Author's note:

This chapter takes place a few weeks after the events of chapter 7 as Ashley is slowly gaining more power and learning the extend of her abilities

Chapter 8:

Smile for the camera

Gunshots and explosions could be heard as Pink neon was standing on the roof of one of the few remaining buildings of the more violent, destruction happy zones of pentagram city, constant turf wars being a regular thing in these streets as she was currently busy filming her friend, Ashley, who was zipping by, punching and kicking left and right.

Every now and then, she'd wave that all too familiar angelic axe around some sinners, putting the fear of god in them as she had finally singled out her target, A quite large looking, well known "wana-be" overlord, seemingly on a similar quest to the top.

With a smirk, Ashley just ran towards a pile of nearby debris and used the elevation to get some impressive air as she raised her axe towards the sky, just long enough for the large, bull like sinner to turn around, see the shine of the angelic steel and fall over backwards in a panic, only for the axe to strike right between his legs, embedding itself into the ground.

He looked with wide, panicked eyes at the weapon, and then he looked up, seeing Ashley's eyes spark with energy, almost as if lightning was coming off them, smoke pouring from the corners of her mouth as her scars were glowing a white-hot orange.

She just smirked as she walked towards the demon, pulled the axe free, and planted one foot firmly onto the sinner's chest, pushing him back on the ground.

"So you're this "Miss fortune" I heard so much about?" the demon spoke, attempting to sound unimpressed, but failing miserably, and Ashley was NOT buying it.

"And you must be Toro, "the bane of the combat zone" Gotta say, I was expecting….." As she leaned down and slightly pulled the bull man up by the collar of his shirt "….something more then this sad display….."

And as Ashley was making her deal, Pink stopped her recording as a few minutes later; she was joined by her friend on the roof who gave her a high-five.

"And another one in the feckin pocket!" Ashley smiled "you got that all on film?" to which pink just smirked as she held up her phone, showing the shares and likes that the video was already getting

"Does a bear shit in the woods?" Pink just responded

"man, you're absolutely blowing up online, all of the pride ring is talking about you!"

Ashley fist pumped the air "FUCK YES!" she yelped excitedly, before she added "and the name stuck?" to which Pink smiled "oh yes it does, the tags #anarchydemon and #missfortune are going insane, it seems I ain't the only one who's recording your shenanigans and posting it online"

The 2 ladies shared a fistbump as they made their way downstairs and back to a less trigger happy area, tho unbeknownst to them, a small, dark blue video drone seemed to be following them…..

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Vee tower, the pride ring, hell

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Ashley's shenanigans are being displayed on a few of many modern looking television screens as a rectangle headed demon in a suit and a tophat leans back in a chair, tapping his fingers together while observing the scene before him, his elbows leaning on the chair's armrests.

"What do you make of this Vel?" the strange, TV headed demon spoke to a shorter, female demon who looked like a fashion doll.

"Well fockin' sinstagram is going insane over this bitch, don't know what the fuss is all about, I mean, look at her, she's dressed like some fockin' dyke" The fashionista demoness spoke, unimpressed.

A large, moth like demon in a fur trimmed coat was leaning against a wall, behind the 2 other demons, as he spoke in a annoyed tone, all the while taking long drags from his cigarette "Oh Voxy, I don't get why you're so riled up by this bitch, she's a nobody, none of our concern" he spoke in a suave, sensual tone.

"She may be a nobody now" Vox spoke up " but she is raking in souls at a….shall we say…..concerning rate" as he points to the footage of the bull demon while he rewinds the recording "I had high hopes for Toro, he was showing great promise, but she took him down quite easily, forced him into a soul contract and had him transfer all the souls he owned to her instead"

The doll demon, known as Velvette, just smirked "well perhaps we just found his replacement, I say we wait until she gathers a bit more infamy, let her become known among the public and then, we snatch her soul and make her Val's new fuckin' plaything for in the studio, what do you say, Vallentino?"

To this, the moth demon smirked "Ah Velvette, now you're speaking my language, I'm sure breaking her in will be most FUN"

Vox smiled as he pressed a few button on a nearby panel and the video footage was quickly broadcasted across the entire pride ring.

"yea, let's make her famous….and then…..we can have ourselves a new moneymaker…" As the Vee's smugly chuckled amongst themselves.

Unbeknownst to the Vee's however, the footage was also caught by another set of eye's….

An eyebrow was raised as a tall, imposing figure was currently sitting behind an ornately crafted desk, the 2 red eyes glued to the screen as the figure silently observed the footage of Ashley.

"Clara, Odette, any intel on this individual?" the figure spoke.

2 sinners, one with darker skin and curly hair, and one with blonde hair and a labcoat, approached.

"They call her "Miss fortune" mother" the labcoat wearing sinner spoke as the curly haired one added "yes, "miss fortune" or " the anarchy demon" she seems to be leaving quite a mark on pentagram city, especially since she seems to be wielding a near pristine angelic axe"

The tall feminine figure had her hands slotted together as she leaned on the desk with her elbows "I would like to keep an eye on this….."miss fortune"…..she shows…..promise….."

The labcoat wearing sinner spoke up "Mother, are you thinking of making a deal with her perhaps? She could be of great use to us"

The female figure took a deep breath as she stood up from behind her desk " No…..i believe….she might be joining us in the distant future at the overlord meetings….especially if she keeps going like this" as a subtle, pleased smile crept across her face "I got a good feeling about this one"

She then turned to her daughters "I think it would be a great investment to a possible future partnership, don't you agree, Clara, Odette?" to which the 2 shorter sinners stood on either side of her and took a look for themselves.

"What do you think, Clara?" Odette spoke up "Hmm, I think she looks like a pistol kinda person to me" Clara responded.

The taller sinner smiled as she had her arms behind her back "It is settled then, I suppose it is time for us to get to the drawing board"

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Club consent, pride ring, hell

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The sound of glass on glass could be heard as Pink neon and Ashley toasted with their drinks "Fuck yea, this is going better then I ever hoped!" the shark grinned sinner spoke as her friend responded "Couldn't have said it better myself, you own like, what, how many souls now?"

Ashley took a big gulp of her long island iced tea as she gave a satisfied sigh "ahhh, about 537 now? Maybe more?" to which she grabbed her friend in a playful headlock and started roughing up her hair with her fist "I fucking love ya, you crazy bitch, this fucking plan of yours, I still can't believe it's ACTUALLY working"

Pink just drunkenly giggled under her friend's grip "hey fuck off Ash, this hairdo cost me my entire monthly salary to get right, if it's fucked, YOU are paying for my next appointment to the hairdresser!" she joke-threatened.

And as she let go, Ashley received a tap on her shoulder.

When she turned around, there was a sinner demoness with large, curled ram horns and 4 arms eyeing her up with a half lidden gaze.

"You the one they call "miss fortune"?" she spoke with a raspy tone, lust lacing her every word, she was absolutely gorgeous and Ashley could barely keep her eyes off her.

Ashley's eyes widened as her face turned red, tho when she looked at her friend Pink, her bestie just gave her a big, knowing grin, a wink and a thumbs up.

"hehe well yes I am, wana find out what the "fortune" part of that name stands for?" she smugly said as she leaned on the bar with 1 elbow.

The 4 armed sinner just gave her a growl, grabbed her by the shirt collar and pulled her away to one of the club's private booths,

All the while, Pink was giving her the "rock on" fingers as the ultimate wing woman as they partied till early into the morning.

Neither pink nor Ashley knew exactly how they ended up back at their apartment, all they knew is that they woke up back home.

Pink was hanging over the backrest of the couch as Ashley was laying face first on the ground, in the middle of the living room.

Ashley was the first to lift her head " Uhg….somebody please note down the license plate of the TRUCK that ran over my head….."

"UHH not so loud" Pink responded in a groan as she rubbed her head "I feel as if there's a bucket of rusty nails inside my skull…"

As Ashley attempted to get up, her stomach turned itself upside down and she only just about managed to exclaim a loud "oh fuck!" before bolting to the toilet as Pink was now able to hear her friend retching into the porcelain bowl.

Pink managed to get up without much issue as she stumbled towards the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker.

Just as she was about to grab the coffee pot, a gentle knock could be heard on the front door.

"uhg, Ash, can you get tha-" she was just about able to get out before yet another retch from her friend cut her off as she finished "….never mind, I'll get it"

She opened the door, seeing a postman demon "I was told to deliver this here, I assume you can get it into the hands of the anarchy demon?"

Pink just blinked as she accepted the ornate envelop.

"Any idea who it's from?" she asked

"Eh, dunno, don't care, just doing my job miss" as he tipped his hat and moved onto the next address.

Just as pink returned to the living room, Ashley emerged from the bathroom, her reddish, grey skin now having taken on a slight greenish hue "uhg…..i think we overdid it a bit last night, Pink" before she saw the letter she was holding.

"hu? Mail" She asked "yea" Pink responded "No idea from who tho, there's no sender" as she then handed it to Ashley "it's just addressed to the anarchy demon"

Ashley took the envelop, it was a light grey, with ornate, darker grey designs on it…..these designs….looked …..somewhat familiar to her….she had seen it somewhere before…..she just couldn't put her finger on it…..

She took a deep breath as she tore it open and began to read the letter.

"Dear miss fortune

Your most recent activities have piqued both mine and my associate's interest. Your handling of "less then savory" individuals and great efficiency in collecting contracts have caught our curiosity and henceforth, we wish to meet face to face. You could see it as a way for us to "test your mettle" and to see if the rumors are true. I personally do hope this is the case. If so, I am looking forward to a possible cooperation/partnership that will be mutually beneficial for all parties involved

Attached to this letter, you will find the address to a disclosed location. As a sign of good faith, we do hope the knowledge of this location shall remain STRICTLY between you and us.

We also would like to ever so kindly request that you attend this meeting ALONE.

We are looking forward to our future cooperation….

With kind regards

C. "

Ashley deeply inspected the letter, but no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find anything to identify this mystery sender.

"any idea who it's from?" Pink asked.

"not a damn clue" Ashley responded, frustrated "Only this C, that's the only clue we got"

Pink scrunched up her eyebrows in concern "It might very well be some kinda trap, you're making a name for yourself, and some might see you as a threat, they might want to get you out of the picture"

Ashley spoke "Could be…but it could just as well be good news….." She inspected the letter again, there was only that initial, the address and a timeframe, 9PM….. tonight.

"Look, the only way to find out what the fuck is up with this is to go there and see for myself" Ashley spoke up, pocketing the letter as Pink voiced her concerns "I don't know Ash, this could end badly"

She took a deep sigh "Well I'm willing to take the plunge, and you won't like what I'm about to say but….i'll be going alone, who knows, maybe this could turn out great"

"Are you sure?" Pink asked "No offense Pink, but whom of us has more combat experience?" Ashley stated very matter-of-factly before patting her friend on the shoulder reassuringly "Hey I'll be fine, ok? I got this. I'll be back before you know it"

She then held up her pinky "Ain't getting rid of me that easily" she said with a smirk "ride-or-die?"

Pink sighed before hooking her own pinky into hers "yea…..ride or die" Before pulling her bestie into a tight hug.