Pentagram City, December 30, 1922
The Exorcists arrived one day sooner than planned. A day to be written in red letters in the annals of history.
At first, there were only faint golden glitters moving in the sky of Pride, on a silent and slow orbit across the dark red background. They were in formation, ever approaching, relentless. By the time they reached the pentagram above the city, they appeared in their full godly might...
Exorcist spaceships. Shining mechanical wonders of cold, celestial metal; the creations of Heaven's industry best suited to enforce the will of the Authority on other worlds. Perhaps Heaven had even more powerful weapons of war than these; if it had, those were things that not even Hell had ever seen...
...
Adam, the supreme commander of the Exorcists, watched over the movements of his fleet from his chair (more like a throne) on the bridge of his flagship, the Dickmaster.
"This is going to be fucking amazing! I even brought popcorn!" And he started munching loudly.
Lute rolled her eyes, while Scar Nicholas was too stoic and cold even for that. Lute may well have been truly loyal to Adam and maybe she even liked her boss' antics, but Nicholas had only joined the Exorcists to exterminate the murderers of his family once again. He had rapidly risen through the ranks because of his complete and utter devotion to the Authority, not to Adam.
"Give me a fucking visual of the Hotel already!"
"One moment, Sir!", one of the Exorcist officers replied. Soon the Happy Hotel appeared on the massive holoscreen.
"WHAT!? WHAT THE FUCK!? WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE!?"
They had expected to see defences, barricades, fortifications, a small army, maybe even artillery. But there was nothing of the sort.
The area looked completely deserted. The lights in the Hotel were all off. Even the zeppellin was gone.
"Do those fuckers think this is game of hide and seek!? Or did they just ran away like fucking cowards!? Lute, send a scout team to search the Hotel, and then burn that shithole to the ground!"
...
Moments later, the vanguard of the Exorcists flew silently to the Hotel.
The monsters, white and black, carried spears, halberds or axes; only the officers among them had swords. Their ghastly horned mask-like helmets covered their faces, giving the impression that they were locked in a perpetual grin.
Seeing than nobody was outside, they entered, crashing trough the large red windows of the main room. As they peered through the darkness of the empty hall, one of them landed first on the Hotel floor...
Click.
The floor beneat its fleet exploded, sending him flying...
...and then a sniper shot made quick work of its head mid-air.
The others froze in schock and horror. A winged beast out the age of Gargoyles landed in front of the fallen Exorcist.
"You are trespassing." Husk said.
"FOR YOUR SOULS!"
When the Exorcists realized they had just attacked a Hotel of horrors it was too late.
...
"Sir, we have lost all contact with the scout team!"
"CAN YOU MORONS DO ANYTHING?! IT WAS A SIMPLE FUCKING TASK! WHY AM I SURROUNDED BY FUCKING IDIOTS?!"
"S-Sir..." the officer said, "...they are coming outside..."
The Hotel doors opened. Charlie stood there, in her battle outfit, covered in golden Angelic blood. Her friends walked out of the Hotel, took their positions and readied themselves to hold their ground. All of them except one...
"It can't be..." Nicholas whispered.
"Is he fucking serious? He really wants to throw his afterlife away for those losers?!"
"Sir..." Lute said, "we don't want to pick a fight with the Grim Reaper..."
"Let me parlay with him." Nicholas cut in, "Maybe he can still see reason and leave them to us."
Adam pondered that for a moment. "Okay, fine, but we when you come back, we are going to fuck them either way!"
...
"They are sending only one of them?"
"They must be here for negotiation, Loona." Theodore replied.
Nicholas landed. Upon seeing Loona, he glared at her.
She scoffed. "Ugh. This guy again..."
"Mister Roosevelt..." Nicholas started.
"Nicky..."
"I'm here to remind you that great is the mercy of the Authority! You still have time to leave this literal Hell and return to your duties on Earth. Your other choice, of course..." he paused, "...is to let this day live in infamy as the day the Grim Reaper forsake his neutrality..."
Teddy was pissed. "You DARE lecture me about neutrality! This Hotel was neutral and you attacked it! This is Belgium all over again..." he smirked, "...and that didn't end well for your cousin, did it?"
"Ouch." said Angel Dust.
"You got burned, dickhead!" added Cherri Bomb.
"This is how it's going to be, then..." Nicholas said, somehow managing to sound even colder, "...I shall have the heads of every last one of you Bolshevik scum."
"You are free to come and get them. You know where to find us."
...
As Nicholas flew back to the Dickmaster, Theodore took his Scythe and with it drew a circle of green dark magic on the ground.
The circle morphed into a green pool of magic; the Grim Reaper, with a voice that made everyone shiver, called:
"COME FORTH!"
A creature emerged. It was the most majestic skeletal horse that ever walked either the Earth or Hell. Spindly and thin, with a sickly green-black coat, a pair of curved demonic horns on its head and a tail and eyes resplendent with green fire.
The mount of the Fourth Rider.
A Spindlehorse, one could say.
Upon seeing the horse, Blitz looked like it was the...
"BEST DAY OF MY LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE!"
No one understood Blitz's love of horses better than Teddy; like he once said, "there are no pets like horses; and horsemanship is a test of prowess".
"Everyone, meet Dakota."
...
Astride Dakota, Theodore started giving his speech for the ages:
"The Authority wants you to be afraid today! And you should be afraid...
The Authority has controlled the universe for a long time. Right now, we are the only thing standing in the way of him controlling Hell forever...
You might be feeling hopeless. You might be thinking, "We don't stand a chance". And maybe we don't.
The Authority is too strong. His army is too powerful.
But that's not gonna stop us.
We need to show the Authority we're not afraid of him, because we have each other.
Because today we stand by each other's side and declare with one voice, "We will not go quietly into the Night! We will not vanish without a fight! WE ARE GOING TO LIVE! WE ARE GOING TO SURVIVE!"
For today, December 30, Year of the Authority 1922...
...TODAY IS THE DAY WE CELEBRATE OUR INDEPENDENCE DAY!"
The crowd seemed to explode as they broke into song:
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OUR LIVES
WE KNOW THAT WE ARE READY FOR THIS!
WE'LL SHOW HEAVEN A FIGHT THEY WON'T FORGET
IT'S TIME TO TAKE A STAND
IT'S TIME TO LEND A HAND
AGAINST THE ANGELS AND THEIR DEADLY THREAT
WE CANNOT TAKE IT ANYMORE
THE TIME HAS COME TO GO TO WAR
PREPARE TO FIGHT WE'RE READY FOR
THIS!
Teddy raised the Scythe to the heavens:
"Before today, you have all been enemies of the Authority. Today...
...You are the Rough Riders of Hell!"
...
Dakota started riding into the air. With each movements ot its spindly legs, a bright flash of green magic appeared beneath its hooves. Like on a stair of invisible airy steps, it rode up and down into the sky.
Luckily, Husk and Vaggie could fly too. And they were not even the most powerful flyers in their midst...
The Angels were coming. In the thousands, a hail of steel and death. First the defenders started to fire the artillery, then Blitz's and Moxxie's sniper rifles, then Angel Dusts' two spider machine-guns, like demonic Chicago typewriters.
"Come'n get some!"
"Eat shrapnel, fuckers!" Cherri Bomb was leaping in the air throwing her... cherry bombs at the Exorcists.
"Hey, yelling while fighting doesn't help." Husk pointed out in the midst of throwing dozens of explosive poker cards.
Nifty and Millie were in a contest to see who could eviscerate Exorcists with more reckless abandon! Nifty was winning.
Meanwhile, Stolas and Octavia were on the edge of the Hotel's roof.
"It's our moment, Starfire."
"We got this, Dad."
And they jumped. They caught fire, morphed and grew into monstrous, huge, fiery hellish owls, one deep red, the other light blue.
Flying in perfect unison, they tore straight into the Angelic formation, tearing Exorcists apart with their massive claws and razor-sharp feathers.
Seeing that his troops were being obliterated, Nicholas flew right into Stolas.
With a swift thrust of his sword, he cut one of the monster's wings, spilling fiery blood.
Screeching with pain, the owl turned to face him, his four eyes brimming like embers of red hatred.
"Who dares?"
"The Tzar of All Russias!"
...
Adam was watching the whole battle unfold on the ship's holoscreen.
"THIS WON'T FUCKING STAND!", he yelled, throwing his popcorn right into Lute's face, "WE ARE LOSING TO BIRDS!"
Instantaneously, a portal opened to the port of the Dickmaster. An on the other side was...
...a purple and gold gothic steampunk zeppellin!?
"FIRE."
The death ray blast tore through the outer hull of the Dickmaster and went through the whole ship.
Dozens of Exorcists were vaporized instantly.
The massive ship rapidly spiraled out of control.
"Sir, we are going down!"
"I CAN SEE THAT YOU DUMB BITCH!"
The Dickmaster crashed into the top of the colossal clocktower. The hourglass underneath cracked and shattered, sending the whole thing crashing down. The Embassy of Heaven, right at the base of the tower, was crushed in an instant.
...
With an inhuman roar, Adam emerged from the wreckage of his flagship. And the ruins of the clocktower. And a whole lot of sand.
And then he saw them.
A red and white dragon was flying towards him, Charlie riding the hellish beast.
"FUCKING DRAGONS TOO!? OH COME ON!"
Charlie jumped from the dragon's neck, hundreds of feet into the air.
Like a flaming meteor, she was being engulfed in an ever-brightening golden light...
...and fell into the ruins of the tower with a blinding explosion and an earth-shattering ka-boom!
"WHAT THE FUCK!?"
Charlie stood at the center of a crater.
She had changed. She had a pair of dark red horns. She held a golden trident with the royal emblems of the serpent and apple. Her bright golden hair were now even longer. Her entire body was engulfed in waves upon waves of golden energy rising into the sky. A dark red hue had almost completely overtaken her eyes.
Those eyes...
Adam was now shaking in terror.
"W-WHAT-WHAT ARE YOU!?"
"I AM THE MORNING AND THE EVENING STAR.
THE ANSWER TO THE PRAYERS OF ALL CREATURES WHO CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE!
I AM THE PRINCESS OF HELL, NIGHTMARE TO YOU!"
Adam shot a golden beam of divine light from his hand.
"DIE, BITCH!"
She easily deflected it with the back of her hand, sending it into the sky.
The beam went through an Exorcist spaceship, obliterating it.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I am an Angel of GOD, you dull creature! And I will not be bullied by-"
Lucifer sucker-punched him in the face, sending him flying through a thick wall.
"Dad!"
She run over to hug him. "Sorry I wasn't here sooner, sweetie." he said, holding her in his arms. "Full demonic form, I see. Nice!"
Together they flew to find Adam, Lucifer carrying his daughter.
"...You are all beneath me..." Adam was barely breathing, "...You should be worshipping me..."
...
"What do we do with him now?" Lucifer asked.
Charlie looked down on Adam. There was not a shred of pity left in her blood-red eyes.
"He'll live." she answered.
Lucifer smirked turning to Adam, "How's mercy's taste, loser?"
"Mercy has nothing to do with it, Dad."
Charlie looked straight into Adam's eyes.
"This is how it's going to be... Your Exorcists shall retreat immediatly. You shall return to Heaven, you shall go to to the Sublime Citadel, to the Throne Room of the Authority, you shall crawl at the feet of your master and tell him...
...that the Final Rebellion has begun."