Chapter 41: Hugo
A/N: That's right! We're getting a new tenant at the Hotel! Since Pentious was already at the hotel before the events of 'Stayed Gone' that means someone else needs to take his place.
Hope there are Ted Lasso fans here cause this new guy is going to give off…Roy Kent vibes. If you know, you know lol.
Also did anyone else feel called out by that latest Helluva Boss short? You think I should have the gang start calling Blizo 'Blitzy-kun?'
Now let's get on with the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss; I just own my characters.
Enjoy!
/
Velvette stood in a shady alleyway with someone hiding in the shadows. She held out her phone to show her companion photos of Jenny and the Hotel.
"You need to find out what's going on in this shit hole and what this bitch does on a daily basis. Whatever you find out, report back to us immediately"
The sinner grumbled as they studied the photos.
"Didn't take you lot to be interested in the royal family. You're always saying the princess was a joke" they said with a thick British accent.
Velvette rolled her eyes.
"Vox doesn't really care about the others that reside in this place. He just wants info on Alastor and this girl" she clarified.
The sinner looked at Jenny's photo some more.
"Don't see why the flat faced prick is so interested in this girl. She doesn't look anything special"
"You don't need to worry about the nitty gritty details" Velvette said as she put her phone away.
"Just do your job and place those cameras I provided you around the hotel, got it? You do this, and we'll help you get those mutts out of the pound. Deal?"
The sinner just grumbled some more and slowly walked away from the fashion designer. Velvette rolled her eyes.
"Pleasure doing business with you too" she said sarcastically.
She pulled out her phone and texted something to Vox as she left the alleyway.
"Fucking unbelievable. Making me do his dirty work when this was his idea in the first place" she grumbled.
"I have better things I can be doing right now"
She stumbled when she tripped over something on the ground.
"What the fuck?"
She looked at her feet and raised an eyebrow at what she saw. Bending down, she picked up a severed Angel's head. It looked like it had been dead for a while with how it was starting to rot away.
Velvette's eyes grew wide when she saw the head. She had never seen an Angel get decapitated. She didn't think it was physically possible. A cruel smirk appeared on her face as she thought of something.
She quickly took a picture of the head and sent it to Vox.
"Well, well, well. Maybe this wasn't a waste of my time after all"
/
"How many times are you going to watch that video?" Jenny snapped.
Loona just snickered as she replayed the video she made of Jenny beating the shit out of Vox.
"I'll stop watching it when it doesn't make me laugh anymore-which isn't going to happen any time soon" the hellhound replied.
Jenny rolled her eyes and went back to the Hellphone Angel Dust got her. She was trying to use it like her old phone but she realized right away it worked very differently than a human phone.
"Why is this thing so hard to use? It should have worked like my old phone" she grumbled.
"I said I would offer to show you how to use it, toots" Angel pointed out.
"Not a chance, Ang. I know you'll upload some dirty apps on this thing and take a bunch of dick pictures" Jenny said.
Angel scoffed.
"I would never do such a thing!" he said.
Moxxie came into the room with an annoyed look on his face and held up his phone.
"Why are there a bunch of dick pics on my phone?!"
Angel looked away and whistled when Jenny gave him a look.
"Ugh. I'm not getting anywhere with this. I'll just have Blitzo show me how to use this later"
"I find it hard to believe that annoying Imp can help with something" Alastor said.
"I'm right here, asshole" Blitzo spat.
Alastor continued to act like the Imp wasn't in the room.
"He can do other things besides killing people, you know that right?" Jenny argued.
"I'll believe it when I see that Imp actually do something useful-which I know will be never" Alastor retorted.
"Again! I'm right here!"
Jenny rolled her eyes. She tucked her phone in her pocket and went over to the parlor to get ready for today's lesson.
"What's today's class going to be about?" Mei asked.
"It's going to be a joint class today" Jenny said.
"Charlie wanted to do a group game with everyone and then I'll take over and we'll talk about how far you've come along with that project I assigned to you all. I hope you guys didn't forget about what I asked"
"I brought a few things that I put together of what I grew up with when I was alive! And they're not weapon related like you asked!" Pentious said happily.
"I brought my calligraphy collection so I can show everyone how they can write their names in my language" Mei added.
"That's great! I'm sure everyone is looking forward to what you brought" Jenny said.
She turned to Angel to see him fiddling on his phone.
"Angel? What about you?"
Angel froze mid text. He didn't want to admit that he forgot to put together anything for this project. How could he remember when Val was constantly bugging him? At work and while he was here, the pimp wouldn't leave him alone.
He quickly masked his fear with a smug look on his face.
"Sorry toots, I've been so busy with work that I haven't had the chance to come up with anything" he said.
Jenny crossed her arms and gave Angel a look.
"You had weeks to come up with something" she pointed out.
Angel bit his lip and forced himself to shrug. He wasn't going to let everyone see how vulnerable he was.
"What can I say? I've been busy being a famous porn star. I'll have something ready for next weeks class. Sound fair?"
Jenny sighed and shook her head.
"Fine. But just a heads up, Nifty will be presenting stuff too. Hope that doesn't freak you out"
Angel made a face and slowly turned to Nifty to see the cleaner have a crazy, creepy grin on her face.
"Great"
"Now we just got to wait for Charlie to get back and we can start our-"
Charlie burst into the hotel squealing with delight.
"Guys! Guys! Guys! You won't believe what happened just now!"
"That annoying Imp finally died?" Alastor asked excitedly.
Blitzo, glared at him and flipped him off with both hands.
"For the last fucking time! I'm right here!"
"No! No one died! It's even better! We have a new tenant!" Charlie said.
That puzzled everyone. While it was exciting that someone wanted to come to the hotel it was also…random. No one had joined the hotel since Mei, Lue and Pentious came and that was months ago.
"Someone wanted to come to the hotel and be redeemed?" Jenny asked slowly.
"Yep! Isn't that great?! Finally we're getting recognition!" Charlie said.
Everyone looked at each other. If Charlie wasn't bothered by this sudden newcomer then they shouldn't either. Shrugging they decided to go along with Charlie's excitement.
"Well…if someone is looking to be redeemed and giving this place a chance then who are we to say no?"
Charlie smiled when she saw everyone was accepting their newcomer.
"He'll fit in with our group easily! I can already tell you guys will be friends"
She went over to the door and tugged someone into the hotel.
"Meet our newest tenant!"
Everyone's eyes bugged out when they saw the newest tenant that would be staying with them. He was a big, huge, gruff looking gargoyle. He had various scars over his arms and a big gash along his left eye. He wore an old army uniform that had seen better days and was torn in the back so his wings and tail could move around freely.
Overall, he looked like a giant teddy bear-or rather a grizzly bear.
"If this fucker is named Goliath, I'm out of here" Husk grumbled.
The gargoyle looked around the room making grumbling noises as he spotted some things.
"Everyone, meet Hugo!" Charlie said.
Everyone mumbled a couple of 'hellos'. Where in the world did Charlie find this guy?!
"Charlie, a word please" Vaggie said.
She dragged her girlfriend to another room so she could chew her out about bringing random Sinners into the hotel.
"Sooo, we're just bringing Sinners off the street now?" Angel said.
"Isn't that how we recruited you?" Jenny said tartly.
Nifty scurried over to Hugo and climbed on top of him. She grabbed the front of his shirt with a crazy look in her eye.
"Ohhhh, a bad boy! I like him"
Hugo narrowed his eyes and grumbled. Jenny hurried over and pulled Nifty off of him.
"Nifty, what did we say about respecting personal space?" she chided.
"Why don't you…go get his room clean and ready?"
Nifty perked up at the mention of cleaning.
"Okay!"
She jumped down and scurried up the stairs to get Hugo's room ready. Jenny laughed nervously and looked at Hugo.
"Sorry about her. She's completely harmless…well we think she's at least 80% harmless"
"And what is the other 20%?" Hugo suddenly asked.
The human was caught off guard by how thick his accent was.
"We're kind of afraid to find that out" she joked.
Hugo actually managed to crack a small smirk which terrified everyone.
Alastor suddenly appeared in front of Jenny and gently pushed her behind him.
"So, you're from Britan I take it? You're accent is very different from Pentious's"
"I'm from the South" Hugo grumbled.
Alastor's ear twitched a little.
"I see…." He said.
"Well, as the host of this hotel let me do you the honor of introducing myself. I'm Alastor, the Radio Demon. I'm sure you've heard of me"
He held his hand out for the Sinner to shake. Hugo just stared at the hand and didn't move. You would hear crickets chirping if they weren't terrified of Hugo as well.
Jenny quickly tried to save the situation and side stepped Alastor.
"Uhhh, why don't I introduce you to everyone since you'll be stay with us? I'm Jennifer, but feel free to call me Jenny. I'm the life coach at this hotel. You've already meet Charlie and Vaggie so they don't need any introduction"
She gestured to everyone that was in the parlor.
"Over here we have our other tenants that are staying here as well. We have Angel Dust, Sir Pentious, and Mei. There's also Lue but he's out doing something at the moment. Then we have Husker, our bartender, Nifty our housekeeper and Tony our repairman. And of course we have my dear friends Bltizo, his daughter Loona and Millie and Moxxie"
Everyone gulped when Hugo looked at them. How could Jenny not be scared right now?!
The human smiled nervously and gestured towards the parlor.
"We were about to start our class about bettering ourselves. Perhaps you would like to join us while Nifty gets your room ready?"
Hugo didn't say anything and just looked at Jenny. After a few moments he moved further into the room. Every step he took made the room shake with how big he was. He sat on the sofa that Mei and Pentious were sitting on. They quickly jumped off and sat on the floor near the fireplace shaking.
"Sooo…while we're waiting for Charlie to come back, why don't you tell us a little something about yourself?" Jenny offered.
"It doesn't have to be anything personal. Just something you think we should know about you"
Hugo rubbed his chin as he thought of something about himself.
"I served in the army when I was alive and fought in World War 2. And I know I killed at least 250 people during that-all with a sniper. I never miss a shot"
Jenny gulped slightly and put on a fake smile.
"Well, uh, I guess that's something. Thank you for your services and…good memory?"
Everyone backed away slightly the more they heard about Hugo.
"Oh I'm for sure getting her out of this hotel now" Blitzo said.
"You do that and everyone else will follow you and stay at the apartment" Loona said.
Alastor appeared next to Jenny.
"Why don't you sit down, dear? I believe Charlie is about to start her portion of the class" he said.
"But I don't see her anywhere"
Just then, Chalrie and Vaggie were dragged into the parlor by Alastor's shadows and plopped right next to Alastor.
"What are you talking about? She's right here. Now go sit all the way over there while Charlie shows our new guest how things are done here"
He used his shadows to pull Jenny over to the farthest spot away from Hugo. He appeared next to her while Blitzo plopped down on the sofa by her.
"I believe it's time for your portion of the class, Charlie" Alastor pointed out.
Charlie realized she had forgotten that she was going to do something for todays class. Guess she was excited about getting a new tenant.
"Well then, with a new resident, I think it's important we all get to know each other"
"Do we have to?" Mei asked sheepishly.
She and Pentious screamed when Hugo turned to look at them.
"Yes, we have to" Vaggie said.
"We can't act like strangers when we're all living under the same roof"
"Vaggie is right! So we're going to play a little game to help break the ice. Everyone, follow me" Charlie said.
"My name is Charlie *clap clap* I like to sing *clap clap* and when we get to know each other, it's the greatest thing!"
Everyone just stared at the princess with blank looks on their faces. Charlie gestured for Hugo to start off.
"Care to start us off?"
Hugo just looked at the princess and grumbled a little.
"Ehhh, why don't I have a few of our current residents starts us off? Pentious, why don't you start?"
Pentious looked at the group puzzled then shrugged.
"My name's Sir Pentious *clap clap* I like to build *clap clap* and despite my stupid egg boys, I think I'm very skilled"
"Perfect! Mei, now it's your turn!"
"Uhh…My name is Mei *clap calp* I like to paint *clap clap* and even though I killed a bunch of people, I'm actually a saint"
"Bravo! Now it's your turn, Angel"
The porn star looked up from his phone bored.
"This is stupid" he deadpanned.
"This is not stupid *clap clap* it's just a game *clap clap* Pentious and Mei did it well so now please try to do the same" Charlie sang.
Angel held the bridge of his nose.
"I am too sober for this"
"You sober? That's got to be a first" Loona said.
Angel flipped the hellhound off.
"Angel, just come up with something. Everyone else did it so you have to as well" Jenny said.
"Like you could come up with something catchy for this stupid game" Angel said tartly.
Jenny had a shit eating grin on her face as she started to clap.
"My name is Jenny *clap clap* I sing and dance *clap clap* Angel, stop being a dickhead and give this game a fucking chance"
Angel scowled.
"I didn't agree to do a sing along when I joined this place" he said
"Well, get used to it and learn how to play. This is going to be your whole day *clap clap*" Vaggie sang.
"Okay, we're not getting anywhere with the singing so I'll just start my portion of the class" Jenny sighed.
She got up and went over to the fireplace so she could face the group.
"So I asked a few of you to come up with something that you used to do when you were alive since you all are from different time periods. By learning a little bit about each other's past you'll see how things were back in the day and how these changes helped make people better versions of themselves. Mei, since you're from the oldest time period, we'll have you start first"
Mei grabbed her stuff and set everything up. She looked at the group and fiddled with her fingers nervously. Now that she was in front of everyone she was nervous. She had never presented anything before. Jenny gave her a thumbs up and smiled. Letting out a shaky breath, she cleared her throat.
"W-where I'm from we have a different writing style that most of you are not used to. While we used this method in day to day practice like writing letters it's also considered a form of art. The art of calligraphy goes as far back as-"
"How does any of this help us redeem ourselves?" Hugo grumbled.
"If writing scribbles was the ticket to getting out of here, I would have been up in heaven with my chicken scratch writing"
Mei bit her lip and her face got red with embarrassment. Jenny went over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She put on her teacher face and gave Hugo a harsh stare.
"We may be in Hell but that doesn't mean we forgot how to use our manners. If you have a question you raise your hand" she said tartly.
Hugo slowly raised his hand.
"Yes?"
"How does learning scribbles help us redeem ourselves?" Hugo repeated.
"Aren't we supposed to learn how to better ourselves?"
"These classes are supposed to teach us how to be better versions of ourselves. By talking about things that you all used to do when you were alive, it shows everyone here that there is more to you than just a Sinner. It shows that just because you made mistakes when you were alive, it doesn't mean that you're evil. There's more to you than the sins you made" Jenny said.
Hugo scoffed.
"There's no redeeming aspects of any of us. We paid the price when we were alive and now we have to deal with the mess we made. There's nothing good or innocent about a Sinner"
"Oh I beg to differ. I know everyone in this hotel isn't 100% evil" Jenny countered.
"Oh really? Prove it" Hugo said.
Jenny smiled smugly and walked over to Pentious.
"Our master inventor is a prime example"
Pentious's eyes sparkled in delight.
"Me?!" he asked.
Jenny nodded.
"That's right, Pent. You claim that you're an evil genius who specializes in making weapons of mass destruction but that's not true. You're more than that. When our washing machine broke you set up our brand new one so we could all have clean laundry at the hotel. And you made those pretty steam punk inspired flowers for me that I have in my room cause you knew I enjoyed classical things. You're very open minded and are curious to see how modern things are and don't say the 'old times were the best times'. You're proof that even though we're in Hell, chivalry isn't dead and is still thriving"
Pentious had happy tears in his eyes as he made little hiss noises. He might have wanted to be known as a master inventor, but he did enjoy having someone take the time to notice the smaller aspects of his personality.
Jenny turned to Hugo with her arms crossed.
"Just because you made mistakes when you were alive doesn't mean you're a bad person. Yes, there are horrible people who did horrible, unspeakable things down here, but everyone who is staying at this hotel is not one of them. So are you one of these lost souls who is looking for help or are you going to waste Charlie's time?"
Hugo blinked a few times and just 'hmmm'd' really lowly. He slowly turned to Mei and pointed to her calligraphy board.
"How do you spell 'Hugo' with those scribbles?"
Mei perked up and turned the page so she would have a blank canvas to write on.
"We start off by writing this symbol…"
Jenny smiled proudly when she saw that class was going back on track. She might have hated being a teacher, but it seemed to pay off with rehabilitating Sinners. She went over to where Blitzo was sitting and plopped down on the couch.
"Nicely done, Sugar Tits. The teacher voice always puts people in their place" Blitzo teased.
"Least that crappy job was useful for something. I'm sure Sinners are no different than first graders" Jenny said.
"They have the same IQ so it's as if you never left your job" Blitzo joked.
"Maybe one of them will act like Jeremy"
Jenny swatted the Imp on the arm.
"Don't you ever compare anyone to that little gremlin. That brat is the perfect example of why some people shouldn't reproduce. Little asshole" she grumbled.
"Who is this Jeremy you speak of?" Alastor had to ask.
"Jen's sworn rival from back when she was a teacher" Blitzo explained.
"That little bastard would always get under her skin. He got held back from moving onto second grade not once but twice and had to be in Jen's class cause the other teachers couldn't handle him. He would act up, not pay attention in class and do things that were borderline insane"
"Like coming back from a field trip in the woods and bringing a family of wolf spiders in your backpack and decide the classroom library is the perfect home for them to make thousands of babies. And after threatening to sue the parents would they agree to pay to debug the class room and replace everything that was touched by those little monsters" Jenny said bitterly.
"Least you got your raise after that"
"It was either that or I'd set loose those spiders in everyone's classroom including the teacher lounge"
"Those were fun times" Blitzo sighed.
Alastor's ears went back the more he heard about Jenny's 'adventures' as a school teacher. Maybe just having his records stolen when he had her on lockdown wasn't so bad after all.
"And everyone says I'm the messed up one here" he muttered.
/
Later that night when Jenny's class was over, Angel went into his room and flopped on his bed. He enjoyed learning how to spell his name in Kanji. Now he had another way of sighing his autograph to his fans.
He thought Jenny's lessons were a fun idea. A lot better than playing Charlie's singing game. The human was taking her role at the hotel seriously and was trying to help them out even though it was probably a lost cause. Hell, she even made the scary new guy listen and that was a feat.
He had fun…but he felt hollow and empty inside. He didn't mean to forget about completing the project Jenny gave him. He had a fun idea where he would show everyone all the Italian dishes he made growing up as a kid. The only problem was that Valentino wouldn't leave him alone. If he was at work that was one thing cause that was his boss, but when he was at the hotel that was very different. It was as if the pimp couldn't understand that his actors had a life outside of filming adult movies. Just because he was under contract to work for Val didn't mean his whole existence needed to revolve around the moth.
As he looked at his phone, he saw all the voice mails Val left him since he was at Jenny's class. They started off sweet, then got nasty, then went back to sweet, then went to threats.
"You actually think you can change? Addict trash like you doesn't change. I'll see you soon, baby"
Even though he wasn't at the studio, Val's words seem to pull at Angel. The moth was right. He couldn't change. He had been down here in hell for decades now and he was still the same as when he first got down here. This hotel was a joke. No way was it possible for a Sinner to be redeemed.
A knock at his door pulled him away from his dark thoughts. Raising an eyebrow, he wondered who would be bothering him. He got off his bed and went to the door. When he opened it, he was surprised to see Jenny on the other side.
The human had an annoyed look on her face as she held up her Hellphone.
"I still can't work this thing" she grumbled.
Angel blinked a few times then crossed his arms as he smirked.
"I thought you said you didn't want me to help since I might put dirty apps on your phone" he pointed out.
"I did…but Blitz got called to do a last minute hit on someone so he went to take it. And I'm bored and don't feel like staying up all night waiting for him to get back so he can fix my phone" Jenny sighed.
"So does your offer stand or do I need to ask Charlie?"
Angel opened his door some more and nudged his head towards his room.
"Come on in"
Jenny stepped into his room and was surprised by how it looked. Since he couldn't get away with paining the walls pink thanks to that one incident he decided to use neon lights to change the color of the walls. He wasn't tampering with the hotel and his room looked like how he wanted it to be so it was a win-win situation.
"Like what you did with the place. I think light purple is a better choice than pink"
"I think so too. Maybe Vag was right about not paining the walls-don't tell her I admit that" Angel said.
"Don't worry, I would never let Vaggie know she was right on a handful of things" Jenny teased.
She sat on the bed and smiled when Fat Nuggets came over and plopped himself in her lap.
"You do one escape out of the hotel and your pig has a new favorite person" Angel joked.
He held out his hand to take the phone from her. Jenny gave him her phone and watched as he fiddled with it.
"This isn't one of the most common phones that Sinners use down here. Everyone goes for Vox's phones cause it has more features but this line has a few things that Vox doesn't offer" he explained.
"You mean like how most people use iPhones and others use Andrioids?"
"I have no idea what the fuck that means, but sure"
He sat down next to her on the bed and set up her phone so it would be easy for her to use.
"I doubt you'll be using the blogging pages like 'Sinstaram', 'Fatebook' or 'Sinter' which is now known as X so we won't set up profiles for that. We'll just add everyone's phone numbers so you can call us or text us while you're out" he explained.
Even though he joked about putting dirty things on her phone, he took setting it up seriously. Jenny looked at him as she scratched Fat Nugget's head.
"Care to explain why you didn't want to participate in any of the classes today?" she asked.
Angel paused what he was doing and sighed.
"Like I said, Toots I-"
"I know what you said. What I want to know is why you're letting work get to you when you're here and not there" Jenny said.
"You don't get it. Val is my boss. I can't just ignore him because I'm here at the hotel"
"Sure you can. When you're at work, you're on the clock. When you're here, you're off the clock. Unless Val's paying you overtime by bugging you when you're not on work, you have no reason to answer him when you're off work"
Angel sighed and rubbed his face.
"That's easier said than done, Toots. This is Val we're talking about. I may be off the clock but I'm not off of his clock. And sadly there's no 'off time' for him"
Jenny pursed her lips. How could she help Angel deal with this predicament? Maybe something her grandma taught her would work?
She flopped down on the mattress and held Fat Nuggets to her chest.
"I have a life story that might help" she offered.
"Does it have anything to deal with that loser fiancé of yours?" Angel asked.
"No. It deals with my grandma though"
Angel flopped down on the mattress next to her. He tucked a set of arms behind his head while the other were crossed in front of him.
"Go ahead" he said.
Jenny thought about a time when she was at school and had to deal with an uncomfortable project.
"When I was in Junior High…my class had to read this book for a report for my English Class. It was a tough, horrible book to read and some of the parents didn't want their kids to read it, but the school insisted that it had to be read because it was part of our history and students needed to know because this author wanted to share their voice" she said quietly.
"My grandma didn't want me to read this book but she understood where the school was coming from and knew sheltering me would do more harm than good so she agreed to let me read it for my class. It was really hard to read it. Every time you read what the author was saying, you could feel yourself get sick. We had to bring the book home so we could write about what we learned from the chapters we read and what we felt. I would always feel numb whenever I read that book. I didn't want to bring it home, but I had to so I could work on my paper. Instead of feeling relaxed after getting off from school, I just continued to feel bad. I started having nightmares because of the book. It finally got to the point that my grandma finally said I shouldn't be bringing that book home if it upsets me so much. I tried to reason with her that I needed to bring it home for my school work. I remember the look she gave me and that she took the book out of my backpack and set it on the kitchen table. She told me 'school work is for school and homework is for home. You don't bring both things to one place just to add more trouble for you'. She would say she followed the same thought process when she was at work. When she was at work, she dealt with her work troubles there and left them there when she clocked out. When she was at home, she dealt with her home troubles there and left them there when she went to work. If she had let her home trouble bleed in with her work troubles it wouldn't solve her problems, it would just make them worse. So I decided to follow her thought process and when I had to read that book for class, I'd read it there and keep it in my locker when I went home. While the story still bothered me, my stress was gone"
She turned to Angel and patted his arm.
"Val is that book. You have to deal with him when you're at work but when you're done for the day, the book stays tucked in your locker and you leave it there until next time. Next time he does that, give that method a shot"
Angel looked at her for bit then looked up at the ceiling.
"What was is about that book that bothered you so much?" he asked quietly.
Jenny snuggled Fat Nuggets closer to her as she recalled the story.
"Probably because it made me think of my childhood" she said.
Angel looked at her in shock. Jenny shrugged and looked at the ceiling.
"It wasn't anything gruesome or horrible…but it wasn't sunshine and rainbows. I lived with my grandma for a reason"
Once again Angel was floored by how complex Jenny could be. She had this mask that she wore where it seemed like everything was alright and she had a big smile on her face. But behind that mask, there was something hiding that didn't want to be seen. She made sure everyone was ok at this hotel but she didn't stop to see if she was ok. They were the same and yet they weren't at the same time.
Angel's phone buzzed showing Val sent him another voice mail. He went to answer it to see what the pimp said but paused. Sitting up, he opened his side table drawer and tossed his phone in there and closed it. He looked over his shoulder to see Jenny starting at him. He simply shrugged.
"The book stays tucked in the locker" he said.
Jenny smiled a little and nodded.
"The book stays tucked in the locker" she repeated.
Her stomach growled a little, making Fat Nuggets jump.
"Either Nugs is making noises or my stomach isn't full from dinner" she joked.
Angel snorted and stood up from the bed.
"Wait here. I'll get us some snacks and drinks. Might as well have a little movie night since you're here" he said.
He left his room and headed for the lobby where he planned to steal some of Husker's booze. He walked down the hallway and paused when he saw a shadowy figure up ahead pass by. It went down the hallway and made it to Jenny's room before sneaking inside. Eyes narrowed, he wondered what that was about.
"Probably Blitz coming back from that job" he muttered.
He went over to Jenny's room, ready to tell the Imp that she saw crashing in his room. He froze and quickly hid behind the door when he saw it wasn't Blitzo.
It was Hugo.
The gargoyle pulled something out of his jacket and hooked it up behind some trinkets on her dresser. When he pulled away, the spider saw it was a Vox cam. Sirens went off in his head. The new guy was working for the Vees?!
His blood boiled and he growled. It was one thing to spy on him because he worked for the Vees. It was another thing to mess with Jenny's privacy.
He slammed the door open and glared at Hugo.
"You colossal piece of shit!" he hissed.
"You're working for the Vees?"
Hugo jumped and whipped around when he heard the door slam open. Grumbling, he pulled out a combat knife from his boot and got in a fighting stance.
"This has nothing to do with you, twat. I suggest you stay out of it" he warned.
Angel wasn't phased and cracked his knuckles.
"It has everything to do with me! You're being a fucking perv and spying into a woman's room!"
There was a good reason why Angel was freaking out. Jenny put on her makeup and disguise in her room. This was her safe space. If Vox spied on her with his cameras he would see what was going on. Not only that, it was super invasive to have someone spy on you when you were vulnerable.
He didn't care that the gargoyle had a big knife. He needed to keep Jenny's secret safe. He grabbed the chair to her makeup stand and threw it at Hugo's head.
"CHARLIE! SMILES! GET OVER HERE NOW!" he shouted.
Hugo lunged for him and pinned him to the ground with one hand and raised his knife. Angel used his other set of arms to push the knife away before it could hit him and kicked Hugo in the groin. Hugo gasped from the pain but toughed it out as he tried to pin Angel down to stab him again.
The commotion caught everyone's attention.
"What the fuck is going on?!" Husker barked.
Angel punched Hugo and looked up at them.
"He's spying on Jen!" he shouted.
That caught the guys attention real fast.
Growling Husker lunged for Hugo and put him in a chokehold while Pentious wrapped his body around him and pinned his arms to his body. Hugo struggled to break free. While it was three against one, they didn't have military training like he did. Unfolding his wings, he swung Husker off of him then pried Pentious off and threw him across the room. Bringing up his knife, he crouched low and got into a fighting stance as he faced off the three men.
"I can do this all fucking night" he said.
Shadows appeared underneath him and wrapped around his body. His arm was twisted back causing the knife to drop and he was pulled to the ground. He growled and struggled to break free from the shadows. Seconds later, a red shoe came crashing down on his head and the heel dug into the gargoyle's face.
Radio static was heard as Alastor glared at Hugo with glowing red eyes.
"It's rude to invade a lady's personal space" he hissed as he dug his heel further into Hugo's face.
Jenny came running into her room with the girls behind her.
"What is going on?!" she shouted.
"Why are you guys in my room?!"
Angel stormed over to her dresser and yanked the camera off. He went over to Charlie and shoved the camera in her face.
"Your new tenant just so happens to be working for the Vees! He didn't come here to redeem himself, he came here to spy on everyone and planted a camera in one of your female tenants room!" he shouted.
Jenny gasped and stepped back. She felt her skin shiver in disgust when she looked at Hugo. Even though she wasn't being recorded she felt violated somehow.
Vaggie and Mei glared at Hugo. Vaggie pulled out her spear while Mei grabbed a Katana from her robes.
"It's time to demonstrate the art of decapitation by Katana" the lamp spat.
Charlie looked upset when she saw everything unfold. How could this happen? She was so sure Hugo was going to be like everyone who was staying at the hotel.
"Why would you do this?" she asked.
Hugo struggled from his binds and hissed when Alastor whacked him with his mic.
"I was just following orders. Vox told me to keep an eye on the girl cause she's one of his runaway lackeys and wanted to know what she was up to" he said.
That caught everyone off guard.
"I don't serve that piece of shit TV!" Jenny spat.
"Yeah, he doesn't own her soul. She has no ties to him" Angel said.
Now Hugo was caught off guard.
"Come again?"
"That fucker has been harassing the kid since he saw her perform a few weeks ago. She won't work for him and he didn't take kindly to being told no" Husker explained.
"Hence why there's that video of her beating the shit out of him with a bat"
Hugo was confused by what he was hearing. This isn't what Velvette told him. She made it seem like Vox owned Jenny.
"But…but the Vees said-"
"You actually believe a word those three say?!" Angel asked.
"They are the biggest cutthroats you will find in the Pride Ring. They say they'll help you if you do something for them but it's just empty promises so they can own your soul. You just did their dirty work without finding out the whole details"
"Translation: you were hired to be a creep so they wouldn't get caught" Husker finished.
Hugo looked at the ground. Growling, he fought against his restraints and managed to pull the shadows off of him. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out a communication watch and turned it on.
Vox's face appeared on the screen.
"What?!"
Hugo growled as he glared at the screen.
"I don't spy on women like a creep. You said you owned this girl's soul. I just found out she doesn't belong to anyone!"
Vox gulped when he realized he was caught.
"Wait…you mean to tell me you got caught already? It hasn't even been a whole day yet! Was that stuff about you being a big shot in the army just a made up story? Do everyone a favor, if they don't kill you do it yourself you miserable failure! Have fun getting those brats out of the pound, soldier"
With that, the feed died.
The room was awkward as no one said anything. Hugo sighed and hung his head.
"I have brought shame to my title and to my country" he said.
"I had no idea they were up to something so shady and sinister"
"Really? You went to work for the Vees who are known for backstabbing Sinners and you had no idea they were up to no good?" Jenny spat.
Hugo hung his head further.
"What should we do with him?" Mei asked.
Vaggie grabbed Hugo by the arm and aimed her spear at him.
"Our guest is going to explain himself. Depending on what he says we'll decide how fast we'll chop him up"
"Before you do any of that, I want everyone in the parlor" Tony said.
"Kevin, wake up the boys and have them search every nook and cranny of this place for cameras. No one leaves the parlor until we search everywhere"
The roaches scurried along the walls as they searched the hotel of any cameras.
Angel went over to Jenny's dresser and pulled open the drawers and grabbed all her clothes.
"You're staying with me Toots. This room isn't safe anymore" he said.
He grabbed Jenny by the arm and tugged her out of the room. He paused and glared at Charlie.
"You really fucked up this time" he spat.
Charlie looked upset.
"Angel, I-"
"Save it!"
He pulled Jenny out of her room where there were no cameras to spy on her. Vaggie poked Hugo with her spear and glared at him.
"Move it, buddy. And you better explain yourself"
The guys and Mei followed the two out of the room and made sure Hugo didn't pull anything as they went to the parlor.
Alastor and Charlie were the only ones left in Jenny's room. The Radio Demon looked at his claws as he tried to suppress the anger he was feeling at that moment. Charlie had no idea that she could have put everyone in jeopardy just now. Just because someone claimed that they wanted to come to the hotel didn't mean they wanted to be redeemed.
"I'm going to have Nifty clean one of the spare rooms that are closer to my quarters. I suggest you pack all of Jennifer's things so they will be easier for her to move over" he said.
The silly banter in his voice was noticeably absent when he spoke.
Charlie looked up at Alastor weakly.
"There's no need to move her on the other side of the hotel" she said.
Alastor curled his claws into a fist and tucked his hand behind his back. He breathed through his nose showing he was angry despite the smile on his face.
"When that stupid Imp finds out about what happened-and he will find out…he's going to do more than ram his van into the side of the hotel. And this time, I'll let him" he said.
He went up to her and leaned forward so they were face to face.
"If you don't want to see this place get destroyed even more, I suggest you get some moving boxes and pack Jennifer's stuff. Now"
Charlie gulped and quickly scurried out of the room to grab something to pack Jenny's stuff.
Alastor stood up and 'tsked' under his breath. He had to give it to Angel. He did good by defending Jenny's privacy. If there was one thing he hated about the male species is that they could be disgusting slimeballs.
He looked at the communicator that Hugo dropped to the floor. Narrowing his eyes, he picked it up and turned it on.
Vox growled in annoyance when he was being called again.
"Now what?!"
He paused when he saw it was Alastor instead of Hugo. Dark shadows appeared around Alastor as he glared at Vox.
"Spying on women while they change?" he asked.
He eyes glowed as he sent static waves to Vox's end of the communicator.
"That's low even for you. I won't repeat myself again. Jennifer is off limits, old chap"
With that, he crushed the device in his hand and let it fall to the floor.
Seemed like the annoying television was willing to go to any lengths to get what he wanted. That didn't bode well with Alastor. Now that Vox had his eyes set on Jenny, he was going to make sure the girl was within his grasp.
He could not let that happen. Mostly because he didn't want to see Vox get what he wanted. But also because Jenny didn't deserve to be treated like someone's puppet. She just got away from the cage Daivd put her in, she didn't need to jump right into another cage.
He dug his boot into the ground and smashed the already crushed communicator.
So Vox wanted to play dirty? Well game on.
/
A/N: Yeah, I didn't think it was a good idea for them to sing 'It's starts with sorry' when Hugo was putting cameras in someone's room. But we'll have that in the next chapter when Hugo explains himself.
Kudos to Angel for defending Jenny's privacy. He would know first hand what it's like to be monitored all the time by the Vees.
Hopefully I'm not making Charlie into a ditzy punching bag by having her do these stupid things. But it was kind of stupid of her in the show to take Pentious into the hotel after he blew a hole in the wall moments before and not question why he suddenly wanted to be redeemed. That was one of my pet peeves on the show where no one really chewed Charlie out for her recklessness (I mean they do a lot later but you get what I'm saying).
With this episode 2 of the show is officially done and we'll be starting episode 3 very shortly.
Hope you guys like Hugo so far. We'll find out more about him in the next chapter!
Please review and tell me what you think!
Take care!
