At the moment, Steve was walking with Charlie and Vaggie as they moved around the hotel, oblivious to the chaos that was happening out in the city. Charlie was examining what Steve filled out on a clipboard, and was honestly quite shocked...
"Well, Steve...", She started off. "From what I've seen, you got yourself a pretty clean record."
"Thanks. I try.", Steve said.
"It surprised me too.", Vaggie spoke out. "You're just about at the age where you go down a dangerous path, and yet, you're are one of the nicest people I've seen down here."
"I appreciate it, Vaggie.", He then asked. "But, what are the chances that me being down here will cause me to go bad?"
"Well, as long as you stick around here, you should be fine." Charlie answered. "And I'm pretty no one here would take advantage of a kid like you!"
Vaggie and Steve knew Charlie was trying to sound positive, but they knew even that was a lie. There were hundreds of pedophiles and sex-offenders down in hell that would view Steve as "fresh meat". But hopefully, they would be all be eaten alive by now.
Speaking of which, back in Pentagram City, Brad, Joseph and Cherri were still driving through a horde of zombies demons. While Brad and Joseph about the whole thing, Cherri was actually having fun, considering the vehicle they were on had a turret she could play with...
As she was firing, she went "AH, HA, HA, HA! WHAT'D YOU GOT, BITCHES?! WHAT'D YOU GOT! HA, HA! YEAH!"
"She's the best you can find, Brad?!", Joseph yelled out."
"At least, I managed to get some help!", Brad protested. "What have you been doing? Beside running away from danger?!"
"Hey, for your information, I actually had to fight my way through a couple of jerks just to get this damn thing!", Joseph yelled back.
"Yeah? Well, you better make sure this thing lasts!", Brad said, firing his handgun out at the zombies.
Then Cherri yelled out, "HEY, SMART-ASSES! KEEP YOUR EYES IN THE ROAD!"
"Don't you think, I would if I could!?", Joseph yelled out, showing that the windshield wippers were wiping away as much blood as possible, and a few zombie heads here and there.
"How's the rest of the team, Joseph?", Brad then asked while reloading.
"We'll be meeting them soon enough!", Joseph said. "We just make it past this street!"
"Wait! There are more of you?!", asked Cherri.
To which, Brad answered, "Yep! Get ready, honey! You're about to meet the S.T.A.R.S!"
And they continued forward...
Back at the Hotel, Steve was busy eating while Charlie was looking at ideas for both improvements and publicity that won't blow up in her face and Vaggie was looking out a window to see what looked like pillars of smoke rising out of the city...
"Jesus Christ, another gang war? Why am I even surprised anymore."
Her attention was then drawn to the sound of silverware dropping as she saw Steve with his hands cupping his face...
"You alright, Steve?", She asked.
"...Y-Yeah. I'm fine.", Steve stuttered.
She then replied, "You don't sound fine. What's up?"
"I just...felt weird for a second.", He answered. "Like an...like an itch I couldn't scratch."
"Hmm...either you're suffering from PTSD, or...", She stopped mid-sentence when she continued to look outside and the sounds of explosions weren't too far away. It got Steve's attention to as they both walked over to the window and looked outside...
"You ever had a feeling that something bad is about to happen?", Vaggie asked.
"Definitely.", Steve said bluntly.
Then Charlie walked by and saw how the two were staring at a window, thinking that the two were bonding. She decides to join them, but wasn't prepared by what she saw...
"Oh my god.", She said, frightened. "What is going on?"
Steve then asked, "Does...this kind of stuff happen regularly?" To which Vaggie replied, "Well, sometimes but...not like this."
Just then, there was a knock at the front door...again. Niffty quickly headed over to open it, but when she did, she gasped in fear of what she saw...
"Hello, Niffty! My, my, you should've been with me in town today! I've had one Helluva time!", the Radio Demon, looking pretty beaten up. His coat was turn up, his face was covered in blood and scratches, same as the rest of his body, he had a black eye and his right arm and left leg looked mangled...
"Mr. Alastor!", Niffty yelled out loud. "...I just cleaned!"
"My bad.", He quickly said. "But to be fair, I do believe half of my chest was ripped off."
"Oh my God!", The voice of Charlie yelled out, as she, Vaggie and Steve came running over to see the Radio Demon in his rather bloodied state. "Alastor! What happened!?"
"Nothing to worry about to much, my dear.", he said.
"Nothing to worry about?!", Steve said. "You look like shit!", Then he sniffed. "And smell like it too."
"Thanks. I try.", said Alastor. "And who might you be, sir?"
Steve quickly replied, "Steve Burnside. Who are you?"
"Steve, this is Alastor. The Radio Demon I told you about!", Vaggie said, gritting her teeth.
Burnside looked at Alastor, then at Vaggie, saying "He doesn't look like much."
"Like I said, you'd be surprised.", Vaggie replied.
"You would do well in listening to her, Steven.", Alastor said, snapping his fingers and making himself look all better. "I'm no mere demon to trifle with."
"...Right.", Steve said. "And it's just Steve. Now, would you mind explaining what happened?"
"I was getting around to that.", Alastor said. "You see, I was off for a stroll when I began to notice something off about the people. Not only were they rather more...violent than usual, but the state they were in. Looking as if time was starting to catch up with them, as they're flesh was rotten and mouths all bloodied. They all wanted a piece of me, but I held my own while dealing with a few...unexpected surprises."
"Hold on. Back up.", Steve interrupted. "Did you say they were...rotting? And their mouths were covered in blood?"
"Indeed.", answered Alastor. "Reminded me of those old horror films I've enjoyed watching in my youth."
"...Oh no.", Steve said as he started heading towards the living room and found the remote to the TV. "Oh no, no, no, no, no..."
"Steve, what's wrong?", Charlie asked.
"It can't be...it can't be!", Steve sounded worried as he turned on the TV and 666 News was on. Steve was a little disturbed to see the creepy smile of Katie Killjoy, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was the topic she brought up.
"Our top story tonight, what appears to be some heavy looking carnage in downtown Pentagram City.", The bitch of a reporter spoke out. "It seems that half the residents of the city have gone crazy and have started to...feed on those who are fighting back. Our News Chopper recently caught this footage an hour ago."
The camera of the newscopter was showing the chaos that was happening in what was Cherri's territory. Charlie, Vaggie and Niffty were shocked, Alastor's smile lightened to a smirk and Steve just looked downright terrified. No doubt was it because Steve was the only one here who went through shit like this. Angel then passed by and caught a glimpse of what was on the TV. He went wide-eyed when he recognized the area.
"IS THAT CHERRI'S TURF?!", the Spider Demon screamed as he brought out a handgun and Tommy Gun, then started to run out the door. "HANG ON, CHERRI! I'M COMING!"
"NO! WAIT!", Steve yelled out as he ran after Angel and dogpiled him. Charlie and Vaggie followed suit as they forced Angel to the ground. The three weren't enough to keep the guy down though...
"Get off!", He yelled out. "You can have me later! I have a bestie to help out!"
With the two ladies getting off of him, Steve, Charlie and Vaggie grabbed hold of Angel's legs as they pull him back in.
"You don't know what you're getting into!", Steve scream. "Slow down!"
"Angel, listen to fucking reason!", Vaggie screamed.
"It's for your own good!", Charlie yelled out.
The pulled the spider demon back into the living room while his nails dug into the ground. They continued to see what was going on in the news.
"We then go to our new rookie field reporter, live on the scene.", Tom Trench said.
The camera switches to a demon wearing a business shirt and tie, and skin looking to be made entirely out of black mold and his eyes were orange. Despite his creepy appearance, he looked pretty shaken up...
"Thanks, Tom! I'm Peter Walken, and right now, I'm in the middle of the chaos in Pentagram-", he was interrupted by a nearby explosion. "-city. And can I just say, it is messed up here! Barely anyone with gun is able to hold back the rising horde!", Another explosion causes him to flinch. "Whoa! I gotta tell ya, I haven't been this scared since I walked into that old hillbilly family's house! WHAAA-"
Peter was chased by something huge and gross. The camera fell over and Peter could still be seen running!
"S.T.A.R.S."
"COME ON! IT'S MY FIRST DAY!", he yelled out as the feed switched back to Katie and Tom...
"Welp, looks like we're gonna need a new field reporter after that.", Katie jokingly said. "Will the citizens of Pentagram City by able to turn back to tide? Probably not, but it's funny watching them try. Stay tuned!"
And with that, Steve turned off the TV and walked away. The others, minus Alastor, looked at him with concern while Charlie followed him up to his room. She saw him loading his Lugers and submachine guns and then soon realized what he was gonna do.
"You are not going out there!", She said in a demanding tone. "Did you not see what was on the News?"
"I did.", Steve said in a serious tone. "That is why I'm going."
"WHY?!", Charlie asked. "You just stopped Angel from going out there! Why do you need to go?!"
He then turned to him and said, "Charlie, I have a hunch at who's behind this. If I'm right, then there is barely anyone who can stop this. Except me.", He then puts his guns away and heads for the door. "I messed up in my pass life. I was too dead to do anything. But I won't make the same mistakes. I will put a stop to it this time!"
He was about to leave until Charlie got in his way. Her eye's changed from yellow to red and horns appearing from the sides of her head.
"Charlie...", Steve started before pulling out one of his lugers and pointing it towards the demon girl. "Get out...of my way."
Charlie growled as he felt the handle of the gun heat up. Steve could sense Charlie was the one doing it. Not that he was letting go of it any time soon. One thing he knew about the virus in his veins was that it was able to heat things up one way or another. But then, a spear was pointed in the back of his...
"Drop it, Steve!", Vaggie said. "Or I won't hesitate to kill you."
"Already dead, remember?", Steve remarked, which pissed Vaggie off a little, since he wasn't the only one to point that out.
"Steve...", Charlie began. "I know how you're feeling right now. I made this entire place just to help out my people in a chance to make them no longer suffer. I can't do that...if this continues. It's my duty...as Princess of Hell...to look after them."
Then Steve lowered his gun, only because he was confused. "Wait, you're the princess of hell?"
It was then that Charlie realized that since Steve was new around here, he didn't know a lot of things and definitely wouldn't know about her being royalty. She never brought it up before as her eyes turned back to normal.
"I guess I forgot to mention that, huh?", She said with a laugh.
Steve then began to ask, "If you're a Princess, then who's-?"
"Lucifer.", Charlie quickly answered. "And Lilith are my parents."
That made Steve go wide-eyed. "Lucifer? Well, I'll be damned."
"That you certainly are.", Alastor said jokingly, much to Steve and Vaggie's annoyance.
"The daughter of the devil himself...", Steve continued. "...Wanting to help people."
"Surprised?", Charlie asked.
"A little.", Steve answered, but not before pointing his gun again at her. "But I still can't let you get in my way, Charlie."
She then gently pushes the gun away with a smile, saying, "And I can't let you do this alone."
Once again, Steve was surprised. "You want to come with?", He asked, to which Charlie answered, "Yep. You said it yourself, Steve, that you don't want to repeat the same mistakes you've made in life. I'm betting one of those mistakes were ever going off on your own."
"Well, not all the time.", Steve protested.
Then Charlie said, "Sure. You were with that girl you talked about. But, from how you made it sound, you were kind of a hotshot who wasted his ammo. You need someone to look after you, and I'm not gonna let my first real client get lost in all that chaos!"
"Hey!", Angel Dust said. "What am I? Chop liver?"
"Yes.", Vaggie answered blankly, with a smirk, which made Angel annoyed. "And if Charlie's going, I'm going too.", She then said.
"Count me in!" Angel said. "I got friends who are in all that shit, and I'm not just gonna sit by and watch while they get fucking slaughtered."
Seeing how they were banning together, Steve had no choice but to accept. "Alright.", He said. "I guess we're doing this.", He then looks over at Alastor, asking, "You coming with?"
"Of course.", the Radio Demon answered. "I would never miss out on the opportunity to catch some entertainment."
"Just remember who's side your on.", Vaggie grunted.
"And at least try to help out!", Steve added. That smile on Alastor's face made want to slap him. But from what Vaggie told him, he thought it would not be the best idea. "Alright. Let's go.", He then said as they started to head out the door.
"So, how are were gonna get to the city?" He then asked.
Charlie then said, "Don't worry. We got a ride."
A few minutes later, Steve found himself in a limo along side his new partners.
"This would be fun if we weren't riding into a warzone.", He remarked.
"Weren't you the one who wanted to do this?", Angel asked.
Steve answered, "Well, I was planning on going alone. But, here we are."
"Just relax, Steve.", Charlie said in calming tone. "We'll make it through this."
"I would hope so.", He said as the limo rode into the city...