The front door was locked. That wasn't a problem for them, however, as they instead kicked down the door.

Chroma, who hadn't even taken off his suit, hastily turned around and furiously shouted, "Who the FUCK is trying to fight me now?!"

Revealing his face, Plaze casually apologized, "Sorry about the door. But I'm sure you have people to get that replaced, right?"

"You're…" A subtle flash of recognition dawns on Chroma's face, "Plaze, that fallen Gaming Overlord, right?"

Great, he recognizes him. If he didn't, Plaze's plan was to honestly just run away.

Lightly bowing, Plaze formally introduces himself, "Yep, my name is Plaze. You've seen me on the news, I'm sure. I've been informed of the type of work you do at Varvideniye, and I-"

"You've come to work for me?!" Chroma excitedly shouted out prematurely, interrupting him, "Hahaha! Fuck yes! Vox, you stupid bitch! How's your shitty VoxGames going to handle this, huh?! Huh!?"

Seeing someone else hate Vox with that much vitriol made Plaze almost feel bad about what he was going to say next.

Almost.

Clearing his throat, regaining Chroma's attention, Plaze clarified, "Actually, I'm not here to work for you. I've come here to offer you a deal."

Still not fully sure, Chroma went on to further clarify, "So you want to be, like, an equal or something, right? I mean, it's not ideal for me, but I can-"

"Ahem," Plaze made his displeasure at being interrupted clear, "No, no, no… See, Chroma, you've positioned yourself as the third wheel behind the battle of the televisions behind Vox and Bendy. You're just left picking up their leftover rejects that they don't want instead of creating anything new or original yourself. You lack imagination."

Narrowing his eyes in displeasure, Chroma slowly asked, "So? Where are you going with this?"

"Your company has been playing third fiddle for its entire existence because of your ass leadership," Plaze opened his hand out to him, "Therefore, the solution is simple. Allow me to take over. You work for me, and I'll make this place worth a damn."

Silence.

Then, the vengeful growl of a machine, "You… ARROGANT CHILD! Do you understand who you're trying to defy?! The history you're attempting to circumvent?!"

The humanity of Chroma's body is stripped away as he grows into a mechanical being made for war, "I am Chroma, the Overlord of the Third Screen. Those who do not have a place in Hell flock to me… If you're here to pick a fight, THEN I'LL DESTROY YOU!"

Well, that was to be expected.

Undeterred by the threat, Plaze nonchalantly waved him off, "Alright, alright. I get it. You don't want to work under me. I'll leave, then."

That caused the Overlord to pause for a brief moment, "Huh?"

"Bye, Chroma," Walking out the front door, Plaze does not exchange another word.

Chroma does not follow him, and Plaze revels in that fact.

What the fuck was that?

Chroma was perplexed over the entire situation.

This has-been Overlord that barely cracked into the bit leagues of Pentagram City for about a month before getting defeated by Vox walks into his home with a shitty offer and just leaves? What the fuck was the point of that?

…Should he follow him, then? Get an actual answer out of him? Flay him for trying to defy an Overlord that was far out of his stature?

…There might be a sniper outside with an angelic weapon. Weren't there reports about someone like that in the battle between Plaze and Hammer?

Yes, he shouldn't chase, it was too dangerous. He needed to get his security and-

How did they know Chroma lived here?

The only people who should know that are the security and a few important higher ups.

Someone must be betraying him. No one could just luckily stumble on his home. Every other house around his is a house he owns where no one lives in them to keep his location a secret. There's no reason to come here, even if it was somewhat close to Varvideniye's territory.

Plaze was working with someone from inside the company, but who?

Is it someone from higher up? Is someone trying to take his position and was working through Plaze to see if he would just roll over?

There was that American sinner, Jahauntis. He's someone ambitious that he put in charge of directing all of his big TV shows this year. Was he going to try a power move? No, he couldn't be acting alone, could he?

It must be a joint operation with his traitorous security team. That would be the only way they could've gotten in contact with someone with an angelic weapon. They only had 3 angelic weapons across the entire company and they're entrusted to very few people. One of them must be betraying him.

Who is it? Is it Savage? Was it Benevolan? Invader? It has to be one of them.

Could it be all of them?

Chroma feels himself spiraling again. He doesn't want to spiral into paranoia, but this one feels much more justified than all of the other times he's spiraled.

That's what he said last time.

Yes, Plaze must be working with someone inside his company. He shouldn't have trusted the capitalists. Their dog eat dog world is crashing down on him and now he's paying the price for pretending to be a dog when he was a bear that should've been above it all.

He needs to interrogate them. Find out who it was that betrayed them and how they got in contact. It must've been someone who found Plaze out of the blue by sheer chance. Or were they in league with each other even before his first defeat?

Was Vox and Plaze working together? Are they trying to finally remove Varvideniye's competition from Hell and start a true monopoly?

There were so many possibilities, it makes him afraid. There's something that he must be missing, something that he needs to find…

Chroma can't lose. Not after coming so far. Not after bleeding so much.

AN:

A short chapter that covered the topics that it needed to in a quick and concise manner, or a short unfinished chapter that had so much untapped potential? Call it.

Written February 18th.