Side Story II - Entrenching (II).

[Again, late upload. This time it partly had to do with me thinking if I should add Hecate and Ashley's sheets here. I finally decided to leave them for later, as they will be much less important characters for now and I am already filling everything up with sheets :p.]

Carlos couldn't contain his excitement. Do you know how they say cool guys don't look at explosions?

Fuck that.

Cool guys look at shit blowing up. You aren't cool if you don't appreciate the mayhem you create.

And Carlos needed something to get his mind away from his shame.

"Carlos, relax." Zana quite literally kicked him in the shin. The ensuing hiss almost sounded like a proper Imp when truly pissed off. "It is just a bunch of boom juice."

Leonor made a 'so-so' movement with her hands. "I think there is enough explosive power there for us to be concerned."

A lot of the now local demons didn't seem to care. It was mostly Imps, a few Cannibals and some Sinners that were part of the Cannibal Colony. Everyone here had decided to come here. All of them doing so only after being accounted for by Miraya first. There was very little to do around The Tower for now, so why not enjoy some mayhem? True it was some 'tame' stuff, but it was at least something.

"I think we could have enjoyed a day out more than this." Evelinde was wearing her mask to hide a pout. She had planned to get Carlos away from his thoughts by watching another play at the theater.

"Explosions come first." Carlos, in all his inner childish glory, couldn't give less of a fuck. Selfish, yes, but the man really wanted to see this. "I have never been close to one before. This is a new experience."

Evelinde let out a sigh. She wasn't going to get him to agree with her on this. At least he wasn't bending over backwards trying to 'make up' for puking his guts out. That was something. Even Rosie was getting worried about his attempts.

The Cambion frowned under her mask. There had been a few… tense moments after the day Rosie admitted things. Evelinde had been on guard around Rosie whenever Carlos was close to her. She was more clingy than usual, and for Evelinde to say that, or even think it, was a feat all on itself. And probably worrying, truth be told.

Was she… being envious?

No. That couldn't be it.

Right?

As Evelinde began her own internal struggle, Carlos couldn't be more unaware. He waved at some of his cousins, aunts and uncles. Even his grandmother had decided to come see. And no, it wasn't Pilar, it was Antonia. Carlos had barely seen either Pilar or Pedro in a week. Pilar was literally the least likely person to be here. His grandfather? That was still a possibility, but he didn't have big hopes.

"Hey there."

Carlos blinked at the new voice, then turned around to see the feminine form of Ashley coming over. While everyone else at least had something to cover from the cold the Fourth Level brought, what with being the top of a snowy mountain, Ashley opted to go as he always went: With as little as possible.

"Hey, whore." Zana waved with the least level of caring she could summon. "You want to catch a cold or something?"

Ashley didn't seem to care about the dig at his profession. "If you have it, flaunt it." The Sinner truly couldn't give less of a shit. "Besides, me and my sister have gone through worse than this. To us this is a bit nippy at best."

"You are from the USA, not fucking Russia, or the North Pole." Carlos pointed out, somewhat impressed at the bat's resilience.

"And you don't know how bad the weather can get. Or how horrible it is to sleep on the street when it HITS." Ashley sounded somewhat serious, but only for a moment. Those were memories from when he was alive. Hell had been, ironically, an upgrade. "Again, I am fine. Even if my sister is being a pussy about it."

"Fuck you, you pasty cunt!"

Hecate was done rigging the place with explosives. The brown bat Sinner approached the group as they looked at the first load of ordinance that was about to open the way for this soon to be mine. Carlos didn't know enough to identify everything, but he could see dynamite if nothing else, and that was all the knowledge he got.

But there was a lot more shit there than he could plainly see, and Hecate wouldn't bother explaining. There were various blends of ANFO based explosives she had cooked up after being given her supplies a few days ago. She thought it wouldn't happen, but Rosie had come around. The Overlord was not willing to try and fit heavy machinery through magic means (Because who knew how The Tower would react), so it was either a big boom or pickaxes.

Pickaxes would come later. Right now Rosie wanted to see some results.

"Okay. I got no new messages on the phone, so no more people are coming." The bat got both hands around her mouth before she shouted. "EVERYONE!" Hecate let out a shrill scream more akin to a scratching microphone at full blast through the biggest amps you could get. "Stay back! I have marked various rock outcroppings as the safest places to be! Hide there or you can all get fucked if you get hit!"

And so the bat had done. Rock growths had begun appearing around the top this last month. The mountain wanted to grow. Magic was fucking strange in Hell. It came in handy, though, and soon every hellborn, Sinner and human went towards the yellow marked spots that Hecate had provided as she prepared the detonator. The bat was the only one to ignore her own warning.

Clearly she liked booms herself.

"Show's ready in three!" Hecate lifted three fingers high up, staying silent after. The first went down. People hunkered down. The second finger fell. Many took hands to their ears just in case.

Then the last went down. Hecate made a fist and slammed the detonator.

Even with protection the blast was tremendous. Almost everyone fell on their ass as a plume of dirt, rock and a few sparkling pieces of copper and other minerals flew as high as they could.

Everyone cheered, unaware of what was happening three Levels below them.