Hello people and happy 2025! So as YouTube has been shoving plenty of notification in my face, it has come to my attention that the Hazbin Hotel's 1st anniversary was a few days ago, so lets hope season 2 comes out soon.
Anyways, enjoy the chapter!
…-…
Chapter 9: Flying High
Heaven, Road to the Golden Gates
The road to the gates of Heaven had no true beginning. When an earthly soul passed and ascended to paradise, their essence would simply coalesce into existence somewhere along the path. Once there, most souls would feel the urge to move forward until they came upon the gate, with most never looking back. However, should they have looked back they would have seen an image of the world they had left behind floating in the cosmic void.
It was a sight that had once only been seen by the souls of those that had earned their eternal reward and the angels themselves until the day that mankind had taken a step into the stars.
It was here that Emily sat, gazing at the scarred form of the Earth whose once blue oceans had turned an irradiated green and whose vibrant land had been charred and reduced to an almost lifeless brown. It was a pale imitation of its former glory, but even now, despite the devastation, she found that there was a bleak beauty to it. Plus, it wasn't all bad, some of the green of life was retuning.
In South America and Asia, the jungles and forests still thrived even if they were slightly mutated. The rest of the world was slowly recovering bit by bit, but as she turned her gaze towards North America, she saw where that was the most evident. Over the past hundred years, she had seen the spots of green slowly develop in the areas furthest away from the old cities, but they had barely grown since then. Yet in the last decade and a half, she had been stunned to see the land begin to flourish with life once more.
It had started on the west coast and every year, she watched it slowly spread across the land until it reached all the way to the east. The continent was still mostly barren, but she could see that it was well on its way to recovery. At first, she had simply thought it had been nature taking its course, but if that were true, why wasn't the rest of the world following the same pattern?
So one day she had decided to investigate it and started asking the recently ascended who came from the region what they knew about the flora. Unfortunately, most people had no clue what had caused the resurgence or even cared to know why it had happened. Thankfully she had eventually stumbled across some soldiers that had served in the army of a new human kingdom called the New America Regime.
She had thought the name sounded ominous, but the soldiers had just chuckled and agreed with her before explaining that their leader didn't like lying to his people. Apparently, he had been honest with his citizens and told them that as long as they lived under his rule, he would be an authoritarian ruler, but one who would also do his best to give his people the best possible chance at a good life. That, and the fact that he made his plans for conquest of North America well known.
At first, she had horrified to hear that a man like that was in charge, but the soldiers had quickly explained that though he was a strict ruler, he was also fair and did everything he could to keep his people safe. If what the soldiers said was true, then he was even responsible for bringing the land back to life. When she had asked how he had done that, they had told her that although they didn't know the specifics, they knew that he had access to super advanced technology from some place called the Big Empty that let him bring back plant life as well as control the weather.
It sounded so amazing to her and regardless of his choices as a ruler, she wished him the best. Although strangely enough when she had asked for his name, they had told her that everyone just called him the either the King or the King in Yellow. The latter being used by people who apparently worshipped him. She had asked about that but all they could do was shrug and say that before he was called the King, people had called him the Courier.
She really had to wonder how a mailman wound up leading a nation? Maybe one day she could ask him if he made it into Heaven.
For the next few minutes, she just sat on the edge of the Road gazing at the Earth before she sensed a presence behind her.
Turning around, she saw a male angel with pale skin standing there. He was slightly shorter than her with curled, short pale-blonde hair, turquoise eyes, and white halo hanging over his head. The feathered wings on his back had crème colored feathers with celeste blue accents. He wore a light blue vest over a pale yellow shirt with long sleeves sporting dull golden cuffs, and a light blue skirt with dull golden detailing that forms into a cross at the hem. Finally, to complete his look, he also wore a pastel red bowtie.
"Oh. Hi there Saint Peter! What are you doing here?" Emily asked.
"Hello to you too miss Emily! I just decided to take a break and see what you were doing. You don't mind me joining you, do you?" He asked.
Emily shook her head in reply. "Not at all! But are you sure it's alright to leave the gates unattended? What if some new soul comes along and you're not there?"
Saint Peter just chuckled as he sat next to the seraphim. "Oh don't you worry, humans made their way into paradise just fine long before I decided to become Heaven's doorman. Besides, there's no big battles or major catastrophes going on so it's been a rather slow day." After speaking those words, his smile fell for a moment. "Although I can't tell if that's good thing or not."
After a moment of looking sad, the angel went back to his cheery smiling self. "So, what brings you all the way out here? I thought you were busy with that music competition you had planned."
"Oh, that's already mostly taken care of, now we just need to let people practice their performances first. I also just came out here to think. Looking at Earth helps center me." Emily said without taking her eyes off the world.
Peter nodded next to her.
"I get it. It may look rough compared to what it once was, but it still has its own majesty. I'm just sorry you never got to see it in its heyday." He said with a hint of sadness, causing Emily to turn her eyes away from the planet onto her own lap.
It was an uncomfortable truth that she never liked to dwell on. As the youngest seraphim in existence, her formation should have been a joyous occasion as before her, no more seraphim or archangels had ever been created since the dawn of time. Unfortunately, what should have been something glorious had instead been a burden, as the day of her 'birth' had been the same day that humanity had burned.
Sera had always told her that she had never been a burden and that Emily had been a ray of light in such a dark time. She didn't always feel the same way, but she had always done her best to help the souls of Heaven and bring joy to their existence and at the end of the day could tell herself that her existence had a purpose. Sadly, she didn't feel that way today.
"Hey now." Emily felt Peter nudge her shoulder with his own, causing her to look up. "No thinking bad thoughts about yourself."
"I wasn't thinking bad thoughts about myself." She lied.
The Saint stared at her with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, so you weren't just thinking about your birthday and that you wonder why you were even born?"
Emily glanced down, refusing to meet the man's gaze as she nervously rubbered her arm.
"Am I really that obvious?"
"Yep." Peter said, pronouncing the P with a popping sound.
His blunt answer caught her by surprise and caused her to look at him.
"Emily, you wear your heart and emotions on your sleeve. It's easy to tell when you're upset, and since I know you, I know there are only a few things that really get you down." He said as he grabbed her shoulder and gently turned her around to face him. "So tell me, what's wrong?"
Emily let out a long sigh before answering. "It's this competition. It just, I mean, it doesn't…feel right."
"What's wrong with the music competition?" Peter asked.
"Nothing. But that's just it. Nothing is wrong with it. Everything is going the way I wanted it and so many people are super excited to participate. Souls are happy, I've done my job and yet…and yet I don't feel…complete. Like I'm supposed to be doing more. Helping more. But, I don't know how to do that or what I can do. It's like I'm not fulfilling my… Purpose." Emily said the last part just barely louder than a whisper.
"Ah, that's what this is about. Your Purpose." Peter said as he realized the youngest Seraphim's dilemma.
In heaven, much like in Hell, there were two types of inhabitants. The first were the souls of the humans that earned eternal bliss, Winners as the first man dubbed them. Then there were the Heavenborn angels, and much like demons, they came in various shapes, sizes and subspecies. If one were to look at it, it became obvious that the hierarchy of Hell was in its own way a twisted reflection of Heaven. The seventy two royal families of the Ars Goetia had been created to match the seventy two angels of the Shem HaMephorash, and it was by invoking their names could the leaders of the infernal legions be bound to a mortal's will.
Then there were the Sins. Most mortals from before the Great War knew about the seven sins of Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Envy, Wrath and Pride. What many didn't know was that the sins were in fact the dark counterparts to the seven virtues of Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Kindness, Patience and Humility. Hell was divided into the seven rings of sin and likewise Heaven was divided into to the seven plains of virtue, each one looked over by an Archangel.
These Archangels were beings of light and power on a scale that few could match, with the only authority above them in all of creation being Seraphiel, the Son, and the Lord. Yet as powerful as they were, there was one thing they had in common with even the weakest of the Ishim and Cherubs. They all had a Purpose.
Every Heavenborn that was ever born or brought into existence had upon their creation been bestowed a Purpose. A reason to exist, an unending task that they would spend the rest of their existence doing everything in their power to complete. It could be something as simple as baking pies, it could be something as thankless as keeping the gilded streets clean, or it could be something as important as serving in the Valkyrie Guard to protect paradise from all threats. No matter how large or small the labor they had been assigned, they did it gladly as they knew deep down in their core that what they were doing contributed to making Heaven the paradise it was supposed to be.
Which is why it was so sad that the youngest Seraphim had no Purpose.
Emily had come to be during one of, if not the most chaotic time in Heaven's history. So busy were the angels that it hadn't been until years later when they saw the young child wandering from angel to angel, asking how she could help did they realize that she had never once stuck to a task. At first it wasn't a big deal, she was simply being the helpful little angel she had always been, until someone asked if there was anything they could help her with. She had said no, that there was nothing she needed to be doing.
That had actually taken the angels by surprise and a brief investigation later revealed that the young Emily had no true Purpose, merely a wish to be helpful.
"You thought that the music competition might help you possibly find your Purpose?" Peter asked.
"Yeah. I know it's silly, I mean why would a music competition help me realize what I'm meant for? It's just… I was hoping it would help me feel satisfied. I mean don't get me wrong, I love helping people and making them happy. I just feel like I there's something else I should be doing to make Heaven better, I just don't know what that would be. I mean I've tried everything, done so many jobs but they all feel…not wrong, but not right either. Do you get what I mean?"
"I get what you mean." Peter said with a laugh. "I remember when you decided to try baking. I didn't know it was evenly physically possible for heavenly buildings to burn down."
The saint's words caused the angel's cheeks to turn a deep blue in embarrassment. "You swore never to talk about that again!" she accused.
"No, Sera promised never to bring it back up. Adam and I made no such promises." He said with a grin, before letting it fade into a gentle smile. "Look Emily, I understand what you're going through. I may not be Heavenborn, but while I was alive and a young man, I knew that there was something I was supposed to be doing with my life. I had no idea what, but I always felt there was something I should be doing to help my people. For a while I thought about joining the Zealots and fighting the Romans, but my family depended on me so I stuck to being a fisherman. And then one day, I met him."
Saint Peter's eyes took on a faraway look, and for a moment, the angel looked far older and wiser than Emily had ever seen him. "He was just there standing in the river, preaching his teachings. At first, I didn't care about what he had to say and, I'll admit, I even mocked him. He didn't look offended at all, only amused. Then he told my brother and I to lower our net into the water. We indulged the man and not even a few seconds later, our net was full to bursting with fish even though we hadn't even set sail yet. I was so shocked at first, that is until he called to me.
It was then I realized my life's purpose. He was my rabbi, my teacher, and I did everything I could to lean his lessons and to serve him. Unfortunately, I always misunderstood his teachings and his promises of an eternal kingdom. For the longest time I thought he would unite the Hebrew people and banish the romans from our lands to build his holy kingdom. It wasn't until his death and resurrection that I realized how foolish I was. After that I spent the rest of my life telling people of his and Heaven's glory.
I guess what I'm to tell you Emily is don't try and force it. I didn't seek out my purpose in life, it, he, found me instead."
Saint Peter stood up and ruffled the seraphim's hair as he did so. "You might be a couple centuries older than me when I found my purpose, but you're still a young girl. You have plenty of time to figure things out. Just be patient and keep your eyes and mind open. You never know when your Purpose might find you."
With those partying words, the old human soul departed, making his make back to the Golden Gates to resume his vigil.
Emily sat there watching him go. Her mind pondering on what he said. Stop seeking her Purpose? It sounded ridiculous, but she had tried so many things already and valued Peter's wisdom. She supposed she could give that a try. Besides the competition needed her full attention and she always had fun putting together these kinds of events.
Yeah, she could do with a bit of fun.
Turning back towards the Earth, she stared at it for a bit longer. Idly she pondered that if/when her Purpose really did come to her, she had to wonder just what, or who would bring it to her?
…-…
Pride Ring, Hazbin Hotel
"I really hope this doesssn't explode."
"Oh relax Pentious, it's just a high-grade, long-term nuclear battery. Perfectly safe, ish. Safeish." I said with a shrug. "So, want do the honors or should I?"
The two of us were outside on the hotel's front lawn. Around us was various equipment that had been set up to collect data during the test run. The egg bois weren't good for much, but they made for decent movers. Thankfully to avoid any mishaps, Sir Pentious had told them to man a terminal that served no other purpose than to have a bunch of buttons to press and fiddle with. They were currently having the time of their lives taking turns pushing the big red button that let out beep every time they pressed it.
Sir Pentious excitedly nodded his head as he held out his hands. "Yes yes! Give it here!"
Pulling up my pipboy, I reatomized a fusion core. Its yellow and dark grey casing holding a power that was foreign to Hell. After handing it to the inventor, he rushed over to the foldable table where the jetpack sat.
We had spent two days modifying the jetpack plan to fit the fusion core, and another three building the thing in his workshop. What we ended up with looked like something straight from an old comic book. It had two rocket shaped boosters mounted side by side with each one topped with a cone. It was all made from a beautiful, brushed steel that shined in the dull light of the day. Along the rocket ran several vents and in the center was an empty circular slot, the perfect size for the fusion core. The rockets themselves had several straps and buckles attached to them that were meant to cross the wearer's chest and on either side were wires that lead to two throttles.
Sir Pentious slithered over to the jetpack and with only a slight amount of hesitation, inserted the nuclear battery. As soon as the core was in place, the pack began to hum and a blue light began to emit from the vents. Pentious and I watched the pack for a minute with bated breath, and once we realized that it was stable, we celebrated with a high five.
"Hell yeah!"
"Yesss! It worked it really worked!"
"Of course it did. Two geniuses like us could never screw this up." I said as I patted him on the shoulder. "So, wanna help me get this thing on?"
It didn't take much convincing after that. Sir Pentious went to go grab the jetpack and while he did, I used my newfound magic to shorten my yellow duster so it only went down to my waist instead of my calf. The rest of my usual attire stayed the same, and honestly if something went wrong, I wanted to have as much protection as possible.
Once Pentious brought the pack over, I turned around and let the snake sinner place it on my back. I slipped my arms through the straps and snapped the buckle closed. After that, I rolled my shoulders and twisted my back, trying to get used to the jetpack's weight. It wasn't all that heavy, about the weight of a backpack filled with survival gear. I was able to run and jump with ease and I made sure that Sir Pentious took note of that.
After several more physical tests, it was finally time for a test flight.
I stood still while Pentious came over and slipped my black leather gloves back onto my hands, now modified with several electronic components. Once the gloves were on, the two wires hanging from the jetpack were strapped to arms of my jacket by newly added clasps and the throttle devices were attached to the back of my gloves.
Once that was done, the inventor slithered back to his equipment and got all the recording devices and monitoring equipment ready.
"Everything isss good to go here!" he shouted.
"Alright! First true test of the Atomic Viper jetpack in three. Two. One!" I yelled as I clenched my right hand twice in quick succession.
I heard the rockets burst to life and felt my body be launched upwards into the air. The feeling of being launched quickly faded but I still felt the belts holding my body in the air. I glanced around and saw that I was hanging about fifteen feet in the air but not going any higher. I smiled behind my mask and nodded with satisfaction.
"It looks like the hovering function is working!" I shouted at my partner.
"Yesss, but could you try moving? The last thing we want is to have you ssstationary. You'd be a sssitting duck." He asked.
I gave the sinner a thumbs up and started leaning right. Just like I expected, I began to drift right and when I leaned to the left, I drifted left. It was all rather basic but I made sure never to tilt too far in any direction to avoid going horizontal and either flying off or plowing headfirst into the ground. We did that for about ten minutes and I was slowly starting to get more comfortable hovering, my natural agility helping me control my body so that I could easily maneuver through the air. We definitely had to come up with some lessons to teach people how to use this thing, because most people didn't have my level of self-control nor my ability to quickly learn skills.
After another few minutes of testing, where I managed to move in a circle, we felt satisfied with the hovering. So I angled myself towards the spot where I took off and clenched my left hand twice, but slowly this time. I heard the jet engines pitch lower slightly and I saw that I was getting closer to the ground. It only took a few seconds for me to find myself standing on the front lawn again.
"Ha, that was fun." I said with a laugh. "You care to give it a whirl?"
"Eh, no. I'm not all that good with physical things like this." The snake man said as he waved me off. "I'll keep my trunk on the ground thank you."
"Alright whatever floats your boat. So, on to test two?"
"Yes but I think we've proven how well it handles hovering. How about a real flight test?" He suggested.
I knew he couldn't see my face, but I had little doubt that Pentious didn't feel my excitement as my mouth transformed into a massive grin. "Alright, let's get to it. Three. Two. O-"
"What the fuck are two doing?!"
Sir Pentious and I stared at each other for a second before turning around to see an angry looking Vaggie and a curious looking Charlie making their way towards us.
"Oh hey ladies. What brings you out here?" I asked.
"Oh I don't know. Maybe the fact that you two locked yourselves away for five days and the next time we see you, you're carrying all this stuff out onto the lawn. Normally we wouldn't care, but then Angel Dust mentioned how Pentious was trying to blow you up." Vaggie said as she gestured towards the jetpack.
I let out a groan of annoyance. "Seriously, we did the calculations. The chances of me blowing up were only about two point six percent. It was plenty safe."
"There's nothing safe about you blowing up no matter how small the odds!" Charlie said as she stepped forward, a small look of worry on her face. "And what are you doing making weapons with Sir Pentious? We're trying to redeem him but this is the exact opposite of what we want."
I stepped towards the woman and shook my head. "Look Char, there's nothing to worry about. You see this thing?" I jabbed a thumb towards the object on my back. "It's not a weapon. It's actually a highly advanced jetpack, one that's not only meant for use outside of power armor but should also be capable of sustained flight. In fact, you caught us just as we were about to take it for a spin."
"Wait. That thing is supposed to let you fly?" Vaggie asked, sounding skeptical.
"As if I had wings." I said, flashing her a cheeky smile. She responded by giving me an unamused look.
Charlie stared at the device, chewing her lip as she thought about it before turning her gaze back to me. "Are you sure it's safe?"
"As safe as it can be." I assured her, but the princess still looked concerned. "Plus think of it like this. I'll be helping Sir Pentious learn how to put his energy and intelligence into inventing things that don't cause harm or devastation. That would be one step forward onto the path of redemption."
That was the last straw and I watched the woman's will give way with a sigh.
"Alright, you can finish your tests. Just be careful, alright?" she said as she stared into my mask's visor.
"Can do your highness." I said as we stepped away from each other and I made my way back towards Sir Pentious.
"What did she sssay?" He asked.
"She was just concerned that we were doing something that could get us or someone else hurt. I managed to convince her to give us the go ahead. Now where were we?" I asked as I got back into position and saw that the ladies were watching us from a distance.
"Counting down I believe." He responded.
"Alright. Takeoff in three. Two. One."
As I finished the countdown, instead of quickly clenching my right hand twice, I clenched both hands three times. The moment I did that, the rockets on my back roared to life and I felt my body be launched into the air, though unlike last time, the feeling didn't come to stop. Instead, I just went up and up and up, flying towards the red sky of hell.
I was smiling the entire time.
As I continued ascending, I reasoned that I was high enough that I had plenty of room to maneuver and experiment without the risk of slamming into the ground. Slowly I leaned forward and I found my vertical takeoff turn into a proper flight. Now that I was horizontal, I glanced down and saw Pentagram city below me. I was actually quite surprised to see that the city itself was actually shaped and divided into sections of an actual pentagram. It was amazing the things one noticed when given a bird's eye view. Still, as rotten as the city and its citizens were, it made for quite an amazing sight.
I turned away from the city and instead just looked ahead, focusing on what needed to be done. So with a bit of effort, I leaned right and was shocked at how quickly I turned and it almost caused me to tumble, but I managed to keep myself flying straight. Once I properly recovered, I leaned left, much slower this time and the turn was much less jarring. I turned right once more only this time I stuck out my arms and let the drag slow me down just enough to gently change direction.
I continued flying like that for the next few minutes and I began to get more confident in my flying and pretty soon I wasn't just turning but doing various rolls and loops as I flew through the air. It became pretty apparent that using a jetpack was not meant for the physically lacking as it took all the strength in my core muscles to properly twist my body around in midflight. Still, as long as someone wasn't constantly banking and doing maneuvers they could fly for a couple hours without issue.
As I flew through the air, I decided to do something a bit…risky.
Angling myself downwards, I quickly descended and it wasn't until I was amongst the various skyscrapers that I evened myself out.
The buildings flew past me so fast they began to blur and I was barreling towards a large building at the end of the street. It was getting closer and closer and it was only at the last possible moment did I jerk my body upwards, all the blood in my body suddenly trying to make its way to my feet. It was only through sheer willpower that I managed to stay conscious.
As I shot upwards, I saw myself in the reflection of the building's windows. Dressed in my yellow coat and black armor, I struck a rather intimidating figure, especially with the blue glow from the thrusters highlighting my form. Yet as I watched myself fly through the air; something just didn't look right to me. I'm not sure what it was, something just out of reach and still too far to grasp. I shook my head and my reflection disappeared as I cleared the top of the building.
Once I was high enough, I squeezed both my hands twice and the rockets completely shut off, my momentum continuing to carry me upwards for a few more seconds. Then for a brief moment I hung weightlessly in the air, then gravity decided to intrude and I plummeted towards the ground.
Most people at this moment would begin to panic as they saw the ground rushing to meet them. I had a different reaction.
"Wooohoooo!" I yelled as I spread out my arms in legs to both control and slightly slow my fall.
As I fell to what would probably be my death, I was smiling with joy as my mechanical heart beat with excitement in my chest. It wasn't often that I found myself having fun with things of a nonviolent nature, but right now I was having a blast.
Using what time I had left before I went splat, I managed to angle myself away from the building and back towards the street I had flown down. I watched the ground quickly get ever closer and it wasn't until I was about one hundred feet from the sidewalk that I reignited the jetpack and went zooming through the air once more, the demons on the ground staring up at me as I flew by overhead.
As I rocketed through the air, my excitement and joy reached a fever pitch and I couldn't help myself any longer as I let out a song.
"~Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away. If you can use some exotic booze, there's a bar in far Bombay. Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away.~"
I let the lyrics fall from my lips. The world below me flew by and I easily navigated my way through the streets until I mad my way through the city and into the industrial district where I flew through the smokestacks and weaved through the warehouses as the workers shouted profanities at me. I let out a chuckle as several of them tried to pull out guns only to realize I was already out of range.
I turned right and flew into the entertainment district. Its buildings taking on cooler tones as the flashing billboards and neon lights bathed this part of town in its brilliant glow.
"~Come fly with me, let's float down to Peru. In llama land, there's a one man band, and he'll toot his flute for you. Come fly with me, let's take off in the blue.
Once I get you up there, where the air is rarefied, We'll just glide, starry eyed. Once I get you up there, I'll be holding you so near, you may hear all the angels cheer because we're together.~"
As I flew overhead, I saw several of the demons take out their hellphones and take pictures or possibly recording videos of me as I dodged the leg of a large pink neon sign of a curvy and topless demoness on a stripper pole.
Making my way through the district, I took in the sights and sounds of the land, briefly being reminded of the first time I stepped onto the New Vegas strip. The major difference being the rampant sexual advertisements, as though I was getting a glimpse of what things might have looked like if the Omertas managed to take control of the city.
I managed to ignore the debauchery and enjoyed the rainbow of colors that flashed by my eyes. It wasn't long before I passed by a massive tower that sat at the center of the district. It was round, multilayered thing that stood out amongst the other buildings because of the sheer amount of light it was giving off. And at the top of the building, I flew by a large neon sign of three Vees, colored red, blue and purple. Above that was a broadcast tower, its dish glowing an electric blue.
It wasn't hard figuring out who that tower belonged to and I took some small amount of satisfaction in flipping it and its occupants off as I flew by.
"~Weather wise, it's such lovely day, Just say the words and we'll beat the birds down to Acapulco Bay. It's perfect for a flying honeymoon, they say. Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away.
Once I get you up there, where the air is rarefied, We'll just glide, starry eyed. Once I get you up there, I'll be holding you so near, you may hear all the angels cheer because we're together.~"
I adjusted my flight and decided to fly over the ruins of the Vox Aren. Much like I expected, the thing was an absolute mess. The stonework was crumbling and from up here I could see that what hadn't been blasted apart or melted was scorched black. Even from up here, my pipboy's Geiger counter began to softly tick.
Glancing down, I was surprised to see a bright orange light emanating from the center of the arena. It looked like someone had decided to start a large fire for some reason. I wonder why they would do a thing like that?
I shoved those questions to the back of my mind as I left the arena behind and flew towards the center of the city, the light of the heavenly embassy guiding my way.
"~Weather wise, it's such a coo-coo day. You just say those words and we'll take our birds down to Acapulco Bay. It's so perfect for a flying honeymoon, oh, babe. Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly.~"
I sang as I circled around the embassy. A large, beautiful thing made of white pearly white stone and shining gold. A glorious light surrounded the building and just being near it sent a warm feeling deep into my body and what I'm guessing was my soul. On top of the building sat a massive hourglass with a golden halo hanging in the air above it. An innocent looking thing that was a grim reminder to the sinners of Hell that their afterlives weren't as eternal as they thought.
Soon, I left the embassy behind, flying southeast. Weaving in and out of streets and between the buildings, letting my heart sing with joy as the adrenaline coursed through my veins.
"~Pack up, let's fly away. And don't tell yo' mama!~-AH SHIT!" I screamed as I felt my leg clip a sign that I had failed to completely avoid when I turned a corner and immediately found myself tumbling through the air out of control.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" I yelled as struggled to gain control again. It wasn't easy, as every time I tried to correct my flight, the momentum I already had kept throwing me off. I needed a way to stabilize myself and better control my body, but right now I was just plain out of luck.
Of course it was about that time when things went from bad to worse when I saw that I was heading directly for a building. Headfirst.
I knew that a head on collision at this speed would most likely not be fatal, but I still didn't want to take a chance. My bones may have been coated in adamantium and my spine reinforced, but there was only so much damage to my spinal cord take and being paralyzed from the neck down in hell with a rocket strapped to my back sounded like a terrible plan. So, wanting to avoid that fate, I grit my teeth and forced my body upwards, my abdomen muscles screaming at me.
Thankfully my efforts weren't in vain as I managed to clear the building by mere inches, the jetpack sending me flying past the building, still out of control. I quickly realized that unless I did something, I would eventually crash into a building and hurt myself. So, I decided to do something risky. I killed the jet engines mid-flight.
I continued flying through the air only without the thrust to sustain my altitude so I almost immediately started plummeting. As I flew forward, I managed to twist myself in the air so that my feet angled downward and eyed the spot I was going to land. It looked like a small but somewhat cared for front lawn with bushes lining the property. A better landing zone than most.
As I was quickly approaching the ground, I made sure to bend my knees as I fell the last fifty feet and slammed into the ground feet first. Unlike under most circumstances, there was no cracking of bones or breaking of limbs. Hell, there wasn't even any major impact as the kinetic repulsion devices built into my armored combat boots activated and suddenly it felt like I had just dropped only a couple feet, not a couple hundred. However, despite the boots almost completely negating the downward force, it did nothing to stop my forward momentum.
"Oh fuck." I yelped as I was sent skipping across the lawn, bouncing as I went and only coming to a stop when I smashed into the dark red rose bushes. Although now that I was literally face down in the vegetation, I saw that it was more thorn and twisted briar than flower, making me even more thankful for my armor.
"Thank you Freefall tech." I said I patted my boot before dragging myself out of the bush and brushing myself off.
Once that was done, I took a look at my surrounding and was surprised to find myself standing in what looked like an old fashioned neighborhood with houses that like they were ripped from a pre-atomic age America. Another oddity was the demons walking up and down the streets. They were all humanoid and mostly human shaped save for the natural differences between body types. They were all dressed in suits, dresses and other types of clothes that looked to both be of a high quality as well as old fashioned enough to have come from the same time period as the building. One more thing they all had in common was the fact that they all appeared to be the same type of sinner, with smooth grey skin, eyes that were completely black, and mouths full sharpened teeth were obviously meant to tear into flesh. The last thing that stood out to me was something that had me wanting to pull out my gun.
They were all smiling.
Normal people weren't that happy, in fact most people I had seen both in the wasteland and here in Hell were usually in a sour mood save for the outliers like Moira, Sierra, Veronica and Charlie. Still, when they smiled is was usually just with their lips and whenever they did show their teeth, you could just feel the warmth and joy that radiated from it. These people on the other hand all had wide smiles plastered on to their faces that showed off all their sharp pointy teeth, looking less like a smile and more like a threat display.
I let out a small growl as several of them noticed me standing there in the yard, their smiles falling as they eyed me curiously, only to go back to smiling, this time at me. I decided to ignore their stares for the moment as unbuckled my jetpack, slid it off my back and placed it on the ground before kneeling down to examine it for any damage.
"Alright, let's see what we have here. Straps are still holding and the casing appears to be undamaged." I grabbed the fusion core and tugged on it to see if it would give but thankfully found plenty of resistance. "The core has been knocked loose and based on the glow from the vents the energy is still flowing properly." I reached forward, grabbed the jetpack with both hands and lifted it up to my helmeted ear before giving it a gentle shake. I didn't hear anything rattle or bang around inside, causing me to let out a sigh of relief. "And it doesn't sound like there was any internal damage either. Man, Slithers and I do good work."
I stood up, slipped the machine back on and was about to take off when a voice stopped me.
"Where the fuck are you going!?" a scratchy voice demanded from behind me.
Turning around I at first didn't see anyone until I glanced down and saw another one of those demons glaring up at me. She didn't have any wrinkles but despite that, I could just tell that this woman had probably died an old woman. She wore a purplish red dress with a large skirt, large purple spectacles, a dark blue fox scarf and hat the same color as her dress with two large blue feathers sticking out of the back. She held a gnarled cane in her hand, had shoulder length white hair, and unlike the rest of the demons, she wasn't smiling, just scowling up at me with the rage of a thousand matches. I almost laughed at her attempt to appear threatening.
"Oh, hello. Who might you be?" I asked. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say as she used that cane of hers to smack me in the face.
I blinked in surprise as I looked down at the crotchety old woman, now with half a mind to steal that cane from her and snap it in half. "Rude."
"Oh don't you get off calling be rude you little bastard! Look at what you did to my roses!" she screamed as she motioned towards the now broken down bushes. I suddenly understood her anger, even if smacking me in the face was still an overreaction.
"Oh, those were your bushes. Yeah sorr-" I tried to apologize before I was cut off.
"Do you have any idea how long it took me to get those the way I wanted them?!" she interrupted.
"Like I was trying to say, I'm sorr-"
"It took gallons of blood sweat and tears to get them that healthy!"
"I understand, but-" I tried to say only to get cut off again and starting to lose my patience.
"That shit is expensive! And now you go and destroy it for no fucking reason."
"Look, it was an accident and I-"
"Now what you going to do about?! What have you got to say about- "
"Would you Shut UP!" I yelled in her face, cutting her off like she did me. "I am trying to apologize"
"Hey now friend, that's no way to treat your elders like that." A man's voice said from behind me.
Turning around, I found a small group of demons had gathered around, staring at me with their fang filled smiles directed at me. From the group, out stepped a man with black hair and a black handlebar mustache wearing a brown suit with a matching bowler hat. No doubt the one who spoke up before.
"Look buddy, I was trying to apologize to her for what I did to her rose bushes but she kept cutting me off every time. Annoying as hell." I said grumpily and surprisingly the other actually nodded in agreement.
"Yes, Susan has a…talent for fraying one's nerves. But she is part of our community and we simply can't have an outsider like you treating her like that." He said sounding reasonable but I could hear a hint of malice underneath his politeness.
"I understand. Loyalty is a valuable thing but that's still no excuse for her being a bitch. Besides, I was going off to pay for the damages anyways." I said while subtly squaring my shoulders and getting myself ready for a potential attack.
"I must say that's mighty kind of you, but I'm afraid that here in Cannibal Town, we don't take payment from outsiders in money." He said, that smile still plastered on his face.
I blinked behind my mask, not quite sure I had heard the man right.
"I'm sorry, but did you just say Cannibal Town?" I asked.
The man and the group behind him all nodded their heads in affirmation. "Yes, you are currently standing in this fine municipality where those of us who prefer our meat to be more bipedal. A sanctuary where we are free to live as we see fit, safe from the hypocritical sinners who scorn us for what we are." He said with passionate zeal.
"And you, all of you are cannibals?"
Again, they all nodded.
"I take it you're not just going to let me walk out of here without taking your pound of flesh, are you?"
"Of course!" the man said cheerfully. "In fact, as payment for what you did to Susan's roses, she gets the first bite."
No sooner had the words left his mouth did I hear the rustle of cloth as someone charged me from behind. Unfortunately for them this wasn't my first ambush.
In the time it took to blink, I had whipped around, shot out my hand and grabbed the handle of the large bloodstained stained meat cleaver as well as the hand holding it. I stared down at the surprised face of Susan, obviously not expecting her surprise attack to be so easily countered. The look of surprise quickly turned and in a grimace of pain and she let out a loud scream as I tightened my grip on the weapon until I felt the bones in her hand break. Her scream of anguish only grew louder as with a jerk of my hand, I tore the cleaver from her grip, as well as several of her fingers. Her screaming was beginning to get on my nerves, so I decided to shut her up with a back hand to the face. As she was knocked to the ground, I think I felt her jaw snap under the blow. After that she wasn't screaming anymore, just sobbing face down in the grass.
With the old woman temporarily taken care of, I calmly turned around to face the crowd, the smiles gone, replaced by looks of both shock and anger. I gave the cleaver in my hand a small twirl, getting used to the weight and balance. It was front heavy, but that was the purpose of a cleaver, to be able to force its way through both meat and bone. This wouldn't be the first time I had used one.
"You know, on earth I had quite a few run-ins with cannibals. They acted all nice and polite, just like you lot. That was up until they decided I would make for a good snack and tried to turn me into a corpse. I never once regretted putting those bastards in the ground. I don't think I'll regret killing you freaks either."
I watched the crowd take in my words and almost immediately began to pull out cleavers, knives, pipes and all other assortments of makeshift weaponry. They let out hisses and growls before charging me in mass.
I hated cannibals. That's not to say I hated cannibalism as a whole, I couldn't fault those people who were driven to eat the dead out of desperation and survival. Those who willingly choose to kill and eat humans not out of necessity, but out of a sick want for that dark pleasure. As far as I was concerned, cannibals were less than human, merely another abomination that needed to be exterminated.
With that in mind I decided that this wasn't going to be a fight. It was going to be a slaughter.
With the push of my pipboy's button, the GRX activated, sending a dose of Turbo into my blood stream. In an instant, my body was flooded with what felt like lightning, energizing all the muscles in my body and sending my mind and thought process into overdrive. Move movement and reaction speeds, already faster than most of humanity was suddenly forced beyond the realm of normal and into superhuman. Not only that, but my mind was suddenly operating on a level that was usually reserved for advanced computers, allowing me to both process information faster as well as increasing my perception of time.
To put it into simple terms, from my perspective, I was moving normally while the world around me slowed to a crawl.
Stepping forward, I pulled back the arm holding the cleaver and sent it crashing into the suited man's throat, severing his spine, and decapitating his head. He hadn't even had time to react before I moved onto the woman behind him. She had a kitchen knife in her hand and using my free hand, grabbed the handle and shoved it into her chest. The next two appeared to be twins, the only thing setting them apart was that one wore a red peaky hat while the other wore a blue one. With one swing, I cleaved through both of their necks, not cutting completely cutting off their heads, but severing their carotid arteries and jugular veins, blood already beginning to fly through the air.
When I moved on to the fifth cannibal, they were now beginning to reel back, finally able to react to the death of their fellow sinners. Not that it would do them any good.
The next demon, a large man with broad, muscled shoulders was just beginning to pull back his arm to swing his heavy fire axe, only for me to strike first. The cleaver buried itself deep into his face, hitting him just above where his nose should have been and catching him in both eyes. I tried to pull my weapon out, but found it lodged too deeply to easily remove it without halting my momentum. Instead, I let go of the cleaver and grabbed the axe from his now dead fingers.
Without missing a beat, I swung the fire axe, catching a woman wearing a bonnet and blue dress in the neck, sending her head flying. On the back swing, I caught a younger looking man in the side of the head, impaling it with the pick. Ripping the weapon free, I sent it crashing into the chest of a man wearing a top hat, its blade smashing through his ribcage and embedding itself in his heart. Then with a hard tug, I yanked the axe out, using the momentum to spin on my heel and bring the axe down in a powerful overhead swing. The last cannibal was a woman with long beautiful brown hair that went down to her waist with a flow in her locks and a gorgeous frilled cream and pink dress that went down to her white knee high socks. With her pale skin, powdered cheeks and large black eyes, she could easily be mistaken for a large, beautiful doll. And as those black eyes widened in fear, she only had had a moment to realize she was going to die before my axe slammed into her face.
With the force of the blow and the thinness of her frame, the axe head easily forced its way through her body. She wasn't so much sliced in half, as torn in half vertically. Her once beautiful and immaculate dress now and forever ruined and stained with her blood. It was at this point that some people probably would have felt regret over killing woman like that. Me? I thought such a quick death was more than she deserved.
As the axe head exited the woman and buried itself into the ground, the Turbo finally wore off and all around me, the corpses that I made finally fell to the ground. They still the twitched and spasmed as their bodies were only now beginning to register their own death. Once they began to still, I felt a rush of energy enter my body that caused the heat in my chest to intensify, even if it was only by a miniscule amount. Still, nine kills in less than three seconds without using explosives was a new record for me.
Letting go of the axe handle, stood up straight and looked around to see if I had to worry about any other cannibals attacking me. Thankfully the street was empty for now and since there hadn't been any gunshots, I doubted anyone was going to come running. I still had one last thing to take care of before I could leave.
Making my way over to the still downed form of Susan, I reached down to grab her by the neck and lifted her into the air with one hand. I knew she was a small woman and I was plenty strong, but it surprised me how easy it was for me to pick her up. I supposed magical power wasn't the only thing I got from those souls.
"Roshy gogga feen oo." The old woman said, struggling to form word with her damaged jaw.
"Sorry, could you repeat that?" I asked.
"Roshy gogga feen oo!" she hollered.
"Still didn't catch that. Hold on a second." I said before reatomizing a stimpak and jabbing it into Susan's neck. I watched as her jaw fixed itself. "There we go. Now what were you trying to tell me?"
"Rosie's gonna find you, you bastard!" she screamed.
"Rosie?" I asked with a tilted head. "Who's Rosie."
"She's the Overlord who runs Cannibal Town and your worst fucking nightmare! You think you can get away with attacking us? Think again fucker! Rosie is going to make you beg for an angel's blade."
"Oh, you freaks have your own little Queen of the Cannibals, do you? Hmm, might have to pay her a visit sometime. Thanks for that little bit of info Susan. I'll be sure to put it to good use."
"What? You think you think you take her on?" Susan asked with a dark chuckle. "You're a stupid bastard ain't ya? The moment we pull ourselves together, we're gonna tell Rosie about you and there's no place in Hell you can hide from her." She said with a smirk.
Said smirk was wiped off her face as I let out a chuckle of my own. "You see Susan, that's where you're wrong. They're not going to get back up. You want to know why?" I asked as I leaned in closer to her face.
"Because I'm the person you all have been calling Abaddon, the Nuclear Demon." The moment she heard those words, the cannibal's cocky expression morphed into one of fear and terror. I took far too much pleasure in seeing it. "Now would you please die quietly? Fm'latgh."
Once I spoke the ancient word, I felt the energy inside me flow into the hand holding her by the throat. There it collected for a second before the energy exploded outwards in a flash of intense heat and light. The demon in my grip was immediately set on fire, her grey flesh bubbling and blackening while her clothing was set alight. Unfortunately for me, Susan decided not to fulfill my request, instead choosing to scream as loud as her scorched lungs would allow. It grated on my ears despite the helmet, but I endured it and the heat for several more seconds, making sure that the fire would stick before I tossed the burning cannibal through the nearest window of her home.
It didn't take long for the screaming to stop, followed immediately by the rush of energy. I watched as the flames quickly spread from the body to the rest of the house, quickly consuming it. It seemed that having a building built to resemble one from before the days of non-flammable materials was a bad idea.
As I watched the building go up in flames, a thought struck me. "Wings!" I said, smacking my helmeted forehead. "That's what was missing. Adding wings would help stabilize me as well as let me have far better control in the air with less effort. Heh, sometimes the simplest answers are the best. I've got to tell Slithers about this."
Without another word, I activated the jetpack and flew off into the blood red sky, never one looking back at the bodies or the burning buildings.
…-…
"You should have seen it Pentious! I was flying through the air faster than most planes! You know, if we tweaked it enough, we might be able to break the sound barrier." I said as I took a bite of my chicken curry.
Sitting around the table for dinner, we were all chatting about our day. Angel Dust was bragging about all the new pornos he made, Charlie was gushing about her new ideas on how to redeem the sinners, Nifty…was going into excruciating detail of how she made baby bugs watch as she butchered their mother. I of course was talking about the Atomic Viper and the flight.
"We probably could, but um, I don't think the wearer would sssurvive that." Pentious disagreed.
"They could if we developed a special light power armor, built specifically for flying with a jetpack." I countered.
"You know, it did look like you were having a good time. You wouldn't mind if I took that big rocket of yours for a ride, would ya?" Angel asked with a grin.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." I said, making sure to not acknowledge the innuendo. "Actually, using it takes a lot of core strength to properly operate it. Core strength you don't have Fluffy."
"Are you kidding me pal! Underneath the fuzz is all muscle baby." He said, flexing all four of his spindly arms.
I just grinned back at him. "Whatever you say spiderfuck." I said before turning back to Sir Pentious. "Speaking of control, I wanted to throw out an idea on how to increase the user's ability to control their flight."
"Oh? What'sss your idea then?" he asked.
"What would you say about to adding some wings?" I offered. At the same time, Vaggie began to gag on her meal. Charlie was there to immediately help her by patting her back, helping to clear her airway.
"Are you serious?" she demanded. "Are you trying to freak out all of Hell!? Because when people catch a glimpse of you flying through the air, their first thought is going to be exterminator."
"You assume I care." I said with a shrug. "Besides, it's not like I'm the only one flying around. Hell, Booze-kitty over there has a pretty get pair of wings on him."
"Can you not drag me into this?" Husk said from his seat. "Besides, these things are basically display only. I can only flutter and glide for a bit. Unlike the angels, we actually have to follow physics down here."
"Why did you decide to go with wings anyway? You looked like you could fly pretty well without them." Charlie spoke up.
"Because wings make flying so much easier. I'm a pretty tough guy and I've had to endure a lot of punishment over the years, but after that flight my abs are killing me." I said rubbing my abdomen. "Add some wings and you only need a fraction of the force required to maneuver."
"While that isss true, adding wings that are large enough to help you fly would not only dramatically increassse the weight, but also make it far less easily transportable. Both things you don't want in a jetpack." Sir Pentious point.
"Normally you'd be right, and the weight would obviously be dependent on the material used. But what if I told you I could make some wings with about an eight foot wingspan that was not only easily transported, but also indestructible and weightless?"
The others around me all stared at me with various levels of doubt save for Pentious and Charlie who both looked awe struck. Reaching over to my pipboy, I went over to my miscellaneous tab, scrolled down to the device I wanted and pressed the select button. With a flash of light, a small round device appeared in my hand. It was a circular steel disk with four small blue prongs jutting out. In the center sat a glass half sphere that glowed a bright electric blue.
"What is that?" Charlie asked while leaning in.
"A miracle of science." I said as I placed it on the table and activated the hologram emitter. There a was a flicker of light in the air, and from out of nowhere appeared the transparent blue image of a well-dressed and beautiful starlet.
Charlie and Pentious let out some oos and awes while the others just raised their eyebrows in intrigue.
"Who's the broad?" Angel asked.
"A hologram, but not the normal kind. Instead of just being light projected into the air, this thing can best be called hard light, energy projected in a way that it takes on a physical form."
"And that's makes it special why?" Vaggie asked as she eyed the hologram of Vera Keyes.
Rather than answer with words, I decided to pull out Lil Devil and shoot the hologram twice in the chest and once in the head. This of course caused everyone to jump in their seats and duck for cover. After those three shots, I gave the pistol a little twirl before putting it back in its holster.
"What the hell was that?!" Vaggie demanded as she marched over to me.
I reached over, grabbed the three deformed bullets from off the table and handed them to her. She looked at them confused for a moment before she realized what she was holding and glancing up at the hologram.
"Like I said, indestructible. And since its solidified energy, weightless. With a little bit of tinkering, I could turn the lady here into a pair of wings of light. And because I could turn it off and on with the flick of switch, easily portable."
"Amazing! Absolutely amazing!" Sir Pentious said with wide eyes. "You made this?"
"Made? Yes. Invented? No. I'm afraid the credit goes to an Old World group called the Think Tank. Every single one of them is some level of crazy, but they do good work. Now if you're alright with it, I was thinking of tinkering with it in my room tonight and testing it first thing tomorrow. Is that alright with you Slithers?"
"Are you sure? I was hoping to finish working on it together." He said sounding sad.
"Hey, don't worry about it buddy. Besides I think you might want to know that I left several dozen various nuclear power sources for you in your workshop. Let you figure out what you wanted to build next."
Sir Pentious let out a loud gasp before dashing over to me, gave me massive hug before slithering out of the room as fast as his trunk would take him. "Thank you my friend!" was the last thing I heard from him before he was out of sight.
"That was nice of you." Charlie said with a smile.
"The guy has a brilliant mind, he just needs something worthwhile to put it towards. Now, what did you have planned next for rehabilitation?" I asked, trying to ignore Vaggie's questioning gaze and Alastor's malice filled glare from the end of the table. I flashed him a knowing smile before turning back to listen to Charlie.
…-…
Midnight
"Not bad for a rush job." I said as I examined the jetpack one last time.
In the hours after dinner, I was able to attach the hologram emitter to the top of the jetpack, placed between the two nose cones. The jetpack itself had been painted a dark black to match my armor with three yellow markings painted around the fusion core to make it resemble a radiation symbol. It was a little rough and not my best work but it got the point across.
Slipping the jetpack back on, I buckled myself up again and made my way upstairs to my bedside table. There I grabbed the blue and gold grimoire that started this whole mess, wrapped it up in plenty of wire and tightly secured it to my right hip, just behind my pistol. Then I grabbed the old blade from where it lay.
The moment I picked it up, I felt a presence, something wild and feral emanating from the blade. Looking down at the weapon, I saw sickly green electricity running up and down the blade, reminding me of the lightning that flashed in the sky during radstorms. The presence appeared to consider me for a moment, before quietly withdrawing back into the iron of the weapon, seemingly satisfied with what it saw.
I lifted the blade up to my face a glared at it for a minute. "Always knew there was something off about you, just never knew what." I said before hanging it to the left side of my belt.
With all my possessions in hand, it made my way downstairs and was about to leave only to stop and give the room one more look before heading out and closing the door behind me. making my way down to the lobby, I made sure to be as quiet as I could be, not even bothering with the elevators. With every step I felt a deep void in the pit of my stomach grow ever deeper.
"Only been a few weeks and I've already grown attached to this place." I grumbled with a small smile.
Pretty soon I was making my way through the lobby, out the front door, and into the front lawn. Once I was standing amongst the equipment, I rolled my shoulders and with the flick of a button on my pipboy, the wing on my jetpack came to life. Just like before, the air flickered and on my back appeared a set of bright blue holographic wings, designed to resemble those of an eagle with every feather accounted for. Right now, they were folded up to stay out of the way, but once I took off they would unfurl into their full eight foot wingspan.
"Santa mierda. You actually made wings."
I turned around and was surprised to find Vaggie standing behind me, dressed in a white nightgown.
"Huh, you actually managed to sneak up on me. What are you doing out here Vaggie?" I asked.
"Because I knew you were planning to leave, Paul." She spoke.
I smiled sadly at her. "You figure that out, did you?
She nodded at me "Yeah. The other day when you were asking Angel Dust about finding a succubus clued me on to what you were planning. Then you go and start working on a jetpack with Pentious, that way you have a reliable means of travel. And since you're planning on going after that Mayday woman, that means you're planning on travelling to the Lust Ring. You probably already did some research on how to travel to the other Rings, so you know where the nearest Grand Elevator is. I'm going to take a wild guess and say you are planning to head over to Imp City aren't you."
"Damn, that's some might fine detective work there." I said as I gave her a quiet round of applause. "Yeah, I'm going to Imp City."
"Then I suppose this is goodbye." She said rubber her bare shoulder.
"If everything works out, I'll be out your hair. For what it's worth, I'm glad to have met you, Charlie and the others."
"Except Alastor." She said with a smirk.
"Alastor can go deep throat a barbed baseball bat." I replied with a matching smirk.
Stepping forward, I held out my hand and she gladly took it. We shook hands for a moment before releasing each other and taking a step away from each other.
"Good luck Paul."
"You too Vaggie. Before I go, one last piece of advice. This whole Extermination in six months? It's not something done on a whim, it's reactionary. Find out what caused Heaven to lash out like this and you might be able to buy yourselves some time."
After saying my peace, I squeezed my hands and the wings extended all the way at the same time the jet engines activated. After that I was flying through the dark red sky and off into the distance.
…-…
Carmine Weapons Factory
In Hell, industry had never truly advanced beyond the age of the industrial revolution. Sure, technology had advanced but the unsafe, unethical and downright lethal working conditions that could be found in the era were still prevalent across all the rings. As it was, it wasn't unusual for demons of all kinds to wind up dead during a workday, their blood decorating a factory floor.
The amount of blood and bodies that decorated this factory on the other hand was quite a bit more than the usual.
Bodies were scattered all over the place. Some were mostly whole while others were practically reduced to a red smear. Blood covered practically every inch of the factory, the floor, the walls and even most of the ceiling was painted a viscous red. Body parts were scattered about as if a deranged child had thrown a temper tantrum, smashed his toys and scattered their remains.
Underneath all the gore were signs of a fire fight. Brass casings littered the floor and all around were bullet holes from where the rounds had missed. Yet if one were to look closely enough, they would find that the only bodies to be found were those of the workers and guards. Nowhere among the carnage were any corpses belonging to the attackers.
Yet standing in the middle of the almost literal bloodbath was something that no one could every truly believe had once been a human. It stood underneath a broken light fixture, standing in one of the few shadows of the factory and obscuring its form and leaving only its silhouette. Yet despite that there were several details that could still be made out.
The first was the sheer size of the thing. The demonic forms the sinners took on after their deaths were usually taller than the average human with a select few of them like Overlord Zeezi managing to reach ten feet. This thing on the other hand completely dwarfed them all, reaching the enormous height of twenty feet. The second thing that set it apart from the other demons was its mass. Unlike the rest of the sinners, there was nothing about the creature that could be called 'slim'. Its frame was massive, with shoulders and arms so thick with muscle that it could have been compared to a professional weightlifter had it been the size of a normal human. The rest of its body was no less impressive, it wouldn't be inaccurate to describe the thing as a mountain of raw power.
Then if one ignored the physical might of the creature, they might notice the weapons it wielded. On it's right forearm protruded a massive blade the size of a normal man, its edge gleaming as the angelic steel it was made of practically glowed in the low light of the factory. Sitting under its left forearm was a large device, its handle firmly in the thing's grip and a long barrel extended past its reach. The body and the tip of weapon both glowed vile green. Finally, the last thing a person would notice was the pair of sharp eyes that glowed a baleful blood red, looking gazing at all the carnage it had unleashed.
It couldn't enjoy its handiwork for long however as there was a soft buzzing sound that caught his attention, causing it to turn away from the butchery and reach up to tap the side of its head.
"Everyone's dead. Come get the weapons." The demon's voice was deep a gravely baritone that sounded like a perpetual growl.
"I'm glad to hear of your success, but I don't believe I was built for such a physical task." The man on the other side of the radio said sounding amused.
The massive demon actually straitened its posture upon hearing the voice. "Mr. President. I wasn't expecting to talk to you."
"Of course not. I understand the good Colonel has you completing a mission, but I'm afraid that I needed to speak with you about a very important matter."
"And that would be?" The thing asked.
"You have no doubt been briefed about the attack at the Vox Arena, but after some investigation it is my belief that this Abaddon is in fact one Paul Harbinger."
"The mutie who killed you." The demon spat.
"Yes, but right now revenge is not my concern. You see, after some investigation, we have noticed some discrepancies. He seems to wield equipment that appears to have come directly from earth as opposed to copies made in Hell. In the arena he fought in X-02 power armor that was decorated in the style of a mercenary group based out of Washington DC. Upon reviewing the footage captured by our hidden cameras, it also appears he wielded a stealth suit that was clearly based off of a similar stealth suit that was being designed by the good people of the Big Mountain research facility, though one that never made it past the prototype stage. Then before that he was seen wearing a modified version of prewar heavy riot armor. The same kind fielded by the NCR. All the while he wore the pipboy that had been assigned to him when he lived in Vault 101, something a demon could never take with them when they fall."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that there is a high likelihood that somehow Mr. Harbinger wound in Hell while still alive." President Eden clarified.
"What do you want me to do?"
"When we find him, I want you to be on standby to capture him. Now I understand taking in targets alive is not your area of expertise, but you're the only one I can trust with this. Paul was a talented fighter twenty years ago when he was just nineteen, able to singlehandedly devastate our forces and derail all our plans to bring back America. In the time since then I can only assume his prowess has increased significantly. If we manage to capture him and its confirmed that he truly is alive, well then the Enclave will have the opportunity to not only return to the world of the living, but coming back more powerful than ever before.
Now, I must ask, can I trust you to do this for me-no, to do this for America agent Horrigan?" the president of the United States asked.
Had the ability to do so, Frank would have been grinning from ear to ear.
"Semper Fi."
...-…
And there we go. I decided to flush out Emily some more because other than being called the youngest seraphim, we don't actually know the significance behind that.
Okay so as a point of reference, the jet pack is based off of the one from The Rocketeer and the song he sung was called Come Fly With Me by Frank Sinatra. Oh, and in case you didn't notice, Paul hates cannibals, and for very good reasons. Also fuck Susan.
Now some people who only know the lore of Fallout 3 and up, Frank Horrigan is a boss from Fallout 2 and is widely considered to be one of the most dangerous and powerful enemies in the series. The guy one punched a Deathclaw, and that was back when he was only twelve feet tall.
Now I have a question for you all. Do any of you know anyone that's a TV Troper? I would kill to get this fic its own page.
Anyways, that's all for now. God bless you and I hope you have a good day.