(Hell: I.M.P. HQ)

The phone at the receptionist's desk at the I.M.P HQ rang loudly, the sound of it ringing had echoed through the building as Loona had smacked her hand against her face in annoyance, a sharp growl coming from her throat.

Loona was a hellhound, with grey and white fur, a black wet nose, razor-sharp teeth, and her hair parting to her left. Her eyes possess a red sclera and white irises, while she also sported some make-up, such as eye-shadow. Her attire consists of an off-the-shoulder grey crop top, with strings wrapped around her neck, made to resemble an upside-down pentagram. Around her neck was a black choker with silver studs, and black fingerless-gloves. She wore a set of black shorts, which were slightly tattered, and a pair of black stockings. She also had a long bushy, black and white tail.

Loona couldn't care less about this job. She didn't want any part in it, yet she had to, simply out of familial obligations, due to Blitzø adopting her. She just wanted to do what she wanted, but yet she was stuck with this crummy job.

Of course, being the adoptive daughter of the CEO of I.M.P, she was brought into the business and made to act as a receptionist for the business, answering calls for potential customers so that they know who to kill when in the human realm, and to get acquainted with the customers themselves. However, Loona couldn't give a single damn about any of that. The issue is that the job is too damn boring. She'd rather do something far more entertaining, like playing on her phone, listening to music, messaging some of her friends, such as Vortex, smoking, or reading a magazine. However, whoever had been trying to contact her had done so repeatedly for the past God-knows how many fucking times!

Eventually, Loona had just slammed her fist against the wooden desk, and fiercely grabbed the telephone, grabbing it to her pointed ear, a scowl had revealed her clear, yet incredibly sharp teeth. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?!"

"I simply called to hire your services,"

A deep, masculine voice rung out, which was the sound of burning cinders and sharp metal grinding together. Loona had never heard a voice like that in her life, yet it had somewhat struck some fear into her. It was evident as her eyes narrowed, her hair and fur spiked upwards as she felt her sharp claws dig into her fur. "You want to get us to kill someone for you?"

"Of course," The man on the other end of the phone responded, almost as if he was answering the question 'Is the sky red?'. "I wish for you and your little group to do some killing for me. Although, I do have a request. I have already sent an associate directly to your headquarters in Imp City so that the details can be discussed."

"Hold on, you haven't even--" She began but the sound of the phone hanging up on her cut her off, a look of shock and disbelief crossing her face as she held the phone in her hand. The conversation wasn't even a minute long, the man on the other end of the phone certainly had a lack of patience and a lot of tolerance to her neglectful behaviour, more specifically towards her work ethic, yet she wasn't even suspecting that the man was someone who did not care for no nonsense.

Instead, she simply put the phone back to where it came from, and sat down, before shrugging. She then sat back onto her chair, and proceeded put both of her legs on the desk, plugging her headphones into her phone, and went onto her playlist on her hellphone, not even caring about the person on the phone, a look of boredom on her face. As such, as music was blasting in her ears, she had failed to notice the entrance door near her had opened, nor did she see the figure of another hellhound walk past.

Blitzø, the ø is silent, was currently holding an array of red bills of money, a styalized 'H' decorating the centre of each individual piece of paper, with a massive smirk on his face. Nobody expected the I.M.P to be profitable, given the fact it was being run by...well...imps. In fact, it was because he was an imp that it had received a level of negativity. Imps in Hell were on the lowest of the totem pole in Hell, matching that of Hellhounds, such as his daughter, Loona.

Blitzø was a red-skinned Imp, standing at a height above average for his own kind. There were a set of white marks that decorated his body, though the only visible ones were the ones on the right half of his face and the ones on his thin tail. He had a set of black horns protruding from the top of his head, and sported no hair on his narrow head. The horns also had thick white stripes decorating them horizontally. Decorating his forehead was some sort of crest. Aside from that, his eyes were yellow, and so were his sharp teeth.

His outfit consisted of a slate-grey collared coat, which was tattered in some areas, with red piping and a red inside, black pants, along with black and red boots which scaled up to his knees, and a set of gloves which covered his rather broad forearms and hands, being black, showcasing red claws and yellow decorations on them as well, resembling eyes. He also had a tail that ended in a spiked end. On his shoulder blades and said tail were black spikes that curved downwards.

Suddenly, the door flew open, slamming against the wall as Blitzø jumped up in shock, the stack of money flying in different directions as they began to descend to the floor. In addition to that, a series of different items fell off of his desk, cluttering to the floor. A hellhound walked in, carrying a briefcase.

"What in the actual fuck!?" Blitzø yelled out in being disrupted while organising the company's billings. However, he had squinted his eyes just to get a good look at the potential new client.

Hellhounds come in a variety of different types of dogs. It would seem that this hellhound had matched Loona, being a wolf. Her fur was a combination of orange with stripes of red scattering her face symmetrically, running down the sides of her muzzle and her face, almost like it was war paint. Her hair was also spiked up, curving from her forward to the back of her head in a straight line, much like an actual mohawk. Her eyes also shared the same blood-red as his daughter, but the irises were a bright yellow, and were styalized like a star.

Her outfit, much like other wolf-hellhounds, wore a gothic outfit. A black corset was visible to cover her torso, with a red leather jacket over her. There was an array of spikes on her shoulders and a black crest in the shape of a trident over a golden star etched onto her back. She had a set of black jeans and wore no shoes whatsoever. She wore additional gloves and ear piercings on her left ear.

"Well, sorry about the mess," Blitzø began, carefully reorganizing his desk from the clutter he had accidentally created. "You must be here for a few services?"

"That's right," The hellhound replied, before she pulled the seat out in front of her, and sat down. "My name is Emburn, and my boss wishes to strike a partnership between him and your company."

"Please, what could he possibly offer me that is worth striking a deal with?" Blitzø mocked, getting a good few chuckles out of seeing the anger out of the hellhound. However, she simmered down, instantly crushing Blitzø's mirth, much to his annoyance. "Alright, might as well get this over with. What is this offer?" He said, looking at his desk, using a clawed finger to pretend to draw circles into the desk while he lifted a hand to his cheek, holding it up, showcasing the lack of care towards the scenario he's placed in.

In response, instead of speaking, Emburn had brought up the briefcase to the desk, and opened it up. Blitzø eyes barely reached the briefcase, before he turned his attention away in an instant. However, his eyes widened once he saw the contents. On the bottom part of the case was a small statue, beautifully and flawlessly carved from emerald and ruby, taking the shape of a snake curving and shaping itself into a little infinity symbol insignia, which was made of the emerald, with the snake head reaching out to the top, a small apple being devoured in its mouth, with the apple being made out of ruby.

The weapon itself was a sniper rifle, with black metal decorating the entirety of the weapon, with the exception of a variety of orange highlights running through the stock, barrel and the handle. It was far more than a mere sniper rifle. At the forend of the gun was a stylized engraving on it, saying 'Shredder Rush'.

Blitzø, at this stage, was drooling at the very site of the treasure that was shown before him. It was almost as if an audible ching went off in his head. However, Blitzø shook his head and his stupor, before glaring at the potential client with his arms crossed. "What's the catch?"

Emburn seemed caught off guard by the question. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Blitzø repeated, leaning forward. "That jeweled ornament is one of the very few collectables relating to the Morningstar Royal Family. Only thousands were created before being discontinued entirely. Many were destroyed, and only few remained in a couple hundred, becoming one of the biggest collectors item. It is easily worth millions of hell-dollars, and that..." He pointed directly to the sniper. "I have no idea what the hell that thing is This is a loooooot to offer to nothing more than a mere assassin's company."

"But that's just the thing," Emburn spoke. "My boss desires your services as if has come to his attention that you have access to the human realm, to which he desires something from there. It's something that will benefit both sides."

"Benefit how?" Blitzø asked.

The client smirked, now delighted to have his attention. "It involves a little-known secret involving angelic and blessed-tipped weaponry, along with making some improvements to Hell along the way."

Blitzø, despite receiving a vague answer, smirked. "Tell me more..."

"Alright, M-and-M," Blitzø began, before turning towards his daughter, an affectionate, fatherly gaze landed on the hellhound of. "And Loony, my beautiful daughter."

Loona, in response, just rolled her eyes and leaned back into her chair. Her adoptive-father's antics was something she had to get used to ever since she was taken out of the literal prison that was called an adoption shelter. However annoying he may be, she can't really deny that her life has significantly improved since the day her da--Blitzø took pity on her and took her in. As much as his behaviour can annoy her, and the fact he doesn't respect boundaries at all, he is a surprisingly good influence.

Blitzø had announced using his megaphone to assemble in the meeting room, highlighting the urgency of the situation. Loona had a decent sense of when something was urgent, given that Blitzø chose not to swear during his announcement. This had caused the three other employees to leave their current stations,

"Today, we have a special request from a client," Blitzø began, before the lights had suddenly dimmed out, and the projector on the ceiling let out a light, shining a plan behind Blitzø. Moxxie, Millie, and Loona squinted their eyes to get a look at the plans, before the trio widened their eyes at the plans.

"Today, we are going to good ol' Gotham City!" Blitzø announced, causing every single one of his employees to drop their jaws at both the plans and proclomation. Even Loona who, despite not caring about any sort of business half the time, had looked at her adopted-father in absolute shock, her maw dropping. Eventually, Moxxie broke the silence.

"Sir, is this a joke?" Moxxie began, an incredibly doubtful expression plastered across his face. "Are we seriously considering heading to the place no-one wants to talk about?"

Moxxie was an imp, like his wife and boss, and was dressed similarly. He wore a white dress shirt, which was neatly tucked into his black pants. His legs also appeared to be bent backwards, where knees are supposed to be, signifying his digitigrade legs. He wears no shoes to speak of, exposing his hooves, with two red spikes jutting out. Over his white shirt, he wore a navy-blue tailcoat, in addition to a red bowtie being tied at the neck. He had red skin, with white freckles, white hair that extended to the sides of his face, framing it nicely, with the pair of horns he had had flown out of his hair, and were much more angular than his boss' horns, Blitzø.

"Oh, Moxxie, my dear friend, of course I am," Blitzø confirmed. "Sure, it may be stupid, and risky, but it's well worth the price."

Moxxie's left eye twitched uncontrollably...before proceeding to fall over with his chair, slamming himself to the floor due to falling unconscious because of shock. His wife, Millie, yelled out in surprise. "Moxxie!" Jumping out of her seat, she had grabbed Moxxie by the shoulders and began to shake him violently. Moxxie's reaction to his boss' words had caused his mouth to start foaming uncontrollably.

Millie was also another imp, and Moxxie's wife. She had a set of messy charcoal hair which was cut into a bob, yellow sclera in her eyes and long eyelashes, with a beauty mark under the right eye of hers. She had a set of black horns protruding from within her hair that curved backwards. Unlike the horns of her husband and boss, the white striped were nothing more than lines, perhaps due to a genetic trait inherent to female imps. She also wears make-up, such as a dark-red eyeshadow. On her right shoulder is a black tattoo in the shape of a heart, and she also had small white marks decorating her body, such as on her arms and on her tail.

Her outfit involved a black crop-top that had straps going over her shoulders, pinned down by yellow buttons. She wore a set of black denim jeans, which were slightly ripped at the knees, and she sported no sort of footwear, exposing her feet, which were similar to Moxxie's. Her eyes turned directly to Blitzø, tears streaming out as she glared at her employer.

"How dare you mention that unholy disgrace of a land in front of ma' hubby, Blitzø!" Millie yelled, currently tending to Moxxie, who's condition didn't seem to get better. In fact, it seemed to worsen as he threw up violently, green bile oozing out of his mouth.

Loona had visibly recoiled from the disgusting site that laid before her very eyes. However, even she knew she couldn't blame Moxxie for such a reaction. There are a plethora of different cities in the human world that have high rates of crime, and, by extension, death. If you were to type in 'Which city has the highest rate of death in the human world?' into the Infernalnet, you'd be unsurprised to find that such a title belongs to the one and only City of Gotham.

One would consider it the cesspool of the world, the sewer system underneath the cities of the entire world. Loona is no expert on what goes on in the living world. However, she heard stories from other sinners and hellborn that there are a bunch of superheroes roaming about in different cities. Despite the villains attempts, most of those cities tend to have most of their villains reform.

However, Gotham City is just built different. The roots of corruption and crime has sunk incredibly deeply into the society of Gotham, becoming so incredibly ingrained it cannot be removed. She has seen new sinners descend into Hell in a near shell-shocked state, simply because of what they experienced at the hands of some of the biggest, most disgusting people to roam the blood-filled streets of Gotham. Because of that, most sinners and hellborn regard Gotham City to be an unspoken word; a swear word, really, except the population of Hell itself don't dare to speak of it.

"Sheesh Moxxie, take it easy," Blitzø fired back, not even acknowledging the reaction with care or concern. "Seriously, it's just Gotham."

"'Just Gotham?'" Loona quoted, her voice rising a little bit. "Gotham City is easily the worst place on Earth. Some would easily say it is Hell on Earth."

"Perhaps, but our client is offering a hefty price for such a trip," Blitzø began. "One of which includes a jeweled variety of the Morningstar Family emblem."

"Holy shit, is that true?!" Loona cried out as she stood up from her chair in shock, knowing full well of the collectors item being worth millions.

"Damn right, Loony," Blitzø confirmed. "This is an opportunity of a lifetime! If we can get this down and get our client what she wants, we'll be filthy rich!"

Loona had looked towards Moxxie, his red skin already becoming a pale pink and his wife, Millie, trying to find some medicine within her bag to help him, albeit frantically, which most likely didn't assist her endeavour in trying to help Moxxie.

Despite Blitzø's status as CEO of I.M.P, he was, by every sense of the word, as unprofessional as they come. He never had a single plan when it came down to any of his assassination targets. Because of that, it can be really difficult when going about any assassination targets, as their attempts are rather clumsy and uncoordinated, and this wasn't Los Angeles that they were heading to. This was Gotham of all places.

"At least tell me you have a plan?" Loona asked, however she found herself dreading the answer Blitzø was about to give her.

Unfortunately, she found herself dreading the answer immediately. The sight of Blitzø's eyes turning away from her, almost like an incredibly nervous shuffle, and the way his smile seemed more contrived and his entire facial expression seemed like he had swallowed something that did not abide by his own tastebuds. Loona just groaned and facepalmed her very own head, her hand being dragged down her own muzzle as she began to realize the stupidity of accepting the contract.

"Blitzø, you do have a plan to do this contract, right?" She asked, a stern look smeared across her face. "Of all places to go and kill someone, it has to be Gotham. You've got to have a plan for this, right?

"I don't actually..."

Loona's pupils shrank immensely as she gritted her very sharp teeth at Blitzø's response. Her fingernails scraped against the table as an animalistic, almost bestial growl, as she screamed. "WHAT?!" Loona yelled, as the entirety of the room shook. Around her, plants and shelves quaked and

"But!" Blitzø began, holding up a single finger. "The client herself does have a plan. As such, she will be accompanying us for this very thing."

Loona sat down, yet still regarded the entire situation with a large amount of trepidation and uncertainty, especially with going straight into Gotham City. It was the very place where criminals run rampant, uncaring about the damage they're doing. It was a place where the government couldn't give less of a damn into caring for the citizens of Gotham, where they would rather worry about their next god-damn paycheck.

May the Seven Sins have mercy on their souls...

Loona was grateful that they had connections to the human world. Some times, when they went ahead and killed a contract, they would take money from their victims and keep it for themselves, whenever they required to head into the human world for a period of time. It would be important for when they needed genuine human funds for clothes, food, or other things when out on their job. An example would be that old, decaying fossil that the human world called an old man. He was the CEO of a robotics company, but after his death at the hands of C.H.E.R.U.B.(technically), he was sent to Hell where he revealed that he experimented on either homeless or poor people for the sake of making millions, hence why he is in Hell.

However, the fact of the matter is that they were loaded when it came down to finances, so they had very little to worry about when it came down to the human world. Once Loona finished finalizing the portal, it tore a hole through the barrier that separates Hell from the human world, a ring of fire circling the outer edge of the glyph she had drawn with the chalk. Instantly, an alleyway was shown, with litter scattering everywhere, with sunlight barely lighting the hallway, mostly due to the clouds barely letting light in.

Once the trio stepped through the portal, it ended up closing, leaving them directly into Gotham City. "Christ on a stick, this place is worse than L.A." Blitzø remarked.

Loona and Emburn couldn't help but agree. Gotham City was one of, if not the most, crime-ridden city in all of the world, surpassing Blüdhaven in its criminality. Loona sniffed the air, attempting to sniff out their target. However, the disgusting pollution within Gotham made it incredibly difficult to do so. The only thing she had going on was some faint disgusting scent of vomit and acid. Turning to look towards Emburn for an answer, she spoke. "Who are we supposed to look for again?"

"Baxter Stockman," Emburn revealed, taking out some sort of disk-like device, before a hologram lit up on top. Blitzø and Loona got a closer look at their target, only to have their eyebrows rise in confusion.

Baxter Stockman had this scientist aesthetic going on, with the whole white lab coat and scientific glasses, but what really set the two off was his appearance. His skin was a sickly green-blue, with a set of small, multiple-jointed insect arms pierced through the sides of his coat. His whole stature was also small, matching that of the average imp in Hell. The next huge thing was his head, being larger than normal, with actual black hair and a moustache situated where his lips should be. Instead, all he has are two mandibles, and his eyes were large and orange, small hexagons dotting the eyes, much like an actual insect.

"That's the guy we're hunting down?" Blitzø said incredulously as he stared down the holographic image. "Looks worse than the robo-guy we killed awhile back."

"My boss wants him dead because he has something of great importance to help for the Extermination in a years time," Emburn revealed, before pocketing the device. "Alright, time to blend with the locals."

Loona nodded before she activated one of her powers, as mostly useless as it is. A swirl of silver energy spiralled around her as she felt her body shift and change to fit that of a human. Once the transformation was finished, Loona looked identical to a human. She maintained her outfit's design, although she now wore black sneakers, the colour of her eyes had inverted, she had ear piercings, black lipstick, and her hair now completely parted to the left side, with the right side having a shaven look.

Emburn had done the same as blood-red flames surged around her as her human form took the place of her hellhound form. She had tanned skin, with her traditional mohawk standing proud in the air, with both sides of her head given a shaven look. Much like Loona, she also kept the exact same outfit, only she had a set of black boots on. Her eyes still kept their unusual shape, but there was no red in her sclera, now being a clear marble-white.

"Alrighty, now let's get going," Blitzø began marching out of the alleyway, only for to get pulled right back in by surprise, meeting the fiery eyes of Emburn.

"What do you think you're doing?" Emburn whispered harshly. "If you go out there without a proper disguise, you'll blow our cover!"

"Relax, it ain't the first time I've been seen," Blitzø's noncholant response did not do him any justice, but he didn't care. "I can just get a regular disguise and--"

"No," Emburn firmly affirmed, grabbing the grimoire and opening its contents, flipping the pages until she encountered the human disguise spell. "You need a real disguise, not a half-assed one. Capiche?"

Blitzø groaned in annoyance as he rolled his eyes at Emburn, but relented. Nodding at her statement, Emburn made a series of hand motions and her hand glowed a pinkish-purple colour. Much like a tennis ball, she threw the mist directly Blitzø, which engulfed him on the mystical energy, only a silhouette visible. Once it died down, Blitzø had emerged looking human. He had skin of a light brown skin, with a clump of brown hair, nestled right in the spot between his horns, if they were still there. He also had lost his tail. The only real major thing was his scar on his face, now looking like a burnt pizza than anything else.

"Okay, the sooner we get this done, the sooner I can get this disguise thrown into the trash," Blitzø complained, causing Loona to snort.

Blitzø had despised Gotham City, despite the calm, almost naive persona he had donned back at the meeting at I.M.P. HQ. He had simply done so for the sake of making sure Loona did not worry about the mission, however much he had failed to do so. However, he would ensure the worried gaze of Loona's scrutiny for as long as he would for her sake.

Gotham City, evident by Moxxie's little episode and breakdown, was quite literally what many hellborn and sinners would consider a swear word, one they would never dare to say, despite desiring to use every sort of profanity in every dictionary in the entire grand scheme of creation. In Blitzø's business, or even his entire life as an imp, he has never met a single resident of Hell that didn't know about Gotham City. Gotham City had this particular sort of curse about it. For reasons beyond comprehension, people that died in Gotham often found a surprising state of solace within Hell, as opposed to being in Gotham.

The answer became exceedingly clear when those sinners started to explain what goes up in Gotham and, all of a sudden, things made sense. There were people like Zsasz, who believed that he was helping people become free through murdering them, then there was Scarecrow, who had utilized fear toxins to fuel his own sadistic pleasure of hearing the screams of his tormented victims reach his ears. These villains have some of the greatest kill count out of all the criminals in Gotham.

You did have the occasional villain that did kill, but have genuine reasons about why they do what they do, such as Clayface, Mr. Freeze, but ultimately the previous villains are not even close to the Clown Prince and Harlequin of Crime. Undoubtedly the worse that Gotham has to offer, they are nothing but cruel and sadistic that would put the human portrayals of Lucifer and Satan of all sins to shame. Thousands slaughtered by them collectively, in addition to Scarecrow and Zsasz's kill counts, they are undoubtedly the worse that Gotham have to offer.

Navigating the streets of Gotham was a pain. Gotham had some citizens that were willing to point them in the right direction towards a café for a quick break, and to quite possibly learn about their target's location. However, they were always incredibly weary of their surroundings. In Loona's human form, her senses weren't actually hindered in any way shape or form. Neither were Emburn's. As such, the two made an excellent duo, scoping out potential criminals that may hide in plain sight, carrying knives or guns that they may use in trying to threaten them. Loona and Emburn also had a decent capacity to fight back as well, so that will come in handy when dealing with the filth of this city.

The trio headed to a nearby internet café to get some snacks, along with getting some information. Benefits to hellphones is that they can be connected to the infernalnet of Hell, and the normal internet of the normal realm, courtesy of Asmodeus, the sin of lust, and Beelzebub, the sin of gluttony. Out of all of the sins, those two had the most interactions of the human world. As such, Asmodeus and Beelzebub were the ones to design the hellphone, one that have additional features compared to the cellphone mortals have.

While both Beelzebub and Asmodeus can be rather...reckless when it comes down to designing new products, they were aware of the laws involving demon passage into the human realm, and the sort of stipulation that comes along with it. Ironically, it was the only law that Lucifer and the leaders of heaven agreed on. The law stated that 'no demon or angel can enter the realm of mortals without permission from one of the Sins of Hell or Virtues of Heaven.' As simple as the rule is, it gave Asmodeus and Beelzebub the genuine right to start allowing demons into the mortal realm, under disguises of course, through the usage of an asmodeon-crystal.

That rule also gave them the idea to allow their hellphones to access the internet of the mortal realm without leaving a data trail. This allowed them to effectively traverse the human realm without the inhabitants of Earth realizing that demons had lived among them for a few days. For Blitzø and his company, they had access to a Goetia grimoire of all things, courtesy of Blitzø's...nightly activities with Stolas himself, allowing them to have unrestricted access to the mortal realm, even if they don't have the permission of a Sin to do so. Stolas, and the Goetia's as a whole, have unlimited permission from Lucifer himself, so long as it was him using it.

Once the trio settled down, they instantly began to explain their game plan once they figured out where Baxter Stockman was hiding out. Emburn had stated that, in an effort to keep a close eye on Baxter Stockman, her boss had placed a tracking chip inside of him. This allowed him to ensure he didn't try to escape captivity. With that knowledge in mind, Emburn had suggested that they take a visit to one of her boss' hideouts when he was still alive. She thinks that there must be a tracking device somewhere in one of them in order to track down Baxter Stockman.

With that, the trio had set off to one of the locations, however, they were unaware of the pair of eyes hunting them down, much like a set of prey.

"You sure that we can find Baxter Stockman with this tech?" Loona asked her fellow hellhound, who was already typing away at a laptop, using a software that was already installed onto the laptop, made to track down Baxter Stockman. The software was already running and it was taking some time to finish.

The warehouse was spacious and large, but had very little to offer beyond a few tracking and surveillance devices. Emburn knew that Shredder would desire the devices in the future, so she would have to remind herself to get Blitzø to transport the supplies right into Hell, just outside the elevator leading to her base.

"Absolutely," Emburn spoke. "My boss wouldn't want any precious resources out of his grasp, even for a moment, so he would try to ensure he could keep tabs on any potential assets. Even dead, he seems focused on procuring assets."

"Your boss sounds hardcore," Blitzø said, idly kicking his legs in the air as he was on laying down on his back on a crate. "What's the guys name, anyway?"

"He calls himself 'The Shredder'," Emburn revealed. "He is one of Hell's new residents and already made his way to being an influential overlord in Hell, governing both the Disarray and Doomsday District of Pentagram City."

"Those two places?" Blitzø said, now looking directly at Emburn, positioning himself so that he now sat on the edge of the crate, his legs drooping down over said edge. "They're the worst parts of that circle of hell."

"I know and he knows," Emburn confirmed. "Which is why he's dedicated to establishing order and reconstructing both districts for them to prosper and thrive."

"Gotta admit; kinda impressive for an overlord to do that," Loona admitted, breathing out a puff of her cigarette. "Didn't think any Overlord would have it in them."

"For the most part, he doesn't care about what happens to the residents unless it concerns him and his influential circle," Emburn admitted. "But, he does actually wish for both districts to succeed."

In Hell, you can expect virtually every single crime to break out, ranging from murder, drug use, drug dealing, weapons dealing, rape, all of that sort of stuff. However, then you get to turf wars, and inevitably, they cause all sorts of destruction, which had caused massive amounts of property damage. For the Disarray District, it simply suffered a lack of order and a leader within to guide them, but the Doomsday District was a place of constant turf wars, mass property damage, and many more factors that would gradually wear down the district even more.

Now that Shredder has entered them picture, he has been dominating the other overlords there, acquiring their resources and, through the sinners desperation, had acquired their souls. Then he has been leveraging his new resources into rebuilding the Doomsday District. The process has been quick, seeing as many of the sinners are tired of the constant war. There has been a batch of sinners that had openly defied his rule, and made attempts of trying to kill him.

They were easily made an example of.

"So, what's he like?" Loona asked, lighting a cigarette and smoking it, breathing out a puff of smoke once she was finished.

Her mind thrusted her back to the very day she was introduced to Shredder. She still remembered the day clearly, with it being a strong reminder of who Shredder was in his life. She could not say it was an unpleasant experience.

"So, you thought you could steal from me," an absolute behemoth of a samurai spoke to the sinner that was kneeling in front of him, who was already quivering massively, despite his attempts to stay strong.

Emburn hugged herself, trying to stay comfortable and strong in front of the sight in front of her. She had her soul owned by an overlord a few years ago. At first, the woman seemed to be a kind alchemist, making incredible potions and remedies for people. However, that was all a ruse, using it as a disguise for her drug and hellborn trafficking scheme. She had never felt so insulted in her own life.

Yet, just recently, the whole scheme was completely disrupted by this Shredder himself. He brought no forces, no weapons beyond his bladed gauntlets and armour, no soldiers. He had flat out walked up to the woman and was offered a deal. He was in the midst of her forces and yet offered her a deal. He offered a various amounts of ingredients in exchange for a plethora amount of souls for them. Her boss, being the greedy fat pig that she was, had accepted the deal without considering the tricks the man had up his sleeve.

The contract stated that he will offer a generous supply of ingredients in exchange for a collection of souls. However simple it was, it was often the simplest of deals that had the most potential to be abused. As such, Shredder was free to pick whatever soul she had owned. Unfortunately for the fat pig, Shredder was interested in her very own soul. Emburn had never felt so delighted in her own life to see the hag squirm and have fear in her eyes.

When it was all said and done, Shredder had complete dominance over her soul and was granted the right to toy with it as he pleased. Choosing to view her as a wrench in whatever plans he has in store for the future, her soul was utterly incinerated, being sent to wherever already dead souls go. This is where another piece of the contract comes in. It states that, if one of the people who helped in the creation of the contract perished, all of their possessions will fall onto the other person.

In this case, Shredder had simply deceived the old pig. In reality, he had no ingredients to give to the overlord, instead, tricking her into believing he did. As such, he already had access to all of her possessions, including the amount of souls she had accumulated through her time, including hers. After the whole situation, he ordered a variety of his souls to undo the entite operation, taking the drugs somewhere while a variety of other sinners brought them additional support. The lady that was incinerated had been replaced by some Edwardian lady who specialized in baking and potions and what-not. She, along with her other associates had completely overhauled the entire business into becoming a bakery at first glance, but a secretive potion and poison ingredient shop, with the bakery being something to provide funds for her experiments.

The changes had went by her own eyes so quickly. For the past few years, she had been nothing but an unfaithful servant to the fat bitch, and yet, this sinner, whoever he was, had completely dominated the overlord. After the whole fiasco, Shredder had rallied up the souls owned by the greedy pig and was brought to some warehouse, which housed an elevator built into it. Once they stepped inside of it, the travel journey was almost instant. There was a bright flash and they were deep beneath the entirety of Pentagram City.

In front of her was a large circular room, with the walls completely made out of metal, bolted together. There was an array of room lining against the curved walls of the cistern. There was a stone path circling the edges, where a vast number of people were standing on. Once they reached a quarter around the circumference, the path continued around the circumference but also split apart into another path which reached into the centre of the room, creating a circle at the centre, a rather large one for the sole purpose of making a demonstration.

Along the walls were a series of lights powered by some technology she did not see before. They hummed with an orange and warm light, illuminating the entire room. There were also banners made out of black fabric with a symbol on them. It was a red hollowed-out circle, with a red crest, looking like some trident or footprint or something.

Speaking of which, there was a demonstration going on right in the centre of the room. A large man, with skin and armour of metal and red spikes, looking like a samurai held a glowing black chain, made out of flames. The chain carried itself to a spiritual collar, chaining some sinner that looked like he was dripping with slime.

"P-Please, once the Vees get what they want from you, you're done for!" The snot-nosed sinner spat, quite literally as snot had splashed onto the floor, causing the samurai to step back a few steps, if only to avoid the disgusting bile that was on the floor.

"Fitting appearance for the type of person you are," Shredder spat, the evil in his eyes growing more intense. "A disgusting piece of trash, nothing more."

The flames that made up the chain had flared, encircling the entirety of the sinner, engulfing him. The sinner let out screams of anguish and distraught as he felt his flesh being burnt, almost as if the man commanded the very flames of Hell itself. Then, there was nothing, no screams, no voice, and the flames had been extinguished, revealing nothing.

"Now with that out of the way," Shredder concluded, turning to look at the new additions to his collection of souls, causing all of them to stiffen. "You'd do well to learn from his example. Obey my tasks to the letter and you shall be rewarded fruitfully. Fail or disobey..." Shredder let out a few dark chuckles as he witnessed all of their faces pale. "Well, you've already witnessed a taste of what happens to those who do."

His eyes scanned each and every one of them, almost as if he was piercing into their very soul. Only after a very deafening and uncomfortable silence did he respond. "May I ask what skills you all may have?"

He received a plethora of answers and Emburn was surprised to hear them. There was a series of different replies involving suave talking, gun mechanics, science, biology, mainly due to degrees they had in their past lives. Some may have had different skills due to circumstances. She was still caught up in the act witnessing a sinner get incinerated into nothing that she had nearly jumped out of her skin when Shredder's molten eyes had landed on her, his eyes almost like the corona of the sun.

"I did not receive a response from you," Shredder replied. "What can you do, hellhound?"

"It's Emburn, sir," The words flew right out of her snout as she grasped the end of her mouth, anticipating anger and rage for talking back to Shredder. Looking upwards, she saw no distinct reaction from him, his mask covering his mouth didn't help in discerning any sort of possible emotion.

Just then, he crossed his arms, his eyes closed as if he was thinking, before he let out a small chuckle. "Seems we have one with a bit of backbone. I was getting concerned that these sinners and hellborn were nothing more then spineless fools and cowards."

She felt her heart swell slightly with a bit of pride for an inexplicable reason.

"Back to the matter at hand, what can you do?" Shredder persisted.

"I can be a scout," Emburn responded, feeling more at ease. "My sense of smell can track people across the entire city, and I can also be a living lie detector. My previous boss used me for such a thing before she was killed."

"I assume she meant nothing to you?"

"That fat bitch got exactly what she deserved," Emburn snarled with venom.

The response elicited a strong laugh from Shredder as he lifted his head up to laugh. "I think you're going to fit in well down here, Emburn. Make sure to use that anger and hatred as fuel to hone your skills," Just then, he turned to one of the imps, who seemed to be dressed as a business man. "Get them situated into the base. We have work ahead of us."

The imp, instead of responding, gave off a salute to Shredder before he motioned the sinners to follow him.

"He's a great leader," Emburn admitted. "Not once did I not respect him. He knows how to gain and command the respect of others and others know not to incite his fury. Beneath all of that, I think he does care for his organization."

Just then, the computer dinged, indicating the search was done. "Yes, it's done!" Emburn yelled, typing away as she began to take the flashdrive form inside the computer and plug it into her tracker. The device released pinging noises as the screen gave off waves similar to sonar trackers as it began to spread across the entirety of Gotham City. Soon, the tracker gave a result.

"Alright, he's currently held up at the Arkham Asylum," Emburn revealed, raising a hand against the computer and swiftly brought it down so nobody could use it. Shards of shrapnel and sparks of electricity flew off as she brought her hand out of the damage, shocking Loona and Blitzø at the sight of the act.

"What the fuck was that for?!" Loona yelled, nothing more than out of pure astonishment and shock.

"It's so nobody can use it now that we're done," Emburn simply said, before she took her tracker began to run out the door of the warehouse. "Come on guys, my boss won't be too happy if we don't finish this soon."

Loona and Blitzø only glanced at one another but simply shrugged and ran off after her. Once the door closed, up above the wall, a black garbed figure dropped down. He was dressed in black shinobi, tied down by a red sash at the waist and red straps at the forearms. The figure carried a katana that sported a graceful curve, the blade concealed within the black sheath.

His landing was smooth and silent, highlighting his training as a ninja and an assassin. Just then, he pressed down onto his right ear and began to speak. "Sir, I know where we need to go. Baxter Stockman is located at Arkham Asylum. We need men sent there as quickly as possible."

With my college work done for the year and enjoying some nice time off, I can now put more effort into my stories. It has been a while since the last chapter, mainly because of my college work, which involved my GCSE maths. Now that I am done with those, expect some new chapters.

Preview: Loona, Blitzø and Emburn travel all the way to Arkham Asylum for a prison break, only for a group of ninjas to cross their paths once they get there, seeking the same reward. Can the trio escape with their target in their hands or will the League of Assassins prevail?