"So, extermination takes place every six months instead of a year." Charlie muttered to herself, clearly nervous as KeeKee strutted beside her. "It's no big deal, just a little hiccup. A hiccup where a friend will risk his life."
She seemed to be trying to convince herself that all would be well as Vaggie watched helplessly from her place on the hall chair, while Angel Dust and Andrew both watched from their places on the sofa.
"It's always a step forward..." Vaggie began.
"Two steps back." Andrew concluded with a sigh as he turned back to Charlie, who had currently fallen into a stressed rant.
And he couldn't help wondering if it wasn't partly his fault. After all, he'd sworn to risk his life to protect sinners.
"They're just angels who cut our schedule in half, and might kill Andrew, but who needs a whole year to save souls, right?" Charlie's smile was nervous, and her words bordered on manic as she tried to reassure... someone, and probably failed miserably. It was clear that the new schedule was getting to the princess, who ran her hands over her face, looking utterly horrified as she continued to ramble. "And next time, when they halve the time again and again, we'll just manage it! Won't we?!"
Okay, Vaggie couldn't take it anymore.
"Yes!" Said Vaggie, loud enough to snap Charlie out of her thoughts as she rose from her chair and walked around the table, gripping Charlie's shoulders in a firm but gentle grip, stopping the princess's actions as she offered her a reassuring smile. "We'll manage."
"Oh please." Said Angel, his voice echoing at the most inopportune moment, according to Vaggie, rolling his eyes. "You only had half a chance when you started all this redemption crap. And now?" He paused for a moment, glancing quickly at his phone and wincing, before turning back to Charlie with an unamused expression. "There's no glimmer of hope this time, sweetie."
"Ouch." Andrew commented, grinning slightly as he raised a hand to his chest and feigned a wounded expression, while Angel seemed unaware that the Makai Knight was going to risk his life to save his ass.
Angel rolled his eyes, but gave Andrew a smile accompanied by a middle finger.
"Fuck you, you know what I mean."
"Sure, there's a glimmer of hope!" Said Charlie, trying to sound optimistic, but it didn't work very well when she had to pause to try and find her words. "We just have to look for it a little more."
She gave Angel a reassuring smile as she found her words, but it was clear the spider wasn't buying it.
"Well, while you're watching, the rest of Hell is going crazy." Angel retorted, raising an eyebrow as he turned his phone so Charlie and Vaggie could see the screen. "People are already panicking over the news. Look at what's happening in the Doomsday district."
He swiped his thumb across the top of his phone, scrolling the screen down so Charlie could see a video of a sinner burning alive. However, his eyes crinkled as he saw something at the top of the screen.
"Uh, what's a 'donkey show'?"
"Oh, huh, nothing!" Immediately, Angel withdrew his phone so Charlie could no longer see the screen, laughing nervously as he tried to explain. "It's just that my boss, Val, is freaking out about the news too." His demeanor regained its usual confidence, as he explained, before shrugging. "Like I said, everyone loses their shit."
"Yeah, that's true. Sinners are desperate." Said Vaggie, realizing that, whether he realized it or not, Angel had perhaps just given her the most solid idea she could have had about the whole mess as she turned to Charlie with an encouraging smile. "Maybe desperate enough to try anything to escape extermination?"
Charlie gasped as she realized what Vaggie meant, excitement coursing through her body as she smiled.
"This is the perfect time to recruit more sinners to the Hotel!" She said with that trademark smile of joy as she excitedly raised her arms. This idea would work, she knew it!
"Nice idea and all." Said Angel, raising an eyebrow as he did so without absolutely any belief in the idea. "But are you really going out in all this?" He asked, turning his phone over once more to show the carnage that currently occupied most of Hell.
"I mean, let's be honest, their first thought won't be of this place." Andrew remarked, glancing at Angel with a raised eyebrow before turning to Charlie and Vaggie. "Do you want me to come with or..."
Whatever else Andrew was about to say was interrupted rather abruptly when the back wall behind Charlie and Vaggie suddenly exploded, causing Charlie to scream in fright while Vaggie simply shielded his face.
Andrew was on his feet in an instant, sword in hand, outrunning the two women and heading for the wall, purposeful with every step as he moved at a rapid pace while the rest of the hall's occupants, save Husk, followed him.
"Show yourself ALASTOR!" Said another unfortunately familiar voice could be heard echoing throughout the area, not just inside, as they all stopped against the wall to see who had the audacity to blow a hole in the hotel.
In the air was a large warship. It looked almost like an airship, but had an almost steampunk element as it hovered. Through the glass, they could see Sir Pentious standing at the controls.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Said Andrew looking less angry or worried and more annoyed than anything else when he realized who was "attacking". If only it could be called that. As he stepped through the hole and headed for the outside of the hotel as the Radio Demon himself manifested from... anywhere.
"FACE MY VENGEANCE!" Said Pentious to Alastor, who looked slightly amused and more... curious than anything else.
"Who are you?" Alastor asked simply, raising an eyebrow as he watched the snake on the airship.
"Who am I? WHO AM I?!" Pentious shouted almost insultingly at the question, looking at Alastor with a hiss before offering him a confident smile. "I AM THE BIG ONE... Great..." Pentious seemed to pause, and for a moment, no one could understand why.
"Yeah, yeah, great inventor, all that." Said Andrew, waving as he stepped in front of Alastor, raising his gaze to meet the snake's while raising an eyebrow. "We've been through this before, Pentious, more than twenty times. So either you get the hell out. Or we fight, and as usual, you're going to lose."
It was clear to Vaggie that Andrew had absolutely no interest in pleasing the snake, a sentiment she shared.
Silence reigned in the area, all eyes bouncing between Andrew and Sir Pentious as they waited for an answer.
"And I choose, THE FIGHT!" Pentious roared as his guns seemed pointed straight at the group.
"Well..." Andrew said before turning to Alastor. "The usual?"
"Of course." Replied the radio demon as he and the Makai Knight faced each other.
"Shi-Fu-Mi!" They said as they played a game of the aforementioned game, which this soldier won by Alastor.
"Damn it!" Andrew complained.
"That's the game, my dear friend." Alastor vented.
"Well... I'll get it over with." Said the human, stretching his limbs.
Then quickly, Andrew jumped towards the Pentious cannons, cutting them with ease using his sword, while those still intact tried to shoot him, damaging the airship more than anything else.
Although they'd seen him fight before, everyone remained impressed by his agility and the almost inhuman skills resulting from Makai knight training.
The confrontation ended with Penthious falling to the ground due to the airship's lack of stability caused by its many damages.
The latter landed right in front of Alastor. He tried to attack the Radio Demon, but could only tear off a piece of his jacket. But this only made Alastor mad, and he sent him flying, landing who knows where in the city.
"It seems to me that a visit to the tailor is in order. Good luck comrade." He said, turning to the group as Andrew landed, having finished damaging the airship, which took off at low altitude to limit the damage should it spit itself out.
He was about to leave when Vaggie spoke up.
"Wait, you're leaving? Alastor, we need you. You have to do your job." She said as Charlie tried to see where Pentious had landed.
"We need a wall." Angel said, indicating the hole.
"Of course. I don't want my new project to fall through. What would the papers say?" Said Alastor, conjuring up a group of demons armed with DIY tools before leaving.
As everyone went about their business, Angel dagged the demons summoned by Alastor, which amused Andrew's ring.
"He'll never stop amusing us with his nonsense." Zaruba said, to which Andrew nodded.
"That's right. That's why we like him, despite all the crap he can say or do." He said as he went into the hotel.
An entire empire, two brilliant colleagues and the ability to do absolutely anything he wanted.
Life in hell was great for Vox. How could he complain? He was an Overlord, he owned thousands of souls and he was one of the biggest names in hell. To be perfectly frank, he sometimes wished he'd killed himself sooner.
"It's good television!" Vox laughed as he looked at his monitors, where he could see thousands of sinners using his technology.
There were a lot of brainless idiots. But hey, they made him money.
The TV demon's head abruptly began to vibrate as his face was replaced by a different screen, the sound of a clown horn ringing.
VELVETTE CALLS.
Vox raised a hand to his face, the notification disappearing as an electric current danced around his hand, before discharging it towards a monitor with another smile.
On the screen, a sinful demoness appeared, looking less than enthusiastic in contrast to Vox's cheerful demeanor.
"Hello, Velvette!" He greeted with a smile as he sat back in his chair, sipping his cup of coffee in the process. "How are you this hellish morning?"
"Oh, cut the crap, Vox." Said Velvette clearly not in a joking mood, looking at Vox as she spoke. "I need you here, now."
"What's the problem, dear?" Vox asked as he turned away from the screen, moving to check his phone as Velvette looked at him through the screen.
"Your gigolo is destroying my department!" She said, while Vox could hear commotion in the background. "While I'm trying to put on a show, and..." Velvette paused, and Vox could distinctly hear what sounded like Valentino cursing, followed by the blood-curdling scream of a woman mixed with the sound of torn body parts. "Get your ass over here, now! Goddamn it, Valentino!"
And with that the call ended, the video feed went static.
Vox's smile disappeared, frowning as he let out a sigh as he rose from his chair.
"Oh my God, I'm going, Valentino. Just another fucking day with Val." Muttered the TV demon as he emerged from his den and headed for his elevator. "Hey, hey, hey, shitty life."
The elevator began to rise quickly and smoothly, and in no time at all, the elevator doors opened and Vox flashed his best smile as he stepped out of the elevator and into the lobby.
The crowd of journalists waiting for him in the lobby wasted no time in pointing their microphones at his face, demanding his attention. No doubt wondering what his opinion was on the latest Exterminations news.
He made his way through the crowd, stopping in front of a sinner whose hair covered her eyes. She wasn't bad to look at, which was perhaps why he'd chosen to answer her.
"Mr. Vox, what do you think of the new extermination deadline?" The sinner asked, pushing her microphone in Vox's direction to get an answer as soon as she finished her question.
Vox simply smiled, his demeanor radiating confidence as he spoke.
"My dear friends, we at VoxTek Enterprises have always been at the forefront of innovation!" Said he putting himself in sales mode, easily telling people what they wanted to hear and giving them confidence in Vox itself. "And now, with this new threat imminent, we focus on protecting you." His voice lowered, almost as if he really cared for a moment, before immediately raising a sign, pointing to a lowered screen that displayed a possible logo for... Angelic Security. "We're pleased to announce that VoxTek Angelic Security will soon be available!" He said as he leaned in, his smile turning menacing as he made sure everyone present was looking into his eyes. "Trust us for your security."
And just like that, the entire crowd was now under his control, causing the TV demon to let out a small laugh.
"Sir?" Said the familiar voice of Vox's secretary. "Uh, when did we start working on Angelic Security?"
"Thirty seconds ago." Vox replied, his smile fading as he left the hypnotized crowd and began his walk to Velvette's department while his secretary followed. "Try to get that bitch Carmilla on the books and cancel all my appointments today. I've got a fire to put out upstairs."
And with these final instructions to his assistant, Vox seemed to disappear into pure electricity, traveling and disappearing into the camera. He manifested in Velvette's department, traversing the building's circuits, and arrived just in time to see the fashion and media demoness angrily denouncing her employees.
"Oh, Velvette, I see you're busy." Vox declared, in a bit of revenge for Velvette's earlier interruption of his relaxation.
He took a quick look around the studio and felt a small laugh escape him.
Val really had turned this place into a bloodbath. Body parts and bloodstains littered the floor, and the sinners who were still among the living were frantically rushing to get things back on track for the angry demon doll.
"Tell me, where's our impetuous friend now?" Vox asked, turning to face Velvette.
"In his tower, waiting for a flat-faced prince to calm him down." Velvette replied, rolling her eyes and turning away from Vox.
The TV demon rolled his eyes and let out a sigh as he realized he would indeed be dealing with Val.
"And uh, what's making him look so bad today?" He asked with a fake smile to hide his frustration.
"Who knows?" Velvette replied with a shrug, before turning back to Vox with a scowl. "But he tore up my best model. And you know my show can't wait for that unlucky bitch to get her act together!" Her tone dropped in irritation as she casually tossed back a severed arm. "Melissa! Come over here!"
Vox stood nearby, watching Velvette snap her fingers and toggle between different outfits as a rather terrified-looking sinner stood at the podium.
"Well, it looks like you've got everything under control here."
"Of course I do, fuck you, now go away!" Velvette growled as she turned away from Vox, concentrating on her phone. "Take care of that big baby."
With that, Vox turned to leave, simply wanting to get the day over with. He headed for the door to the Vees' living space, where two demons opened each door as he approached. Vox paused, nodding slightly to the two, before entering as the doors closed behind him.
In front of him, the luxurious living room was somewhat sullied by a huge plume of pink smoke, and Vox could see a shape change inside, a pair of piercing red eyes turning towards the TV demon.
And then a familiar butterfly demon sat up, looking absolutely livid.
"Fucking finally!" Val growled, smashing his wine glass on the floor in his anger as the wine literally fell from his lips. "Kitty, another glass!" He ordered his robot servant Fizzerolli, who immediately left to follow his orders.
Vox was already done with this crap. At least now he knew why Val had reacted so explosively.
"Can you believe what that shit did?" Val asked, literally shaking with rage as his Robo-Fizz handed him a cup and poured some wine into it, before walking away as Val gritted his teeth. "That ungrateful bitch!" He roared, throwing down his freshly prepared drink.
Vox nonchalantly stepped aside to avoid the glass, an unamused expression on his face.
"Uh, which whore are we talking about this time?" He asked.
"Angel Dust, damn it." Val growled as he walked toward Vox, all four hands clenched in anger. "Who else could I be talking about?" Val's poor eyesight and total ignorance of everything but himself prevented him for the moment from noticing Vox's way of pointing at himself. "That fucking bitch. It's thanks to me that he is, what he is today!" Once again, Val didn't notice Vox turning away from the butterfly to check his phone. "If it wasn't for me, he'd be nothing but a bag of meat with a few mildly amusing holes in it."
"Angel's gone?" Vox guessed, raising an eyebrow, not really paying attention to the sheer fury in Val's expression.
"No! He didn't fucking stop!" Val immediately refuted, sliding Vox's phone from his hands to his horror and throwing it against the wall, shattering it into pieces. "It's worse. He's moved out! He thinks he can just walk in here, work, and then go home somewhere else? Can you fucking believe this?! He thinks he can just run off and crash at Lucifer's bimbo of a daughter?!"
He walked past Vox to a cupboard while Vox looked at where his phone had broken.
"Angel's living with Lucifer's daughter now?" Vox asked, turning to Val with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, that bitch, Chalkie or Chandler, or something." Val replied, opening the closet doors and rummaging around inside. "She's got this hotel and... Which one of these guns makes me sexier?" He asked, turning to Vox with a grin as he pointed to two separate pistols.
Vox simply let out a laugh at Val's antics as the butterfly turned back to the closet.
"What are you doing Val?" Said Vox as his expression changed, amusement leaving him in place of a stern face as he realized Val's intentions. "You're not going there."
It wasn't a request, but a demand.
Not that Val would listen.
"That slippery kitty's going to remember who he belongs to." Val growled grimly as he pulled his six-shooter toward his face. "I'm going to fuck everyone in this shithole, I swear to Go-"
"VAL!" Said Vox, suddenly grabbing Valentino by his coat, spinning the butterfly demon to face each other so they were inches apart. He calmed himself and let out a small laugh, before wrapping an arm around his friend and pulling him closer. "Think about it." He suggested much more calmly, walking with Val as he spoke. "Our brand is perfect. And what do you think chasing hookers around town is going to do for our image?"
Val looked away for a moment, as if pondering, before answering as if unsure.
"Uh... it's ruined?"
"Right!" Vox nodded, beginning to sound like a game show as he placed his hands on Val's shoulders. "Do you want people to think you can't control your employees?"
"No." Val replied rather aggressively, as if insulted at the idea of anyone thinking that.
"Exactly." Vox agreed, before turning to Val with a smile. "And hey, you still have him under contract. He's not going anywhere." He reassured, before leaning closer to Val, raising an eyebrow. "So, you should...?"
"Don't do anything?" Val guessed, to which Vox nodded eagerly as he wrapped an arm around Val's neck, pulling the butterfly up to his level.
"Excellent idea! That's why you pay a lot of money." Vox asserted with a smile as he pinched Val's cheek.
Val let out a disappointed sigh as he pulled his cigar case from his jacket.
"But I really wanted to shoot someone."
"Well, let me call the people with the lowest incomes this month." Said Vox with a grim smile that matched Val's as he lit the cigar for him.
Val smiled as Vox turned and walked away from the butterfly.
"Oh, you know me too well." He gave an amused chuckle as he took a deep puff of his cigar. However, he remembered something he'd forgotten in his fury about Angel. "You know, Angel isn't the only one spending time in this seedy hotel with the Devil's Princess."
"Oh, who else is there?" Vox asked, barely granting Val a glance as he continued to search among the month's lowest earners. "Someone who owes you money?" He casually surmised as he concentrated on his assigned task.
Val merely laughed in response.
"Someone who earns us far more than money." He sounded almost giddy, the way he was talking about this person. "The Radio Demon is here."
The... Radio... Demon...?
Vox froze. His hands clenched as a familiar, unwanted fury overtook him, his claws scraping the table as the nearest electronics began to malfunction.
The TV demon let out a strained laugh, craning his neck so he could face Val.
"What did you just say?" he asked slowly.
Val simply smiled in response.
"You heard me."
"Alastor's back," Vox turned, walking toward Overlord du Porno, growing angrier with every step. "And he's with Lucifer's daughter, and that's not the first fucking thing you've said to me?!"
His hands clutched Valentino's coat, dragging the butterfly up to his level as he glared at the demon in fury.
"Hey, killing Alastor is your problem." Val replied with a smirk, rising from Vox's grip with a shrug and walking past him as he did so.
The butterfly pressed a button, a video stream appearing on the screen in response. Vox wasted no time, simply teleporting to the office to see as quickly as possible what the live feed was showing.
The feed showed Alastor outside the Hazbin Hotel, walking towards town, that same infuriating grin on his stupid face. He still looked the same, and Vox felt his anger soar.
But then... something else in the video caught his attention.
"Who's that guy?" Vox asked, his fixation on Alastor lost for a moment as he turned to Val, pointing at the screen. When he saw Val's confused look, he rolled his eyes and motioned for the butterfly to come closer.
Valentino strutted over to the desk where Vox was standing, glancing around for himself, and his eyes widened in surprise.
Someone was entering Lucifer's daughter's hotel. And it wasn't a sinner, nor someone born in hell. No, he could clearly see it in the silhouette and the face: it was a human being, alive and well and visibly healthy.
"It can't be. A human in hell, who seems to be working with Alastor in that grunt's hotel." Devina Valentino, more surprised than anything else, as he stood up and backed away, but Vox shook his head.
"No, no..." Said Vox as he turned back to the camera feed, no longer focusing on Alastor, but on the as-yet-unknown human with whom the Radio Demon seemed to have befriended in view of a friendly gesture they shared before moving away. "He looks familiar. I've seen him somewhere before." Vox couldn't give a name, in all the time he'd been living in hell, he didn't recognize this face... but this human's clothes, Vox was sure he'd seen them before. But the question was... where and when?
"Go get Velvette."
Val glanced at Vox, but shrugged and left as instructed, leaving the puzzled TV demon watching the feed.
Where? Where had he seen this man before? It drove him mad, because Vox never forgot anyone. And given how friendly the human seemed to be with Alastor, he was sure it wasn't someone the Radio Demon had pacted.
What irritated him was the fact that Alastor seemed to be very good friends with this guy, if the way they chatted and made jokes during this short exchange was any indication. This immediately gave him a bad opinion of this historic guest in hell.
The sound of the door opening could be heard, before Val silently returned to the room, followed by a clearly angry Velvette.
"What, Vox?! I've got a show to do, so make it quick!" Said Velvette without wasting any time, walking towards the TV demon as Val also returned to her seat next to Vox.
"Recognize this guy?" Asked Vox, turning to Velvette as he pointed to the human on the looping video clip.
Velvette rolled her eyes, but turned to see what Vox was talking about. Her eyes widened when she spotted Alastor, but they widened even more when she looked at the human.
"He's the guy who beat the shit out of Angel Dust on TV when the princess presented her stupid project!" Velvette exclaimed, pointing to the human, or more precisely his coat, as she turned to the other two.
At this, Val's interest increased considerably as he too moved closer, studying the human.
The fact that this human could beat Angel Dust was quite impressive, given that humans are supposed to be weaker than demons. But it also irritated him. Except for a shoot, nobody was allowed to beat up Angel Dust but him.
"Get the footage of when it happened." Velvette ordered, her desire to run her show lost as she found herself focusing on the human. Vox did as he was told, the video clip having disappeared as he retrieved the TV news footage from the day after the extermination.
Vox accelerated the video, allowing them to run through it quickly from start to finish, and he allowed the images to play like that as the three Vees paid close attention to the images.
"There!" Of all the people, Val was the one who noticed the human first, quickly pausing the images, showing the human, his head covered by his hood, slicing through a rocket sent by Sir Pentious. "He has exactly the same cloak and scabbard for his sword." He said, observing the image.
"The scabbard I don't mind, but regarding the coat it might just be someone who bought the same one." Vox thought aloud.
"I don't think so." Says Velvette, observing the coat. "I've never seen that coat outside of this moment, and the one you showed me earlier."
At this point, they were all curious as to why the human was in hell in the first place. They scrolled through the images to see him confront Angel Dust and Cherry Bomb before bringing out his armor, laminating the two demons without really trying to hurt them, despite the wounds he was capable of inflicting, and introducing himself before the video feed cut out.
"His name is Andrew Ozawa." Said Vox, placing a hand on his chin. "Or Garo, depending on whether he's wearing his armor or not. That's intriguing. Do you think we can find out more about him?"
"I could always interview Angel Dust when he comes to work." Val says.
"As for me, I can see if he's been spotted elsewhere and ended up on the networks." Velvette pointed out.
"Hmm, I see. As far as I'm concerned, I could see if he's already been spotted by VoxTek devices. But I have serious doubts whether I can get any more out of him." Vox thought before coming up with an idea. "So we need to send someone to the Hotel de la petite Morningstar to get more information about this human, and Alastor. Someone they wouldn't consider a threat."
"Uh, I agree with you. But who could we send? No, because apart from one of Val's whores, I can't think of anyone we could send." Velvette said. "And there's no way I'm sending one of my models.
"I refuse to let one of my employees go to this shithole. I'm not going to risk someone else moving there permanently!" Val retorted, making Vox sigh.
The latter was about to run out of ideas when the video stream reverted to the one he and Val had been watching earlier.
Now they saw Pentious fall to the ground defeated before tearing off a piece of Alastor's jacket before being sent flying out of the camera's field of vision. Which gave him an idea of who to send on this mission.