A/N: I wish to be 100% clear: I didn't play much DMC. I didn't know about Ebony and Ivory when I made Acerbus and Lux. I always envisioned Steel having two pistols, but that was inspired by Tomb Raider, not Dante.
Just want to clear that up.
Also, I presume that people have seen HH and know about hell, so descriptions of the environs will be lacking.
EDITED 12/22/2024: Added a bit more during the fight scene to help better explain the events of chapter 4. Also because a friend told me it didn't make sense for an Angel to be completely fine after being cut off from God, and I decided he was right.
Steel didn't rest long. He didn't really rest at all. He laid there in utter disbelief for a good ten minutes at everything that had happened in less than two. He'd been beaten. After being undefeated by any demon for millennia, barring certain cases where there was more than one extremely powerful demon in the fray, he'd lost to a short stack Greed demon. As his wounds slowly closed, mainly due to the heat his body now generated, he was utterly dumbfounded that he made such a stupid mistake. Then the voice of War, one of his teachers, drifted to mind.
'You're good, Strife.' She had said. 'But you underestimate your enemies. Even those that you could kill, could easily kill you if you let your guard down.'
He didn't realize how right she had been. But he didn't have time to dwell on it.
The reason he didn't have time to rest or dwell was that he heard movement above him. And a voice. "Another one probably trying to kill himself." Came the sadistic female gloating from above, eliciting chuckles from… four others by his count.
"That won't save it~" Giggled another, of higher pitch. And greater mania.
"Stand up, Demon." Growled an older sounding, more dominant voice. "Face your fate properly."
Steel groaned as he sat himself up and held his head. His ears felt strangely… muted. Not because they couldn't hear, but because they were missing something that had always been there. It was then he realized with horror: Nael. I can't hear the Song… I can't feel the Light.
This place is as far from the Creator as Hell. Except it doesn't have the protections for angels that Hell does. The Song, as it was called, was the echoing voice of the praises sung by Heaven. All Angels heard the song. All Angels, by their essence and existence, joined it. It was powered by the Light of God and was what gave Angels their strength. To be stripped of the song was to be stripped of everything that made one an Angel. But I feel… something. Ancient. Accursed. Altered. The Light and the Song are there, Strife.
I can't feel them.
She poisoned you. Angel's Bane. A rare plant, deadly to any Angel. I thought it extinct. But it appears she found some to use against you.
Their conversation was interrupted by a loud thud in front of Steel. Looking up, he saw what looked to be a woman. In total, he counted four fatal feminine figures in front of his far-flung fatigued form. Three flew above, flapping pseudo angelic wings, while the fourth stood before him, wings spread wide as she towered over him. They all wore strange glitchy masks. Horns… masks… wings… and halos?
They appear to be manifesting the facsimile of an angel. Nael noted with a snort.
Yeah… and it's pissing me off. "Ironic, really." He muttered, panting. "A bunch of whatever the hell you are playing Angel dress up. And you refer to me as the demon." He scoffed. "Though I suppose you aren't wrong, now." His mind was racing as he tried to stand but the sudden shock to his system of being entirely separated from God was hitting him like a ton of bricks, the Nephilim hitting his knees once more.
The lead 'angel' growled and tightened her grip on her trident. Steel noted while others had swept back horns or curved ram horns, she had two side swept horns curled into wicked points. Possible rank indicators? He thought before she spoke. It was the more dominant voice he'd heard before. "I tried to make it merciful for you, Sinner. But if you're going to run your mouth…" She raised her polearm and made to stab him. He reached up sluggishly to catch it, but she impaled his hand, causing him to let out a choked gasp of pain.
This isn't happening. He pleaded inwardly to no one in particular. As she wrenched the trident out of his palm, he fell forward to the ground. She raised her weapon to deliver the coup de grace but he managed to roll out of the way. As her 'angelic' compatriots cheered her on, she continued to attack him, with the assassin managing to barely dodge or deflect, taking more than one hit to his arms in the process of crawling backwards away from her. He had no real power to fight back, his angelic strength that he had relied on for millennia having been sapped from his body entirely. This isn't happening! He repeated, as if trying to will it to be the case. Even as he turned on the actuators in his armor, he only managed to get up to one knee before she swiped out from under him. He was losing this fight, and it was breaking him.
Strife, you need to get ahold of yourself!
How?! He replied angrily, his back hitting the wall. As she used her wings to propel herself forward beneath her, but she managed to turn and kick him in the back, sending him sprawling. I'm weak! I'm barely stronger than a normal man, especially in this armor! The song is gone and I am defenseless! I don't even have the time to draw my sword with how fast she's moving!
You cannot rely on your angelic strength! You must tap into your suppressed demonic energy!
No! Steel growled, the trident finding itself lodged into his elbow as he turned and blocked the strike. He hissed before managing to shove her away and get to his feet. I have used the light since I ascended, aided by your power! I am not going back to—
The light is beyond your reach, Strife! Nael roared. You are wounded, bleeding, and on the ropes! You MUST act now or you will die! Whatever it takes to survive, you must do it! Steel knew he was right. His mind was fractured by the sudden loss of the light, and he needed to get it back under control if he was going to survive. Nael continued, You may be an angel now but you weren't always. Even for an incubus, these frauds would be mere child's play! You are a Blade of Hell! If you die here, you shame yourself and your entire bloodline! Do not lose to these fakes!
Steel was distracted long enough that she managed to knock him onto his back again. "You put up a good fight. But this is the end." She said coldly. He closed his eyes for a moment as the Exorcist came in for the kill, bringing her weapon above her head and stabbing downward. Everything seemed to slow in that moment. Steel felt a distant, buried part of him begin to surface. A part that promised salvation through power and survival through strength. A power that would make him greater than he was now. With hesitation and trepidation, reached out for it and…
Steel shot past her in a flash of lightning, stopping just behind her as her trident impacted the ground. She turned and tried to stab him, but he caught the middle spike over his shoulder, halting her strike immediately. "Naughty, naughty, stabbing someone in the back." He said in a taunting manner, not even looking at her. She was too shocked at his speed and strength to react. Her compatriots were not. With cries of rage, they charged at the weakened Nephilim. Except he wasn't so weak that they were somehow stronger than he was. Just faster.
He caught one spear under his free arm, and stepped on a second. The third managed to sink into the weak spot behind his knee, causing him to growl in anger. With a mighty mule kick to the chest that disarmed the one who managed to sink her weapon into his joint, he sent the leader flying into the not yet collapsed section of the wall and flipped her Trident in his hand, flicking it towards her hard enough to impale her wing without even looking. The screech she emitted brought him a smile.
For the other three it was quite simple: with an effort assisted by his powered armor, he jumped straight up, shattering the spear under foot and wrenching the other one away. With lightning quick movements, he spun midair and took both spears in his hands, his blood dripping from his leg, before throwing them and impaling two of the other exorcists the same way. The third, obviously the youngest, just stared wide eyed. She didn't have time to react as two massive black wings sprung from his back and he propelled himself down on top of her, the sheer weight crushing her chest and knocking the wind out of her. She let out a sharp breath as she felt everything in her torso condense together. It wouldn't kill her – She was too hardy for that—but fuck did it hurt.
The assassins work done, he stood up off of the fallen 'angel' and surveyed his work with a sadistic sense of glee: three hostiles pinned, one unable to continue. Satisfied and smiling, he approached the one impaled to the wall, who so far hadn't been able to free herself, and grabbed the trident, forcing it deeper which made her yelp. "So… now we can talk."
"I-I'll—You—Fuck you!" Was all she said, spitting in his face.
Sighing, he sent a quick but powerful electric jolt through the trident, causing her further pain as her entire body convulsed. It was over in a second, but she was still smoking, breathing raggedly. "Let's try this again… Now. We can talk."
"You…" She panted out, coughing violently as she scrambled against the trident and his hands. "What are you?!"
"A Nephilim." He said, twisting the trident slowly. "Now talk. Where am I?"
She gasped and tried desperately to remove the impalement to her feathered appendage. "H-Hell! You're in Hell! How can you not know that?!"
"Hell?" He repeated, chuckling. "No Hell I've been to."
The closest you could get to it, as an angel. Nael added.
"So, if this is hell, what are you? Some kind of warden?"
"E-Exorcist!" She said, indicating to a small pile of corpses down the alley. He noted a few different types of demons he didn't really recognize. "W-We cull the sinners of Hell!"
"Cull… sinners?" He repeated, scoffing in mild amusement. "For what purpose?"
"It is our duty! Else, Hell would be overrun! Overpopulated!"
"No such thing in an infinite wasteland." He muttered. He ripped the trident out of her wing, causing her to fall to the ground with a loud yell, gripping the bleeding protrusion. Before she could react, he brought his leg up to deliver a swift kick to her head. He made sure not to snap her neck, but her mask practically shattered on impact as she fell to the ground unconscious. He took her trident, broke it in two, and threw the remains blunt end first to knock out the other two. He sighed and examined his leg and arm, growling. Hey, Nael. Mind cauterizing those?
Without your healing factor, my flames would do more harm than good. Nael said, sounding slightly amused. Maybe you should accept your limitations and suffer the pain like a normal demon.
Steel huffed. "I hate pain…" He sighed, beginning to limp away. "I'll stick to the backroads I can find. I don't want to encounter more of these bitches."
Sound plan. Although something tells me it will be over soon, whatever it is.
"Yeah… Hope so." With that, Steel trudged for about an hour. He stayed out of plain sight, avoiding contact with any living being he managed to stumble across, not that there were many. He wished he had his helmet: the active camouflage would be extremely helpful here. After a while, the screams and mayhem seemed to die down, like Nael said it would, right as a bell tolled in the distance. Almost immediately after, only a few minutes, he could hear what sounded like gunfire and explosions. Exceedingly close, and getting closer. He sighed. "Nael?"
Might as well. If it's a threat, kill it. If it's not… well, information would be extremely helpful.
"When you're right, you're right." He muttered, walking in the direction of the conflict. As he did, for the few minutes it took him to get there, he could hear some kind of news broadcast followed by… show tunes? The words were hard to make out, but something about 'every demon has a rainbow inside.' That made him chuckle. Only when D cuts them open with a chainsaw. He thought to himself, smirking.
As he got closer, the explosions died down, and he could hear yelling and argument over the sound of gunfire. Stumbling from an alley clutching the still bleeding wound in his belly, he saw… he wasn't quite sure WHAT he saw. A snake naga thing with multiple red eyes and a bunch of humpty dumpty looking eggs attacking a spider and a pale cyclops. He blinked, utterly confused. "Nael is it possible for Angel's Bane to give you hallucinations?"
No… because I see it to.
"Okay. Just checking." He was about to turn around and nope right out of there when one of the eggs noticed him and pointed… something? At him. It fired what looked to be an explosive that… covered him in something he didn't want to even imagine. It was yellow, sticky, and smelled like absolute garbage.
Steel Strife was an assassin. He was taught calm. Control. That anger will get you killed. That a single lapse in the mask could render you vulnerable and potentially dead. Steel ignored all of that. Inhaling deeply, he let it out slowly and looked at the egg as his eyes, normally green to reflect his unbreakable will, turned crimson to represent his unyielding fury. "I'm going to end your entire. Bloodline." Was all he said.
Angel was having the time of his life after his bag of PCP got destroyed. All the eggs you could kill, an admittedly cute snake to tease, and a loyal, chaotic friend who didn't mind his rougher edges. It was all going perfectly for him. Very little could have gone wrong, and very little could surprise him.
But he WAS surprised when an egg went flying by at the speed of Mach 'fuck' and slammed into a wall. Hard enough that the wall shattered along with him. Both he and Cherri were admittedly dumbstruck, as were the rest of the eggs. Who didn't really have time to process before they were torn apart by a large volume of gunfire from two very loud pistols, the bullets tearing through their bodies with utmost ease. Both turned to look as they saw a relatively plain looking man advance from in between two ruined buildings, firing his large caliber handguns without regard for recoil, each shot nailing an egg. He was quite a sight: heavy black armor, weapons all over him (two long guns and a sword included, the latter of which Angel found to be incredibly weird), and blood running from massive holes in his belly, arms, and leg. The eggs all turned their weapons on him. But it was too late.
As soon as both pistols clicked, he slid them into the holsters at his side before taking a bullpup rifle off of his back and taking a knee on his good leg. He went from firing rapidly to firing a binary burst, pulling and releasing the trigger methodically as each round once again tore through one of the minions that were now charging him, Angel and Cherri long forgotten as they both watched, kind of slack jawed. The eggs were upon him right as his rifle clicked as well. He fired the underslung grenade launcher into the group, scattering and shattering them, before he put it into the maglock on his back and took out what Angel could only call a BFS: a big fucking shotgun.
Double barreled, it looked old, as in Wild West old. The fact it was a lever action lent that idea credence. With a satisfied smirk, the stranger stuck the weapon into the mouth of the first egg that had the misfortune of getting too close. The egg could only whimper before the walking tank pulled the trigger. He exploded as two massive slugs tore through his fragile body, followed by multiple pellets of 000 buck. The slugs travelled a bit before impacting the ground, exploding as they did. He did the stereotypical lever flip before bringing it to his hip and proceeding to lever into the rest of the eggs, emptying the rest of the tubes. There were only a few dozen left now.
"… I want one." Cherri said, mouth actually watering from the display of utter carnage. "I want one now."
"I wouldn't mind that nifty rifle." Angel agreed. "Looks heavy, though."
Cherri just nodded as the stranger put the shotgun back onto its assigned mag lock and proceeded to simply rip and tear the eggs apart with his bare hands, his smirk of satisfaction turning into a grin of pure sadistic glee. His rampage was cut short as a chained blade flew at him, causing him to whip around and catch it before it could even touch him. All eyes turned to an irate Sir Pentious.
"Excussse me!" He shouted. "Thosse are MY minionsss! Only I get to dessstroy them!"
"Your minions?" The stranger repeated. "So I have YOU to blame for them attacking me with that disgusting goop?"
"You must mean the Adventual Adhesive! See, it's alliteration and because it's adventurous and will go away event—"
The snake was cut off as, with one tug, the stranger pulled him flying across the street and picked him up by the throat. Even though he was shorter, he still held the serpent aloft effortlessly. "It's disgusting. It's childish. And it pisses me off."
"H-How dare you!? Don't you know—" He was silenced as his throat was compressed by the strangers grip.
"All I know… is I don't like you." He said before tossing him into the air, grabbing his tail, and absolutely yeeting him across the city, hammer throw style.
"Boss!" The egg bois all shouted as they started running after the flying serpent, while the stranger sighed and smiled.
"That… felt good. It's been awhile since I could kill that much without remorse." He was grinning like a giddy child. "Oh that was so fun."
"I'll say!" Cherri shouted, running up to him and causing him to wheel about with his hand on the handle of his sword. "That was fun just watching! Seriously, mate, like, where'd you get those guns!? They're so wicked."
Angel eyed the stranger a bit more cautiously. This guy came out of nowhere and completely decimated an entire side of a turf war. WHILE bleeding profusely. The stranger turned fully to the diminutive Aussie Sinner before him and looked her over. "What are you?"
"I'm a Sinner, of course! Name's Cherri Bomb! Thanks for the help, not like I needed it, but that show was well worth the kill steals!"
"A… sinner." He repeated, looking her over. "This place is weird."
"Welcome to Hell, buddy!" She laughed. "You must be new! You die and fall?"
"Do I look dead to you?" He shot back, crossing his arms.
"Well, I mean…" Angel finally said, stepping forward. "You ARE kinda fuckin bleedin everywhere."
"Please." He scoffed. "Taken worse than this. Bigger too."
Angel suppressed the urge to make a joke, and just cleared his throat. "Yeah, well… thanks for your help with Sir Pentious. That guy's a dick."
"Sir Pentious? Cherri Bomb?" The stranger scoffed, shaking his head. "What's your name, huh? Candy Stripe?"
"Angel Dust." He corrected. "And.. yours?"
"Steel. So… What, you like PCP that much you adopt as your name?"
"Stage name, but… yeah. That's how I died after all."
The olive-skinned man crossed his arms and looked at the two for a bit before rubbing his eyes and sighing. "This is getting weirder."
"Well, like I said, buddy! Welcome to Hell! Now, about those guns…" Cherri said, her hands snaking towards the shotgun on his back. He promptly turned and gave her a glare. She chuckled nervously and backed off. "Sorry, they're just so—"
"Unique? Yeah. I designed them." He said, taking the shotgun off of his back and giving the lever a spin. "6 Gauge double barreled tube fed lever action I designed back in the 1880s. Originally a 12. But then I decided to say, 'screw it.' I call her Old Gray Mare." He produced a shell from one of the pouches on his hip. It was wide, but short. "Custom tooled 6-gauge cartridges. Slug-Shot combination. Silver tipped slug in a sabot with nice 000 buck behind it. Tungsten core with ahigh explosive mix behind the tip. It's close to equivalent to a 25mm grenade with additional armor penetration."
"That's a war crime." Cherri Bomb giggled like mad. "I love it~"
"And what about that sweet ass rifle?" Angel inquired, honestly more turned on by the machine gun than the man.
He put the shotgun on his back and produced the bullpup. "This is Ash, a modified ShAK-12 design with an underslung grenade launcher. I took the bullpup design and redid it from the ground up. It fires a .458 SOCOM on automatic, burst, binary, or semi auto. The underslung is a heavily modified designed based on the RGS-50m. It fires 50mm grenades."
"Ain't all of that, ya know… heavy? A shoulder killa? Kind of nuts?"
"It's my personal defense. I take it seriously." He said, putting the rifle on his back. "Besides, it only weighs, like, maybe 30 pounds. It's not meant for a line trooper. It's meant for me."
"And those beauties?" Cherri said, staring at his handguns as she knelt next to him, a wide grin on her face.
"Acerbus and Lux. Modified USP design that fires .50 AE." He said, taking out and twirling the two pistols before resting them in his palms. Lux was almost pure white, while Acerbus was almost pure black. Each had a rune neither of the two sinners recognized.
"All that fire power and you still carry a sword?" Angel noted, raising a brow.
"Course. I could run out of ammo." He said, sliding the twin pistols into their holsters. He then grunted as the anger wore off and he felt his pain again, gripping his bleeding stomach. "Damn, that bitch…"
Angel, concerned, went his side. "Hey, bud. You should sit down. That wound looks life threatening."
"I'm fine." The stranger grunted. He sniffed the air and made a disgusted noise, leaning his head away from Angel. "You smell like smoke, drugs, and kinky sex."
Angel chuckled. "Yeah, that's my life!"
All of them turned as a car, a gaudy abomination that looked like an ivory limo batmobile with a legit MOUTH on the front coming to a stop a little ways away. "Oop! That's my cue!" Cherri said. She approached Angel and gave him a hug. "Stay dangerous, Angie!"
"You know it!" He called after her as she scampered away. He looked to the shorter male. "Hey, look, if you're new around here, and you ain't got a place to stay, I know a place."
"I don't plan on staying." Steel spat. "… but I suppose I don't have a choice."
Angel chuckled but his joviality was cut short by the grey skinned pale haired bitch of a 'manager' yelling from the car. "Angel! Get your ass in here, now!"
The spider sighed. "Alright, let's go meet Broad 1 and Bitch 2." He gently walked with Steel to the car.
"Oh, hell, no!" Vaggie shouted. "We're not taking in one of your strays!"
"Hey! This guy just saved my ass, and he's hurt! Show a little respect, yeah?"
"Hurt?" Came another voice inside the car. The blonde haired white skinned Princess stepped out, examining Angel, and then Steel. Her eyes widened at the gaping hole in his chest. "Oh my gosh! Uh, okay, well, um… Let's get him back to the hotel. Then I can see if I can find a doctor! Or something…"
"Charlie, you can't be serious! He's bloody and covered in guns!" Vaggie shot back."
"Vaggie, he's hurt! And he helped Angel! We can do this one thing for him!" Charlie begged.
Vaggie groaned and muttered in Spanish. "Fine! But any sign of trouble and I'm punching some holes in him myself. And you, too, for bringing him Angel!"
Angel rolled his eyes and opened the door for Steel. "There. See? Told you I knew a place."
The olive-skinned man regarded Angel and the other two but relented with a sigh. As he sat down, the suspension in the rear of the limo sank deep. He was heavy. Angel slid in behind him and closed the door, Charlie and Vaggie sitting across from them. Angel leaned his head on his hand and looked over to Steel. "So… you single, handsome? Cause the scar REALLY does it for me."
Steel's scarred eye twitched and he resisted the urge to punch. This fucking sucks.