DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.
Savages: Reign in Hell
Prologue: Highway to Hell
Blasphemous.
Pinhead could find no other word to describe what the Princess of Hell was doing. It hadn't been very long since Charlie Morningstar had devised her 'Hazbin Hotel.' A place she believed would solve the ever-growing problem of Hell's overpopulation. And how was such a place to accomplish this seemingly impossible feat?
Through rehabilitation.
Yes, the daughter of Satan himself sought to redeem those cast down to this infernal kingdom by cleansing them of their sins, allowing them to ascend to Heaven above. Such a place being built at all was already practically spitting in the face of the lead Cenobite as is, not helped by the fact that it was somehow drawing not only those seeking redemption, such was the case with the Septarian known as Toffee, but also those looking to support its continued lifespan, such as the infamous Radio Demon himself, Alastor. But the worst part about this?
Lucifer himself was allowing this farce to prolong far longer than Pinhead believed it should have.
The mere thought was almost enough to make the Hell Priest sick to his stomach. Not only because it had defied the natural order that had been going on since the dawn of existence itself, but now, because of this, fewer and fewer sinners could be gifted with the sensation of the sweet suffering that Leviathan had been preaching for millennia. And Lucifer, ruler of Hell, was just sitting idly by as this sick joke continued to threaten everything the leader of the Cenobites had worked for ever since one Captain Elliot Spencer first solved the Lament Configuration after the end of World War I.
And that brought Pinhead to another growing problem: The Box itself. Since the dawn of the new millennium, humanity had discovered new ways to quench their temptations, with lust now capable of being sated electronically. And, despite sin remaining unchanged and mankind devolving into a vacuum of little to no morality, technology had made exploiting their deepest, darkest desires was becoming much more difficult. All because a simple puzzle box was growing more and more obsolete year after year.
A perfect storm has manifested. Less of the damned souls in Hell could be taught the sensations the Cenobites craved, and less of those who went about their lives could open the gateway to Hell and taste their pleasures. If something isn't done about this soon, the Cenobites themselves may eventually become a dying relic of the infernal pit's past.
It was fortunate for the Priest of Hell, then, that he truly served Leviathan. Not Lucifer.
And the time was now to enact a plan to bring the fallen angel's reign to an abrupt end.
UNIVERSE #00001 - ROANAPUR
WELCOME TO THE ABANDONED LAND
COME ON IN, CHILD, TAKE MY HAND
HERE, THERE'S NO WORK OR PLAY
ONLY ONE BILL TO PAY
THERE'S JUST FIVE WORDS TO SAY
AS YOU GO DOWN, DOWN, DOWN
The jukebox was suddenly shot by a bullet that made everyone in the Yellow Tail bar jump in surprise. Someone was about to open their mouth in protest, but they immediately changed their minds the moment they saw who exactly had pulled the trigger. The gunman, or rather, woman, was none other than Revy, the bloodthirsty killer for hire, who was currently downing her fifth shot of whisky. Her fellow Lagoon member, Rock, was sitting next to her, facepalming at the current situation.
"You could've just gotten up and changed it, you know," he pointed out.
"Ah, that things a piece of shit anyway," Revy slurred out before she downed another shot. "Just like everything else in this fucking bar."
After finishing her drink, Revy staggered from the barstool she was sitting on and back to her feet.
"I gotta take a piss," she stated.
Rock merely sighed in defeat as Revy started to shuffle toward the restroom, knowing that he wasn't going to win any argument he might have with the gunslinger. Revy kicked open the door to the restroom before stepping inside. The restroom in question was filled with filth and reeked of shit that had been sitting in the toilets for weeks on end. As Revy drunkenly searched for a relativity clean stall, she passed by a dirty mirror. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a strange image in the mirror. Both confused and intrigued, the gunslinger moved closer to the mirror.
"What the hell?" she said under her breath in confusion.
The reflection she saw in the mirror was not of her own but a rotting corpse of herself. At first, she assumed she was just drunk, but then the horrid reflection did something that Revy was not expecting: It smiled at her. The image alone instantly made Revy sober up as she instinctively reached for her pistols. But before she could open fire on the image before her, her undead doppelganger reached out through the mirror and pulled her through before she had the chance to so much as cry out a single swear.
UNIVERSE #00001 - VATICAN CITY
Father Anderson paused from his scripture reading. The church was silent and empty for the past hour since the sermon had ended, but the paladin still felt this...uneasiness creep along his spine. Closing the Bible, he went out into the church to find the source of this feeling, fearing that a serpent had entered the house of God. Anderson had faced various opponents in his life that all spawned from some sort of unholy creation, and if this feeling was true, he would smite this unknown creature with all the fury of the Lord.
"Father?" came a small voice.
Anderson spun around to see a small boy standing before him. The sight of the child made the paladin let out a sigh of relief, thinking it was just his nerves getting the best of him.
"You gave me a fright, lad," the warrior priest said. "What are you doing out here all alone?"
"I came here to confess my sins, Father," the boy replied. "It's my first confessional."
"Is it now?" Alexander asked. "Come on then. I'll be happy to hear your confession."
The priest then lead the boy to the confessional, allowing the child to step inside. Despite taking this child's confessional seriously, he couldn't help but hold back a small chuckle. What could a child possibly have? At worst, the boy probably stole something and felt guilty about it.
"So tell me, my boy, what is your confession?" he asked.
"I never said it was MY confession, Father," the boy corrected. "This is YOURS."
Before Anderson could ask what the boy meant by that, several chains suddenly shot out from the confessional the boy was that constricted around the paladin before pulling him into the darkness.
UNIVERSE #62281 - PATCH
Raven couldn't help but wonder how stepping into another plane of existence seemed easier than simply knocking on a door.
Much time had passed since the events at Haven. When she essentially made a deal with the Devil in a foolhardy gambit to obtain the Relic of Knowledge. When she turned her blade on her own brother and nearly got her daughter and stepdaughter killed. When she finally was confronted with the harsh reality of what she really was, hidden deep within her arrogance and her strength.
A selfish coward.
"You don't know the first thing about strength! You turn your back on people. You run away when things get too hard. You put others in harm's way instead of yourself!
"You might be powerful...but that doesn't make you strong."
Yang's words echoed inside the bandit queen's mind non-stop ever since that day. Much as she tried to deny it, Raven knew deep down that she was right. Especially since, immediately afterward, she willingly allowed Yang to walk away with the Relic instead of taking it herself, practically painting a target on her and her friends' backs for Salem.
Because she was scared. Weak.
Just as she was now as she approached the door to her ex-husband's home.
Breathing deeply, Raven finally raised her hand to knock on the door, hoping to at least take this opportunity to somewhat reconcile with Taiyang after all these years...before finally saying goodbye forever and returning to her previous life as a bandit. For she knew that she would only bring more misery to her family if she remained with them. Not that they'd want her back in the first place after everything she's done.
But right before her fist could make contact with the wooden door, the chieftess of the Branwen tribe heard something behind her, prompting her red hues to widen and for her to grab the hilt of Omen as she swiftly turned around.
UNIVERSE #52577 - MUSTAFAR
The eyes of Darth Vader shot open the instant he sensed it.
A disturbance in the Force.
No sooner had he been awakened did the bacta tank he was submerged in begin to drain. Within minutes, the armor designed to keep the Sith Lord alive was donned, allowing him to exit his chambers and make his way to his Fortress' landing platform where his TIE Advanced waited. He intended on flying up to one of the Star Destroyers that orbited the volcanic planet and send a message to Coruscant.
Whatever this disturbance was, one thing was certain: The Emperor must be warned.
Once outside, Vader observed the volcanic landscape of the planet where Anakin Skywalker, consumed by betrayal and anger, became no more. Where Obi-Wan had left him to die after their fateful duel, only for him to be salvaged by his master and healed. Now cursed to the contraption that prolonged his life as he enforced the Empire's rule over the galaxy. The anger and hate that drove him down this dark path coursed through him, making his connection to the Dark Side of the Force hold as it always had for several years now.
Then, just as he marched closer and closer to his personal starship, he felt it again.
He said nothing, the hissing of his mask being the only thing that could be heard. Rather, he slowly began to turn around, one hand gripped onto his lightsaber. There, just outside the gate to his domain, was a hellish portal.
UNIVERSE #00001 - THE DEW DROP MOTEL, TX
"Room 108," the clerk dryly informed as she handed a set of room keys to a guest.
"Thank you," said guest responded.
The young clerk didn't respond. Rather, she completely zoned out once more, listening to the music from a nearby radio and dreading the part-time job she had taken to pay for her tuition. Completely oblivious that she had just handed a set of keys to one of the most dangerous men on the planet. Someone she assumed was just some nobody who needed a place to stay for the night like always.
But said nobody...is John Wick.
The excommunicado assassin was on a mission. One not from the Continental but from the Bowery King. After being shot and left for dead by Winston, the head of the Soup Kitchen had one of his men rescue him and bring him to a bunker he himself had retreated to. The High Table had scorned them both, so he believed that, with Baba Yaga on his side, he could bring them down from their high horse. But, in order to do so, he needed to relocate from New York.
So, after reaching a deal with the notorious Hotel Moscow, John was now heading for a port in Mexico that could take him to the island of Roanapur, where he was to meet with Balalika herself to solidify the deal. He had managed to fly from JFK to DFW with no problem and was now on his way to the Mexican border. However, even someone as dangerous as John Wick needed to rest for the night, so he made a quick stop at this run-down motel.
As he turned to leave the reception desk and head for his room, he noticed the clerk turning up the music playing on her radio.
IS IT PLEASURE OR PAIN?
(PLEASURE OR PAIN)
ALL HOPE IS HANGING FROM THESE HOOKS AND CHAINS
(HOOKS AND CHAINS)
BUT DOUBT WEIGHS HEAVY, IT'S A PARADOX
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX
TO FIND SALVATION IN LAMENT CONFIGURATION
DEMONS BECOME...ANGELS TO SOME
Tuning out the loud music, John stepped outside and back into the Texas heat as he began to approach his room for the night...only for a portal to open right in front of him.
UNIVERSE #71719 - WARTWOOD
"Keep at it, guys!" Sasha shouted as she swiftly decapitated two of Andrias' drones before vertically bisecting a third. "Let's send these rustbuckets where they belong: The junkyard!"
The Frogs of Wartwood cheered in unison as they, along with Grime, charged alongside Sasha toward their attackers. For weeks now, ever since Anne and the Plantars had been transported to God knows where, the human lieutenant of the Toads had been protecting the small town from the forces of Amphibia's war-hungry king and had raised a resistance to fight back against Andrias' machine army. Ironic, considering months ago, she and Grime nearly fed the entire town's populous to the Toad captain's giant flytrap.
After dispatching two more drones, Sasha noticed the Giant Frobot that had been sent to destroy Wartwood fire a barrage of missiles toward her and Grime. Acting quickly, she used her swords to slice two of them in half before leaping forward to dodge a third.
"Grimesy! Incoming!" she warned before sliding underneath a fourth missile.
Heeding his lieutenant's warning, Grime reacted by smashing one missile to the ground before bashing the second away, both with Barrel's Warhammer. As he did so, the rest of the townspeople had easily managed to dispatch the rest of the drones. Willy with his accordion, Maddie with her magic, Ivy with her fists, and Chuck with, well...
"I grow killer tulips," he said as a giant, monstrous tulip devoured one of the drones whole.
Within minutes, all that was left was the gargantuan Frobot that launched this newest assault.
"One to go," Sasha said as she readied her weapons once more.
Fully intending on finishing Andrias' latest ploy, the Toad lieutenant lept into the air, letting out a mighty war cry as she positioned her blades at the Frobot's eyes. However, as she descended towards its head, a portal opened right in front of her, catching her completely off guard. Sadly, she was unable to stop her approach in time and flew through it before it closed, transporting her away from Amphibia.
"Sasha!" a shocked Grime called out.
With their leader gone, the Frobot focused its attention back on the townspeople and began to approach them, Grime quickly standing in the middle as he prepped his hammer for a fight.
"Everyone, stay behind me!" he instructed.
UNIVERSE #32010 - NIGHT RAID'S HIDEOUT
Night had befallen the cabin of which the group of rebel assassins had called home. Most of them had gone to sleep by now, save for one. Using the much-needed peace and quiet to her advantage, Akame had taken the time to begin the delicate procedure of cleaning Murusame. She had recently called upon her Teigu's cursed blade to cut down several of the Empire's soldiers to safeguard Leone and several...strangers, to put it lightly. [1] As such, she felt the need to undergo the nerve-wracking procedure of cleansing it from the enemy's blood, despite the risk of instant death should she so much as cut her finger by accident.
Her thoughts drifted to said encounter, which thankfully ended before the imperial soldiers or any of the Jaegers could claim her or Leone. However, not long after retreating to their base, Leone had volunteered to embark on a mission to thwart the schemes of an immortal witch from another dimension. She couldn't help but wonder what horrors she would come face-to-face with as she and the rest of this team ventured into the Multiverse. The wielder of Lionelle had attempted to reassure her safety before she departed. But Akame still couldn't help but be a nervous wreck on the inside, hidden deep within her cold, almost emotionless demeanor.
This path to peace weighed a heavy toll on the young assassin ever since she defected from the Empire. Mercilessly cutting down hundreds with her blade without remorse or hesitation, staring death in the face dozens upon dozens of times, and, above all else, losing those she cared greatly for. From her sister, whom she left at the mercy of the Empire to become a sadistic, vengeful killing machine, to Sheele and Bulat, who had fallen to their enemy. Despite this, she knew that she had to keep pushing forward until the Empire fell.
Only then, perhaps, could she finally know peace.
So distracted was Akame by these drifting thoughts that she failed to notice a fiery portal opening up behind her. Only when she felt the heat and saw the room illuminated by its presence did she grasp the hilt of her blade, ready to strike when the enemy revealed itself.
UNIVERSE #92096 - THE OUTLAW STAR
Aisha's ears perked up for a moment as if she felt her primal senses were trying to warn her of some unseen threat. Currently, the Ctarl-Ctarl warrior was in her quarters, trying to enjoy a private meal. Thinking that Jim had snuck into her room to prank her or something, Aisha sat up from her bed to begin her search for him. But just as she set foot on the floor, she felt something reach out from under her bed and grab her by the ankle.
"What the fu-" she attempted to say before she was dragged under the bed.
Moments after she was taken, Gene came into the room, only to find an empty room.
"Where the hell does that girl go?" he mused to himself.
UNIVERSE #00001 - MOSSY HAVEN TRAILER PARK, MI
I'M LIVING ON AN ENDLESS ROAD
AROUND THE WORLD FOR ROCK 'N' ROLL
SOMETIMES, IT FEELS SO TOUGH
BUT I STILL AIN'T HAD ENOUGH
I KEEP SAYING IT'S GETTING TOO MUCH
BUT I KNOW I'M A LIAR
The hard and heavy sounds of a band that once played rock 'n' roll boomed into the ears of one Ashley J. Williams as he continued to drive his Oldsmobile back to his trailer. The perfect way to cleanse his mind after a rather...difficult shift at one of Detroit's many S-Marts.
"'Oh, you work here. You should know where EVERYTHING is, stupid!'" Ash said in a mocking tone. "Yeah, in housewares. You ask me where the shampoo is, you're outta luck. Dumb old bitch."
One would think a man working a dead-end retail job and forced to live in a trailer wouldn't exactly lead the most interesting life...but that's where you'd be dead wrong. For ever since he, his girlfriend, and some of his friends went out to a cabin in the woods, his life had become utter madness. Thanks to a book of all things.
The Necronomicon Ex-Mortis.
Bound in flesh, written in blood, and filled to the brim with dark incantations to summon the dead, Ash's normal life came to a screeching halt the instant he and his friends accidentally unleashed the Kandarian magic within this Book of the Dead. Since then, he had to decapitate his possessed girlfriend with a shovel, cut off his own hand and replace it with a chainsaw, slice and dice his way through several Deadites, travel to 1300 A.D. where he was hailed as some 'Chosen One,' fight an Army of Darkness alongside King Arthur of all people, and travel back to the present with the help of the same damn book that started this mess in the first place.
And yet, here this 'Chosen One' was, still stuck working housewares at S-Mart and living in a trailer park, no less.
Even still, ol' Ashy Slashy was content hanging up the chainsaw and Boomstick in favor of womanizing at the local drive bars. Not the most exciting follow up to fighting a horde of Deadites, but he was at peace with it if it meant finally being done with the Necronomicon for good.
However, it seemed destiny wasn't quite done with Ash just yet. For the second he pulled into the trailer park's entrance, an orange, almost demonic portal opened up right in front of his Oldsmobile, prompting him to immediately hit the brakes.
"What the hell...?" was all he said before opening the door and stepping out.
Thankfully, Ash wasn't an idiot...well, okay, not a complete idiot, and he was more than prepared for such an occasion. As such, he quickly went to the back of his car, popping the trunk open to reveal his trusty chainsaw and shotgun. He then removed his prosthetic arm and attached his chainsaw before grabbing Boomstick, all while the music continued to play thanks to Ash not turning off the engine.
FEELING ALRIGHT IN THE NOISE AND THE LIGHT
BUT THAT'S WHAT LIGHTS MY FIRE
Now fully armed, Ash turned to face the portal once more, waiting for whatever horror it was inevitably going to vomit out.
HELLRAISER, IN THE THUNDER AND HEAT
HELLRAISER, ROCK YOU BACK IN YOUR SEAT
"C'mon!" Ash dared. "Think I'm scared of whatever-?"
He was rudely interrupted by a kunai attached to a chain shooting out of the portal. Ash was quick to react, stepping out of the blade's path. Unfortunately, it seemed as though the weapon had a mind of its own and quickly wrapped itself around Ash's waist, much to his surprise.
HELLRAISER, AND I'LL MAKE IT COME TRUE
HELLRAISER...
"Get over here!" a voice suddenly shouted from the other side.
I'LL PUT A SPELL ON YOU!
That was the last thing the Chosen One heard before he was pulled into the portal before he could say "Fuck!"
HELL - THE DOMAIN OF LEVIATHAN
Ash spent what felt like years falling through a fiery inferno, screaming in terror before landing face-first on the ground.
"Ugh...Son of a bitch," he groaned. "Just when I thought I was out, huh?"
Noticing his chainsaw had detached on impact, the keeper of the Necronomicon crawled his way to his makeshift weapon, fighting through the pain one of his age would naturally be in right about now. Once he made it, he reattached the chainsaw to where his right hand once was and picked himself back up.
Once he was on his feet, Ash began to observe his surroundings, noticing that he seemed to be in a labyrinth of some kind, thanks to the diverging pathline in front of him and the lack of a roof. The architecture was archaic, possibly thousands upon thousands of years old. However, that wasn't what Ash's eyes were drawn to. Rather, it was something that seemed to be on the horizon, far away from where he stood: A titanic, three-dimensional diamond that slowly rotated itself, projecting what almost appeared to be shadows from out of each of its four sides.
"...Oooookay, I'll take 'shit I didn't expect to see' for $800," Ash quipped to himself.
Knowing he wasn't going to get answers just standing around like a moron, Ash proceeded to pick up Boomstick and make his way through the maze before him.
From far away, Pinhead observed the maze of which his God oversaw, grasping onto a Lament Configuration as he sat upon his throne, blood-stained chains hanging from the ceiling above. Behind him stood a hooded figure clad in black and yellow, a mask covering the lower half of his face as his eyes glowed an unnatural pallet of white.
"You've done well, Scorpion," the lord of the Cenobites complimented. "I can certainly see why Quan Chi held you with such high esteem."
"Just don't forget your end of the bargain, Hell Priest," the one called Scorpion coldly reminded.
"Have patience," Pinhead replied. "I will make good on our deal in due time. But first, I wish to observe my candidates for this task. See if I had chosen wisely."
"And that is why you requested me to bring them here?" Scorpion surmised.
"Of course," Pinhead answered. "To, as someone you know might put it...test their might."
[1] - As seen in Savages: Multiverse