A/N: Big thanks to Calvin Fuji for proof-reading this chapter! The rant has been moved to Chapter Six as of this chapter's posting.
It had been a few days since Vaggie had lost her soul.
It sucked.
Looking at Angel, you'd think that losing such an important part of yourself was nothing more than an inconvenience.
Maybe it's because the spider had been in Hell since the forties.
But regardless, it wasn't as easy for Vaggie as it seemed to be for the actual sinners who were truly in debt.
Though, she supposed their situations were also different enough.
Angel and Husk had willingly gone through with their deals knowing what the stakes were. Vaggie hadn't even been given a choice, her soul had just been taken.
And Charlie hadn't even managed to help. From what Vaggie had heard, the Wraith had brushed her off with nothing more than annoyance and a threat to throw her out personally.
The Princess had been irritated about the angel's past as… well, an angel, but it was Charlie. The moment Vaggie had told her about what happened at the Slaughter Factory, Charlie sat with her until she'd cried herself to sleep.
She hadn't even known what had happened until the next morning.
But when Charlie had managed to tell her what happened… well she could say there are some surprises.
Especially considering Charlie hadn't walked out of it without being hurt herself. At least, emotionally.
Apparently, some succubus had been there. Charlie didn't catch anything but Ness for a name, but the woman clearly had some kind of grudge against the Princess.
According to this unexpected third party, the behemoth had done good and brought about actual peace while Charlie scrambled about trying to just force positivity into people.
Vaggie knew that if she got her hands on the succubus, she'd be begging for death.
Charlie had actually broken into tears after telling her what was said. Apparently the assholes had even accused her of being ignorant to what Hell was really like, even though she was older than even Alastor and had been born in the infernal dimension.
Apparently the only parting words she'd managed to offer was throwing something Angel had said back at the Wraith.
Vaggie wasn't going to call him John. The name was far too normal and far too courteous for a monster like the Wraith.
But it had Charlie seriously questioning the Hotel.
Which… lead to moments like this.
Because so far, everyone who'd woken up had arrived in the lobby to find Charlie frantically looking through notes, her eyes red from either frustration or a lack of sleep. Numerous papers were scattered atop boards and even a couple of walls, and they looked vaguely like rehabilitation methods.
Meanwhile, Charlie seemed to be having a mental breakdown, and Vaggie was beginning to think the idea of calling her father was a good idea.
At the moment, Pentious stood next to her, looking at the Princess with a worried frown. Even though he clearly wasn't a fan of everybody, Charlie had shown him kindness where others did not, and the snake actually had some hope, Vaggie could admit.
Husk had also taken up a space behind the couch, the bottle in his hand forgotten as he watched the Morningstar child fling herself back and forth in her search for answers. Even though his face was still twisted into its signature scowl, there was a hint of concern he tried to hide away.
And Niffty was standing atop the couch, jerking her little arms up and down with the biggest grin on her face, as if she were cheering for a sports game. The angel wanted to believe it was because the little cyclops thought she was helping Charlie, but she genuinely wasn't sure.
"Oh, yikes." Angel's voice flooded Vaggie's ear as he stepped up behind the couch, his body tense in a visible wince as he grimaced. Clearly, he wasn't happy to see Charlie in this state either.
It didn't help that there was some resentment towards the spider on Charlie's end. When you say somebody's nice, and then they turn out to be a complete dickhead, it tends to change your perspective.
Still, Vaggie knew the former porn star hadn't meant any harm, and it was clear he hadn't been comfortable in the slightest giving her the news when he had. And as much as she hated to admit it, when she'd broken down, the spider had helped her far more than she expected.
Deep down, Charlie knew it too. It would just take time for her to see that.
Eventually, Vaggie couldn't take the site of her girlfriend's desperate scrambling.
"Uh, Charlie, sweetie," The angel spoke, taking a second to formulate her words. Showing concern wasn't exactly her biggest attribute, and it admittedly came harder than she'd like to admit. "You uh… you good?" She tried to offer a small smile when she said that, hoping it would help calm the royal demon.
Instead, Charlie jerked around with an almost manic grin on her face. "Nope, no, not really!" The sentence was capped off with a small crazed laugh as the Princess's body turned back to face the board.
It was only after her ending ha that her head followed suit. It was… uncomfortable to watch, to say the least. For a single second, Charlie's head had been facing the completely opposite direction.
The entire thing passed by in only a moment.
Vaggie still didn't like it.
"I've been up all night trying to figure out why the Hotel isn't working!" Well, that explained the eyes, and Charlie let genuine frustration show when she crushed a piece of paper in her hands.
It was made even more tragic by the words that continued to spray from her mouth.
"We've done trust falls, we've tried sharing our feelings!"
The room began to shake as Charlie's hands came to press against her chin.
"We only have a couple months left before the angels come-!"
A building vibration that rattled the entire building suddenly came to a dead stop as Charlie's more demonic features began to show, a nervous laugh escaping her. It'd be a lot more tragic if not for the demonic roar of anguish it overshadowed.
Vaggie didn't agree with the rest of Hell on many things, but one thing she did agree with…
Where was this kind of looming power when she confronted the Wraith the other day?
But Charlie wasn't done, and Vaggie was genuinely concerned that she'd work herself into a frenzy at this rate.
"At this rate-!"
Vaggie knew Charlie didn't actually want to do it. The wound that was her father was a sore one, and a complicated one. Lucifer Morningstar was surprisingly beloved by his daughter.
Their relationship was so strained that you'd never know it.
But still, even without her own reasons… who would know better how to get into Heaven than one of the angels who helped create it?
"Maybe it's time-"
"No." Charlie's head snapped around quickly in a wide-eyed stare.
"To ask-"
"Don't say it!" Suddenly, Charlie's hands were on Vaggie's cheeks in a rather bruising grip.
"You're dad." Vaggie continued anyway, and she made sure to give her girlfriend a sympathetic look even as she smacked the bony hands away off of her.
It wasn't a bad idea.
Charlie showed her disagreement with a disappointed groan, and everybody present watched the entire spectacle play out with curious looks on their faces.
She slumped down, her hands catching herself atop the angel's shoulders, and the grip was far more acceptable.
"Charlie, I know you don't want to." Vaggie began, resting a reassuring hand the Princess, though her expression wasn't any less firm. "But we need every advantage we can get."
The one eyed woman noticed out of the corner of her eye that Angel looked down when she said that, and Husk turned his own catching gaze to the spider in confusion.
Still Vaggie needed to stay focused on Charlie right now, and she did just that.
"He let the Exterminations happen to begin with!" The heir retorted, bringing her gaze up to Vaggie with a hesitant look as she gladly accepted the offered hand. "They just had a meeting and said 'Go ahead and kill everyone-!"
"Why don't you just have Angel bring in the big guy?" The guttural baritone of Husk's voice interrupted the hellborn, and both Charlie and Vaggie immediately looked at the cat with wide eyed stares.
Each woman held the same level of disbelief in their gazes.
"Are you kidding me?"
"Fuck no!"
Husk just let a disinterested shrug escape, and he ignored the wide-eyed look of alarm Angel gave him while Pentious looked around at everyone in confusion.
"Big guy?" He hissed it out as usual, looking to Angel for clarification, his voice twinged with cluelessness. He had hilariously been absent from every encounter that would have told him what was happening.
"The Wraith." The spider answered without even looking.
Sir Pentious immediately relaxed, a surprisingly calm look of understanding.
"Oh, John."
Immediately, every head snapped to the snake so quickly that he flinched back in fright, his inventor's hands immediately jerking to his chest as he flinched back in surprise.
Surprise that wasn't his to feel, in Vaggie's opinion.
"How the hell do you know him?!" Angel asked in disbelief, turning to face the snake in utter bafflement. "Motherfucker, you can't even take over a single bit of turf in the city!"
"If you must know…" The inventor looked thoroughly annoyed at being interrupted once more, and his eyes didn't hesitate to show it. "I lived in Community City up until Miss Charlotte invited me to properly stay at the Hotel."
No one.
Nothing.
Not a single fucking word.
Slowly, Charlie picked herself back up off the couch, and slowly circled it as she came to a stop next to her still puzzled girlfriend.
She was… unusually calm.
"What's it like?"
"Actually rather nice." Pentious answered with a small smile, one of fondness. "Why, when I wasn't trying to take over the other half of the city, I was enjoying a peaceful time relaxing at a little diner down the street!"
The sentence sounded so disjointed and conflicted that Vaggie actually had to take a moment to realize the snake was being completely honest.
"Oh, and there was the park, five miles down! It had the most beautiful brown trees you've ever-!"
"Brown trees?" It was hard to ignore how suddenly interested Husk sounded as he walked forward, something Angel seemed to share in as his gaze turned to the snake now that his curiosity peaked. "How the Hell are their brown trees in Hell?"
"He could've gotten seeds from Gluttony…" Charlie muttered, remembering the stories of how the Wraith made his way to the Greed Ring as a finger came up to her chin.
"Oh, no, that's why everyone speaks so highly of Community City!" Pentious denied, nodding his head with an eager grin. "John has somehow managed to procure enough resources to rebuild living nature! The trees are the most beautiful varieties!"
"Are you saying he's got actual oak trees?" There were trees that looked similar enough to be called such, but real Oak was completely absent from the infernal realm. "Like, real ones?"
"And even squirrels to burrow into the trees!"
It was amazing how quickly Charlie seemed to forget just who he was, as her eyes immediately went wide in excitement.
"Real Earth squirrels?!" Yep, there she was.
Vaggie hated that she had to ruin it.
"He also took my soul and has threatened to kill me if I set foot in the city." The angel revealed bluntly, causing the snake's eyes to go wide in shock as his smile disappeared, and that was the reminder Charlie seemed to need.
"Right…" Charlie had never seen the human world, so Vaggie understood why she was excited at the prospect at first.
But her demeanor once again returned to its more downtrodden state at the reminder.
"Still, though, Dad?" Charlie couldn't help but to ask, raising an eyebrow at the one-eyed woman with a still apprehensive gaze.
Vaggie simply shrugged. "Who better than one of the guys who made Heaven?" She asked, offering a small, reassuring smile as she lifted a hand to Charlie's shoulder.
Charlie offered a small smile of her own as she found herself gripping the hand for support.
"Well… maybe…"
"God dammit, be careful!"
Amidst the cacophony of frantic voices, Jade the familiar sound of groaning metal echoed through the block.
It had been her usual job, setting up a new billboard.
Said billboard was currently wobbling back and forth with a horrific screech, and there was currently a pair of demons standing atop the platform for the thing, desperately trying not to fall.
The ape wasn't sure what had exactly gone wrong, but that wasn't important right now.
"Raze, get everyone out from under it!" The sinner's eyes snapped towards the Eldritch hellborn, who immediately nodded his head.
Otherworldly tentacles erupted from the ground, pulling with a gentle grip and quickly clearing out a safe spot for it to land.
Unfortunately, the Wraith couldn't plan for everything, and accidents like these were unavoidable.
That didn't make them any less mind numbing in death as they were in life.
A deafening snap erupted through the streets, causing panicked voices to begin gasping and shouting alarm.
Jade's heart sunk when a pair of screaming voices filled her ears as she watched a spider and a scorpion begin plummeting to a temporary death.
Luckily for them, the woman managed to leap up into the air and catch the smaller demons in her arms.
Unfortunately, as she landed, she realized that the massive metal structure was now coming down right on her.
The ape clenched her eyes closed, folding herself into a ball over the smaller demons in the hopes that her larger mass would shield them.
It would hurt, but she'd survived-
*BOOOOOOOOOM!*
…
…worse…
Admittedly, it took the ape a few moments to process the fact that her spine wasn't sitting in her stomach, and after a moment of listening to a pair of terrified whimpers…
Jade apprehensively lifted her head, and looked up.
And found herself looking up at a familiar lumbering frame, as a pair of blue eyes narrowed with a scrutinizing look.
"Everyone still in one piece?" The Wraith's powerful voice bellowed out the question with nothing more than concern to accompany it, as a hand easily held the massive billboard suspended in the air.
After a few moments, Jade let a sigh escape her and offered a relieved and thankful smile as she released the smaller demons in her arms.
"Yeah." She answered, nodding her head even despite feeling a bit of nervousness. "I think Raze got everyone out of the way."
"Well good on you for saving those two." He offered a small grin, flicking a finger towards the demons in her arm as he gently lowered one massive end of the billboard.
Though, he paused for a second, and Jade's eyes widened when his free hand swept out and gently gestured for the three to back away.
"Get a hold of the city office, have them shut down the intersection for a bit." He gave the instructions even as he gently nudged the three out from under it.
The billboard was left sitting on the street as he brought it to the ground without so much as a single noise, and The Wraith turned around with a sigh, dusting his hands off as he faced them with a small reassuring smile.
"Jade, right?" He asked, raising a questioning eyebrow as he offered a hand to the ape. "Not many would rush into danger like that."
"They're my men." Jade said as the two aforementioned men decided to take their leave, running off to process everything that had just happened.
She took the man's hand, and offered a courteous shake.
"I look out for all my employees."
"I respect that." The blue-eyed behemoth replied with a small grin as their hands fell away. "I already know what you call me, but my name's John if it makes things easier."
The Wraith- or rather, John turned around following those words, and his heavy thumping footsteps paused only for a moment as he hopped atop the billboard and casually made his way across it.
Jade watched the man leave, staring with an admittedly star struck look.
Any outsider called him a monster. Something not entirely without reason, and it was why you could pick an outsider apart from a local when the city was open to everybody.
Jade had simply found another reason to admire the demon.
For a sinner, especially one as notorious as he was, the Wraith had one of the most generous hearts she had seen, even before she'd died.
When every single permanent resident in Community City was a soul owned by the behemoth, all of those souls had some kind of story about him.
Believe it or not, not many had a bad thing to say about him either, even with all the museums peppering the other half of the city.
Jade's own story was rather simple. She felt like she'd hit rock bottom, went to the safest possible option there could possibly be, and the behemoth had managed to give her a stable living without any real cost.
Of course, that was debatable, since the ape was now soulless, but honestly?
It wasn't like she was going to Heaven any time soon, and Community City remained one of the safest and most protected cities in Hell.
As far as she was concerned, having her soul served no real purpose. For the first time in three hundred years, the woman was genuinely happy.
Sometimes, she'd kick back on the couch and think about how things had changed.
Growing up, she'd take her sister and play with hand-made wooden dolls down by the creek, while their brothers spent time sharpening their spears in case any of the white folk tried to invade again.
Now, she and her sister blew away Saturday nights on video games and movies.
If Jade could come up with a comparison, it wasn't perfect… but the… but John had managed to give every single demon he allowed to live in his city something close to an easy life.
Due to his still prominent and feared reputation, crime didn't happen often, and when something did happen, the issue was resolved within the day if possible.
Most people looked at the man every time he took one of his strolls with nothing but admiration, in contrast to the dreadful gaze outsiders would always give him.
It was hard not to respect the man who'd given you peace in Hell.
There were still frustrations, as the entire debacle of the morning proved, but between an occasional falling structure and a literal warzone outside of the building's walls…
Jade knew what she'd pick every time.
A phone call later, the intersection had been blocked within ten minutes.
It wasn't like the living world. In Hell, people were eager to maintain peace once they obtained it.
When you give that peace to a whole city… you give them something to truly work for.
Once any cars still within the intersection had been cleared, the only people left was the crew, and a couple of EMT's off to the side in case anyone did end up injured.
"Alright boss, how are we doing this?" Jak, a stocky elk demon, asked as he came to a stop next to the ape. "We can get the crane and lift it back up, but how do we know it won't fall again?"
"Do we know what caused it?" Jade asked, turning to the man with a stern eyebrow. "Until we know what caused it and fix that issue, it's too risky to even try putting it back up."
The massive metal structure still sat comfortable upon the ground, unmoved and left abandoned for the time being as the ape watched a few of her men and women make their way back up to the roof.
Nobody was in a hurry to even try and finish the job until they knew what had caused it.
"Well I can tell you that." The familiar voice of the…
That was going to take some getting used too, and that assumed that Jade would see the man on a regular basis.
The familiar voice of John spoke up as the larger behemoth came to a stop next to the woman, raising a hand and pointing to the bottom of the billboard, of which would need fixed since all of the bolts had come…
There was a bolt missing. One undamaged metal beam sat awaiting to be used on the far right, while the rest of them were bent and mangled from the way the massive object had torn itself free.
"One?" Jade gaped in disbelief at the discovery, and she found her glare immediately turning to the ram next to her as she bared her teeth, sharp canines ready to bite. "You were on post duty!"
Jak's eyes immediately went wide, and though he was a stocky sinner, his chances against the demon weren't much better than his chances against a real ape.
"Hey, I did them all!" The man immediately waved his hands back and forth in denial, before jerking a frantic finger towards the roof of their worksite. "Go check! You'll count fifteen holes in the ground."
"You expect me to-"
"Jade," John spoke her name as if they'd been good friends for years, bringing a large hand up and resting it upon the woman's own sizable shoulder as he gently pulled her away from the frightened elk. "My sense of smell and hearing make it damn near impossible to lie around me."
Jade's brow furrowed in confusion, and she could feel her lower canine's tugging on her top lip as she turned back to the elk, and then immediately back to John.
"But… that would mean…"
"Look, be sure, alright? Don't ever just take someone's word for it unless you know for sure you can."
Jade refused to comment on how ironic that sounded. She didn't actually know him personally like some of his other souls did, but she still had seen and experienced enough to know his word was as firm as you could think.
Still though, that didn't make the advice any less sound, and the ape divulged his wishes as she fished her radio out of her pocket and brought it to her mouth.
"Hey, this is gonna sound weird… but count the holes in the roof."
She released the button and waited, John and Jak both waiting in suspense with her for a few seconds, before their patience was rewarded with a voice on the other end.
"The anchor point holes?" The familiar voice of Gigi came through, laced with absolute confusion. "Jade, I checked up there already, I thought that too. But all of them were bolted down."
Jade's hand fell to her side as she placed a hand on her hip, looking up and staring straight at nothing in particular as she felt a budding sense of fury.
"What happened after you were done?" John immediately questioned the elk for himself, but Jade let a sigh escape her as she held up a hand to stop Jak as she turned to face the behemoth herself.
"He wouldn't know." Jade admitted, shaking her head in frustration. "After that, he came down here and we lifted the rest of the thing onto the base."
"And it was stable?" John questioned, his brow furrowing as he crossed his arms, a look of thought crossing his face. "If it was like that the entire time, there would've been too much tension for you to safely take it off the crane."
That was a good point. Actually, it was a very good point.
When the thing had started rattling at first, nobody had really known what was going on. By then, they were getting ready to offload the crane back onto its carrier.
That's why the base came down too. By then, the whole thing had already been screwed into place.
That means someone had to have taken the bolt out midway.
…
How?
The sound of sniffing caught her attention, and she snapped her head towards John. She found him with his eyes closed, his nose twitching as he actually sniffed the air.
When he stopped, his eyes were narrow when he opened them, and he didn't look happy. Not in the slightest.
Jade actually felt the instinct to ask what was wrong, but she didn't get the chance.
The demon suddenly sucked in a large breath, before slowly releasing it in a calming manner as he visibly relaxed.
"I'm… gonna do some sniffing around." He said, opening his eyes and offering a genuinely friendly smile, before turning and pointing to a massive bear demon almost his own size and considerably larger than Jade's own seven foot frame. "I want you two to go talk to Officer Grawl, tell him what you know and get all of your workers to have a talk with him, alright?"
It put a bit of a damper on the workday… but now that she knew it was sabotage, Jade's primary concern was doing as the Overlord said and ensuring her crew's safety.
So, she nodded without hesitation.
"On it."
A Few Hours Later
Well… calling Lucifer of all people over had gone about as well as he'd expected.
The guy was a mess. He wasn't even a king, he was just a goofball who didn't know the meaning of the word subtlety.
Charlie barely talked about him, so it was sad to say that most of the spider's knowledge on the Devil himself came from John. And the behemoth didn't exactly talk about the kind of person he seemed to be.
No, he talked about a disrespectful and nihilistic idiot.
Admittedly, now? He felt John's words had been a bit too harsh. The guy wasn't all bad, he was just a bit awkward and he seemed to be desperate to simply be around Charlie.
Though, the whole fancy concert face-off between Lucifer and Alastor had been hilarious. A dick-measuring contest for the ages.
Of course, then Mimzy had popped by… she talked like she was a very popular person, but Angel couldn't find a clue in a line of coke about who the hell the bitch was.
He'd never even heard Alastor talk about her… and yet, both Husk and Niffty knew her well. Husk didn't like her at all, and Niffty just seemed… well, the same way she was with everyone else.
Weird.
Admittedly, though, it had all been a nice distraction. Admittedly, he'd been torn, conflicted in his emotions.
He really thought John was a good guy, or at least had the capacity to be. The behemoth had gotten him out of Val's contract with… well, no real cost involved, honestly. If anything, the spider had received rewards.
But on the other… well, there was no point in sugarcoating it, what he did to Vaggie was unquestionably cruel, not to mention more than undeserved. Tack that onto the fact that Vanessa had texted him and told him about how Charlie's visit had gone…
Well, he felt guilty. And not in any good way.
He'd taken the deal, sure, but something told him that if he hadn't, Vaggie would still have her soul and Charlie would have a partner who wasn't shackled.
What sucked even more was that he'd been told what exactly John and Vanessa had said to Charlie.
And he couldn't disagree with a single fucking bit of it.
Vanessa had tried to save face, saying that the Hotel could still work… but it didn't change the fact that they were absolutely correct.
As much as he hated to admit it, Charlie hadn't actually done a damn thing for Hell. She tried, god did she try, but the Princess couldn't seem to do anything actually helpful in her entire life.
Well, that wasn't entirely true… but at the same time, it was. Charlie couldn't seem to do anything that actually mattered for Hell, but the Italian would be damned if he said that the girl wasn't some of the biggest help he'd had in his life.
But the simple fact was… Charlie didn't understand. Angel hated to say it, and he didn't think he ever actually realized it himself… but Charlie didn't understand what it was like to just be some schmuck in Hell.
She wasn't just the Princess, she was the child of Lucifer fricking Morningstar! He wouldn't presume to say her life had been perfect, but her view of Hell was so unbelievably sheltered.
She thought she'd understood, but even Pentious had admitted he questioned Charlie's sanity after that one… well, could Angel even call it a play?
The simple truth of it was that Charlie didn't get it. Not like she thought. She didn't understand what it was like for cocaine to be as normal as walking down the street. She didn't understand what it was like to actually have to fear all those psychos sinners called neighbors.
Nobody in Hell was a saint, far from it… but that didn't mean there wasn't a single soul who suffered in ways the heir simply couldn't imagine. Even if she knew, even if she had been exposed to enough to think she had an idea…
She didn't.
And yet, Angel still wanted to fucking stay. He didn't want to leave the Hotel. Before, it was a sanctuary, but now… well, now, it was the only fucking home he had.
Even if there was a possibility that it could change… he didn't want it too.
Charlie still put up with all his bullshit, and Angel would never forget the reason she'd even showed up at the Hotel in the first place. She saw something in him that nobody in Hell seemed to be able to see in anyone.
Angel… understood why John respected her. But it was also tragic, and saddening, to know that John was probably the one demon the Princess would never be willing to redeem.
The former porn star wasn't even sure if the Hotel would work, nobody had ever denied that. But Charlie had faith in it.
Angel wanted to have faith too. If not for anything real… than for something to just finally feel good for once.
Being good… well, felt good.
The spider didn't think there was much of that in him-
*BANG!*
Angel was completely thrown from his thoughts as something heavy slammed against the Hotel's entrance, causing his gaze to shoot towards the door in confusion as he heard Husk let out an annoyed sigh behind him.
"MIMZY! WE KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE YOU LOUSY BITCH!"
At that, Angel immediately turned to look at the short, plump woman with an accusatory gaze. Maybe Husk had an actual reason after all.
Something only reinforced by the fact that the grumpy bartender currently faced the wall, casually wiping away at a pristine glass in his hand.
"Oh shit…" Mimzy muttered as she quickly dropped to the ground and placed her hands over her head.
Well, she definitely knew what was going on.
Since Husk seemed pretty relaxed, Angel figured there wasn't too much to worry about at first.
That slowly changed the more the shaking grew in both frequency and intensity.
He was only a little surprised when the lobby was illuminated by a golden portal.
"Que Carajo!"
"What's going on?!"
Charlie and Vaggie immediately bolted out of the portal, spear grasped firmly in the angel's hands as the Princess immediately turned to the bar for an explanation, all while Lucifer calmly stepped through with a surprisingly smug smirk, literally waving his fingers as the portal disappeared.
Angel, luckily, didn't need to provide some kind of explanation.
"I may be in trouble with some loan sharks…" Mimzy began, drawing it out as she offered a sheepish smile, her hands leaving her head as her fingers began to nervously poke together. "I may or may not have borrowed fifty grand from-!"
The demon interrupted herself as the Hotel once again shook from what Angel was beginning to believe was a battering ram, quite literally zipping over and behind the bartop before nervously peeking back up.
By now, Husk had turned around, and Angel shared in the irritated gaze that literally everyone was giving the woman.
"YOU BETTER COME OUT!"
Following that, the dancer once again casually stood back up and propped an elbow on the counter as she continued.
"And I may have stolen a car… and crashed it…"
Angel's head pulled back, his eyes widening in surprise when he heard that, and Husk crossed his furry arms and let an actual growl escape him as his glare deepened.
"Into the loan shark's girlfriend, but that bitch had it coming!"
No sooner than she finished it and pumped an angry fist into the air did the walls of the Hotel finally give in.
Angel jumped up onto the bartop, screams echoing all throughout the room as he just barely managed to save his feet from being crushed by a giant flaming rock that shattered the wood underneath.
And they kept coming.
He heard Pentious yell something, and he could vaguely hear Niffty's anguished cries about the fucking windows.
These were fucking loansharks?! This is exactly what Charlie didn't understand! This is what Hell was like!
He vaguely heard Lucifer's voice, but he ignored it in favor of avoiding getting hit by a bunch of smaller flaming rocks.
Everything was happening so fast, and the spider couldn't focus-
The button! The button John had given him! If he needed the behemoth's help, he needed it right fucking now!
His hand quickly dug into his pocket, and then another, and then another, and the spider's frustration grew with each empty piece of fabric.
"The fu- where the hell is it?!" Angel could barely hear himself over the chaos happening.
Every pocket was fucking empty!
It couldn't have just disappeared, where did it- there!
Just as his hands clasped down on the stupidly small device, he could vaguely hear Alastor's voice, though he couldn't make out what he was saying.
His finger found itself sliding atop a button made of blood, which gave like gelatin the moment he touched it.
A few seconds later…
The fighting stopped, and all of Hell went silent.
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
It was a roar so loud, even the lowest rings could hear it. So deafening that everything else went silent.
It was filled with nothing short of utter rage and a promise of unspeakable cruelties.
Angel had never imagined that would be how he knew the button works. Admittedly… he wished John had just shot him a text instead. Even if the italian didn't see it until later, at least the behemoth hadn't been putting the fear of god himself into the sinner's soul.
Believe it or not, one could still tell how close he was. Not many knew it, but the window was in the initial stages of the roar.
For about a second, you could clearly hear the roar itself, no matter where it came from, before the endless echoes that follow it begin to overshadow and make it difficult to distinguish them.
Underneath all his panic, his terror, his concern, and the adrenaline pumping through his veins… he found himself questioning why John seemed to be only a mile away at most. Slaughter Factory, and in turn Community City, were both on the completely opposite side of the pentagram.
So what had brought the Overlord out into the usual chaos.
"Oh, great, what's pissed him off now?" Of all people, it was the king himself who uttered those words, his smug expression fading as he brought a hand up to his head in frustration.
Admittedly, the spider joined Charlie, and literally everyone else, in shooting a look of complete and utter disbelief at Lucifer.
Literally everyone else, even Niffy, had gone stiff, tense with fear or frozen in caution, in the case of Alastor and Pentious.
Charlie was the only one who remained unaffected, and she looked at her father with a pair of wide eyes.
"You know him?" The Princess questioned, her voice barely above a whisper.
There was betrayal in its tone, and Angel's heart went out to the hellborn.
"You told me to stay away from him!"
"I have to stay in contact with him." Lucifer replied with a roll of his eyes, an annoyed sigh escaping him. "That giant idiot made his deal with Heaven without any involvement from me."
With his brain still scrambled, it was genuinely difficult for Angel to remember if John had ever mentioned that tidbit.
Meanwhile, Vaggie's eyes widened, and she briskly walked up to the Devil with a questioning gaze as she allowed her spear to hang loosely by her side.
"You didn't know?" Something that was understandable. It went hand in hand that anything involving Heaven in Hell tended to involve Lucifer in some way.
Still though…
"I still don't even know the exact terms of the deal.." Lucifer admitted as Alastor seemed to forget about the people outside, opting to instead make his way closer and listen to the conversation for himself. "And the dickhead won't tell, so the only choice I have is to occasionally monitor him."
"How?"
"Phone calls, texts, an occasional visit or two…"
…
…
Lucifer Morningstar had just described nothing more than routine visits and check-ups.
Something everyone seemed to notice.
"Why, this Wraith fellow is even more feared than me!" Alastor pointed out gleefully as he stepped closer, coming to a stop between the two women as he ignored the Devil's scowl with a smile. "Such laughable methods are the precautions you chose?"
"At least I have options." That was just petty and vindictive, but it didn't make the Radio Demon's frustrated growl any less amusing.
That… was about when the whole conversation ended.
The outside of the Hotel was suddenly filled with a cacophony of frantic and panicking voices, and though he had a pretty good idea of why, the former mafioso found his legs carrying him towards the entrance along with everyone else.
Right as they reached the obliterated entrance, a single voice broke up above all the others, flooded with the very essence of fear itself.
"WRAITH!"
A few seconds later, Angel jumped back with a shout of frustration as a large mass suddenly slammed into the ground amongst the mobsters, kicking up a fuckton of dust and forcing the spider to shield his face.
Considering the grunts he heard from the others, mainly Husk and Charlie, he was glad he wasn't the only one to notice.
However, that frustration quickly died away as the resulting conflict immediately dispersed the dust, and the sounds of terrified screaming and rage-filled shouting began to pick up amongst countless noises of viscera.
"NO! NO, NO, PLEAS-AAAAAAAHHHHH!"
As Angel turned his multicolored eyes back to the site, his blood had run cold as he came face to face with a horrifying site.
It wasn't uncommon to see an army of demons be so sorely outclassed by a single damned soul, but it still filled the spider with a mind-numbing dread upon seeing his friend in action for himself.
The image that greeted Angel once the dust cleared would forever be ingrained into his memory for years to come.
A massive, twenty foot demon stood in front of the Hotel, an entire car slowly compressing as a massive bull hoof found purchase on its roof.
In one hand sat the headless corpse of what Angel assumed to be the loan shark, while bullets, rockets, and actual catapults ran wild, peppering the behemoth's impenetrable hide to no more effect than annoyance.
"You picked a bad day to piss me off." His voice rumbled for miles, it felt like, and the vibrations rattled the spider's very bones.
And then, John moved.
And hell itself was unleashed.
Everyone in the Hotel stood in the entrance, watching with looks of horror or fascination depending on the person, as the Wraith went on the offense.
For something so big… it was terrifying how fast it had happened.
John stepped around as if he didn't weigh a thousand tons or something, and yet every footstep cracked more of the dirt below as his hands lashed out and simply began honing in on whatever demons they could reach.
Screams echoed through the air, a reminder of how cruel John could be as blood-red chains erupted from his back, snapping towards victims like vipers.
He didn't even eat that many of them. The Italian spotted a couple of demons get literal bites taken out of them and tossed to the side, but all the rest were viciously splattered and ripped apart in a myriad of gruesome, horrific ways that left Angel with a sense of disgust in his stomach.
John's face didn't help with his fear. In this massive form, all of the skin of his face was gone, actual chunks hanging off by threads and flopping in the wind as the face of a skull was exposed.
Accompanying those were John's fear eyes as Angel had found himself calling them, and not even Charlie seemed to be immune from their effects as the behemoth's gaze passed over them without any realization from the man himself.
The fear lasted only for a second, but it was mind-numbing, and not even Alastor managed to stay quiet as that gaze passed him over.
But the Wraith wasn't paying any attention to the Hotel occupants. Not yet.
"Holy shit, this guy really is nuts." He heard Mimzy comment from wherever, but nobody paid any attention to her.
Chains pierced through flesh and bone, threading through thrashing bodies in order to either pull them apart or squeeze them apart. The ones that didn't get that fate were systematically dismembered until their screaming heads had been ripped from their necks.
And the ones John got his hands on… only one was actually eaten. The rest, he took bites out of as if they were pieces of candy, leaving organs and even bones stuck in rows of sharp teeth as he chewed and crunched them all into dust.
And those are just the ones he actually picked up. Others got crushed in various ways, either underhand or underfoot.
And as if to make it all the more deafening, his chains and feet slammed down heavily atop the catapults and vehicles outside for no more reason than what Angel guessed was a childish wish.
By the time the only noises left were the sounds of John himself as his massive body shook and searched for more victims, the entire area in front of the Hotel had been covered with destroyed and mangled metal and what was left of various slaughtered sinners.
Angel's eyes slowly rose up to John's head. His massive back faced them all, and that only seemed to add to his sheer bulk.
The spider now understood exactly why The Wraith was so feared. If this is what John was capable of against somebody who'd merely pissed him off…
What happens when somebody actually attacks him?
In a morbid way, all those museums and even Slaughter Factory itself now made a lot more sense.
It happened so quickly. Once he'd deemed the area safe and the conflict over, he gave a nod and a loud, satisfied hum escaped his currently lipless maw, before he slowly began to shrink.
His hooves twisted and morphed into the cowboy boots he always wore, tucked under his pants.
Countless gashes disappeared entirely, and the skin of John's face began to pull itself back together as the behemoth shifted his weight between his legs.
A satisfied sigh escaped him with a small grin as he returned to his normal height.
"Well, they tried, I guess." He sounded like he was trying to give his victims some kind of commendation, but a careless and disinterested shrug escaped him at that as he turned around to face his audience.
And those piercing blues landed right on Angel.
"You alright?" He asked, his grin fading to one… genuine concern?
It was such a massive shift from what had just happened, and admittedly, Angel uncharacteristically stammered his response out.
"Uh, y-yeah, I'm fine."
John… didn't look like he believed it.
But he didn't get the chance to speak up.
"What are you doing here?" The voice of Lucifer interrupted any further conversation as he broke away from the gaggle of people at the entrance, stepping forward with a look of downright hatred on his face. "I told you to stay away from my daughter."
"She came to me and tried to blow my back out yesterday, so shut it you useless bastard."
Holy shit. Clearly Angel wasn't the only one stunned by how casually thrown out the response was, nor how openly hostile it was as the behemoth returned the king's glare.
Though, the horrified blush on Charlie's face made it very clear that his words could hold a double meaning.
Something that wasn't helped by the fact that her father was present.
"I did not-!"
"You…"
His voice was dripping with venom, hate fueling the word itself as John brought a large finger up to point at someone.
"You snuck into my city, and nearly got a lot of good people hurt."
Angel frowned, his eyes widening in horror. He'd seen some of the city for himself, and he knew his concern was justified when he heard Pentious let a similarly horrified gasp.
The spider's multicolored gaze followed the behemoth's finger…
And found his eyes landing on the Radio Demon himself.
Alastor stood confidently, his usual smile on his face as he looked at John with his head tilted in faux confusion.
"Do I know you?"
John… grinned.
Alastor perked up when he saw the way the behemoth's lips tugged up, and his eyes ever so slightly narrowed.
"You look awfully eager."
John began to march forward.
"Yeah. Real fucking eager."
