A/N:

Hey guys! Time for the thrilling conclusion of the Radio Tower battle! This will definitely be this fic's longest (and most dramatic) chapter, and then we'll return to gentle softness : )

TW: More mentions of blood, Angel fires his gun at someone, and Val lays hands on Al without Alastor's consent.

Partners

Chapter 14:

Radio Siege Part 2: Stay Tuned, Folks!

"Husker, where is Alastor?" A very determined sheep demon asked a very stubborn cat demon.

"And Angel?" the princess of hell added as firmly as she could, standing beside the sheep.

Louise and Charlie had found each other in the hotel lobby - both girls still awake despite the late hour and both waiting for the Radio Demon to come back. Charlie had been about to check Alastor's office for any sign of him and Louise had been searching for a radio - she didn't want to wake up Abel by playing the one in their room.

Something wasn't right - and both girls knew it.

Husk didn't look up as he swirled around the last dregs at the bottom of his current bottle. "Angel's always out til all hours. And Alastor's busy."

Charlie furrowed her brow. "Angel calls when he's going to be very late, and Alastor left for one of his shows and hasn't come back yet. And you're up waiting for him too. And you're not looking at me. Please tell me the truth, Husk." She smiled a little. "Maybe I can help."

Husk brought up his eyes to meet hers, his look grumpy and distrustful as ever. "You'll only make it worse. Stay out of it, Princess."

Charlie frowned as Louise climbed up onto a bar stool, hands on her hips. "Now you listen here, Husker! Alastor's strong, but everyone needs help in hell sometimes. And maybe Angel's helping him, but more friends on his side couldn't hurt! You're not protecting anyone by keeping secrets, you're just worrying us half to death!"

Husk's eyes widened and he put up his hands. "Hey, keep it down!"

"I will not!" Louise's eyes glowed. "So help me, if it comes down to it, I'll march right over to that radio tower and lead that stubborn deer back here myself, and Angel too!"

"Hmm… did someone say Alastor?" a soft voice started. And then a sleepy Niffty stood up from behind the bar. "Is Alastor back?"

Louise blinked and her eyes returned to normal. She climbed off the stool. "Oh, Niffty - I'm sorry, I didn't know you were there."

"Niffty, are you okay?" Charlie raised an eyebrow.

Niffty was more awake now. She bit her lip. "You were talking about Alastor! Is he back?" She clung to Husk and looked up at him.

Husk sighed. "No, not yet."

"Oh..." She looked down. "He shouldn't be out so late. He needs his rest. And…is Angel out too?" She looked up at Husk again, smiling a little this time. "Are they on a date?"

Husk's eyes widened. Louise smiled a little. Charlie blushed and cleared her throat.

Husk sighed very deeply then picked up Niffty and sat her on the counter. "They're both out - and I think they might be together, yeah. Maybe it'll turn into a date - who knows?"

Niffty beamed. "Well, as long as they're together, I suppose that's fine. Angel takes very good care of Alastor. And Alastor's very nice when he's around him too." She clapped her hands together. "Well, as long as I'm up, I'll clean Alastor's office again!" She started to zip away then paused. "Should I make Alastor a snack or do you think he'll have eaten?"

Louise swallowed, Charlie glanced to the side with an uneasy look, Husk just rubbed his temple and sighed. "Yeah, he'll have eaten Niffty - trust me. Just…here," he reached under the bar and took out a bottle of golden, bubbly liquid, "put this sarsaparilla by his bed."

"Oh good, we have some! That always helps him sleep!" She grabbed the bottle and dashed off to Alastor's office.

Louise turned to Husk. "I'm sorry, Husk, I didn't realize she was down there."

Husk glared. "She gets lonely when Alastor goes away and doesn't say when he'll be back. She stays close to me cuz I'm the next best thing, I guess." He shrugged, pouting.

Charlie took a deep breath then leaned across the counter and looked into Husk's eyes. "Husk, I'm just going to ask you one question. Do you think something is wrong?"

Husk hesitated. Then he grumbled. "Maybe…"

"What can I do to help?" Louise was on full alert.

Husk sighed and rubbed his temple. "Go upstairs and get a room ready - one with a real bed instead of that cheap fucking cot Alastor sleeps on in his office. Maybe the room next to Angel's." He blushed a little. "Alastor's less of a stubborn ass around Angel. I'll have Niffty give the place a once over with her cleaning."

Louise nodded and dashed off.

"I'll go help her," Charlie turned to leave but Husk grabbed her arm. She turned around.

"I'm gonna tell you something I probably shouldn't, and you're gonna keep it to yourself for now, okay, Charlie?"

Charlie nodded.

"Angel…Angel's been hanging out with Valentino's trio lately - and it's because those three have been talking about making a move against Alastor. Angel's been pretending to go along with their ideas but really keeping tabs on them for Alastor. And Alastor's been letting him. And I think something happened tonight." He let her go and pulled a small radio out from behind the bar. "He was on the air about to make his final kill tonight, and then - dead air."

Charlie's eyes widened fearfully. "I have to the tower!"

"No!" Husk scowled. "You've got to stay put. If you make a move in an overlord battle on Alastor's behalf then this hotel is turf war fair game going forward. Our job is to keep this place quiet and safe because if Alastor needs some place to recover, it's going to be here." He sighed. "Besides, I think if he's got Angel with him somehow he'll be okay. He'll fight for Angel."

Charlie had tears in her eyes. But then she put on a determined look. "Okay - in that case we're going to make this the best and safest recovery place ever." She marched toward the kitchen.

"Where are you going?"

"To boil water, find clean towels, and make hot chocolate!" She headed through the kitchen doors.

Husk just sighed and took the last deep swig from a bottle as Niffty skipped out of Alastor's office. "All done! Husk, where did everyone go?" She looked around.

Husk cleared his throat. "Uh…Charlie went to make hot chocolate and Louise went to open up a room for Alastor upstairs. The one next to Angel. He deserves a real bed to sleep in. You wanna bring some of Alastor's clothes up there for her and the sarsaparilla?"

Niffty beamed. "Yes! Alastor and Angel are moving next door to each other! That's amazing!" She zipped into Alastor's office then came out with all of her needed items and zipped upstairs.

Husk went back to the radio, changing the dial through the stations - still dead air.

The room was a sea of wrath as Alastor rampaged. His tentacles and claws swung wildly. Rosie dodged them with graceful leaps, and Mimzy ducked them and stayed low - they were familiar enough with this power of Alastor's, even if they had never experienced it in this wild of a setting. Meanwhile, Valentino, Vox, and Velvet tried to fight their way through flailing tentacles, but were met with deep cuts and blows and the splashes of blood from the heavy pool on the floor.

Vox flattened himself against a wall, scowling. "Shit! Shit, shit, shit! Val, I swear—"

"Shut up!" Valentino growled. "Vel, you take the short cannibal hag, Vox, you take the tall one. I'm going deer hunting." He headed swiftly toward Alastor, flexing and bending himself to avoid tentacles where possible and taking hits when needed, never going down.

Vox marveled for a moment at the strength flexibility - Valentino was almost more lithe than Angel. It was sort of beautiful.

Then Rosie punched Vox in the screen and set a big crack right into the middle of his face.

She grinned, all teeth showing. "Vox, what degenerate company you keep! I always knew Alastor was a smart boy for avoiding the likes of you."

Vox glared down at the crack in his face then his antennae sparked and he looked at Rosie. "You're right, being a suck-up seamstress is definitely the more noble pursuit in an afterlife."

"As though you would ever be one to judge." She laughed. "Where does your big purple friend think he's going?"

Vox created electricity between his antennae, and two metal cables came out of his arms. "Unfortunately for both of us, you'll have to get through me to find out."

"I'll be finding out shortly then, I'll wager!" Rosie's eyes glowed and she lunged for him, slamming Vox against the wall. She turned to follow after Valentino but Vox got one of the metal cables wrapped around her waist. He held her back, struggling against the slick blood.

Angel still climbed the radio tower and thanked hell that he'd ended up a demon with so many arms. He had to get to the booth - he could see the lights, so close. There had been explosions behind him but now they stopped. Cherri must be on board Sir Pentious's - finally a piece of good luck. She could distract the snake by making him talk til doomsday about his evil plans. But then he heard another strange sound and turned. The streets were dark but there was movement and voices glowing eyes. Cannibals… and they were coming here. Angel really hoped that fact was a good thing and not a bad thing. He turned his attention back to the booth, just one more story up.

He could see figures moving in the broken windows - something was going on. Something big. And then there was such a horrible scream. Angel climbed faster.

Valentino was a mess by the time he got near Alastor - his face streaked with blood, his coat torn up, and his hands full of cuts. But he was the only one of them strong enough to hold Alastor down so Velvet could do what needed to be done. And Valentino had a good feeling that he once he got his hands on the radio demon, Alastor would be too freaked out to stop him. Angel always joked about how the Radio Guy got squeamish about touch - he wouldn't even offer to shake hands unless it was for a deal. Valentino had dealt with some skittish demons like that - studio newbies. But once he made the first touch happen, they ended up broken pretty easy. And he was a demon who knew what he was doing with his hands.

Alastor was too enraged right now to see that he was coming. Valentino got behind him, ripped open Alastor's coat, and wrapped his arms around the demon, hands pressing deeply into Alastor's chest.

The scream that emerged from Alastor was so loud and full of high-pitched microphone feedback that Valentino almost had to release him him to cover his own ears. The scream died soon though and then the Radio Demon thrashed in his grasp. Valentino held strong as Alastor fought to get away, both of them getting soaked further in blood.

"Alastor!" Mimzy had Velvet pinned pretty well but she let her go and rushed to the Radio Demon. "Get your hands off of him!"

"Mimzy, look out!" Rosie called, barely keeping Vox at bay as a fresh metal cable coiled around her. Velvet had raced after Mimzy, knife drawn, and she lunged. Mimzy tried to dodge but was too slow, and when the knife entered her shoulder, she howled as Velvet laughed.

Alastor's tentacles grew and swiped everyone to the ground as he growled and clawed at Valentino, whose tattered coat would only protect his arms for so long.

"Velvet!" Valentino called out. "We need to end this, now!"

"We shouldn't have even started this!" Vox yelled back, wiping blood from his screen, his cables still tangled around Rosie as she kicked him squarely in the shins.

"Coming!" Velvet hopped over Mimzy's hurt body and skipped through the room and over tentacles, then reached into her pocket as she got near Alastor.

"Vox!" Valentino yelled, barely holding on to Alastor. "Fry the cannibal chick and deer boy now!"

"Fuck!" Vox yelled. He stuck the end of one of his cables against Rosie and tossed one out into the room. Velvet caught it and tossed the end to Valentino. Valentino placed it against the back of Alastor's head. "Let him go on the count of three, Val, or you'll end up out cold too!"

"No!" Rosie hissed, struggling, teeth gnashing.

"One-two-three!"

Valentino sprung away as Vox's antennae lit up and volts of electricity shot into Rosie and Alastor. Rosie passed out to the floor, still wrapped in Vox's coils. Alastor wrenched to the side at an odd angle and then slumped down. His tentacles went limp, barely moving. His breaths were fast but shallow and his eyes were closed.

"Hell, yes…" Valentino grinned. "This is happening."

Velvet hopped forward to stand in front of Alastor now held up her shard. "Time for the Radio Show to say goodnight forever. I wish we were still on the air so everyone could hear this."

"Vox?" Valentino glanced over to him. "Could you get us back on the air for this?"

Vox stumbled forward, his screen even more cracked. "For fuck's sake, maybe, but I WON'T! The ten minutes I spend messing with all of that analog junk in his booth could be the ten minutes that makes something happen to ruin everything! Don't press our luck you two! Oh shit…"

Barely visible, Alastor's shadow rose up from Alastor's body. It moved woozily, clawing its way over the floor to the squid demon's carcass. It reached into the body and used all of its energy to drag out the heart, drifting back to Alastor. Vox kicked at the shadow but his leg only went through the faint body. The shadow shoved the heart into Alastor's slack jaw then disappeared. Vox reached out but hesitated.

Valentino sneered. "Get that heart out of his mouth now! This is no time to get shy about touching your boyfriend!"

Vox glared. "I'm NOT shy, he's NOT my motherfucking boyfriend, and I'm NOT going to risk getting my LIVE arm eaten off! That heart is officially dead demon flesh and won't do shit for him. Look!" Vox pointed.

Alastor's jaw moved, he tried to chew. But then his body wretched and the heart pieces fell out of his mouth to the bloody floor.

"Velvet," Valentino said in a dark tone, "do it now."

Velvet held up the shard, dazzling even in this dim room of death. "This is going to hurt a lot, Radio Demon. I can't wait to watch."

On one side of the room a woozy Mimzy pushed herself up from the floor and pulled Velvet's knife out of her arm. She hissed in pain but then dragged herself toward Rosie's passed out body and picked up her friend's head. "Rosie…Rosie, come on, we have to do something." Tears fell from Mimzy's eyes. "Please, Rosie. You always know what to do." She gave her a gentle kiss on the mouth and held her close.

Velvet leaned in and Valentino tore open the top of Alastor's shirt enough to show the place where his heart would be. The shard made contact with the skin. Alastor's entire body convulsed and the skin glowed white hot.

And then many cannibals stormed into the radio booth and all hell broke loose.

"Get them!" Mimzy screamed to the cannibals, pointing at the trio. "Get them so we can save Alastor! Those three want to take his place! They think they're better than all of us! Plus, they're overlords, and eating an overlord is the most exquisite dining experience in hell!"

The cannibals turned their sights to the overlord trio and swarmed. Valentino pulled away from Alastor and ran to the only potentially safe place - the small glass booth that housed Alastor's sound board. Vox grabbed Velvet - who was still bent on jamming the shard right through the skin into Alastor's heart - and followed after him. Velvet struggled against him, still holding her angelic shard. "No, I'm so close, not fair!"

"If you get eaten then it'll be just me and Valentino left as partners, and we WILL kill each other!" Vox growled as they got to the glass booth and locked the door behind them.

Cannibals pounded on the glass, eyes glowing and teeth gnashing and claws sharp.

"Damn it!" Valentino slammed his fists on the sound board. "Vox, what are the chances these fuckers will eat Alastor, get full, and leave us alone?"

"Zero." Vox pushed away Velvet and scowled. "You ever notice Alastor's blood? Black as sin. He's the LAST person you want to take a bite of. I'm not sure how badly eating him would fuck you up, but I can guarantee it would be nasty. Besides, they want to eat US because we attacked their goddamn king and meal ticket and idol!"

"We hurt him real bad though." Velvet watched the cannibals with a little smile and waved to them. "Not all the way yet, but what we did so far will sure leave a mark."

Valentino grumbled. "Vox, the tower - light it up. You can do it from in here, right? Put all these monsters in darkness and then maybe we can get out of here in the confusion."

"Yeah." Vox was already at the sound board, rearranging wires and plugging some of his cables into different places in the electrical panels underneath. "I have to hit the juice just right - too little and I'll just fry the soundboard without putting out the whole tower, too much and this whole place would become the biggest firework in hell. Shit…" He kept working.

"Vel, stop taunting the cannibals!" Valentino glared at her - she was making funny faces at all the enraged faces staring back at her, and the cannibals were pounding on the glass harder.

"Aw come on, it's like a scary aquarium! You guys can't get me…"

"Velvet!"

"Ugh, fine!" She rolled her eyes and went in the corner to admire the angelic shard.

"Okay, damn…" Vox kept working and then held two live cables high. "All right, here goes literally everything." He generated a large spark of electricity between his antennae and let it flow into the cables. His entire screen glowed brightly: all the lights in the entire studio glowed, the cannibals screeched…and then everything went dark.

Vox collapsed backwards, his breaths heavy as his screen returned to its normal glow. He looked at Valentino and Velvet.

Valentino grinned. "Good work."

And then they saw a glint of orange flame licking at the broken windows of the radio booth.

Valentino scowled. "Never mind. SHIT work." He considered. "Or maybe this is even better - we burn down Radio Fucker and his whole damn tower and maybe a bunch of his followers."

"Ooo, fire! Pretty!" Velvet clapped her hands together.

Vox took a deep breath. "We need to get out of here before it spreads."

"Let's wait until it gets them out of here. Look." Valentino pointed out into the room. Sure enough, the cannibals were noticing the flames and scrambling to leave. "Maybe we can even finish off Alastor before we go, just to be sure." He sneered as Velvet held her shard high and as Vox wondered for about all the things in heaven, hell, and earth he had done to get to this moment in his existence.

In the airship above everything, Cherri was trying so hard not to fall asleep as Sir Pentious went on and on and on rambling about his exploits and interests and dreams. Fuck, no wonder this guy had no friends.

She definitely woke up quite a bit though when she saw the blaze start in the middle of the radio tower. "Uh, Pentious! Look at that! Alastor is…shit, he's going to fight you with fire!"

"What?" Sir Pentious turned and looked at the blaze. "Are you sure the tower isn't just on fire?"

Cherri rolled her eye. "Duh, that's what he WANTS you to think! And I don't want to get set on fire in your air ship so…"

"Ah yes, my water canon!" He clapped his hands together. "Egg bois, fire her up! Oh Alastor, you fool! I've anticipated your every move! Ha!"

Cherri felt so grateful that Sir Pentious was so easy to manipulate. As soon as that gun went off, the fire would be out and at least Angel would be safe from that threat.

Angel reached the ledge of the radio booth just as something bad happened to the tower and all the lights went out. And then he saw the glow of a fire a few floors up that was quickly working its way down. He pushed himself over the window ledge into the radio booth. The room was filled with cannibals, and he was terrified for a moment until he saw them actively scrambling to get out the door. Good, fewer demons would make it easier to find Alastor. And the darkness would give him cover. His eyes glowed and he stumbled around on the wet floor, trying not to think about what his boots must be stepping in. At one point he found the dead squid's carcass and almost hurled but kept himself together. Alastor had to be close.

Then Angel turned and stopped and his eyes widened - all eight of them in a rare moment.

He almost couldn't recognize the Alastor he knew in the form of the Alastor that was before him. Tall body, elongated limbs, teeth and claws like razors, covered in blood, eyes like black holes. And - somehow most unusual of all - his shirt was a little open, revealing a dark glowing mark on what Angel could see of his chest. "Al…" he whispered softly, but Alastor didn't move.

"Angel…" someone whispered in the dark - he turned and saw glowing eyes. He looked harder then went over. "Mimzy! Shit, what happened—"

She sniffed. "The other cannibals didn't come until now. Rosie and I tried to handle those three ourselves first. If Alastor had been okay, the three of us could have taken them down easy, but he went berserk - there was too much going on around him, and so much the blood, and he hasn't fed in a long time, and… something was wrong. And they hurt him. And they hurt Rosie." Mimzy held her close. "She's breathing but…"

Angel knelt down. "Mimzy, take Rosie out of here and get her to the car."

"But Alastor…"

"I'll take care of Alastor, I promise. He's safe with me."

Mimzy nodded and scooped up Rosie. She wobbled a little. Angel steadied her. "I-I'm okay," she assured. "Angel, those three are still here, in the sound booth. And they're bad…"

"Okay. And…I know."

"And Alastor's still so big."

"I know that too."

"Just be safe, Angel. Alastor won't be okay unless you're okay too."

Angel's heart skipped a bit. "I…think he'll be pretty bummed if you two aren't okay too. Get to the car, Mimzy. And be careful heading down the stairs in the dark - go slow."

Mimzy nodded then headed away with Rosie in her arms.

Angel went back over to Alastor and hid behind his looming form. He had to do something to get Valentino, Vox, and Velvet out of here so he could get Alastor out of here. One of his hands brushed Alastor's in the dark - and he almost jumped when he felt Alastor's hand move in response.

Suddenly the door to the sound booth burst open. Valentino came forward, Vox and Velvet at his side. "Okay, the fire isn't in the room yet. We finish this now - angelic shard straight into Radio Freak's heart and then his corpse can burn with the rest of this place." Valentino strode forward across the room toward the large shape of Alastor illuminated by the glow of the nearby flames.

"Finally!" Velvet held the shard high and skipped over the carnage as some smoke started to come in through the window.

Vox coughed, his screen glitching. "Let's just finish this and go home! I don't want to be here anymore."

Velvet came up to Alastor, peering at him. "Oh it's so dark in here now. Let's see, I think his heart was… right here!" She thrust the shard against the same spot on his chest. Alastor convulsed and his chest glowed white hot.

And then a gun shot rang out, and a clean hole was blown through Velvet's hand. The shard went flying and landed somewhere among the bloody floor.

Velvet watched the whole for a moment almost in awe as the appendage spewed blood. Then she screamed. And then she growled and laughed all at once.

"One of them is in here! And armed with something besides teeth!" Valentino looked around and pulled a gun out of his coat. "Vox, fuck finding the shard now. Shock this overgrown son of a bitch to death!"

Vox's antenna sizzled and he got close to Alastor. He grabbed the Radio Demon's lapels. He noticed Alastor's breaths were deeper now, and his eyes were starting to glow again. "You're waking up, aren't you? You never stay down. Damnit, couldn't you just be a normal fucking overlord with a normal fucking agenda? Why do you have to antagonize the shit out of everyone! Why couldn't we have just been partners!" His whole body sizzled.

A low, slow laugh left Alastor. "You're not the one I want…" His voice sounded like a soft, quaint radio: a distant host coming from a distant place. "You're not…him…"

"Not who? That fucking spider!" Vox reached out to plug a cable directly into the wound on Alastor's chest.

Then another gunshot sounded and nailed Vox in one of his eyes. "Shit!" He stumbled back, the corner of his screen gone and the rest cracked completely and glitching.

Valentino fired off rounds all around the room. "There - now you're dead, whoever you are." Panting, he turned to the Radio Demon whose eyes looked almost like radio dials again. "My turn to send you out of hell, freak. And I don't care if you are waking up, I know how to keep you scared stiff to let me finish the job. I'll wring the neck of that pretty golden throat of yours." Valentino approached and let the coat slide from his body to reveal himself wearing black spike heel boots, fishnet stockings, a black thong, and his bare chest with black leather bands around his neck and wrists. He took some seductive steps closer to Alastor. "I'll make your last moments the worst you could imagine." He leaned over and put one hand around Alastor's neck while his other hand dragged Alastor's chest, going lower.

Alastor's whole form tensed.

And then one more gunshot and a bullet was in Valentino's chest - not quite in his heart but very close. He dropped to the ground.

"Okay, plan over! We give up!" called out Vox as got himself up, the exposed wires in his head sizzling. He grabbed a hysterical Velvet's unharmed hand and slung Valentino's arms around his shoulders to carry the moth on his back. "Whoever you are, take Alastor, do whatever you want with him! I don't care! We're gone!" By the glow of his screen, he saw enough to stumble with them down the stairs, heading for safety as more smoke filled the room.

Angel stood up, put away his gun, and got in front of Alastor. "Al, you're in there, right? Okay, I need to get you out of here but I need you to be smaller first so I can carry you: you know, your usual shorty self. Come on, Smiles…" Angel brushed Alastor's hair from his eyes and pulled his shirt closed and wiped some of the blood from his jaw. "Heh, you're probably about to yell at me for touching you so much." Angel felt tears in his eyes as he looked into Alastor's - Alastor still wasn't responding. He held Alastor's hand and squeezed. "Al, wake up now. We have to go home - to the hotel. You know, so we can cook jambalaya and ziti al forno together, and set up the ballroom for the open house because we're the two best decorators in the damn place. And, hey, I refuse to take care of the garden by myself - that is OUR job! I need you to help me! I need you for a lot of things. I need you to make stupid jokes and act unfazed by my sexiness and to randomly say French words and be nervous about it for whatever reason, you big goofball. I know you're in there, Alastor, so come back to me now!"

Something rose from Alastor's body, and it was so faint that Angel couldn't tell at first that it was his shadow. The shadow turned to Alastor and took hold of Alastor's free hand and Angel's free hand. Symbols appeared over their heads and Angel felt heat in his chest and then coldness - he shivered. Then the shadow faded back into Alastor and Alastor let out a deep breath and coughed. Slowly he returned to his usual stature. His clothes were torn and he was covered in blood and the nasty mark on his chest glowed like a big iridescent burn. But he was normal Alastor and that was all Angel needed. The deer demon moaned faintly and his eyes barely blinked open. "Sacre...Ange?"

Angel was laughing and crying at the same time. "I have no idea what the fuck that means, but you're gonna be okay. We just got to get out of here before the fire -" And then the building shook and water was leaking down through the roof and coming in a spray through the windows. Angel grinned at the sight. "Cherri, you got Pen to put out the fire - you genius bitch!"

Wiping away tears, Angel put Alastor onto his back and prepared to head out. Then he saw something glint on the floor. He picked it up: the angelic shard. Fuck, how had those three gotten something like this? He pocketed it - maybe he could use it to figure out how to help Alastor. He turned and headed to the window - he had to get to the street before those three did, and no more fire meant it was safe to go down the side of the building again. "Come on, Smiles - we'll get you home, and soon you're gonna be fine because if you're not I'll fucking kill you, heh" He leaned out over the window sill, saw how far the drop was, then wrapped his middle set of arms around Alastor from behind and lifted up his own shirt a bit. "Fuck, you're lucky we're in a hurry and that I like you enough to do this, Alastor." A web strand came out of Angel's abdomen, just below his chest fluff - he stuck it to the window sill and dropped down to the ground in one fluid motion then released the web and ran for cover to find the car.

"Rejoice, Egg Bois, we've won! Victory! Watch as the radio tower crumbles!"

The Egg Bois celebrated around Cherri who finally felt like she could breathe now that the fire was out and she saw Angel drop to the ground with Alastor around his back. "Uh congrats!" She stood up and easily slipped out of her bonds. "Anyway, I'm sure the rule of duels say somewhere that you have to let me go now that everything's over so—see ya!" She turned to head to the nearest window to leave but a wall of Egg Bois stopped her.

"Don't go!"

"We like you!"

"You shoot us with the boss's ray gun!"

"Oh my fucking god…" Cherri face palmed.

"Yes, you can't leave!" Sir Pentious hissed with a pout. "You're my prisoner!"

"Yeah, no - I did not sin enough for THIS level of hell." Cherri smirked and flipped him off. "Have fun with your eggs! And Egg Guys, I'll see you around!" She set off some small bombs around her for a great exit then jumped out of the hangar and onto the nearest rooftop.

"Curse you, Cherri Bomb!" Sir Pentious yelled, shaking a fist.

Cherri just waved - he would be much more pissed with her when her time bomb went off soon. The explosion wouldn't be big enough to destroy the ship: she was feeling generous. But it would definitely be big enough to take the ship down - and to take him down a peg as well. Cherri looked around from the rooftop and saw the car a few streets over. And near it she saw Mimzy and what looked like a wounded Rosie. She slid down a drainpipe and raced over.

As soon as Angel got to the ground, he heard an old-timey horn beep and saw familiar car lights in an alley. He held Alastor in his arms and raced over to find Mimzy driving and Rosie in the front seat, woozy but conscious, and Cherri frowning with concern in the back. She hopped out of the car. "Shit, Angie, Radio Head doesn't look… We've got to get him somewhere."

"The hotel!" Angel instantly said. "Husk and Niffty will know what to do better than any of us. And Charlie has to be able to help too. I need to talk to her."

"Yes, he's right," Rosie mumbled, "The hotel is under the domain of the princess - it's neutral ground. He needs to be safely hidden away while he recovers so no other overlords make attempts on him. We'll…we'll spread a story here… Say he was attacked and he's fine and just plotting his revenge…" She blinked a few times and brought her hand to her head.

Mimzy held her. "It's okay, Rosie - rest. We'll take care of everything." She looked to Angel and put her hands back on the wheel. "Get in, Angel, I'll have us all to the hotel right away."

Angel shook his head. "I have to go see what's going on with Val and Vox and Vel. I…I'm not sure if…they're all still alive. And I want to be able to tell Alastor everything I can when he wakes up. I still want to be able to spy on those three for him, to keep him safe." Angel looked down at the battered Radio Demon passed out in his arms and sniffed, tears in his eyes. He looked to Cherri. "Take him, Cherri. He won't hurt you. I'll be back soon."

Cherri took the limp Radio Demon. "So, Alastor took a piece out of those three. Good for him - he's my new fucking hero and I hope all three of them are dead."

Angel swallowed, his look cold, his voice low so only she could hear. "It wasn't Al - it was me."

Cherri blinked and frowned more. "Angel…"

But he had already turned away from the car. "Stay hidden for a minute until the limo's gone so they don't see you guys driving him away. I want them to be surprised and scared shitless in a day or so when they hear he's fine and lounging around Hazbin." Then Angel raced off.

He found the limo but didn't see any overlords. He waited and then out of the front door of the building stumbled Vox with Valentino slumped over his back and Velvet clutched in his arm, laughing and screaming as she waved her bloody hand around. Vox's screen was a mess and his clothes were tattered and soaked in blood.

Angel swallowed and prepared to put on a show. He'd probably have to head with them to the studio and get them all bandaged and liquored up and put them to bed and keep watch on them all night. He wasn't sure how he'd bear the agony of not knowing how Alastor was doing for all that time. He rushed up to them to get it over with. "Uncle Vox… Oh fuck, what happened in there? Cherri and I saw a fire and got Pen to shoot his water canon to put it out. Shit - here let me - "

"Stay the fuck away, Angel!" Vox screamed as he got to the car and slumped a barely conscious Valentino over the hood. He opened the door and tossed Velvet inside.

Angel blinked. "What? But, Vox, they need help."

"They need ME, and we don't need YOU!" Electricity crackled around Vox. "I have had it with Alastor, with you, with everything about this plan! Just stay away from us and stay at your stupid hotel!" He shoved Valentino into the back as well then came around to the other side door, pointing at Angel. "You're not one of us and you never were, and I don't care if Val kicks my ass from here to heaven for telling you so - I'm done! Find your own way home and good luck with the cannibals!" Then he got into the car and it drove off, tires screeching.

Angel watched him go for a moment, stunned, then blinked. "Shit!" He pulled out his phone - Vox wouldn't think it was weird he was calling Cherri for a ride, and Angel doubted he was listening in considering how full his hands were. He just had to be near Alastor if he could. He put the phone to his ear. "Cherri…"

Instantly the car pulled around and Cherri leaned out of the back seat. "Like we were going to leave without making sure you were okay. Besides, Alastor needs you, Angel."

Angel climbed in alongside her and she put Alastor in his lap. Angel looked down at him as the car sped through the streets to the hotel. He kept Alastor cradled in all six of his arms and watched his chest closely, grateful for each small breath Alastor took.

They were at the hotel quickly. And somehow, thankfully, despite the late hour, the place was lit up and the door was open, and there stood Charlie and the others looking so worried. Cherri helped him out of the car with Alastor and they raced to the door. Mimzy made sure they got in safely then sped off into the night to bring Rosie back to the Emporium to help her.

And at the hotel, all of the preparations the other's had made in anticipation of Alastor's return made Angel so relieved he could have cried as they proceeded to care for their deer friend.

Alastor felt like he was at the bottom of a dark sea. In his body, he sensed either numbness or a deep dull pain accented with agonizing moments of sharpness especially in his chest. Sounds around him were muffled and opening his eyes was too exhausting to attempt. But thankfully he was holding something soft and warm - nice sounds came out of the soft warm thing. He was reminded of Angel. Angel… he wanted to see Angel again one last time before the end… But he had, hadn't he? And yet… So much haze. He was hungry.

Some things happened with more sounds and water and touching that he pulled back from both due to his natural aversion to contact and because the contact came with substances that stung and smelled…though they eventually felt soothing. Cool fabrics came around him and then he was resting somewhere soft - not as soft as the place he had been before but still good. The lights were dim. He needed to go away for a little while now. The radio always buzzing in his head powered down and feel into a deep sleep, his mind dark as ink.

A/N:

Well, that was definitely the darkest and most action-packed chapter this story will have. More fun conversations and boys being bad at feelings very soon. Thank you for reading and reviewing if you can!

Take care!

-Azure129