zzzzzz….* Ayden was practically falling asleep in her seat at Husk's bar with her head starting to tilt down when Angel got the brilliant idea to sneak Husk's wet bar rag under her causing her to plant her face against it with a wet squelch-

*PLSH!*

"MROW!"

Before jolting back awake with the smells of spilled alcohol and whatever else that rag had cleaned up recently and nearly falling backward off her stool if she hadn't dug her claws into the counter to act as an anchor.

"Do you get any sleep at night?" Husk questioned critically as he snatched his rag back before starting to drink from his bottle.

"I'm willing ta bet she was up late again texting her ~giiiirlfrieeeend~ again!" Angel teased without looking up from his phone making Ayden look at him unamused as corrected him while trying to pry her claws from the counter,

"She's not hrrr my gi'lfriend, she's a girl hrrr who I've only known gah fer a week…"

"And who you've been texting non-stop and hung out with twice in a week." Angel added smugly before Niffty chimed in as she was dusting a table,

"Sure sounds like a girlfriend to me." Before putting a finger to her chin in thought and adding, "Or a stalker."

Chuckling crazily as she resumed dusting at a faster pace, thoroughly creeping the three of them out before they noticed Sir Pentious scowling at them from over the top of the couch and they each flipped him off, Ayden double flipping with her newly freed claws, and Niffty gave him her crazed smile look while giggling sinisterly.

"I'm s'prised he's lasted this long he'e…" Ayden commented as they went back to their conversation, "This mo'ning he tried ta put a trap outside my doo', almost got me too."

Letting her tail flick up to show the faint lines of scraped-away fur and grazed skin underneath on the bifurcated end.

"I know I probably should be worried 'bout that, but I can't help but think the trap coulda been better." Angel snarked and Ayden scrunched up her nose in mock offense as she flicked Angel's phone out of his hands with her tail and he scrambled to catch it while Ayden watched smirking.

When he finally caught his phone, he sent her a half-joking glare that she returned with a cheeky tongue-sticking-out grin and Husk commented dully from where he finished up his drink,

"You two are really somethin'..."

"~Awww thanks!~" They responded in unison while waving a hand, creeping out Husk even more while Niffty just drew out while giggling,

"~Twiiiiiins….~"

Making Ayden's grin widen while Angel's face fell and blanched a bit before Charlie called out to them,

"Everyone! Group meeting in the foyer!"

The four of them looked at her oddly before Vaggie added with some more authority,

"She means today!"

And they all made their way to the foyer where Husk and Angel sat on opposite ends of the couch with Ayden sitting on the backing with her legs dangling onto the cushions, Niffty stood by Angel, and Pentious was close by, not accompanied by his Egg Boiz, and Alastor was nowhere to be seen as Charlie started to announce,

"Hi, guys. Thanks for coming!"

"Not like we had much of'a choice Boss…" Ayden snarked with a raised brow before Vaggie gave her a warning glare as Charlie continued despite the interruption,

"It's been brought to our attention that there may be a liiiiiittle... tension in the hotel."

While she was speaking, Pentious had grabbed Niffty with his tail and was about to shoot her with a ray gun before Vaggie snatched it out of his hand to bluntly state,

"Tension that can be counterproductive to what we're trying to do here."

Pentious letting Niffty go before flicking his tongue out in Vaggie's direction as Charlie suggested cheerfully,

"We think that this group could really benefit ~frooooom-~"

She and Vaggie jumped up to cheer, but Vaggie was slightly late on her cue,

"Trust exercises!"

"Trust exercises. Ah, shit!"

Vaggie landed on her backside before Charlie pulled her back onto her feet and told her quietly,

"Vaggie, we rehearsed this." Before sighing and declaring, "We're doing trust exercises!"

"So, uh, what's with the whole, uhh... this?" Husk asked gesturing to the stage that was set up behind Charlie and Vaggie with a banner on it that read "Trusting 101" before muttering while crossing his arms, "I'm not about to put on some show for these fucking chumps."

"Oh, I will." Angel spoke suggestively as he put his legs on Husk's lap despite the glare he sent his way before specifying, pointing to Pentious toward the end, "but it's cash up front, and I know that one can't afford me."

"Grossss! I'd never think of it, sssspider!" Pentious recoiled away in disgust before Ayden snarked,

"Eh he'd probably jus' miss his shot anyway."

Sending a smirk his way while purposefully waving her tail around behind her and he hissed back at her which she returned with a snarl before Vaggie brought their attention back with,

"Anyway! Let's get started." Motioning back over as she tried to pass the baton back, "Charlie?"

But she seemed to have a different idea as she suggested while side-hugging her before she walked over to join the group,

"Actually, I thought maybe you could take the lead on this one. I trust everyone, so maybe you know better on how to build it properly!"

"What? Uhh, I don't know if I'm qualified, uh…" Vaggie stumbled over her words since she was unsure about taking charge before Charlie encouraged her with,

"Oh, come on. It'll be easy! I'm sure you can handle this."

"Yeah... um," Looking over everyone as they all frowned or glared except for Charlie and Niffty as she told herself, "Sure, I can handle this. No problem."

Before taking a deep breath and started announcing while sounding and acting like a drill sergeant, getting up in people's faces as she emphasized,

"Alright, so we are starting with trust falls! Each of you are going to share something vulnerable with the group about yourself and then fall backward, while the rest of the group catches you. Got it? Who wants to go first?"

"Ooh, ooh, me me me! Me! Me! Me!" Charlie hopped up and down while raising her hand and cheered until Vaggie had no choice but to say,

"All right, get on up here."

And she ran past her to go onto the stage and announced with a heartfelt tone and teary eyes,

"I... I love you guys. Like, really, really love you."

She moved to fall backward but nobody made a move to catch her until Vaggie rushed over and caught her bridal style,

"Gotcha!"

"That... felt... good!" She cheered before urging, "Angel, why don't you go next?"

"Fiiiiine…" He drew out impatiently as he walked over to the stage while Vaggie mildly threatened everyone else,

"This time everyone needs to catch him, okay? Unless you want me to hurt you."

Taking out her spear as a means of intimidation before Angel started to announce unabashedly,

"Somethin' about myself, huh? How about this? I LOVE to suck-"

"I swear to fuck if you say dicks!" Husk yelled as he threateningly pointed at him before Angel continued with a cheeky smile and a wink,

"-popsicles, ya sicko! Get your mind outta the gutter!"

Falling backward and Husk catching him before he added unashamedly,

"But, you know, dicks too!"

Causing Husk to drop him onto his ass with an annoyed grunt.

"Heheh…" Ayden snickered at Angel's pain, failing to hide them so Vaggie told her,

"You just volunteered yourself, go."

"'Ight then." Ayden shrugged as she walked up to the stage and thought for a second before drawing out as she thought about what to say, "Hmmm let's see…" Before her ears and tail perked up to tell them all, "Ooh! I can track down anyone anywhe'e once I've smelled somethin' o' thei's."

"Wait was that you going through the dirty clothes the other day?!" Vaggie questioned in disbelief and Ayden shrugged while answering,

"Hey I thought as securi'y we were s'posed ta know whe'e everyone is at all times?"

"Mierda, tiene razón..." (Dammit, she's right…) Vaggie begrudgingly admitted and Ayden grinned in triumph, recognizing the subtle admission of being right even in another language, before falling backward off the stage, almost going uncaught until Angel caught her at the last second.

But just after he caught her, he lifted her up and was preparing to drop her in an attempt to get back at her for laughing at him when he fell, when she managed to shift to hellcat form to land on all fours and gave him a smugly triumphant taunt before telling Pentious,

"Nice try Leggy. New guy, yer up…"

Sir Pentious went up to the stage before the lights went out abruptly so a spotlight could shine on him as he spoke dramatically with tears in all of his eyes,

"I... don't want to live without my minions. Nobody catch me!"

But to his disappointment, Vaggie and Charlie both caught him when he fell backward,

"Damn it."

"That's great. Wow, you are slimy." Vaggie criticized as she and Charlie put him down, "Okay, good job."

"Whe'e a'e the li'le bugge's anyway?" Ayden questioned, wondering where the Egg Boiz were before Pentious told her dismally while hooking a thumb in Vaggie's direction,

"The purple one told me to get rid of them if I wanted to stay here…"

"Aww come on!" Ayden exclaimed in a complaining tone, "They we'e hilarious ta mess with!"

"Was that meant to be comforting?" Pentious asked in a confused and disturbed tone.

"Take it how ya want it." Ayden shrugged before Vaggie once again had to steer the conversation back to before,

"Alright! Niffty?"

Before Niffty ran past them onto the stage giggling manically as she declared sadistically with a glint in her eyes,

"Sometimes, I kill mother bugs in front of their children as a warning to others!"

And when she threw herself off the stage, everyone even Charlie, stepped back to let her fall on her face to the ground, but she seemed to enjoy it from the way she cheered in a masochistic way,

"Yay! Pain!"

The others watched with disturbed expressions as she ran back up to the stage and flung herself off again to sigh,

"Haaaah…! Pain!"

Before throwing herself off again and again and again and again and again…

Until finally,

"OK I'm stoppin' this b'fore she actually hu'ts he'self…" Ayden sighed as she walked up and caught Niffty under her arms when she tried to throw herself off for the eighth time making her whine with her arms crossed,

"Awwwww no paaain!"

So Ayden flicked her face where her nose would be and Niffty sighed,

"Ahhhhhh! Thanks!"

Making the corner of Ayden's mouth twitch in a smile before she readjusted her grip on her to carry her like a child on her hip when Vaggie announced,

"OK everybody, we're following Angel somewhere…?"

Charlie and Vaggie opened the doors to lead everyone out to the limo and Ayden was putting Niffty back onto the ground for her to scurry after everyone when Angel held Ayden back to tell her in an unsure tone,

"Uhh… ya might not wanna come with us for this part Fuzzball.."

"Eh…" Ayden shrugged flippantly, walking past him out the door as she asked, "How bad could it be?"

…

"I take it back, this is real bad…" Ayden deadpanned with her ears folded down in unsettlement at where they all were before Vaggie exclaimed in disgust,

"Angel! What the actual fuck?!"

It was revealed they were at a BDSM sex dungeon with Angel looking satisfied with himself in contrast to a shocked Charlie and irritated Vaggie before he reasoned while messing with a pair of furry handcuffs,

"No activity requires more trust than BDSM, baby. No bond stronger than those formed through bondage! That's their motto!"

Hooking a thumb in the direction of the poster that actually had that motto printed on it and Charlie tried to remain optimistic despite her growing discomfort as she told him,

"Angel, love the enthusiasm. But, umm, uh... hmmm…"

Eventually trailing off in uneasiness so Vaggie could cut in while pointing in Angel's face,

"What makes you think anyone would be into this?"

*Prrrr….*

Before a purring noise caught their attention and the three of them looked over to Ayden who immediately held her paws up to exclaim,

"Not me!"

Before they looked to the only other cat demon around as Husk was being given a massage by one of the workers and he admitted,

"You know, I... I don't hate this…"

Before Niffty appeared wearing a dominance outfit and holding a heart-tipped spanking stick as she announced suggestively,

"I'm ready to punish some ~baaad boooys!~"

"Never mind, I-I'm out!" Husk stood up and ran away to get away before Niffty got any ideas.

A tracing touch across her shoulders made Ayden puff up in discomfort as a pair of hands were placed on both shoulders while someone crooned in her ear from behind her,

"~Hey there Pussycat…~"

At that nickname, her eyes flew open and she froze as she was suddenly back with them, Hannah and her crew… helpless… tired… hurt… scared…

"Hrrrr…"

Her discomfort immediately turned to anger as she pulled herself out of her head and out of their grasp and instantly sucker-punched whoever was behind her hard enough to make them pass out on the floor,

"Agh.. ulh…"

The other workers who were around looked at Ayden in shock before she sent them all a testy glare that screamed "what are you all looking at?!" and they went back to their clients and partners.

"Good ta know you can handle yourself against randos." Angel commented mildly impressed from where he stood a little ways behind Ayden as she wiped her nose but didn't grin at the compliment, causing Angel to worry slightly but before he could ask her anything, Vaggie yelled at him after she had to drag Charlie away from some creeps,

"Ugh! I can't fucking believe I let you drag us here, Angel. This is disgusting."

Before Charlie tried to assure her,

"It's no big deal, Vaggie. You know, maybe I can just help, uh-"

"No. I told you you could trust me, and I'm not going to let you down." She asserted before walking away from Charlie as she tried to think before devising with a smile, "I just need to teach them... the way I was taught…"

…

"THIS IS HOW YOU LEARNED TO TRUST PEOPLE?!" Charlie yelled over the screams of the demons down below where they were all standing on top of a ruined building surrounded by other demolished ones as demons and Sinners down below were fighting and yelling at each other,

"Yee-haw!"

"Let's go, Baby!"

"Bring it on, Bitch!"

Back on the rooftop, Vaggie started talking like a drill sergeant again as she announced,

"There is nothing stronger than the trust between comrades in arms. Buckle up, buttercups, because today you boys and girls become men and women!"

An explosion in the background made Vaggie's devilish grin seem more threatening as her hair whipped in the shockwave before she advanced on Pentious to pick him up over her head yelling,

"You-"

Despite his protests,

"Wait, wait! I can't fight without my minioooons-"

"-are gonna survive together!"

Before he's thrown off the building while in the background, Husk discreetly slips away back to the stairs while he still can before Vaggie turns to Angel,

"And you-!"

Picking up Angel against his objections,

"D-don't you even think about iiiiit-!"

"-are gonna make this hotel work!"

Before throwing him off too, turning to Ayden to throw her off too when she held up a paw to exclaim in wild excitement,

"I've been waitin' fo' this! WOO!"

Before she leaped right off the edge of the building with her claws unsheathed, landing on the street below on all fours as she started going crazy on every Sinner and demon that came in her line of sight, slashing and punching and kicking with brute force while laughing crazily,

"HAHA!"

*SHCLL!*

Ayden dug her claws into the chest of an imp who tried to leap at her with a knife in his hand before pulling out his heart and grinning madly as she shoved it in her mouth to swallow in one gulp.

"HAMO!" One of the imps buddies yelled out before shouting to his fellow fighters, "GET THAT FURRY LITTLE BITCH!"

"HA! You call me a bitch like it's a bad thing… " Ayden laughed, her tone starting to go more musical toward the end as a Sinner yelled,

"Freak!"

But she dodged his punch as she started singing again,

You call me a freak like that means somethin'

She started to full-on sing while avoiding all the attacks and strikes from all the demons around with dance-like motions that launched her powers out at approaching attackers,

Can't get yer way, so yer sulkiiiin'

I think we know the rest, get it off yer chest

Ayden grabbed another Sinner by the neck to claw out his heart but tossed it away as she strutted down the street with her paws on her hips while singing proudly,

I don't give a shit

I love it when you call me a bitch

Like it's a baaaad thiiiing

In the distance, she saw the BDSM club from before and thought back to before as she sang in a slightly melancholic but still forceful punk tone,

Ya show up everywhe'e I go

Before she shook and grabbed at her head to scold herself,

Get a grip, yer actin' so weird (so weird)

Right before her ear twitched and she caught a Molotov cocktail another imp tried to throw at her with her tail before jumping up and twirling to toss it back with the fire amplified using her powers,

I don't need yer Jägerbombs

I think I can take it from he'e (from he'e)

*PSSHHHH!*

The explosion went off behind her as she leaped on top of an overturned car,

Ya call me a bitch like it's a b-b-bad thing

Before she rebounded off a car, building, and lamppost shaft to grab ahold of some entrails that were dangling from the lamp head to swing around while twirling and singing, creating streaking spark trails as she swung around,

Ya call me a freak like that means somethin'

Can't get yer way, so yer so pissed off

I think we know the rest, get it off yer chest

Before she launched off on a swing to somersault through the air and land on the street to sing loudly while raising her paws to the air,

I don't give a shit

I love it when you call me a bitch

Like it's a baaaad thiiiin-

*PEW!*

"AGH!" Ayden had to duck behind a car to avoid being shot at by a Sinner and glaring in annoyance at being cut off.

"AGH! AGH!"

Before Pentious's screams in the distance caught her attention and she saw that he was being beaten up with a dismembered arm while Angel was wrestling a Hellhound off of him and Niffty was running after a short Sinner who looked like a walking garbage pile, no doubt to try and "clean him up."

The reminder she was down here with her friends made her protective instincts kick in as she jumped out from behind the car she'd taken shelter behind to run on all fours toward the Sinner that had shot at her before ramming right into him and slashing at his neck,

"GAH! GLCK-ULGH!"

Making him choke on his own inky blood so Ayden could grab his gun out of his hand and shoot at the Sinner Niffty was chasing with the rest of the gun's ammo so she could catch him and go crazy on his injured body with her needle.

"I blame you for this, you crazy bitch!" Angel yelled up to the building where Charlie and Vaggie were vaguely seen at the edge and Ayden saw that he was trying to save Pentious from the Sinner beating the shit out of him.

"Hang on!" Ayden yelled as she dropped the gun, running in their direction and readying a fireball in her paw when-

*FTOO!*

*SCHLL*

"YAH! OOF!"

A stinging pain struck her leg making her buckle and crash to the rubble-covered ground, extinguishing the fireball, before she looked down at herself and saw a large neon green quill the size of a yardstick piercing through her calf, letting her glowing blood spray out onto the ground.

"A-Ah…" Ayden whimpered as lines of venom green started to appear on her skin, making it difficult to think from the pain and freezing up, unable to summon a fireball, as a result.

"Gotcha now…"

Ayden whipped her head in the direction of a porcupine-like Sinner, Barb, if the mentioning herself in the third person was any indicator, who had two quill-like daggers in her hands poised to stab down at her with a wicked grin,

"Barb's gonna enjoy this…"

Just as Angel had managed to save Pentious and saw her position to yell panicked,

"Ayden!"

And Ayden put an arm up as she cowered down waiting for the blow-

*FWOO-FWSH!*

When something furry and feathery swooped in and snatched her right off the ground, leaving Barb to stab her weapons through empty space into the ground before she growled angrily,

"Barb's kill!"

Angel gave a sigh of relief from where he was carrying Pentious over his shoulder while Ayden managed to see that Husk was the one to save her as he asked while carefully putting her back down,

"You alright kid?"

"I'm 'lright… tsss…"

Hissing a bit at the pain in her leg but they had hardly another moment of peace when someone yelled from above,

"Incoming fuckers!"

The two of them barely moved to face the direction of the yell when they saw a flaming bottle being sent hurtling their way.

"HRR!" Ayden managed to force her arms to work so she could shove Husk away just as the bottle crashed and exploded in a mini inferno that surrounded her whole form along with Barb when she tried to go back in for a rematch.

*FWOOOSH!*

"NO!" Angel shouted as he ran toward them, still carrying a crying Pentious over his shoulder.

The fire started to spread from the point of impact toward Husk, who tried scuttling backward away from it, only for it to stop spreading abruptly making him and Angel question in near unison,

"The fuck…?"

Before the fire started to retreat back to its source to reveal Ayden sitting on the ground still but the quill was shot out of her leg as the fire "crawled" up her skin to heal the venom lines before sinking back into her skin with Barb nothing but a charred, twitching, barely-"alive" mess nearby.

"Woah…" Ayden marveled at herself as she stood up and stomped her leg down gently then harder to show that it had fully healed before summoning two fireballs in each paw that were larger and shone brighter than the ones she manifested on her own.

"The fuck was that?" Husk questioned, still unsettled by what was happening before the Sinner who threw the bomb from before yelled,

"DIE BITCH!"

Throwing a bundle of dynamite their way this time, making her react quickly, jumping off the hood of a car like a trampoline to grab the bundle in midair before twirling quickly to ricochet it back to the Sinner as he was blown up by his own device in a boosted fiery blaze,

*PPPSSSSHHH!*

As soon as she made it back to the ground, she called to the others,

"Let's go 'lready!"

Running back toward the building that Vaggie had thrown them off from and trudging up the stairs tiredly with Angel taking the lead once they made it back to the roof level so he could toss Pentious to the floor while panting tiredly with a tiny bit of enthusiasm in his voice,

"~Maaaade iiiiiit!~"

Only for Charlie to walk past them back to the door as she told them all dejectedly,

"Let's go home, guys."

"Ugh!" Angel grunted before motioning back to the stairs they'd just climbed up as he complained, "I just walked up all those stairs!"

"Seriously I don't know how you do anythin' in those heels... " Ayden noted critically as she followed them down while checking her newly healed tail end.

"Hey, don't be dissin' my style." Angel retorted as he started to drag Pentious back down from his tail, "I'm surprised you're still walking on that leg."

"Eh…" Ayden half shrugged with her arms up before they all made it back to the limo so they could return to the hotel.

Once they arrived, they all sat around in the living room, still recovering from the fight, when Ayden spoke up,

"Awww come on!" Jumping up excitedly to recount, "That fight was amazin'!"

Motioning over to Niffty as she recalled,

"You tu'ned that guy into a bloody pincushion by the time you we'e done wi'h'im!"

"~He is my new pincushion!~" Niffty giggled as she held up a little ball of ripped flesh and clothes still attached to it that had been fashioned into a little needle holder that already had some stuck into it.

"You managed to get in a couple good hits!" Ayden then turned to refer to Angel who chuckled a little before it elevated to a boisterous laugh that spread to everyone else listening in,

"You wanna talk good hits?! How 'bout when that buff guy was beatin' the shit outta you!"

Motioning to Pentious as he laughed as well while making a motion to refer to the limb in question,

"HAHAHA yes, with the dismembered arm, HA Yes, that.." His tone switched to be a bit more resentful as he admitted, "was particularly unpleasant…"

"Hehehe I liked that part hehe…" Niffty giggled as she peeked over the living room table with a sly grin.

"Well, hey, at least you can take a beating like a champ." Husk spoke up from near his bar before he came over to pat Pentious on the shoulder as he complimented him, "You did okay, new kid."

"Really?" Pentious was taken aback by the praise before becoming more confident as he laughed, "Oh well, I suppose I did get into a little of the old rough and tumble today."

"I'll say." Ayden commended him, "Ya got the makin's of a decent figh'er 'long wi'h those cool machines o' yours."

"High praise coming from the one who can throw fire and rip hearts from her enemies' very chests." Pentious returned the recognition making the heart ripping motion with a faux pained expression.

"That was fucking intense!" Angel expressed joyfully before it turned dour as he recalled, "Til that bozo got in that cheap shot…" Right before switching to a flirty tone, "And ~Huskyyyy~!"

"Aww fuck…" Husk frowned when he realized what he was about to do and was proven right when Angel teased,

"~Weren't you just a knight in fuzzy armor savin' Ruby like that!~"

Luckily for him, Ayden saved Husk from further flirting with,

"And what 'bout you pullin' Pen outta the brawl like ya did!"

Giving a subtle wink to Husk which he returned with a grateful look for the diversion as Pentious acknowledged,

"Yes... thank you for pulling me out of there.."

Angel gave him a good-natured slap on the back before they all started laughing, only stopping when Niffty's laugh turned maniacal and the others looked at each other disconcerted before smiling again.

A few seconds later, the sound of the front door opening and closing made them look over and see Alastor returning with the Egg Boiz in tow as Vaggie noted from where she and Charlie were on the second-floor balcony,

"Alastor. Failed to get rid of the eggs, I see…"

"Yes, well, the little monsters prove to be rather useful…"

Ayden raised a brow in suspicious question at the last part of his sentence as she and the others walked closer to him while Vaggie told him,

"Why don't you give them back to Pentious."

And he immediately got teary-eyed with joy,

"~Reeeeaaally?~"

"Yeah. After today, I guess I can trust you with them." Before she emphasized with a narrow-eyed glare, "But seriously, no. more. weapons."

Pentious immediately dove in to scoop them all up in an embrace as he cried,

"Ahhh! My eggs! Yay. Ah, it's so good to have you back." Until the mood changed when he dropped them to command, "Now, go clean my quarters this instant!"

And the Egg Boiz all scurried away with Pentious shouting after them making Ayden chuckle,

"Heh it's gonna be fun messin' wi'h'em again…"

About to walk off back to her room when Angel held her up to ask,

"You uh.. sure you're doin' alright after…"

Trailing off before making a motion with his eyes to her calf where hardly a scratch was left let alone a scar so Ayden waved it off with a scoff,

"I'm good, really." Before admitting as she stretched her arms around, "'Onestly, it felt great ventin' off some ene'gy like that. Wish I could do it mo'e of'en."

"And don't think I didn't see those moves of yours back there you little Daredevil." Angel grinned, referring to Ayden's acrobatic dance-like fighting style along with her fire powers while she had been singing, "Maybe that could be part of your shtick."

"Think so?" She asked as they started walking up the stairs to go to their rooms and get ready for bed.

"Heh Wildcat I know so." Angel gave her an affectionate hair ruffle that she playfully batted away before she smiled at him and went into her room and shutting the door behind her, leaving Angel to frown a bit as he sighed and whispered,

"I wish you could meet'er Molls… I think you'd like her…"

Before he headed to his room for the night while, in her room, Ayden had just thrown on her oversized pj t-shirt and was getting into her bed when her phone vibrated,

*BVV-VVV!*

And she hurriedly picked it up to open her messages and see Via's texts,

*Hey, might need a

distraction this weekend*

*You down to hang out?*

Ayden was about to respond yes immediately when her conversation from earlier that day replayed and she settled for a simple,

*Hafta check

with the bosses*

*I'll keep ya posted*

The thumbs up reaction on the second text made a slightly warm feeling spread in Ayden's chest before she turned her phone off to place on the side and snuggled under her blankets to fall asleep… hoping the nightmares wouldn't persist again….

…

…

…

---

AN- ~Awwwww!~ Some nice bonding in the group before the heart and gut wrenching rollercoaster that is Episode 4… which will probably be as hard to read as it was to write… all 15,000 words of it…

Some notes and references for this chapter:

The song segments that Ayden sang are from "You Call Me a Bitch Like It's a Bad Thing" by Halestorm and even though the whole song wouldn't really work in the context of this scene, I thought I could make certain bits of it work so I hope I did well with that ^^;

The "knight in fuzzy armor" line from Angel to Husk was a reference to the comic "Rescues and Revelations" by Rae on Twitter/X that PARANOiD DJ has done a dub for on their Youtube channel

I don't know if Husk's being good with kids would extend to preteens and teenagers, but I feel like it would with some more little moments like that to come : D

For those who might feel that Ayden and Via's friendship is becoming different with the label "girlfriend" being thrown around in this story, and if you follow my art/fandom related Instagram account and saw my post of them two on Valentine's Day, I'm trying to build up their friendship, in both fanfics, to a sort of platonic relationship where it's deeper than a normal friendship but not romantic in the "conventional" sense or sexual at all. This is a type of bond that I feel like isn't shown enough in media, digital or otherwise, so I hope to do it well with my fanfics ^^

Also, for those of you more familiar with Angel's history, yes Molly will be mentioned a few times throughout the story as sort of an "adopted vs blood family" dynamic between Angel and Ayden in future chapters (especially the next one)

Other than that, midterms and school and work stuff have kinda been cutting into my creative time/energy so I'm still working on "Dad Beat Dad" but still trying to keep the streak going!

Until the next one, Bye!