Chapter 10: Allied Assault
BOOM! The Vees jolted up from their beds at the sound of the explosion. Velvette and Valentino rushed to their feet and out of their rooms, they sprinted down the corridor and made their way to Vox's surveillance room.
"Where's Vox?" Velvette asked in between quick breaths.
"No clue," Valentino said, "I guess he got up before us, he's probably already in his room."
They got their answer when they heard Vox's voice through speakers mounted on the walls.
"EVERYONE TO BATTLESTATIONS!" he screamed, "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"
The pair reached the surveillance room, they pressed a button on the side of the round metal door and it opened. They stepped inside, in the centre of the dark room was a circular platform above a large pit, screens surrounded a control panel on the platform, all of them showing nothing but static, Vox was sat in between all of them, staring at the screens.
"GOD DAMN IT!" Vox screamed, his breath was rapid and his gaze was constantly shifting between the screens, he turned to face Valentino and Velvette, "they hit the satellite tower! I can't see anything!"
"Who hit the tower?" Velvette asked.
"I don't know! The Alliance probably!" Vox shouted, he placed his hands on the top of his head and he began to mumble to himself "should've seen this coming," Velvette noticed Vox's distress and leaned into him, she put her hands on his shoulders.
"Calm down Vox, we need you now more than ever," she said in a calm and reassuring tone, Vox's breathing steadied and he put his hands together.
"You're right, thanks Velvette," Vox said, "alright, if it's a fight they want, it's a fight they'll get."
Vee tower was surrounded on all angles. From the West came a mighty roar as Missi Zilla approached the tower in a gigantic form, she was taller than the buildings around her, the ground shook beneath her feet. From the East the people of Cannibal Town excitedly made their way over with knives, pitchforks, axes and any other sharp objects, they drooled at the idea of getting their fill tonight. From the North, Zestial had sent a chill fog that brought with it an army of ghosts, if anyone were to fall while in the mist their body would quickly rise to fight on Zestial's behalf. In the South, Hereticus stood on top of a building, his army in front of him as they marched towards Vee tower with weapons generously provided by Carmilla. He looked towards Vee tower, Vox's satellite dish had fallen off, it looked like it had been blown apart by some sort of explosive.
"We didn't do that…" he said to himself with confusion. Just then, he heard something land next to him, it was a pink haired woman with pale skin who had her back turned away from him.
"Hell! Yes!" She shouted with hands raised in the air triumphantly.
"Did you do that?" Hereticus asked her, she turned to face him with speed, revealing she only had one eye.
"Do what?" She asked, as if only realising Hereticus was there, she then looked towards the satellite dish which had crashed to the floor, completely destroyed. "Oh yeah! That!" she said, "I saw your army approaching Vee tower, thought I'd give you a hand, been itching to give the Vees a piece of my mind!"
"You wouldn't happen to be Cherri Bomb, would you?" Hereticus asked, recalling a conversation he'd overheard between Angel and Husk about an explosive friend of Angel's, her grudge against the Vees was most likely because of Angel's enslavement.
"So, you've heard of me?" she asked.
"From your friend, Angel Dust," he replied, "I appreciate the help."
"No worries," Cherri said, "I'll be stickin' around for a bit, tell yah troops not to get caught in any explosions."
With that, Cherri leapt off the side of the building and rushed back to Vee tower.
The four armies approached Vee tower, Missi let out a mighty roar, signalling the troops to attack, suddenly, the cannibals charged the front entrance, laughing maniacally as they went, the Vees' gatekeepers tried to stop the oncoming hoard, they drew their guns but as soon as they did a thick fog surrounded them, giving the cannibals the cover they needed. Ghost soldiers suddenly appeared around the guards and they quickly fell as they couldn't fight two armies at once. Their bodies rose to fight again, Zestial deliberately left some of the bodies alone so that the cannibals could get their promised meal.
While the gatekeepers were being attacked, Hereticus' army opened fire on the Vees' guards that stood on the higher floors, weapons drawn. There was a sudden onslaught of gunfire from both sides, the sheer volume on gunshots made it sound like rain, Missi dug her claws into the road, pulling out huge boulders from the ground which she used to hurl at her enemies. After a few minutes of fighting the gunfire stopped, there was absolute silence, while there had been losses on both sides, the opening skirmish was a clear victory for the alliance.
Three of the four overlords met just outside the front gate, Hereticus, Zestial and Rosie all stood in the middle of the fog.
"My neighbours seem to be enjoying themselves!" Rosie said, they could hear the sounds of flesh being torn apart, delighted lips smacking and sharp teeth gnashing just beyond where they could see.
"The front gate is ours," said Zestial, "now all we need is to seize the tower." Zestial lifted his hand and a slain hellhound rose, they had the face of a wolf yet their eyes were now completely devoid of life, they took out a set of keys from their pocket and walked over to the thick iron gate obstructing their path, he used the keys to unlock the gate and opened it for the lords.
"Leave the back exit alone so that anyone who might reconsider their loyalty to the Vees can run," Hereticus said to the other two.
The majority of the alliance's forces kept guard outside, ensuring that those that entered would be safe. Missi circled around the tower, keeping an eye inside for anyone who might try to attack those below.
Hereticus, Rosie and Zestial marched through the front entrance. Zestial drew his daggers from his coat, Rosie had brought an umbrella with her, she opened it and
turned the centre of it, it clicked and she pulled the umbrella apart into two pieces, revealing the blade inside. The handle became a long, thin sword made of silver while the panel could be used as a shield, the fabric was magically enchanted to sustain considerable damage and could protect its wielder from many blows. Hereticus held his silver hand open at his side, the claws were ready to slash at any who might attack them. A group of Zestial's reanimated soldiers followed behind them, they had kept the number of people entering the tower low to avoid confusion.
They moved through the front lobby, the receptionist was hiding under their desk, they shook in fear as the fog swept over them, they even considered praying to God for mercy. The group ignored them and carried on, as long as the receptionist didn't attack, they wouldn't either.
"I'd wager that the Vees are on the top floor," Hereticus said, "we kill them and the fight's over."
Rather than taking the elevator up, they decided to take the stairs. They slowly made their way up a spiral staircase with no guards stopping them, the entire way up was completely devoid of other people.
"I expected a warmer welcome than this," said Rosie when they were halfway to the top.
"Indeed," replied Zestial, "it's likely that the enemy is preparing an ambush for us, we must remain guarded."
They made their way to the building's private suite, it opened into a long corridor, where there were three doors on the right side with about ten metres of space between them. Each door had a unique design, and the name of the Vee that the bedroom behind each door belonged to was displayed proudly by engravings on a gold plaque. Beyond the corridor was the living room which was populated by ornate armchairs and sofas that faced one of Vox's flatscreen TVs. The group moved through the corridor, the living room, an indoor garden filled with exotic plants and passed the conference room.
Finally, they came to a large circular door with a red 'V' plastered on it. On top of the door was a metal sign reading 'SURVEILLANCE ROOM'. Hereticus pressed a glowing red button on the side of the door, the door split into two semi-circles and slid open with a quiet hiss, letting the group walk through. The room was dimly lit, all they could see in front of them was a giant pit, in the centre there was a central circular platform with another red 'V' in the middle and a walkway leading up to it, all lit by dim blue lights.
The leading three took a step inside, but as soon as they did the door locked tightly shut behind them, with Zestial's undead servants being left behind. The room lit up as red and blue screens surrounding the central platform and placed all around the walls of the circular room suddenly burst to life.
They were completely surrounded by men with guns, sinners, imps, hellhounds, possessors and all the other ilk of Hell stood all around, guns in hand pointed directly at the three, they had sadistic grins on their faces. In the central platform were the three Vees, Valentino on the right, Velvette of the left and Vox in the middle, who all had smug grins on their faces.
"This little attack of yours has been fun," said Vox, "but I think it's time we end things here."
Hereticus could hear Zestial's zombies trying to get the door open, they were banging and scraping, if he could keep Vox talking, he might be able to buy them time they needed.
"Just like you to pull a cowardly trick like this," Hereticus said, he pointed two of his fingers around the room at each of the gunmen surrounding them, "too scared to fight us three on three?"
"Me? A coward?" Vox asked with a seething voice, "You're the one who needs to hide behind three other overlords."
"If you think that's the case then why not fight me now?" Hereticus asked, the gunmen glanced at each other, questioning Vox's strength. Vox caught the gunmen looking between each other, he stared at Hereticus with an embarrassed scowl, something Velvette picked up on, rather than letting Vox run them into an unfavourable position she decided to lead the conversation.
"How strong are fossils like you supposed to be, anyway?" Velvette asked.
"Now, now, young one," replied Zestial, "the adults are talking." A proud smirk ran across Zestial's face and Velvette's face was covered with disbelief, she made movements with her mouth as she tried to think of something to say.
"Who do you think you are?" Valentino suddenly interjected before taking a puff from his ever-present cigar, "you should be licking our boots."
"You'll be lucky to keep your head!" shouted Hereticus, "after the things you've done, the people you've enslaved!"
"I've had enough of this," Valentino said as he pulled out a gun from his jacket's pocket, it was a revolver with a zebra pattern on the frame, pink paint on the sides of the barrel, the handle and the cylinder as well as gold plating on the top of the barrel, the trigger guard and the hammer. He pointed the revolver at Hereticus and pulled back the hammer, there was a sudden bang as the trigger was pulled and a bullet came zooming towards Hereticus, it was about to reach his head when Rosie brought up her umbrella-shield, stopping the bullet in its tracks.
Shortly after the first shot there was an overwhelming number of gunshots, Zestial, Hereticus and Rosie hid behind the umbrella as the shots rang out.
"This thing can only take so many shots before it breaks," said Rosie to the other two.
"How long until your zombies get through?" Hereticus asked Zestial.
"There is no way of telling," he replied grimly.
Hereticus thought through what could be done before speaking once more.
"Zestial, can you make us some fog? That should hopefully give us a little bit of cover, we need to get to the middle, the ones on the outside won't dare shoot in the direction of the Vees."
Zestial nodded and he widely opened his coat, a thick fog came from it, quickly moving up the walkway and blocking the gangsters' view. The gunshots lessened in intensity as the gunmen tried to figure out where the three overlords were. The three of them made their way up the walkway, Rosie leading the charge, holding out her umbrella in case Valentino shot in their direction again.
They made their way about halfway across when there was a sudden shot from the central platform, but rather than it hitting the shield it moved past it. Hereticus saw it through the fog, it glowed a bright electric blue. Suddenly, a similarly coloured arm reached out from it, grabbing Rosie's neck tightly.
Rosie was carried by the arm to the other side of the room, her head hit the wall behind her and she let out a pained groan. The bullet also hit the wall, leaving a hole from which the blue hand reached out, then a second hand, the electric mass quickly clawed its way out of the hole and took a proper physical form, Vox stood there beside Rosie, who was just starting to get to her feet.
"Rosie!" exclaimed Zestial as he looked back to her, he and Hereticus looked each other in the eyes and wordlessly agreed for Zestial to help Rosie before Vox killed her while she was still recovering from the impact.
Zestial charged towards Vox and Hereticus charged towards Valentino and Velvette, the fog cleared as they made their way across the walkway.
Rosie finally got to her feet but was unable to dodge a swipe from Vox's right hand, two of his sharp claws dug into her cheek, leaving two bloody gashes where they had hit. Vox prepared another strike but was interrupted when he saw Zestial in the corner of his eye, who was charging at him with two daggers outstretched. Vox easily dodged the attack, he was much faster than either of them, however, both overlords might cause him some problems. He ducked and weaved between the ensuing attacks from Rosie's sword and Zestial's daggers and he himself attack between brief windows of opportunity, the gunmen spectated the fight, not daring to shoot anywhere near Vox.
Hereticus was sprinting straight towards the centre, Valentino aimed his revolver at Hereticus and pulled the hammer back. As the trigger was pulled Hereticus threw his body to the floor yet still slid towards Valentino. As he slid, he kicked his right leg towards Valentino's feet, causing him to trip and fall to the floor. Hereticus wanted to follow up by slashing at Val's neck, but was unable to do so when a knife was thrust towards him. He rolled to his side and got to his feet, seeing the attacker was Velvette. She thrust the knife at him again, which he anticipated, he grabbed the blade with his metal hand and pulled it out of Velvette's grip.
Hereticus saw Valentino's gun pointed at him once again, he leaned backwards, causing the bullet to fly past him, hitting a spectating gunman in the head instead, he fell to the floor, dead. Immediately after the shot, Hereticus swiped at Velvette's right arm, she ducked underneath the swing with considerable energy. Hereticus then swiped at Velvette's left leg, she jumped upward and pulled her legs as close to her chest as she could, then landed on her feet. He then swiped at her neck, she leaned backwards, limbo bending under the blade.
"What's the matter old man?" asked Velvette facetiously with a wide smirk, "your arthritis stopping you from hitting me?" She laughed giddily, to which Hereticus lifted his right foot, kicking her in the torso with considerable force, causing Velvette to stumble backwards and trip off the edge of the platform into the pit below, she screamed in fear with her arms outstretched as she desperately tried to grasp onto the ledge as it got further and further from her.
Vox was still fighting Zestial and Rosie when he heard Velvette scream, his head quickly turned over, seeing Velvette falling down the pit.
"VEL!" he screamed as he rushed towards the edge at considerable speed, he dived over the side and fell down the hole, he raced towards Velvette with considerable speed, he grabbed her by the ponytail, narrowly missing. He then used his free hand to grab onto the side, his claws dug into the walls of the pit, he slid down the side but quickly lost speed, eventually stopping. The pair let out fearful pants as they looked below, seeing the black abyss below that Velvette had nearly fallen down.
"Thanks…" said Velvette in-between adrenaline filled breathes.
"Sure thing…" Vox said, he then looked up to the top of the pit, "we need to help Val."
He lifted Velvette up to his waist, she grabbed onto his coat and climbed onto his back, comfortably grabbing Vox's shoulders. Vox then let Velvette go, she hung onto his back as he dug his other claw into the wall, using both of them to climb up the side of the wall at considerable speed.
On the floor above, the door to the surveillance room was pulled open by Zestial's zombies, they made their way inside, the gunmen opened fire on them, but nonetheless the horde descended on them.
Hereticus and Valentino were still at each other, Hereticus charged at Val with his shoulder, causing him to be hit into the platform's central panel that controlled the room's screens. A lever was pushed upwards as Valentino fell onto it, the walkway folded away in the direction of the door and the platform began to ascend into the air, taking both of them with it.
As they ascended, Valentino decided that he needed some more firepower. He reached three hands into his coat, one of his left ones pulled out a gold-plated pistol, the two other hands pulled out a shotgun, it was long and box shaped, with gold plating on top of the barrel and the receiver, the pump had a zebra pattern, similar to the revolver he wielded in his right hand. He aimed the guns at Hereticus from his hip, Hereticus ran to his right, circling around Valentino on the edge of the platform.
BOOM! Hereticus saw a flash come from the shotgun, he felt a pellet scrape his left shoulder and another scraped his left calf. Pop! Pop! Pop! Valentino pulled the trigger of the pistol three times, bullets hit the wall behind Hereticus. As Valentino continued to fire at Hereticus he tracked his target's movement with his revolver carefully, the pistol wasn't meant to hit Hereticus, only keep him running, the real killer would be the revolver.
Hereticus looked down the barrel of the revolver, there was a heart shaped hole at the end where bullets came from. He looked at the cylinder, noticing two empty chambers on opposite sides. The revolver could only hold four bullets, Valentino had shot three, this was his last shot, after it was fired, Hereticus would have a brief window to attack.
BANG! The revolver was fired, Hereticus could see a long and sharp silver bullet heading straight towards his head, he clenched his metal fist and brought it upwards. His knuckles hit the bullet mid-flight, causing it to change direction and head right back at Valentino.
The bullet hit Val's chest, he was wearing a bullet-proof vest underneath, meaning all the bullet really did was send him back a few paces, but Hereticus wasn't done, he was still holding Velvette's knife, he flung it towards Valentino's hand, causing him to drop the revolver, Val screamed in pain when the knife flew through his hand, leaving a large cut that went between his middle and ring finger.
Hereticus rushed towards Val, using his state of pain to close the distance, but once he made his way over, Valentino's coat suddenly burst open, revealing a set of wings to Hereticus. The gust of wind generated by the motion sent Hereticus back, causing him to nearly fall backwards off the edge, luckily, he managed to push himself forwards, preventing him from falling.
The platform came to a stop as it reached the tower's roof, in the middle there was a large stone foundation that would've held the satellite dish, had it not been destroyed. On the other side was the three neon 'V' signs, Hereticus and Val stood in between the central 'V' and the foundation. On the side, Missi watched on with a piece of rubble in hand, the two on the roof were too close to each other for her to throw it without hurting Hereticus. The two stood about seven metres apart, staring into each other's eyes with hateful grimaces.
Meanwhile, Vox lifted his claw over the side of the pit, he peeked his head over to assess the situation, finding that his gunmen were being slaughtered, in a short while they'd all be cut dead by Zestial's zombies. He looked around for Val, but only saw that the platform in the middle was missing. He pulled Velvette and himself over the side and rushed towards the door while Zestial, Rosie and the others were still distracted.
"Did you see Val?" Velvette asked.
"No, looks like he went up, probably with Hereticus too," Vox said as he ran through the doors and into the conference room, "get out of here, I'll go find Val."
"You're gonna need all the help you can get," argued Velvette who climbed off Vox's back.
"You'll only slow me down, Vel, I need you to be safe," Vox said, he looked towards an open socket in one of the walls. He converted himself into electricity and went through it, heading through the building's wires and up to the top.
On the roof, Hereticus and Val began to brawl once more. Valentino lifted his shotgun and pistol, firing them both at once as he made his way over to the dropped revolver which he then picked up from the floor and began to load with more bullets.
Hereticus ran in a zig-zag towards Valentino to avoid being shot, he threw a yellow bolt of lightning towards Val, it hit, causing Val to spaz from electrocution, he dropped his pistol and shotgun, but kept a tight grip on the now loaded revolver. Hereticus threw another bolt, Val leapt into the air and flapped his wings, causing the bolt to miss, he hovered in the air for half a second and then dived towards Hereticus, he gripped him by the neck and carried him upwards into the air. Hereticus felt something made of metal be placed against his chest.
BANG! Hereticus gasped for air after the bullet went straight through him onto the other side. Val then threw him downwards onto the roof below, he hit hard concrete, worsening his condition. He saw Valentino land a few metres away from him, who slowly stepped over to him.
"You've been staying at that…" he began, stopping for breath half way through speaking, "hotel… right? The one that Angel's run off to? The one with Lucifer's little princess?" Hereticus desperately tried to get to his feet, but he saw Valentino's boot heading straight to his head, the force of which sent him onto his back. "Stay down!" Valentino ordered as he raised his revolver and pulled the hammer back, Hereticus could see the heart-shaped hole pointed directly at him, "I think… once I'm done with you… I'm gonna give that place a visit… let off a little steam…"
Hereticus felt his blood boil hearing Val mention Charlie, every fibre of his being screamed for Valentino's death, all his hate was directed at a single person and he felt his temperature rise; but it wasn't just his temperature that rose, Valentino felt the air around him suddenly heat up, flickering crimson red flames started to sprout all around the roof, quickly growing taller and thicker, the heat becoming unbearable in seconds. Valentino tried to use his wings to put out the flames closest to him, he flapped them, creating a gust of wind, but it wasn't enough, the fire spread to Val's wings, he screamed in terror and pain as he desperately tried to fly into the air, he only got about ten metres away when the fire engulfed the entirety of his wings, burning them to a crisp and causing him to fall back to the roof, he hit the floor and his hands and feet were caught on fire.
Hereticus got to his feet, he was completely unharmed by the fire, in fact, the heat only assisted him, cauterising his wound and stopping it from bleeding. He made his way towards Val, who stared at him with fearful and pleading eyes.
"Wait!" he screamed as the fire spread from his feet and hands up to his legs and arms, "Please!"
Hereticus grabbed Valentino by the head and lifted him upwards, he placed his thumbs over the moth's eyes and pressed down hard, crushing the glasses that protected Val's eyes, fire spread from his hands to all across Val's face. Val desperately tried to grab onto Hereticus' arms to force them off, but was unable to do so. Val's flesh began to melt and he screamed louder, the pain was indescribable, the fire spread deeper and deeper into Val, reaching and burning his very soul.
The screams came to a stop and Val fell limp; his body disintegrated into a black pile of ash.
Deep below Hereticus, Zestial and Rosie saw a fire above them, quickly spreading downwards and engulfing the tower, they ran out of the surveillance room and made their way to the garden, where a large glass-pane window was, Zestial commanded one of his zombies to smash the window open and the two of them leapt out the window, Zestial used his cape to glide gently downwards, while Rosie combined the two pieces of her umbrella into it's original form, using it to elegantly float downwards similarly to Marie Poppins. They both landed next to Missi and looked up towards her.
"Where's Hereticus?" Rosie asked.
"He's on the roof," she said, "There was some kind of fire and now I can't see him, the flames are blockin' my view!"
Hereticus stared at what remained of Val, all that was left was his smashed heart-shaped glasses which lay upside down on-top of the ash. He steadied his breathing and blinked a few times as he came to his senses. What was that? What did he just do? He couldn't fully comprehend what had just happened, he wasn't sure how to feel.
Suddenly, the stars in the night sky disappeared, leaving a pitch-black void. The flames around him turned from a deep crimson red to a bright green. He saw a figure appear inside the fire and step towards him, Alastor and Hereticus stood on opposite sides of the ash.
"Well! Where did that come from?" he asked. "You're usually so calm, it's not like you to lose your temper! Did it come from the deepest and darkest part of your soul? The part even you don't know about?"
Hereticus looked away from Alastor and at his own hands. Where had it come from? He felt shameful that he'd allowed himself to do such a thing, although, another part of him felt that Valentino deserved such a gruesome death.
"Why the long face?" Alastor asked, his ever-present grin widening, "smile my friend, you're in the Dark Realm! Things like this are only natural, you shouldn't feel ashamed, nobody is pure of heart, that is a lie that heaven tries to uphold, and yet here we are, the end of Hell is in sight, all because the angels seek to be rid of us, but I wonder, is that truly just?"
"Where are you going with this?" Hereticus asked after he built up the courage to speak. Alastor was silent, his smile faded slightly as his tone changed to a more direct one, he was done taunting and wanted to get his point across properly.
"Once, all was one in the world, a single Great Tree stood proudly. But then, the first sin was committed, and the tree was split in two, becoming the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. Light and dark, good and evil, virtue and sin, all were born from the first sin. The Kingdom of Heaven encompasses the Realm of Light while The Empire of Hell encompasses the Dark Realm…
And yet… Hell does not embrace the dark, they fear it, the people of this kingdom, the fallen angels, the sinners, the hellborne, all of them fear the parts of themselves they dare not show. The shame you just felt, that is because you fail to accept who you truly are."
Alastor paused for a moment, his mouth then continued to move but another voice spoke, it was that of a woman and the usual static was absent. Rather horribly, the voice didn't sound like it was coming from Alastor's mouth, but rather it came from right behind him, in the darkness behind Alastor.
"What if there was another way?" the voice asked, "the illusion of civility could be wiped away in an instant and beings of the dark would truly thrive."
"You're insane," Hereticus said as he shook his head. The woman's voice disappeared and Alastor continued to speak as normal.
"I should've expected this, you're just like the woman who taught you, Lilith too was too afraid to embrace who she was… she came so close, but ultimately failed." Alastor paused for a moment before speaking in his jesting tone once more, "Oh, but I'm interrupting something, aren't I? You came here to kill the Vees and I've just been going on for oh so long, I'll be seeing you soon, my friend!"
Alastor waved goodbye as he stepped back into the fire, the night sky lit up once more and the flames turned back to their crimson red.
As soon as all the light was back, Hereticus felt himself being lifted up from the ground as something grabbed onto his back. He was brought up into the air, being shot like a cannonball at an upwards angle. He rolled onto his back to face whatever was grabbing him, only to see Vox's blue face, looking at him with pure hatred.
"YOU BASTARD!" Vox screamed "I'LL KILL YOU!"