Author's Note: Hello and… and… I'm gonna be honest I've truly got nothing this week XD That being said, welcome to the thirty-third installment of Drifters!

With not much to report, onto reviews!

Gamer of Action 44D: Thanks man, and you're totally right about my allusions getting out of control XD

Showing not telling is great, but telling has a crucial role in writing as well… especially in terms of proper communication and flow. So cutting back and being more direct is definitely something I'll work on.

P.S. Looking back I danced around it, but Amp did indeed have all her bones broken when everybody fell on top of her… and the reason Vaggie took so long to regenerate was because people kept accidentally damaging them during the healing process XD

Hugofee65: Lol, trust me when I say there are tens of thousands of authors on this site who put my writing to shame. But thank you for the support man! It means a lot!

An Angry Green Boss: Amp's certainly had better days XD But it was a lot of fun seeing Angel step up… and given what's going through everybody else's mind, it's a good thing he got his drama out earlier in the story.

Nester's breakdown was really interesting to write. Since one of his core faults is the way he abuses helps, and his cry for wolf mentality, his realization of that has left him in a catch twenty-two. Where he desperately needs help, but doesn't trust himself not to just eventually rely on the one offered.

Of course that doesn't mean the wolves before Nester and Emily aren't real… and because of that I foresee a lot of Dakka in their future XD

Awesome reviews as always guys!

But now, without further adieu, besides my traditional apology revolving around any grammatical mistakes that may pop up along the way, I welcome you back too….

Drifters

A Hazbin Hotel Fanfic

Chapter 33:

Rat in a Cage

"The Angels did what?!" Husk's growl nearly crossed the threshold into becoming a shout.

And although he was flying above her, Velvette could hear the terrestrially challenged cat beat his wings into a sprint at the news she had…

Well, she was already sprinting on the ground, because it had been the news she had created.

"Broadcasted- I mean shit," the demonic Angel next to the Vee had the nine foot benefit of being able to jog beside her mad dash, "did they not tell you it was live?"

"No!" Husk's sonic boom bombed the influncer's face into the ground.

"Calm the fuck down." Velvette hissed… to herself, "You've already warned him not to share his last name."

"I also told him to not run the fuck away!" The cat spit fire back, "But here we are!"

"Not to mention, people are already trying to guess it," Angel did little to ease her conscience, "and for all we know it could be something easy."

"He was quick to defend the sheep shaggers, and his first names a common fucking ear infection where I come from, so maybe's he's Gavin Jones, the embodiment of normalcy." The name was dull, and, despite whatever small hope the pinkette had, faded away with all the nonexistent magic it was conjured with.

"You idiots! Forgot the lottery!" Husk snarled, "Plenty of shits have been flushed down here since Nester died! If one of them recognized him on TV, he's fucked."

"… I mean… him being enslaved by a new Sinner is probably the best case scenario." Angel's point did not match his increased stride rate, "Given the Morningstar checkbook in our back pocket, we can just buy him back."

"…" the actor was greeted with two deadpanned stares.

"I refused to be judged on the topic of slavery by a former and current Overlord." which he reflected into two draped mirrors.

"I don't have slaves…" Velvette couldn't even fuel her snap to completion. As its strength quickly trailed after her sight, "just unpaid contract workers."

"Glad to know you were actually paying attention when Charlie brought out the dictionary." Husk grumbled.

"Oh fuck off!" the influencer hissed after the cat she chased rather than followed, "You literally threw people's souls away like they were poker chips."

"Including my own!"

"Alright, alright, human trafficking's a terrible thing and you both fucking suck!" Angel was quick to enforce an armistice, "So forget I even brought it up!"

The feline rolled his eyes in a surrendered peace. And, regardless if mandatory draws were the one thing the pinkette hated more than losing, she accepted it as well.

"So outside of the general direction he took off in," Velvette's frustrated tone tuned itself into productivity, "does anybody actually have a fucking clue on where to go?"

Angel's jog hesitated into her sprint, when he realized adrenaline was the only answer he could give.

"… shit, the only time I've seen Feather's outside the hotel is when he's running back towards it."

"That's not true," Velvette's huff and puff to keep up with the white furred Demon came out a sneer, "sometimes his broken corpse has to be dragged back-"

"Yours is about to be dragged along if you and Thing Two don't stop back seat bitching!" The, relativistically, high speed jet known as Husk echoed his words back to the two planes stalled on the runway.

"Thing Two?-" before Angel could question his inability to see the cat's hat, it banked around an intersection, "Oh shit…"

And with Husk vanishing, the actor forced his head down onto the Vee. Balancing his weight forward in an attempt to sprint after his own vision.

Unfortunately, as it started to leave the influencer's in the dust, she had to choke down whatever oxygen she could to stay in the race.

Despite her effort, the leader bobbed along the horizon. Making her attempt to follow him just enough on the brink of pointless that she had to go through the torture of hanging on.

As each bend she rounded started with a small blurry period jumping to the next sentence. Followed by the sight of a white pencil that, regretfully, inscribed where she needed to go next.

'Stupid fucking bird.' the swirled pinkette thought as her flaming muscles burnt the sidewalk.

'Stupid fucking court.' her teeth cracked in tune with the item she snatched from her pocket.

'Stupid fucking phone-' but before she could throw it beneath her feet to trample, the devise exploded to life.

Grant?

"Who the fuck's Grant-" Velvette's dumbfounded eyelid started twitching when she read the answer through the previous text.

He looks like a Drake… scratch that, a Griffin!

Maybe a Russo?

Poor fucker looked a little too allergic to the sun to be a Jośe- Oh shit! Maybe he's got one of those boring ass Irish names?!

You're British, give me all the fucking Mc's and O's it could be-

Velvette didn't throw away her phone in anger.

'Stupid! Fucking! Val!' Instead she finally got rid of the moth's text chain, and Vox's precious prototype, by slamming it into the brick walls in pure rage. And grounded it into nothingness with pure speed.

Her hand briefly sparkling like her feet, the influencer rounded the next corner blind.

"And fuck this night for making me have to chase down two pussies-"

Velvette's vision opened up on a censor bar. As her body crashed into a restaurant's door a shattered 'bleep'.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" The Vee's screech began before the explosion she caused finished.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" as did Angel's grunt. That echoed her trip to the concrete.

Through her fall, glass rained around Vel like confetti.

Within the pained filled glitter, her vexed eyes spotted the wide eyed actor she had run into. Along with the uncaring side glance of the feline who had slammed the open door into her face.

"Oh for fuck's sake- Why the Hell do you people keep showing up with your problems instead of the Princess?!" The, if Velvette's mind wasn't currently concussed into oblivion, diner owner barked at the unwanted customers.

"Have you seen him?!" Husk ignored the house special, and placed a completely different order.

"W-what-"

Velvette caught just enough sight of the rat bussing tables, that she was able to put a face to the person her finished crash cut off. As in a tangle of limbs, fur, and fabric she exploded herself and Angel off the ground.

"Where the fuck is the chicken?!"

"C-chicken-" the mouse's confused voice was interrupted by his far more intelligent squeak, "D-do you mean Nester?"

"No shit-" Husk's claws emerged just to edge his finished sentence down his face, "Yes, I mean Nester. He's bolted from the hotel, do you know where he is?"

Whilst Velvette waited for the bartender's question to be pushed aside, she pushed her own hands into Angel's face. Only for the other side of the Sinner knot to strike her with six. Which, on top of dislocating all their limbs, tore them apart.

"Pfht, can't say I know where the golden goose is." the coyote eventually snarled, "But if I were you, I'd get the fuck out of my restaurant and head to the nearest river."

"River?" Angel stumbled his way up, "Why the fuck would we go there?"

"Cause if you follow its flow, you just might find the creek full of shit he's in." The canine Demon scoffed at his joke more than he laughed at it.

"… boss…" the little mouse sounded just as concerned for his boss's behavior as he did about the bird's.

"What, you want me to be technical about this, fine." the owner crossed his arms, "Find shit's creek, and maybe you'll find Gavin. Happy Stew?"

Although her phone, social media, and Val's God awful guesses had confirmed what she had long known… a Demon in Hell sounding out the name of the man she just screwed hit Vel with a tidal wave of guilt.

"No…" one so strong, the mouse's quiet tone was caught in the undercurrent, "This is- Nester's real name being revealed is serious enough on its own. We can't be getting in the way of the people who are trying to help… Hell, after all he's done for the diner we should be trying to help him- I am going to go help him!"

Despite Vel only knowing the rat and coyote from an off handed marketing conversation, Husk's narrowed gaze apparently knew the two enough to immediately latch onto the smaller one's suggestion as an obligation.

"If his safety was really that important to you," the dog snorted the idea away, "you should have just asked for his name back in the dumpster."

The owner picked up a rag by the counter. As if there was something to clean up besides his own dismissal.

"And if you really wanted to go out and help him now." And given the size of the stain, and the ferocity his huff polished it with, the finish would never be spotless, "You shouldn't have been stupid enough to give me yours-"

SMASH!

Porcelain shattered against the floor a second before the bombshell did.

Then melted beneath the red dotted pupils that had hurdled it into pieces.

Leaving nothing in the restaurant, but the little guy's anger, and everybody else's shock.

Whether that be Husk's due to what the mice had just revealed about the coyote. Angel's produced by his introduction to the owner being this roller coaster of a meeting. Or the canine's, caused by the mere action that had just taken place.

Hell, even Velvette's mind needed a second to reboot itself along with her cracked bones. Not for the fact the owner clearly held power over the rodent. Rather the mouse's open defiance, in spite of that power.

"Stewie, clean that up. Right. Now." The slowness of the coyote's command surrendered more fear than anger.

"No, I'm going to find Nester." Then again, the rat's similarly toned voice was spoken with more bravery than his soul had any right to produce, "If you want me to do something else…"

Stewie dropped the rest of the problem to the floor. Shoving it to the side as if it was the door he walked towards.

"Then fucking make me."

Despite being three times his size, Angel cartwheeled his recovery form from the entrance.

"You can't be this fucking stupid! I'm not going to say it in front of Demons-" the coyote's flared lips didn't have time to produce a growl.

"What the fuck," glass hailed out of the shattered entrance when the rat walked through it, "do you think you are Roadie?"

The mouse swirled his challenge past the search party and right into the owner's soul. His red dotted eye's freezing the chef in place.

"You guys coming? It's not much," despite his locked gaze, the rat's words turned towards Angel in the peanut gallery as if the ringmaster wasn't there. "but back when Nester and I were looking for your pig, we practically squeezed our way through every abandoned alleyway and hiding hole in Hell. So maybe he's camped out in one of them."

"It's uh… well, unless we hear some imp battlecries," Angel hesitantly looked between the mouse, Vel, and Husk, "that's probably the best lead we got."

"Alright…" Stewie followed the actor's gaze around. But between the cat's locked eye's on his boss, and the Vee's almost instinctual shrug, he turned back to the street under the assumption there were no objections, "follow me I guess."

With no weights attached to his legs, the rodent scurried forward. And after a moment of hesitation, silence pushed Angel after him, and the accompanying embarrassment squeezed the pinkette out the diner as well.

Her sole slip up in compliance caused when she looked back at Husk.

"I've got too many problems right now to fucking count." The gambler made the threat Roadie had failed to produce, "But if you say the rat's name, I'll be the last one you ever have."

Husk turned the same time Velvette's eyes rolled away from the melodrama.

"Then I've got nothing to worry about," the dog sailed them out upon a mumbled whisper, "I forgot what it was years ago."

XxxxxxX

'God, I'm such a fucking idiot!'

'Is now really the time to be seeking pity?'

'From who, my own mind?'

'What the fuck do you think self pity is? Geeze I really am an idiot!'

'And a toxic loser, can't forget that.'

'What? Is the plan to insult myself to the point these guys feel too bad to beat me up?'

'Or I'm I just such a manipulative asshole, I'm trying to have Emily focus on my panic attack rather then the horde of fucking Demons-'

BOOM!

Perhaps if Nester's mind had more time to think, it would have eventually reached the conclusion that it didn't exactly have the time to do so.

And as a rocket loony tune tracked its way through the alleyway and exploded the dumpster he sprinted past, the bird could confidently say he hated the timing of his thoughts more than their content.

'Then again, I'm the dumb fucker who chose to have Emily follow my mental breakdown into most dangerous place in existence-'

When said Angel instinctually floated upwards, Nester pulled her down just in time to watch his drifting thoughts be turned into swiss cheese.

"S-sorry." Emily's cheeks lit up purple.

"I-it's fine." Nester stuttered back the lie.

Much like how he was flabbergasted on how the six winged being's face deepened in shame rather than paled in fear, the avian was unsure how long they had been running for their immortal lives through Pride's back streets.

But what had become apparent early on, was that the sheer amount of Sinners hunting them would make sprinting back to the hotel on a main road more dangerous than walking up and down a shooting lane.

And, with Emily's arm having become a kite string in his hand, a true flight response proved an even more suicidal idea.

For every time the celestial being's heads rose more than a story above the ground, she filled the scope of the dozen or so snipers that had declared the concrete canopy a no fly zone.

"Let's go…" needing to jump ponds quickly, Nester had about a good three paces of indecisiveness to choose which fork in the path he'd follow. "This way!"

Knowing he'd second guess whichever route he'd take, he dove himself and Emily to the right, and through a small opening in a chain linked fence.

As if in cue, the tight squeeze was criticized by his mind for making too much noise. But, so far, all his overthought choices proved to confuse their pursuers just as much as they confused him.

"I know it's rude to trespass… but maybe we should try seeking shelter in a building." Emily's crisp breath suggested, "I'm sure many of the people inside will sympathize with our plight."

'Not as much as the people on my phone.' Nester kept that thought to himself. Or more accurately, he'd keep the thought to himself until his free hand could finally fish out his cell from his pocket.

But before the bird could throw his past self under the bus for having made the absolute genius decision to turn the device off, he tried to explain the fault in Emily's idea with an excuse.

"I-it's pretty late at night… they're probably all locked."

"I… you're right." Emily's face shifted down. Only for the sound of lead striking a concrete wall behind them to snap it up, "W-we wouldn't want to wake anybody."

If Nester had the luxury to turn his head, he'd give the Angel a 'you really are too pure for this world' look.

"Y-yeah, just…" another intersection was presented to the duo. And while his million mile per hour mind toyed with the idea of sprinting through the open gate as some sort of reverse psychology ploy, the bird ruffled his head towards the road less traveled instead, "t-try to tuck in your wings as best you can okay."

"W-will do." Emily's eyes followed the avian's to a broken gutter that had eroded around a brick wall.

And with the space going to be a tight squeeze, the Doorman was glad she nodded her head without any of the anxiety that infected his prefrontal cortex.

Of course, the only way out of the anxiety was through. But even as the bird folded his extra appendages into a sheath, he still questioned his bravery and choice as he dove towards it. Every second he took snaking his way along the prairie dog passageway, was a second he belittled himself for not letting Emily go through to relative safety first.

'I know it's too little too late now.' Even as he exited the gap, turned around, and grasped the struggling Angel's hand to pull her out.

"Thank you." The Seraph smiled. In the literal worst of times.

"Don't mention it-"

The white haired woman opened her mouth to do the opposite. Only to be cut off by a pipe bomb that dances its way through the wall with far more grace.

"Seriously!"

Dive tackling Emily behind the nearest corner, Nester's yelp reached her before the explosion.

And while the ringing in his ears certainly disagreed, the detonation had probably done more damage to the barrier than them.

Although, as his feet picked up a charging herd of vibrations, excavation had no doubt been their goal this whole time.

'Crap! Crap! Crap!' the avian thought to himself, until his jaw stretched wide enough for his ears to pop the curse from his mouth, "Crap!"

Nester would berate himself for screaming. But at this point, he was pretty sure the labyrinth was pinging every low whisper into a shout for all to see.

As he once again found himself dragging Emily by the hand in a dead sprint, the bird felt like time itself had gotten lost in the maze.

Trapping them in a loop. Where the only constant were the frantic decisions they'd have to make at every split path, the shouts of the monsters trying to morph their Theseus string into a lasso, and the non-stop adrenaline that forced Nester's legs to keep striking the ground as if it was the 'play' button.

Unfortunately, out of all three constants, only the last one could become a variable.

For biology's super drug was a finite concoction. And much like a car on the open road, Nester himself would break down long before the cobblestone beneath his feet.

"JUST!"

BOOM!

"GIVE!"

CRASH!

"UP!"

BAM!

"GODDAMNIT!"

Not that the Demon throwing around nukes wasn't giving it his all to collapse the city first.

"T-those poor people." Emily's pouted words could barely stay afloat atop the explosions.

"… you mean the ones trying to blow us up?!-"

Nester had to once again push his own shock aside, to shove the Seraph from the shockwaves coming after them.

"W-well, yes," she stumbled into his jog, "but also the people just trying to rest."

Her hand wafted towards the rumbling complexes.

"…" and the avian had to hold his back from his forehead.

"Though," she continued, "maybe that tragedy is a blessing in disguise…"

"I-I'm still not quite sure that's a good-" whatever hope Nester had about getting Emily to pooh-pooh her own request a second time, was steamrolled the second her feet touched the ground.

His arm becoming a rubber band, the corner he turned becoming a lever, and the Angel evidently harboring the gravitational pull of a collapsed star, Nester found himself whiplashed back to the spacetime Emily had stopped in.

"I know it's rude," not noticing the dislocated wishbone she held, the white haired woman brought her hand up to knock on the back door she had anchored them before, "but I don't think we have a choice."

"Yes we do," Nester's panic slung his socket back up the joint when Emily went to tap her knuckle on the rusted barrier, "it's called running-"

"I SWEAR TO FUCK!"

Before she could reach it, the metallic sheet slammed the alleyway of escape close. And the screech that hurtled it open violently cut off Nester's demand they go down it.

"WHOEVER THE HELL IS MAKING ALL OF THIS NOISE-"

Until the scream came full circle. As the sight of the blue hued, halo adorned, six winged Seraph quickly choked the red and white skinned creature who had opened it.

"…"

Of course, the continued silence on the creature's face morphed into anger… when its perplexed eyes blinked away from Emily, and onto Nester. Who immediately recognized the long horned imp.

"… o-oh no." the avian's whisper snuck past his lips.

"Our apologies sir," the white haired being began. Immune to the danger sprinting towards them, as well as the threatening aura coming from the 'Kind Samaritan' she addressed, "we did not mean to interrupt your slumber, but we are in a bit of a crisis. And would really appreciate it if we could use your abode until the danger passes."

The embodiment of pure politeness, Emily's smile could warm the very devil himself.

Unfortunately, the being before her was much, much, worse than the devil.

For as the imp's eyes shifted back and forth between Emily and the downed bird, all his emotions were shaken off in silence. Until the sole one left was utter disbelief.

"…" the tuxedo Hellspawn blinked once, and when his eyes opened on the same sight, he did so again. Much to Nester's horror, the creature's retinas reopened to the same two statues. Only this time, the disappearance of footfall had appeared in the man's pupils as a mob of winded horror villains.

If nothing else, the horde's confusion over their prey's sudden pause froze them as well.

Allowing the assassin's bewilderment to swivel between Nester's pale face, Emily's bright smile, the kicking team one hundred yards away.

"Hey, Luny-poo?" Blitzø echoed a request back into his office, "Does daddy smell like a hippie festival right now?"

The noise the imp had produced was not the starting gun chaos was looking for, and the snorted sniff that broke the silence certainly wasn't its whistle.

"Nope!" a careless growl replied, "Just jizz and shame!"

Emily's pupils shrank, and her pearly white grin vacuumed itself into a closed lip smile.

"I see…" Blitzø nodded to himself deep in thought. Before he commandeered the Seraph's old expression and shot it backward, "Thank you honey!"

A reverberating snarl was his reward.

Well… that and the sea of blank faces he turned back to. One his eyes quietly surfed atop. Seemingly floating between each individual tide for a solid moment to take everything in.

With Emily emotionally flash banged, Nester's flee response tried to restart the motion of reality.

"… um-" though he was quickly cut off by the small spectator's raised hand.

As the German war offense needed another moment to ping his pupils around the scene.

How long it went on for, Nester did not know. But it was evidently long enough that the yeti leading the mob looked towards his quarry confused.

And even pointed his hand at the bird, made a running motion, then raised an eyebrow.

To which, if only fueled by his pure and utter shock at the universal pause going on, the bird responded by motioning at the hinged steel blocking the alley. Before he cocked his head towards Blitzø, and shrugged his shoulders.

'Oh, okay.' the sadistic Sasquatch mouthed back with an understanding thumbs up, 'You're already fucked… and this guys just fucked in the head.'

Perhaps for a moment, the avian through the crimson furred Sinner's and the crowd's bloodlust had cooled down… but then he spread the message of the trapped fish to the group, and his fangs re-emerged below bloodshot eyes.

The bird gulped, and turned his fear back towards the devil he knew.

And after a few more gut wrenching seconds of sightseeing, Blitzø finally hammered in reality with one last nod. Before twirling his hand forward at the blue hued being.

Who, running on backup code, took the input as a signal to repeat her question.

"I was wondering if we could seek safety in your house?"

The hitman's face almost sparked Emily's back to life when he smiled. But quickly killed any hope he offered when his grin turned crooked.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Blitzø's laughter put the rumble the Earth had caused to shame.

And within seconds, the earsplitting imp doubled over clutching his exploded lungs. His tail wagging like an excited dog, and his eyes squeezing out tears of joy as he pointed between Emily's and Nester's disbelief.

"You thought- Then she asked-" so high on life, the man choked on his unfinished sentence, "Christ on a stick~"

Emily's spinal cord spasmed her neck to the side, as the second shutdown Blitzø triggered proved far worse than the first.

"I can't~ Just~ Holy fuck!~" the assassin cracked his vertebrae backwards. Wiping away his watering eyes as he stood himself up, "Nothing's better than watching Karma be a bitch to somebody else~"

With Emily on the literal fritz, and a horde of Demons waiting for the door to slam into a dinner bell, any false hope Nester had was officially murdered.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry~ That was some funny shit." Blitzø took a deep breath to center himself. Then smiled at the bird, "But to answer your question, no, no I will not help you cum stains."

The imp leaned his steak knife mouth forward, and Nester's feathers molted hearing the pitter patter of footfall sharpen it from both directions.

"So go eat shit and die-"

As much as a drug trip of a moment this was… Nester was not prepared for Blitzø's own Karma to come around so fast. Nor for it to be in the form of the imp's door striking its owner's face so hard, he emerged through it a mounted trophy.

"...ow"

"Wasted time backtracking through here twice, so maybe third times the charm-" the red eye rat that had slammed the barrier shut, was also not something the bird had time to prep for, "Case and fucking point-"

Stewie and the rescue team's jubilance shifting into horror when they saw the horde behind Emily and Nester made more sense.

"FUCK'EM UP!"

Especially when its de facto leader's screech turned the migration into a stampede.

XxxxxxX

Thank you to everybody who has tuned into the thirty-third installment of Drifters!

I will try my best to upload a chapter every Friday. But until next week, please feel free to leave a comment! Criticism is always welcomed, so long as there's an attempt for it to be constructive.