Some neighborhoods of Hell were worse off than others and patch seven on the edge of the Doomsday District was one of the worst. It was easier to step on broken pieces of glass than avoid them and Claire had been wandering the area for so long she'd passed the same severed arm three times. At least she had managed to find several places to duck behind when the inevitable blowback from nearby bombs happened. She'd even gotten the telltale timing on the whistle they gave down enough that she avoided most of the blood and gravel spray that always followed.

This was never her favorite way to get a lead—the whole 'right place right time' way of gathering information was never as easy as it looked on television. In fact, Claire had always thought it was a sloppy way of advancing the plot when the lead character just happened to turn a corner and overhear the vital clue they were looking for, usually three seconds after setting out to find it. And now after nearly four hours of wandering aimlessly unsure of what exactly she was looking for she wasn't any closer to any kind of answer and that frustration had her hands clenched tightly every time an explosion happened nearby. Surely there had to be a better way to-

"It's not an actual army, not yet. But we can't let those fucking overlords have their way!"

Claire paused and backed up a few steps towards the mouth of the alley she'd just passed, tilting her head to catch the rest of what was being said.

"They don't care about you. All they care about is power!" The voice passionately argued. Claire pressed her back into the corner and peeked around it only barely. The speaker was tall, mostly human-looking except for a pair of large red eyes, the lack of a nose, and two horns that rose from the side of his head into his stylish hair. He wore a suit coat but had no shirt beneath it and an undone bow tie dangled around his neck which, Claire thought, looked frankly ridiculous.

He was speaking to a shorter, rounder fellow with a hat far too small for his head who didn't seem to be enjoying the conversation. "I don't know," the smaller man began with trepidation.

"Look," the man in the suit coat gestured back towards a partially open door at the back of the alley, "just come to a meeting. They'll explain everything better than I can, but don't sell your soul in the meantime, all right?"

It wasn't enough to go on, but it was the closest to a lead she'd had all night. With an effortless saunter Angel would be proud of, Claire turned the corner with a bright, vapid smile on her face, "Hey, are you talking about overlords?" she asked as both sinners froze. "Because I have one that just will not leave me alone," she made a dismissive motion with one hand while the other flicked her braid back over her shoulder, "Like, let a girl get her bearings first. I didn't even know soul-selling was a thing!"

The man in the suit coat eyed her warily, "I don't think I've seen you before. You new?"

Claire took a few more steps forward, silently counting the nearing high-pitched whistle, "Yeah, I've been keeping my head down because…well…" she put a hand on her hip and thumbed over her shoulder as an explosion went off nearby, sending a new plume of smoke towards the sky. "It's all a bit much."

The shorter man watched her approach with an open, drooling mouth, "You're pretty fuckin' hot!" he declared eagerly, rubbing his hands together, "You wanna ditch this guy and go get weird?"

"Get the fuck out of here!" the man in the suit coat snarled, giving the shorter man a shove. He yelped, making a stumbling run for the street past Claire, "Shit like you's just wasting my fucking time!"

Claire's gaze followed the creeper out of the alley then turned back to the man in the suit coat who gave both of his lapels a straightening tug, "Sorry about that New Girl," he offered out a hand, "Name's Fred. How much of my spiel did you overhear there?"

"Enough to stop and talk to strangers," Claire replied, accepting the hand and giving it a very light shake. "Overlords seem like a bad idea, but everyone seems too afraid to say so."

Fred nodded approvingly, "Yeah. They are. That's why I'm recruiting for Lilith's Liberation Army, a group that's dedicated to take them all down." He released her hand and gave her a critical once-over. "Interested?"

"Oh," Claire said, keeping her face carefully composed, "most definitely."

"Come on, then," Fred turned and gestured for her to follow, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his coat, as he wrenched the door at the back of the alley open more, "Meeting's already started. You'll get the gist pretty quick. Hatter isn't subtle."

Beyond the door was a standard looking warehouse that had been mostly cleared out and made into a makeshift gathering place. There were chairs not quite lined up where a packed crowd was intently listening to a speaker on a stage that had been hastily put together. The speaker had a microphone but it didn't seem like they needed it, voice loud and shrill enough to be heard even in the far corners of the large space.

"We must rid ourselves of these power-hungry motherfuckers before they take us all down with them!" The speaker was tall and skinny with beady black eyes that glinted in the low light, spittle spewing from around sharp pointed teeth as they yelled past the microphone to the hungry crowd, "Where were they when the Exorcists came down?! Hiding! Letting us pay while they lived it up!"

The crowd responded immediately calling out affirmation and applauding. Fred stopped near the back, gesturing towards the front, "That's Hatter, the defacto-head of this branch."

"This group is big enough to have branches?" Clarie asked casually, folding her arms and watching Hatter work up the crowd.

Fists waved in their air and the crowd shouted approval as Hatter spread their arms, "And I know what you're thinking—how could we ever threaten an overlord? Well. They need our souls to raise them up to that position so if you think about," they leaned over the edge of the stage, hissing, "we hold all the power!"

There was another roar of approval, and the crowd found their feet, hooting and hollering. Fred watched it all with pride, "It's a growing movement," he finally replied, "Lots of sinners are fed up with the establishment, have been for a long time. When Lilith was around, there was some hope. But then she disappeared, and the Exorcists came."

His tone twisted into the same frown as his expression, watching the crowd and Hatter on stage, "There isn't a sinner in Hell these days that hasn't lost someone in an Extermination. That's why we do what we do."

Hatter raised both hands and then lowered them a few times, causing the crowd to retake their seats, "I'm sure you all heard about that low-life scum Orkas," they said with a sly smile. While the crowd listened with rapt attention, now so did Claire. "His death is proof that our goal can be attained." They raised a fist in the air, screaming now into the microphone, "Death to all overlords!"

The crowd, which had just sat back down, now surged to their feet once again, chanting "Death to all overlords!"

It was an impressive display. A clearly organized group intent on taking down overlords with a charismatic if a little overblown speaker. They knew their audience, at least. Fred watched her as she took it all in, "So, still interested, New Girl?"

"Where do I sign up?" Claire replied, eyes glued to Hatter on the stage, soaking in the frenzied adoration of the crowd.