It had been about six hours since almost everyone had left the Hotel, leaving Angel, Vanessa, Husk, and Niffty.
Angel had mainly stuck to his phone, scrolling through to see what was happening in Hell at the moment. As usual, Husk stuck to his spot at the bar, and Niffty was somewhere murdering bugs like the freak she was.
Vanessa sat on the couch with Angel, occupied in whatever game she was playing, a pair of headphones on her head so that she could hear the game better.
A sentiment that Angel could get behind.
John and Alastor had long since returned, Alastor disappearing to his radio home while John remained in the lobby with the supplies that he'd bought.
Despite likely not needing it, it was actually a site to see. John had really set up his own little station to cut wood, and he had a workman's apron around his waste, different tools hanging from it. A hammer, a drill, and a couple different pouches and places for other tools that Angel couldn't distinguish.
Silence was lost upon the lobby with the sounds of John's work, from hammering nails to even measuring and sawing the wood. And when the buzzsaw was running, good luck hearing anything.
Luckily, though, they hadn't heard the saw running for a while. Just the sound of John hammering nails and the occasional grunt of satisfaction. Angel assumed that meant he was almost done.
Vanessa was clearly lost in her game, especially with the headphones blocking any outside noise. Trying to get her attention would be a lost cause unless you were wanting something important, and even then, Angel wouldn't be shocked if she'd give a bit of argument with the way she'd seemed to change.
The spider had no clue what kind of magic John had worked on the succubus, but it did its job very well. In the month since Vanessa had joined Angel at the Hotel, the terrified girl he had met at Val's studio had slowly disappeared in place of the shy, nerdy teenager that she should've been able to be.
Sometimes, it was easy for Angel to look at Vanessa lately and forget that the poor girl was his coworker.
The sound of the lobby doors opening threw Angel from his thoughts, as the sounds of approaching footsteps mixing in with John hammering away at the wall. Charlie and Vaggie walked into view a few seconds later, the moth demon watching with a disheartened look as Charlie threw herself over the armrest of the couch, plopping down face first on the sofa and startling Vanessa.
"So, how did it go?" Angel asked with an amused smile, despite already knowing exactly how their little search and recruit had gone as Vanessa paused her came and slid her headphones off to rest on her neck.
Vaggie let out a disappointed sigh at Angel's question, placing a hand on her hip as she leaned against the armrest of the couch. "Not a single new recruit."
"Yeah," Angel gave an unsympathetic shrug as he went back to scrolling through his phone. "Well, who wouldn't want to use their last days fucking and fighting?"
"Me." Vanessa immediately answered, raising her hand as she gave Angel a deadpan look. The spider flinched at her gaze.
"I second that!" John called from over by the wall, catching Vaggie's attention as she turned her gaze towards him. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the work on the wall.
"Wow, you weren't kidding." The moth demon commented as she left her spot by the couch to eye John's work. The only real indication that anything had happened was the missing wallpaper over the wooden planks. "How'd you get it done so fast?" She asked as she stopped next to the behemoth.
"Don't exactly need anyone to hold it for me when I can hold it all myself." John replied as he put yet another wooden plank in place. It took Vaggie a second to realize how much work John had actually done on the wall as she spotted some exposed insulation before John covered it with the plank in his hand. "All it takes is a measuring tape and a pair of good eyes."
"Well, good job." Vaggie said with a small smile as she glanced at the behemoth. She may not have fully trusted him, but she could at least commend a job well done.
John let a chuckle escape him, and nodded his head. "Thanks, Vaggie." He replied as he pulled a nail from one of the pouches on his apron, using his thumb to push it into the bottom of the board before pulling out a hammer. A gesture Vaggie found curious.
"Why not just push it all the way in?" Vaggie asked as she watched him work, brow furrowing in confusion. "If you can use your fingers, do you really need the tools?"
"I'd need the saw, the measuring tape, and a pencil regardless." John answered as he finished hammering the nail. "I couldn't be that precise if I wanted to. As for everything else… well, it's a habit at this point. I prefer it this way to the easy way." He admitted as he slipped his hammer back into a loop on his apron before undoing the belt and taking the gear off. "That should do it. I know it's brick work, but this will keep things solid till you or Charlie decide to either fix it or leave it."
"So long as it doesn't immediately fall apart, all it needs is a new coat of paint or some wallpaper." Vaggie responded as she brought a hand up and pushed a little on the new wall, and she couldn't say she was shocked by how sturdy John had made it.
The moment was interrupted by the sound of knocking at the door, and both John and Vaggie glanced at each other in confusion. The Hotel had open doors, all you had to do was walk in for any information. Why would anyone be knocking?
"You want me to get it?" John asked immediately, but Vaggie shook her head.
"You go ahead and clean up everything here, I'll get the door." Vaggie replied as she walked towards the door, opening it to see who was on the other side.
On the other side was a familiar, and rather unwelcome, demon. Sir Pentious stood at the other side of the door with a smile on his face.
"Why hello, my dear-" That was all he got out before Vaggie's shot up with expert precision, nailing him square in the face. Pentious' hands shot up to hold his now aching nose, peeking through his fingers as he did so just in time to witness Vaggie brandish her spear. "Wait, wait, wait!" He pretty much flailed, dropping to the ground to avoid being hit by Vaggie's spear as the moth demon growled, aiming her spear at him. "I come in peace."
"The hell's going on out here?" It was no surprise to Vaggie that John would overhear the commotion, his heavy footsteps approaching the door as he crouched down low enough to peek through. Upon spotting Sir Pentious, his eyes widened in surprise. "Pentious?"
"What are you doing here?" Vaggie demanded an answer. Considering he'd arrived to attack them for the second time only six hours ago, she was less than eager for his presence, regardless of whether he'd actually followed through with the attack or not.
"Vaggie, what's the problem?" Charlie suddenly appeared at the doorway with a raised eyebrow, leaning over past the door in front of John as she spoke, before she spotted Pentious on the ground. "Oh, hello again!" She greeted with a chipper wave, her bubbly fanged smile taking over her expression.
Vaggie stepped off of the snake, allowing him to sit up as he spoke. "I didn't come looking for a fight. Especially not with that one here." He flicked a finger in John's direction as he sat up, eliciting a chuckle from the behemoth in response. "I uhh… I heard that you're helping people. People that want to be… better?" He posed it as a question as he looked at Charlie.
Charlie let out a shocked gasp, before nodding eagerly with a grin as she answered. "You hear right!" She rushed up to Pentious with an eager glint in her eyes, throwing an arm around the snake and gesturing towards the Hotel as she began leading him towards the entrance. "Welcome to our home of healing. Our resort of restoration. Our-"
"Are you fucking nuts?!" Charlie's introduction was interrupted entirely as Angel squeezed past John, earning a grunt from the behemoth as Angel stepped out in front of the doorway, clearly disagreeing with the idea of Pentious at the Hotel. "This chump was trying to kill us, like, literally six hours ago." He objected, pointing towards the snake demon who was hiding behind Charlie, a nervous smile on both his face and his hat. "And now you want to bring him in here to live with us?"
"Absolutely!" Charlie answered with a smile. "This place is about second chances, and who deserves one more than this…"
"Slippery pain in the ass?" John piped up with a small grin, still crouching down to peek outside rather than actually stepping out.
Pentious gave a small frown while Charlie shot a glare in John's direction, earning an amused chuckle from the goliath.
"… special little man." Charlie finished in place of John's rather rude, and admittedly somewhat true, deduction.
"Aren't you supposed to protect this place?" Angel immediately asked, turning to look at John with a raised eyebrow. "There's no way you're actually okay with this."
"What's the worst that can happen?" John asked with a shrug as he finally decided to step outside as well. "All jokes aside, he's definitely smart, but he's not exactly competent enough to be a threat."
Pentious looked genuinely saddened when he heard those words, but Charlie's face lit up like a Christmas tree as Vaggie stepped forward.
"He's got a point." Vaggie admitted, no matter how much she didn't want Pentious to stay. "He's not much of a threat with or without the war machine-Woah!" Her words were interrupted when Charlie quite literally swept her off her feet, dragging her over to John, wrapping an arm around him as well.
"Oh thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" The words left Charlie's mouth at the speed of a bullet, hugging the two of them before immediately rushing over to Pentious and taking the stunned snakes hands in her own. "Sir Pentious, welcome to the Hazbin Hotel!"
"No darling, thank you." Sir Pentious responded with a smile as he followed Charlie into the Hotel, ignoring Angel and giving John and wary gaze as he went by. "You won't regret this."
"Eh, I give you a week tops." Angel commented with a shrug as he turned around to follow after them, his comment eliciting a chuckle and an amused head shake from John.
"Get the hell in there." John commented as he followed Angel into the building, Vaggie on his tail as the three of them entered just in time for Charlie to start her tour for Pentious.
"So this is the bar, and this is the bartender." Charlie showed off the concierge and semi-introduced Husk to the snake, before gesturing to the curtain above the concierge. "This is the curtain." She immediately jumped over to the recently repaired wall. "This is the new wall after you broke the last one, and- oh! This! This is-"
"Babe, you don't have to show him every detail." Vaggie interrupted Charlie's overly detailed tour, grabbing her hand to get her attention as she pulled the Princess to face her.
"Sorry." Charlie apologized, but it was clear she was still happy as she smiled nonetheless. "I'm just so excited to have our first real guest!" She gestures towards Pentious with the biggest grin on her face, but one person understandably had something to say about Charlie's words.
"Uh, what the hell am I then?" Angel piped up, leaning against a shelf as he raised an eyebrow at Charlie. The princess seemed to realize that her words were probably hurtful, as Angel technically was their first real guest, and she had a sheepish look on her face as she tried to correct herself.
"Well, you're an important part of our family here, Angel." Charlie assured with a smile. "But you um… uh…"
"Constantly make us look bad, sexually harass the staff, and have literally never once tried to improve?" Vaggie finished Charlie's words with a far more blunt tone.
"Now hold on a damn minute." Now, John seemed to be agitated, looking at the two of them with a furrowed brow as he stepped up next to Angel. "He ain't no saint, that's for sure, but I'll be damned if anyone says he hasn't tried."
Charlie and Vaggie looked genuinely shocked that it was John, of all people, that jumped to Angel's defense, while Angel managed a genuinely thankful smile at the behemoth.
"He has?" Vaggie asked, raising an eyebrow as she stepped forward. "Because I haven't seen anything like it."
"Let someone try to fuck with Vanessa, I guaran-damn-tee you that they're get filled full of lead." John pointed out, and both women could admit that he had a point. Angel and Vanessa were clearly close, having a sibling relationship of sorts similar to John's own attachment with the succubus. "The only reason she's even here is because Angel sent me to get her cause he was worried about her. Speaking of, if Pentious is apparently your first real guest, what's that make Vanessa, chopped liver?" The behemoth clearly wasn't a fan of the words Charlie had chosen, crossing his arms as he shot a stern gaze at the two of them.
Charlie felt guilt beginning to gnaw at her as John's words settled in.
He was right.
For all of his very obvious faults, Angel had at least made an effort, and Vanessa as well had actively participated in the Hotel's programs with an almost childlike eagerness. For her to say that Pentious was their first guest…
"I guess I didn't think of it like that." Charlie admitted, rubbing her arm as a shameful expression creeped onto her face. "I was just so excited to have another guest…"
"That's fine, just think about your words next time." John replied, stern expression disappearing as he offered a small smile to the Princess.
Charlie returned the smile with one of her own. John was… an enigma. It's like he had different modes he could go into. One second, he could be a disappointed parent, and the next, he was the same kid he was when he died.
It honestly made Charlie wonder what he was like when he was fighting. If anything, the Hell Hole reports on Extermination Day painted the picture of a… an engine of destruction.
But, that was a topic for another day. Right now, she had a tour and introductions to make for Pentious.
As Charlie began leading Pentious through the introductions with Vaggie following to keep a close eye on the snake, Angel turned to look at John with a genuine, albeit confused, smile.
"Why'd you stick up for me?" Angel asked, looking at the behemoth with a furrowed brow despite his smile. "I thought you didn't like me too much."
"I don't know where the hell you got that idea." John replied with an amused snort. "I consider you my friend. And even if I didn't, I call it like I see it." He answered as his smile turned more relaxed. "Just cause we have a disagreement or two-"
"Or five." Angel joked, eliciting a laugh from John.
"Or five," John agreed with an amused nod, before fixing his gaze on Angel once more. "None of that means I hate you or don't like you. Comes with the territory."
Meanwhile, Charlie leading Pentious towards the teenage sinner succubus currently engrossed in her video game with the intent to introduce her to the snake. She let a hand come up and rest upon her shoulder.
The reaction was not what she'd expected, admittedly.
Vanessa nearly jumped out of her skin, spinning to face Charlie with wide eyes as she ripped the headphones from her head, looking like a deer in headlights.
Charlie jerked her hand away at the action, her own eyes wide in surprise as she looked at Vanessa. Next to her, she could see Pentious looking between the two with a furrowed brow, utterly confused by the action.
After a few seconds, Vanessa visibly relaxed, offering a smile to the Princess as she did so. "Hi, Charlie." The succubus greeted with a wave, which allowed Charlie to relax herself as she realized she'd done nothing wrong.
"Hi Vanessa." Charlie greeted with her own smile. "I wanted to introduce you to our new guest, Sir Pentious." She explained, gesturing to the snake next to her. For his part, Pentious offered a nervous smile, offering a small wave to the succubus.
Vanessa turned towards Pentious, propping an arm on the back of the couch to keep herself steady, and her eyes widened in recognition when she saw the snake before smiling. "Aren't you the guy that blew a hole in the wall?"
"Um.. well, yes…" Pentious answered nervously, bringing his finger tips together in a nervous tips as he met Vanessa's gaze.
The snake's demeanor was admittedly rather humorous, and Vanessa let a giggle escape her as she offered her hand to the snake, a habit she'd picked up from John. "I'm Vanessa."
"I am Sir Pentious." Pentious introduced himself as well as he shook the succubus hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you." For a seemingly psychotic snake with a steampunk fixation, Charlie could admit that he was surprisingly polite.
"You too." Vanessa returned his words with a smile. "I hope you like it here." She offered kind words to the snake as she turned around to face her game once more. "Just… don't bug John when he's got the TV."
Charlie had to roll her eyes at that, but she had a smile on her face regardless. Even if it was meant to be a punishment of sorts, at this point being Walled by John may as well have been a fun little prank. The only people who'd avoided the fate were Alastor and Vanessa, for obvious reasons.
Neither of them were stupid or interested enough to try and take the TV when John was using it.
"Um, what's she mean by that?" Pentious asked nervously, turning to Charlie as Vanessa put her headphones back on and refocused on her game.
But Charlie waved it off. "Just follow her advice, and you'll find out later." She explained as she gestured for the snake to follow her as she decided to leave Vanessa alone. She instead opted to next introduce him to Niffty, who was currently playing with Keke with a piece of string. "Over here, we have our maid, Niffty." Upon hearing her name, the little cyclops immediately jumped up and turned around, gasping when she spotted Pentious.
"The bad boy is back!" Niffty exclaimed as she walked up to Pentious, before immediately moving to jump up onto the snake.
Only for a large hand to immediately swoop in and snag the cyclops right out of the air.
"I don't think so." John chuckled as he held Niffty by the back of her shirt, ignoring the now panting Pentious who was currently being calmed by a sympathetic Charlie. The behemoth lifted the cyclops up so that she was eye level with him. "What did we talk about, Nif?"
"Not to jump on people and be creepy." Niffty crossed her arms and gave a small pout, but she answered the question nonetheless. "But I wasn't gonna-!"
"Niffty…" John's voice had an admonishing tone to it, even with a smile, and Niffty finally gave in.
"Fine."
Satisfied, John sat Niffty back on the ground, before giving her a gentle pat on his back. "Now go kill some bugs, alright? Gotta make the place look tidy."
"Okay!" At that, Niffty eagerly nodded, before bolting off into some other direction as John turned towards Charlie and the now calmed Pentious.
"Sorry about that. She did the same thing to me when I showed up." John admitted as he walked over to the two of them.
"Alright?" Pentious didn't exactly sound like he knew what to think, before letting out a sigh. "She's still better than the pup." He commented, rubbing his backside at the memory.
John merely chuckled in response, giving the snake a pat on the back as he did so. "Well, you did bring that on yourself."
"Don't remind me."
A pair of footsteps coming down the stairs interrupted their short conversation, and all eyes turned to see Alastor descending the steps, looking as confident as ever.
"Oh, Alastor!" Charlie smiled, grabbing Pentious' hand and dragging him closer to the Radio Demon, leaving a chuckling John. "Alastor is our gracious facility manager." She turned to face Alastor with an admittedly nervous smile. "You've met our newest guest, Sir Pentious…" She gave a nervous laugh as she remembered the purpose of Pentious' first attack.
"Ah yes, you're the one who ruined my coat!" Alastor sounded a little too eager as he said it, before his expression took a sinister turn, his smile turning more intimidating as his voice dropped to a growl, all the while maintaining his smile. "I definitely remember you now."
Both Charlie and Pentious gulped at the very intimidating aura Alastor gave off, looking at each other with nervous gazes as they did so, before Charlie had an idea.
"Well, I guess this is a great time for your first lesson!" Charlie announced as she tried to take a more formal tone… to mixed results. "How to apologize: The first step to becoming a better person is to admit when you are wrong. Why don't you give it a try?" She suggested as she gently nudged Pentious closer to Alastor, to the snake's dismay.
Nonetheless, the snake did as asked, turning to Alastor with a nervous smile as he did so. "Yes, um… Mr, um, Radio Demon sir, please forgive me for attacking you and ruining your very lovely coat." He pressed his hands together, waiting for what Alastor's response would be.
And silently praying that Alastor wouldn't tear him apart.
Alastor continued to scrutinize the snake for a moment, before shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. "Very well."
And with that, Alastor made his way past them without another word.
"That went… better than I expected." Pentious admitted as he turned towards Charlie, who offered him a smile and an encouraging thumbs up.
"Well, good job." Charlie congratulated him, because he deserved it in her opinion.
Maybe Pentious really was interested in the Hotel.
"Now, with a new resident, I think it's important that we all get to know each other." Charlie suggested to her audience, which consisted of everyone among the Hotel's residents with the exception of Alastor, Niffty, and Husk. Angel, Vaggie, and Pentious sat on the floor, while John and Vanessa occupied the couch. Before Charlie continued further, she turned to look at the behemoth with a hopeful smile. "Are you joining us this time, John?"
"Sure, why not?" John replied with a shrug and a small smile. "Lets see what you got."
"Seriously?" Angel couldn't help but to ask with a raised eyebrow. "You usually hide away in your room whenever she does these sessions." He noted.
"Yeah." Vanessa too was curious as to John's choice to participate for once. "I don't think I've ever actually seen you in the lobby when we have them."
John simply chuckled in response. "Well, I'm curious as to what kind of rehab methods she has." He admitted with a small smile. "Besides, Pentious there is nervous around me, and that ain't gonna change if I don't at least try to show he don't have to be."
"Being literally tied up with my own tail will do that." Sir Pentious commented, still giving John a wary gaze, only getting a chuckle in response.
"Anyway!" Charlie piped up with a smile once more, clapping her hands to get everyone's attention. "Today, we're going to play a little game."
At the mention of a game, Vanessa began to bounce slightly in excitement, a smile on her face as she leaned forward to hear more.
"Everyone, follow me." Charlie instructed… before she started singing. "My name is Charlie!" She clapped her hands together to act as a tune of sorts for the song as she crouched down next to Vaggie, who gave her a small smile. "I like to sing. And when we get know each other it's the greatest thing!" With another clap, she gestured to Sir Pentious to go next.
The snake looked confused at the method, but went along with it anyway, albeit slowly. "My name's Sir Pentious." His own clapping was much quieter, likely due to his own confusion and nervousness in John's presence. "I like to build, and despite my stupid Egg Bois I think I'm very skilled." As he finished his song, both he and Charlie gestured next to Vanessa.
The succubus gave the brightest smile she possibly could, more than eager to participate in the game as she began her own little song.
"My name's Vanessa, and I like games." The succubus sounded absolutely ecstatic, swaying back and forth as she clapped her hands and sang. "And I think this one is really great!" As she finished her verse, she as well as Sir Pentious and Charlie gestures to John next with a smile.
John let a chuckle escape him as he leaned forward a little as he brought his hands up to clap. "My name is John, and I like peace." His clapping was slower, as if he wasn't entirely into the game, but he had an amused smile nonetheless. "And when we got that, we get along with ease."
And of course, Angel was next in the circle, so he was next to sing as all four gestured to him with smiles, Vanessa even waving her arms in a frantic manner to try and encourage him.
But unfortunately, Angel didn't appear to be interested in the slightest.
"This is stupid." Angel said bluntly, to everyone's disappointment.
"This is not stupid! It's just a game!" Charlie offered a small, pleading smile as she danced her way closer to Angel. "Everyone else did their part, so please try to do the same!"
Angel looked at Charlie, unamused, before letting out a sigh as he punched the bridge of his nose. Or, where the bridge would be if he had a nose.
"I am too sober for this." Angel moaned aloud, earning a chuckle from John and looked of slight sadness from everyone else.
"Well get used to it and learn how to play." Vaggie piped up, causing the spider to turn his gaze towards her as she continued, waving her arm through the air as she spoke. "This is gonna be your whole day!" She sang as she clapped too, and no one missed the smug smile on her face as she said it.
Angel simply sighed. This was gonna be a long day.
After the little… sing along, Angel decided to call it, Charlie had followed it up with some weird show. Angel played a stereo-typical crackhead, and Pentious played the angelic child. Angel wished he could say he didn't care, but even ignoring how terrible the script was, it hurt a little knowing that Charlie's first choice for the good guy had been someone who'd only been a guest at the Hotel for a couple hours.
At least John had his back. Though Angel would admit to being surprised by that detail.
He'd never really thought about it, but John really was someone he'd considered a friend. Before, he was just reliable, someone he knew would help if asked. But this was more than that.
Despite their numerous, and Angel meant numerous, differences… John and Cherri were a lot similar people, Angel found. At least, in the sense that they were friends. They were both people he could talk to, confide in… people Angel knew cared for him.
Though, that's where the similarities ended. Cherri would sooner find an excuse to blow something up than actually try a peaceful solution.
Then again… John would probably cause plenty of fights with his blunt words.
Regardless, it hadn't really occurred to Angel before, how much he really trusted the behemoth.
Though, Angel still didn't trust him completely. Not enough for him to know about… Val.
It still astounded Angel, just how ignorant John really was. It had taken small talk and lessons from Vaggie and Charlie for him to learn what most considered common knowledge of Hell. Overlords, the Vees, Alastor… he was ignorant to all of it.
Maybe that was why he was such a good soul. On the occasions he'd talk about them, the imp-hellhound family that had taken John in were always talked about with praise. And considering the genuine person John was, Angel honestly believed that if it weren't for those people, John would be a far different demon today.
Their first real interaction had left an impression on Angel in the time that had since passed. He'd always assumed that John never cared for him, and carried a general dislike for the spider.
A threat being the first real impression would have that effect.
But even as he fell back into the habits that he knew, John has always been someone to joke around and bullshit with. Because Angel had actually appeased his wishes. He didn't try to harass John as a flirt.
And in return, he'd earned a real friend.
It also helped what John had done for Vanessa.
Whether he realized it or not, John had given Vanessa more than Angel himself ever could, or ever would be able to.
For her first month in Hell, Vanessa had known nothing but constant suffering. Paraded around as Val's second most popular attraction, someone who'd be available to the public in the future. Considering how rare it was to see any succubi working for Val (for good reason), it was no wonder Vanessa had been so popular.
And with the reason she'd died… Vanessa was just a kid. She didn't deserve Hell. She'd had her whole life ahead of her before that scumbag had done what he did.
Angel didn't know when Mike Baldwin would fall to Hell, but he hoped he was right there when the bastard did.
But John had given Vanessa something Angel would never be able to; a sense of normalcy.
Despite being a towering nine foot behemoth, John acted as an older brother to her. He'd play games with her, make jokes with her… they'd already gotten close enough that John could freely surprise and tickle her without scaring the poor girl to another death.
He gave Vanessa someone she could talk to, someone she could have actual fun with. And at the same time, his mere presence at the Hotel was a safety anchor for the succubus. It definitely helped that he'd proved, at least to Vanessa herself, that he'd sooner hit someone than take advantage of her.
Quite literally, Angel had to remind himself.
John was something Vanessa needed. She didn't need Hell, she certainly didn't need Val. If Angel could find a way to break Vanessa's contract before even touching his own…
Angel honestly couldn't believe it, but he actually would. He'd stay with Val for an eternity if Vanessa could be-
Wait a second.
Angels… Overlords… regular Sinners… and who stood atop of all three?
Could… could John do something? By all accounts, it wasn't a question of if John could beat Valentino. It would be a complete slaughter, a beatdown of epic proportions, Angel knew.
But… could he free them? Get them out of their contracts?
…
Well, without sure knowledge that it was even possible to break a contract, there was no way to be certain. For all Angel knew, John would only temporarily kill Val. And when the Overlord would regenerate…
Angel shuddered at what would be done to himself as payback. He didn't have the willpower to even try and think of what would happen to Vanessa.
He… he couldn't risk it. As much as he hated it, as much as he wanted to be free… he couldn't take the risk. Not at Vanessa's expense.
Even if she'd had no knowledge, wasn't involved, Val wasn't above using his slaves' loved one against them if they had any. And the sadistic moth would make Angel watch every thing he would do to Vanessa.
As it was… it was only a matter of time anyway. A reality Angel wasn't ready to face.
And even if John somehow put down Val, or got his power… would he even be willing to break the contracts once he felt that power?
Angel thought of John as a friend, he could now admit… but he didn't have that much faith in him. At the very least, not yet.
So for now, Angel could do nothing but suck it up and live in the moment, waiting for and hoping against a moment that would come no matter what.
Hell just sucked, didn't it?
With that depressing end to his series of thoughts, Angel finally arrived at the concierge. He'd spared a quick glance to a still awake John, who'd given him a greeting nod but otherwise left him unbothered, before snagging a bottle from behind the bar.
Husk was asleep by now, so Angel was free to drink as he pleased. And with the buzz he felt already, this would definitely knock him out for the night.
He popped open the bottle and chugged a good chunk of it down immediately as he began his way back to his room, only stopping for a second as he took the bottle from his lips.
Later on, he would be thankful he did so.
The sound of slithering, almost like a snake, entered Angel's already semi-drunken ears. His gaze snapped towards the source in slight confusion, before that confusion turned to suspicion as he noticed a door open down the hall that wasn't usually open.
Curiosity and suspicion got the best of him, and he began making his way down the hall slowly, setting his bottle upon the ground as he did so. There was light peeking out through the open door and flooding the dark hall, and considering just about everyone else was asleep, Angel wasn't sure who it was.
He knew it wasn't John. The behemoth was still engrossed in whatever movie he was currently watching on the couch.
But that still left… eight possible suspects.
He creeped closer to the door, realizing that it wasn't open as far as he thought it was, and decided to be a bit more discreet. Leaning in, he peeked through the crack in the open door.
Within the room was Sir Pentious, and he was placing a video camera in between a few books. It wasn't exactly a good hiding spot.
But Angel's main concern was the camera itself. He recognized Vox's work when he saw it.
The spider outright snarled, and all semblance of stealth left him as he slammed his hands into both doors to the library, violently throwing them open and startling the snake.
"You slippery little shit!" Angel snarled as the snake spun to face him in surprise. In his inebriated state, there was absolutely nothing but anger building up as the spider realized why the snake had show up at the Hotel in the first place. Upon realizing he'd been caught, Pentious' face twisted in fear, recoiling away from the spider and attempting to hide the camera he'd placed. Rather poorly, Angel would add. "You're working for the Vees?! I fucking knew their was something shitty about you." He growled as he approached the snake, poking Pentious' chest rather aggressively as he did so.
Pentious, being the idiot he was, acted as if he'd done nothing. "I don't know what you're talking about!" He said, turning away from Angel as he slithered away, before turning towards the spider with a smirk. "Whorebug."
Later on, Angel would admit to no one that Pentious' had actually been clever.
At the moment?
Drunken fury overtook Angel, growling slowly rising into enraged screams as he lunged at the snake, tackling him to the ground with ease. It didn't even occur to the spider to use any of the multitude of weapons he always carried on him, focused solely on beating Pentious within an inch of his life.
He delivered two quick punches while atop the snake, both connecting with his jaw, before he flung himself to the side into a roll, maneuvering Pentious so that he now had the snake gripped in a surprisingly solid chokehold.
If either of them had been paying any attention to anything other than their brawl, they might've noticed the sounds of booming footsteps rapidly approaching their position.
Credit where it was due, Angel knew that Pentious was a far more formidable combatant than people thought, and keeping a hold on the actually slippery bastard was more difficult than he'd expected.
"Get your aggressively average body… OFF OF ME!" Pentious acted quickly once escaped another hold, his cobra hood opening up, and Angel found himself meeting not just two, or four, but eight extra eyes that were surprisingly hypnotic, and Angel's instincts screamed at him almost immediately to look away.
Unfortunately, for both of them, Angel wouldn't get the chance.
Suddenly, both Pentious and Angel were lifted off the ground with ease, sending both into a blind panic on instinct as they felt a hand wrap around each of them.
And then Angel found himself in the middle of the most painful kiss he'd ever imagined, his own skull cracking against Pentious' as they were harshly slammed together.
Now dizzy, neither of them were in any real condition to do much of anything to soothe their now aching craniums. Though… the pain was forgotten quite quickly when a familair rumbling voice boomed throughout the room.
"What the fuck is going on here?!" Yep, that John. And despite having just had his skull smashed in by the behemoth, Angel was quite glad that he showed up. As he shakily stood to his feet, he managed to spot Charlie and Vaggie, both still in their nightclothes, trudging into the room.
Perfect.
"What's going on?" Charlie asked tiredly, wiping her eyes as she did so as if she were a child.
"This little bitch is a traitor!" Angel declared, pointing a vicious finger towards the now standing snake with venom in his voice. He immediately felt like slapping himself when he heard the slur of his own words.
"And you're drunk." John noted with a raised eyebrow, his top lip arched in irritation. "And I just found you two in the middle of a brawl. You really think I can take your word?"
"That's preposterous!" Sir Pentious declared, giving Angel a glare as all eyes turned to him, before putting that oh so fake smile on his face as he approached Charlie and Vaggie. "I would never betray you. You… are my best friends!" The words seemed genuine enough for Charlie, who gave him a thankful smile, while Vaggie merely looked annoyed.
"I wouldn't go that far yet, but okay." John remarked offhandedly, before turning to Angel with an irritated expression. "It's his first day, and this it's gotta end for him?"
John… John didn't believe him?
As much as it hurt… Angel honestly couldn't blame him. He was drunk. And he'd made his distrust and irritation towards Pentious rather clear.
Luckily for Angel, and unfortunately for Pentious, the spider had proof. Still tucked away poorly between a pair of books.
Rather than answer John's obviously rhetorical question, Angel walked over to the bookshelf where the camera was hidden, and placed his hand on one of the books concealing it as he turned towards everyone.
"If he's not a traitor, then explain this." Angel challenged with a raised eyebrow, bringing all attention to the camera as he moved the book out of the way.
Charlie looked hurt upon seeing the camera, while Vaggie's irritation immediately upgraded to fury, while John's eyes widened in disbelief.
Pentious, however… Angel would gladly admit that he found the snake's reaction to be fucking golden.
After a terrified glance towards Charlie and Vaggie, Sir Pentious immediately became nothing more than a terrified mess, scrambling rapidly around the room as he desperately searched for an escape that wasn't there. With his true intentions exposed, he was now terrified for his life.
It didn't help that a nine foot behemoth whom had already kicked his ass was in the room.
"Abort, Abort! SOS! Agent Pentious in need of immediate evacuation!" The whole display was as pathetic as it was hilarious, in Angel's opinion, as he stopped at a window as he brought up his wrist, where Angel now noticed a communication watch with the same design pattern as the camera.
"Pentious?" That familiar voice, another of which Angel hated, could be heard throughout the room as Vox seemed to have answered Pentious' panicked call. "Wait… you were caught?! It hasn't even been a day!" Amused laughter followed the response.
"Please, you have to get me-!"
"Give me that." Suddenly, John was next to Pentious, growling as he easily swiped the communicator off of the snake's wrist and it up between his finger and his thumb, holding it far enough away for Vox to see his face. "TV head… You're Vox, right?"
The humiliating laughter silenced itself at John's words, and Angel couldn't help the bolt of fear that flew through him as he realized that this could be very bad for him and Vanessa.
All he could do was hope that it wouldn't make things worse than they already were.
However, the response was far from what he'd expected.
"Ah, Alastor's big friend. And Angel's if I had to guess." Suddenly, Vox sounded a lot more interested and much less amused, his tone controlled as he spoke. And at the mention of his own name, Angel froze.
No…
"You know me?" John asked the TV demon with a raised eyebrow, holding the communication. He'd never seen the demon before in his life, so how could Vox know John.
It was clear that Angel wasn't the only one unsettled by the implication. A quick glance showed a horrified Charlie holding a hand to her mouth in surprise, and Vaggie looked more than on guard when that came out.
"Of course I do." Vox said it as if that should be the most obvious thing in the world. "You hang around that radio coward, you're gonna catch my attention. And it really doesn't help that you picked up one of Val's girls from our building."
… Angel wanted to slap himself.
So… they knew. Angel didn't want to think of the implications that held.
"I wasn't aware that was a problem." John commented, his tone level as he spoke. "So, what do you know about me?"
"Other than you're one ugly motherfucker?"
… okay… Angel could admit that John wasn't exactly easy on the eyes at first, but he was far from ugly in the spider's own opinion. That one just felt childish.
John, however, seemed to find it amusing. A loud rumbling left escaped his throat at Vox's insult, genuine laughter of amusement. Angel wasn't sure if that made him feel better or scared him even more.
"Congrats." John spoke in a sarcastic tone, an amused smirk on his face as his laughter died down. "You have a pair of working eyes in front of a walnut-sized brain. I mean, Predator? Seriously?"
Don't snicker Angel… don't snicker…
Angel snickered.
Vox clearly wasn't a fan of that insult, immediately growing hostile as he glared at the behemoth through the video. "Heh, cute. Do you know what I can fucking do to you?"
And that was when all amusement left John's being, his entire body tensing as he stood as tall as the room would allow, his expression turning dead serious.
"Not a damn thing." John replied, his eyes narrowing at the TV demon. "No, you see, the question is… do you know what I can do?"
"You think I'm-?!"
"Blah blah, yeah yeah." John interrupted Vox with an annoyed gaze, mocking the TV demon with an eye roll and a puppet hand gesture. "I don't care. The next time you try anything with this hotel, your existence ends." And with that final threat, John squeezed his hands together, crushing the communication watch in his grip.
Wires and metal fragments fell to the ground, along with the now useless straps. His point made clear, John was no longer interested in anything Vox had to say.
But Angel…
"You know he's gonna have a bone to pick with you, right?" Angel asked, wary as he looked up at John.
But the behemoth seemed to care little, if at all, shrugging his shoulders in response. "Good luck to him." Was all John replied with.
With that little incident out of the way…
"Make it quick." Suddenly, Pentious familiar voice was heard by all, all eyes turning to find the snake curled up on the ground, eyes closed as he awaited a temporary death.
One that Angel was more than glad to give him, as well as Vaggie.
John, however, had other thoughts.
"Oh, for christ sakes." John rolled his eyes in annoyance as he leaned down to the snake. "Get up, Pentious." A large hand gently wrapped around the snake's arm as he pulled Pentious to his feet… or tail… or whatever the term would be when he was standing.
"You… aren't going to kill me?" Pentious questioned as he looked at the behemoth, justifiably tense and confused considering what had been revealed. "Or tie me with my own tail again?"
"No." John shook his head in irritation as he looked down at the snake with a raised brow. "I'm not with what you did, but until you decide to step out those doors or Charlie gives you the boot, you're still a guest."
… um, what?
"Wait, hold the fuck on." Angel shook his head back and forth, swinging his hands in a refusal gesture as he marched up to John in frustration. "You're seriously okay with letting him stay here?"
"So long as he doesn't cause anymore trouble," At that, John did give Pentious a stern glare, causing the snake to flinch, before the behemoth let out a sigh as he turned back to Angel. "... it's not my place to decide if he stays." As he finished, his eyes moved away from Angel.
The spider followed John's gaze, before his eyes widened and he slumped.
Yep, looked like Pentious would be staying.
Charlie looked confused, an internal debate none of them could hear waging within her as she tried to decide her best course of action. And as much as Angel wished that Charlie wasn't so naive… he heart would always win out.
She sucked in a deep breath, before smiling as she met Pentious' gaze. "Like John said, no more trouble and you can stay."
Pentious looked absolutely shellshocked at Charlie's words, completely bewildered as he immediately turn suspicious. "You… you mean that?"
Next to the snake, John let a chuckle escape him as he glanced at Pentious. "Pen, if there's one thing Charlie is, it's honest."
Yeah, that was true. A trait she shared with John himself.
And as much as he disliked the idea of the snake staying…
Well, he better get used to it, Angel guessed.
