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The Skittering Chaos (Worm/Hazbin Hotel)

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by Thread Necromancer, Aug 7, 2020.

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  1. Thread Necromancer

    Thread Necromancer Creator of "mean" and/or "excessive" things

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    Ha, I still remember slaughtering the unbaptised babies in that Dante's Inferno game. Though, at least since there are people who are inherently good ending up in Hell, they can take care of the babies and orphans that end up in Hell. Hmm now that I think about it...

    Knowing Taylor, the moment she notices the issue, she's likely to open up a orphanage and grab kids off the street tuit suit.
     
  2. VisV

    VisV Lost in the Dungeons of My Mind.

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    Oh hey, she can hire ms mayberry as a teacher!
     
  3. Vladicus

    Vladicus Sage of reason and incomplete information

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    Popes ending in hell is surprisingly plausible.
     
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  4. TitaniumQuartz971

    TitaniumQuartz971 Know what you're doing yet?

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    Didn't Dante condemn three of them to Hell in the Divine Comedy? (Two showing up in Hell, one still-alive one being condemned by one of the Popes there.)
     
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  5. grzecho2222

    grzecho2222 Getting sticky.

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    Its always funny that no matter how atheists hate popes and church hierarchs christians hate them more
    On the babies thou, diffrent versions of christianity belive diffrently? Some branches belive that, because Jesus saves everyone, then Hell is empty save for Rebelious Teenager Prime (dresses in black, listens to awful music, lives in basement, talks about how evil and darkness is the only way, hate younger siblings(humans))
    Also Angel Dust sister supposedly is in Heaven and C.H.E.R.U.B. works for people up there?
    And I might be confusing something, but didn'y creators say that Tom Trench is the nicest character introduced so far (around the Pilot), don't rememer if they counted Charlie among that
     
  6. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI

    Pope Borgia commited adultery as he had children without being married.
     
  7. Cheshirek4t

    Cheshirek4t [Verified feline] [Verified genre savvy]

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    Friendship you say hmmm
    There are no friendships
    -master oogway
     
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  8. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    Kung Fu Master Tailei the owl in Hell? She would get confused with one of those darn birds of the Ars Goetia.
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2021
  9. Cheshirek4t

    Cheshirek4t [Verified feline] [Verified genre savvy]

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    Oh man, i can already imagine the clusterfuck
    It would be GLORIOUS
     
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  10. Extras: Competition Omake
    Qaw

    Qaw Know what you're doing yet?

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    "As princess of Hell and heir to the throne, I uh... hereby order that you OW! What's that a biter in here?!" Yelped Charlie as Vaggie jumped and immediately impaled the offending critter on her spear before tossing it away.

    "Oh wow, this slovenliness problem is worse that I thought." Snarked Angel Dust, tossing another can into a growing pile behind the couch to punctuate his statement.

    "Maybe we wouldn't HAVE a problem if you-"

    "Now now, don't be too harsh on him. It appears we do have another visitor." The Radio Demon interrupted Vaggie's rant and turned to the entrance. "Though I must say, there are better ways to make a first impression my dear." He noted, just as the door opened and a moth woman in a white plush fur coat walked through the door. The woman didn't take the time to look around, only giving a quick nod to Angel Dust before turning to Charlie and confidently walking forward.

    "I do apologize for the annoyance Miss Charlie. I simply did not want to be too late. Though I must say, if I had known I'd be competing against the radio demon I probably wouldn't have made the trip."

    The princess's face struggled with the relief from getting a reprieve from making any hard decisions to the realization that the new arrival only brought more trouble. "I... take it you are not a customer then." She deflated, completely lost at what to do to inexperience.

    "Of course she isn't. Miss Taylor is here to make you a competing offer, dear princess. Oh ThE sPiRiT oF CoMpEtiTiOn!" The demon exulted in his usual manner.

    For the first time since she entered, the moth was thrown off her rhythm. Her antennas, unprepared for the burst of power flailed wild for a moment before she steadied herself.

    "Ok, that.... Yes, Miss Charlie. My name is Taylor, though I tend to go by Skitty on the job. I manage some territories not far from here, trying to make out the best of my new lease on life. You might have heard of me in connection with the recent dismantlement of the Crimson gang."

    "In connection with dismantlement," Angel snorted. "She played them like two-bit amateurs bad enough their survivors deny ever being members."

    "Right, well, a lot of the girls working for me have actually been their slaves before." Taylor continued before Charlie could start to wonder where this all was going. "I find the practice of slavery despicable, and do my best to provide for the poor victims. We may have the entrance to heaven denied, but that is not to excuse to wallow in the worst parts of ourselves. But with hard work and perseverance we can build something comparable. Together, one little step after another."

    The moth's voice suddenly grew cleared and louder near the end, as if she were speaking from a studio. Something that was apparently a surprise to her as well, as her eyes widened and her antennas whipped around once before settling on the radio demon.

    "Oh, what delivery! What PAsSiON! You were definitely the politician to get the old sleaze-bags QuiVeRinG iN tHeIR BooTS! Really, no surprise you came down here so young!" The exuberant demon gushed from everyone's blind spot.

    Once again, Taylor was thrown off her rhythm. As the discombobulated demon struggled with how to respond, Charlie finally managed to seize the initiative for the first time. "Right, that, uh, that is a very nice thing you are doing Miss Taylor. It is good to know that there others trying to do good. But how does it relate to me and my hotel? Did the poor girls perhaps need a place to stay?"

    "Oh," Taken out of her deliberations, the moth gave a quick once over at the surrounding disaster, Angel Dust taking the moment to shove a pizza box from the table once another garbage pile to make space for his legs. "No." She stated definitively, perhaps more definitively than she intended. "That won't be necessary. I wanted you to manage on orphanage I am planning to create."

    "What." Charlie's brain froze to a halt, as did Angel Dust and Vaggie who stumbled in place.

    "You are a good person, Charlie." Taylor continued. "But it is clear that you lack experience. Managing the hotel, let alone rehabilitating anyone, if difficult enough even if you know what you are doing. Ditch this rundown building and move in to my territory, and I will be able to assist you where you need it. And really, before tackling something as... challenging as *twitch* reforming whoever stumbles into here, why not cut your teeth on doing an unambiguous good? The are innumerous children sent into hell every moment, kids who never even had a choice in what kind of soul they wanted to be. They deserve help and support, what little we can provide. And I have been looking for someone I could get to help me manage that when I saw your recent... appearance on TV. Would you be willing to help?"

    Charlie's eyes were wide as saucers, her long longing to find another person who truly cared warring with rising fear. This... that was an opportunity to do good. But... but nobody aside from her would actually care, would they? Still... no, if she never took risks, how could she live with herself? "The children, I guess they could be redeemed and go to heaven as well! And once people see the success they will surely want to follow!" She finished with a hopeful tone, before catching the sight of the smiling radio demon to the side. Her budding good mood evaporated again and was immediately replaced by dread.

    "Uh... perhaps not exactly what I had in mind when thinking of opening an orphanage. Perhaps we should start with the food, lodging, and basic education before we tackle the redemptions. We can focus on that after we already have a foundation."

    "A wonderful pitch," the radio demon interjected before Charlie could nod, and took center stage again. "Once again, my dear, you would have made a very effective politician. You started by establishing your Ethos, before laying out the Logos, and finishing with an appeal to Pathos."

    "Thank you." Taylor nodded. "But if-"

    "But a politician she is, my dear Charlie. What she is neglecting to mention is that she doesn't want you for your heart but for your muscle."

    Vaggie physically recoiled and leveled her spear at Taylor as Charlie could not help but sport a betrayed look. Of course it wouldn't be this simple! Stupid, stupid reta- fool.

    The moth recovered first. "And leave it to the member of the press to sully every noble endeavor. I did NOT come here to trick Charlie into fighting my battles. But I do want me and mine protected, yes. And very few idiots would attack an enterprise housing the youngest daughter of Lucifer. Is it so wrong I do not want my orphanage attacked and raided for slaves?"

    "Of course not, my dear. But you neglected to mention that the things around it will still be fair game. And when the push comes to shove, a few of those vulnerable children will be playing around there. Truly, how UnExPeCtEd and UnAvOiDaBLe. No way sweet little Charlie would let her charges come to harm, now would she?"

    "So is that your counter? That because bad things can happen, we should avoid even trying to do good? That because I know how to speak I must be duplicitous? Tell me Charlie, do you trust HIS view of me? When he never saw my face before today?"

    Charlie nervously swallowed, once again thrust into the spotlight. "Ah, well. I do think- I do not think you are a bad person Miss Taylor. But I can't just- I never saw you before today either..."

    "I am open about who I am, my dear. Of course your endeavor is doomed to failure, but it will fail on its own merits, not because I twisted your actions for my own goals. That lack of experience, management dear Taylor speaks of, I can provide it. I won't ask you to move or change your goals, Charlie. Let me show you girl. Just take my hand."

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, that took way too long at more than two hours. And probably has way too many spelling mistakes because I was rushing near the end.
    I'd imagine this as a rap battle if that translated well to text. Which rap battles don't.
    And the ending is meant to be ambiguous. Who did Charlie choose in the end? Maybe someone will tell me.
    Also, both Radio Demon and Taylor are being fully truthful here, they just don't see reality the same.

    PS: I just noticed it was 1000th reply. Huh.
     
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2021
  11. Thread Necromancer

    Thread Necromancer Creator of "mean" and/or "excessive" things

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    "Come on girl, won't you shake, a poor sinners hand?"

    Fantastic, loved it and I've added it to the omakes. Love what you've done here, and projects of passion always turn out the best.

    As for the next chapter, I am still working on it, but I hit a few snags so it won't be released as quickly as I wished, though we are getting close to the end of the Raz, Merchant, Crimson conflict very soon.
     
  12. Threadmarks: Chapter 19
    Thread Necromancer

    Thread Necromancer Creator of "mean" and/or "excessive" things

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    The Skittering Chaos 19

    I will be making some edits later so that the armoured van doesn’t just leave since that wouldn’t make any sense. Once I make those edits (should be some time tommorow, then I'll be posting the previous chapter to the other sites). So Squealer and Skidmark are coming with!

    Going to also have to edit chapter 13 to update Lilac’s description, because it has recently come to my attention that in the middle of Golden Morning, Taylor straight up ogles Marquis for like a paragraph. Taylor, there’s a fucking apocalypse going on, stop wanting to fuck the incredibly effeminate man and save the god damn world! You god damn useless Narnia wardrobe lesbian!

    <><><><><><><><><>

    “Enemies coming up on the left side,” I call out to Adam who’s already swivelling the van’s turret in that direction. Sherrel in unison turns slightly as if to turn down that street. The van rounds the corner and comes upon a firefight between some mercenaries and a group of civilians, both of which take cover behind some vehicles as they take pot shots at each other. From my seat in the front of the van, I can see the almost comical widening of one mercenary’s eyes before Adam fires. The boom blasts through the van, and the vehicle rises up from the recoil of the shot. The round impacts into the road and debris flies everywhere, with cement dust obscuring the mangled corpses left behind. From the bugs that survived the blast, none of the men there are moving after that.

    As Adam starts to turn the turret back to its original forward facing position, the “civilians” shout out in surprise and start to flee the scene as Sherrel backs up and starts blasting back down the street we’d been following.

    “Which side next?” Adam calls out from the turret.

    “Right side,” I call out as I continue to use my bugs to keep track of the various combatants. Unfortunately, with my swarm divided from tracking what’s going on in the Crimson gang’s territory, tracking all the combatants in the Raz family’s territory, and the various other things I’ve been using my swarm to monitor, I’m actually running low on spare bugs.

    With my now effectively infinite range combined with the fact that I no longer simply take command of bugs in my range, I’ve let myself get spread thin. My range had always been something of a limiting factor to my power projection, with my power fluxuating how far it extended depending on if it liked me and what I was doing for not. With infinite range, I’ve let myself get too caught up in the utility of it that I’ve let myself take on too much at the same time without the numbers to also keep a personal swarm for myself to use. Despite the amount of bugs I’ve been grabbing, I just can’t fully match my previous self’s swarm, not with how I’ve spread my bugs out and how I have to manually possess each bug either on my own, or with my biters. While my skills with firearms, my ability to easily track where the bullets will go, and the fact that most of my enemies have effectively been immortal has allowed me to compensate for using my swarm elsewhere. But at the moment, the here and now is more important. Once this is all over, I can finally figure out a more efficient system so I can do both.

    But that’s an issue for the future, not one to think about in the middle of a firefight. Refocusing, I start to pull back my bugs that I have in non essential places, small nests near or in vigilante bases, non high profile targets, and the combatants that aren’t Raz outside of what used to be my range. I leave the ones in the Crimson gang’s territory because I’ll need them for the later attack, but for now, the brute force of my hell bug swarm will serve me better than information.

    “Alright, next left and then a right?” Sherrel asks as she turns into the street so that Adam can fire a round down at the next group of mercenaries. From a distance, they look like they are trying to dance around, some of them having dropped their guns while they patted themselves down while my bugs start to bite and nip at them, tearing into their flesh, stabbing in their claws, or in a few that have already fallen over, inject their poison. They don’t even have time to take cover as another tank round flies down range and blows them off their feet.

    “Nice shot!” I shout out to Adam, glad for the accuracy. While I’m good with a pistol and things I’ve trained on the shooting range with, I never got training to operate any kind of heavy weapon. I’ll have to fix that in the future, maybe with Mimi. I’m sure she’d get a kick out of trying to handle something like this.

    “Ha! Yeah sure, and that’s coming from the girl that domed all those mother fuckers at the warehouse. I seen the shit you did there and I’ll bet you’d have head shot these bitch ass niggers just to style on me.” Sherrel reverses again and we get back on the move. As we move, Adam squats so he can look down into the van while still standing in the elevated spot for the turret.

    “If only. With small arms I might be able to but I still don’t know how to properly drive let alone handle tank turret controls.”

    “Well shit girl, you must never have played them tank games at the arcades and shit,” Adam says while showing off a wide smile.

    “Never got much of a change,” I say back. As we drive, I start to move some of my swarm to the nearest place where the Raz is being attacked. A fun fact about Hell’s bugs as I’ve slowly been learning when I search more into them. Nearly all of them are flesh eating and practically evil in some way or another. The ecosystem of Hells bugs are effectively, the scavengers, who feast off of the flesh of the dead, then come the predators, and then it’s predators all the way up until it reaches things straight out of science fiction like giant sand worms and hell born sapient bug demons. Each of the various predators have strange and interesting ways of killing, and nearly all of them have ways of causing incredible amounts of pain. Some are like the bullet ants in the living world, with excessive toxins. Some simply have razor sharp claws and mandibles, while some others, like the fireflies I’d used during the warehouse and brothel raid were quite literally magical bugs. The fireflies specifically are able to light fires with their butts since instead of being bioluminescent, they are actually on fire.

    Thus, as we drive to the Diner where some Raz family imps are holding out, some of my swarm crashes upon the mercenaries, biting, gnashing, clawing, or at times lighting them up with hellfire. The squad or two of mercenaries dropping everything to focus on my swarm. Those that are unlucky enough to fall behind cover spend agonising seconds writhing on the ground while my bugs continue to dig into them. The lucky ones run from cover, and are mercifully shot to death by the café’s defenders, or had already bitten the dust by the time my swarm arrived. I can already feel the ever so slight feeling of empowerment as some of them die. Not as effective as deal making in terms of gaining power, but it is an effective way to determine if someone was faking or has actually died.

    From the bugs on the fallen mercenaries, I begin to coalesce my swarm into a more humanoid form, something that those inside can talk to. While it will give myself away to those that know of me, and how I use my bugs in life, once this gang war is over, I can focus more on increasing my swarm as well as keeping my people safe from attacks. Perhaps something a bit like what Valentino did when the vigilantes had attacked his territory in order to get to me.

    “Attention Raz family, I’m here to help, tell me where your Boss is,” I announce through the bugs as we drive up. We sit tight for a moment. From what I can see, the imps are spooked, looking between the remains of several armoured mercenaries and my own bugs while they talk amongst themselves.

    “Holy shit, that’s gotta be gruesome under that armour,” Sherrel comments as she looks around at the mercenaries, only a few of which are still rolling around, some are twitching but by now most of the mercenaries are dead.

    “Fuck man, glad I never pissed you off enough to come after me like that,” I hear from Adam in the turret.

    “You didn’t have to worry, back then, I’d only do it to those that really deserved it.”

    “These guys deserved it?” Sherrel asks but I shake my head.

    “This is different, they can’t die from this, and I’ve never been opposed to using pain.”

    One imp Mafioso eventually steps out in front of the rest of his peers as he looks at my swarm clone, his gun pointed in its general direction as if it would help him were I to attack. He takes a deep breath as he keeps trying and failing to look at the corpses around him before he talks.

    “Last I heard he was holding out at Lilac’s café, don’t know if that changed but that’s all we know. Oh and uh, thanks for saving our asses.”

    “Not a problem,” I announce through the swarm before relaying where we need to head to Sherrel. Without hesitation, Sherrel speeds off as I start to move my swarm in the direction of the café as well, starting to incapacitate mercenaries along the way, beginning to devour them. While there are a few of them that are tougher than what most of my bugs can get through, the sight and sound of their comrades, the screams of agony as hundreds of flesh eating bugs start to devour them from the inside, blood soaking their outfits and their screams turning to gurgles in their throats as I start to rip them apart. It seems to prove too much for some of them. One of them, some demon made of stone, curls into a ball as he watches his team mates get devoured. From the sounds I can make out from my bugs around him specifically, I can hear dry heaving as well. As we drive to the café, I don’t spare any of the mercenaries, not caring about the pain I inflict on them. Without a rule of law, brutality, as I learned in Brockton Bay, was one of the ways of keeping your enemies in line. Not to mention it was the most efficient.

    As we drive to the café, I open my phone and dial Anthony again. Thankfully, he picks up quickly.

    “I have a location, it’s a place called Lilac’s, a café at the end of Vincent Avenue. Get the recruits and the girls and meet me there. If you follow Vincent Ave, I should have the path clear of mercenaries.”

    “Alright boss, sounds good, I’ll get everyone to move out.”

    “Good, call me if there is trouble, I don’t have my bugs watching everything at the moment.”

    “If you’re not watching-”

    “I’m mimicking one of the twelve plagues at the moment, and until I get more bugs, those things are mutually exclusive,” I interrupt, referencing one of the few biblical references I know, or at least, think I know. I’ve never been to church what with Mom having been a bit of a militant atheist which kept us from having to go, though I think I was baptised as a concession to Dad.

    “Oh shit, okay, I’ll be there soon, I’ll just look for the building marked with the red “X” then,” and to that he hung up. What did a red “X” have to do with anything?

    I can feel the imps at the café. By this point, my swarm has reached it, and as we get closer, I can hear their dying screams as my swarm descends. Some of the imps keep shooting but some of them stop, likely staring out at the mercenaries as they start to flail about, like those before. As we come to a stop outside of the café, most of the mercs are already dead, and all of the imps inside have stopped shooting. They look over as I step out from the van and start to move towards them. My own imps hop out as well, and like those inside, they stare at the corpses around us, the once threatening group of mercenaries, reduced to nothing more than feed for my bugs. Not wishing to waste time I advance on the building while sending my swarm away down Vincent ave to clear it for Anthony. Only a few imps actually acknowledge my approach, too busy watching my swarm flow down the road.

    I see a few imps on the ground inside and as I enter I unfurl my antennae from their place as earmuffs protecting me from the booms of the canon. Some are clearly dead, what little magical signature they had, having faded into nothingness, while a few are still holding onto life despite being shot up. Without hesitation, I move into the café towards the wounded, and try to remember how the doctors in the hospital did their spells. I’d practiced a little with them, but I’d never used it in a serious capacity like this, though this isn’t a time for second guessing. Mimicking what the doctors did, I push out my energy, not like when I used it before to let out bursts of wind, but in a way that mimicked a few powers I knew.

    Interestingly enough, very few powers were straight up healing, but rather, their main function was to perform something else, and healing was usually just a side effect of it. There had been a few I’d used in the battle with Zion that had actually been healing power, and even those were different from magic actually intended to heal. Powers went with a more round about way of healing, more akin to cellular regeneration mixed with matter grafting, while magic was more direct, and seemingly a bit less convoluted, at least on the healing front. With that in mind, I try my best to copy what the doctors did, rather than fall upon something more familiar from Golden Morning, and as I watch the wounds begin to close, though a bit slow compared to the doctors, the healing magics do their job.

    I watch before my very eyes as the black bleeding wounds slowly close as I heal the imps, eventually their various bullet wounds being replaced by white skin stained by their black blood as the imps heal. Bits of bullets slide out of the imps and fall onto the ground with a soft tinkling as I heal the imps. Luckily, there are only a few in critical condition while most of the others have only been clipped or managed to keep from getting shot. As the last of the critical injuries heal up and close, I stand up straight and turn to the other Mafioso imps.

    “Where is your Boss? I need to speak with him,” I announce to the group, to which one of the injured with just a shot in the arm raises his good hand.

    “Right here,” the boy calls out. He sounds a bit older than Felix, more like Moxxie or one of the young adult imps from the Wrath ring. He steps out and he even looks young like them as well. Maybe imps grow differently from humans but he still seems to have a youthful smoothness to his face, though his eyes are bloodshot and he himself looks like he just came out of an Endbringer fight.

    “So, what does Valentino’s kid want with me, miss…?” The imp starts off, leading on, but I tilt my head. Valentino’s kid? I don’t look that close to him do I? Sure we are both Moth demons but other than a superficial similarity that doesn’t mean I’m his kid. When I have more time, I’ll ask what he means.

    “Skitter,” no point hiding it with a potential partner. “And I am here because I want to propose something of an alliance with you.”

    The imp raises an eyebrow before he brings up his good hand to wipe at his eyes before suppressing a yawn. Perhaps he is an insomniac? “Sorry, I’ve been up for days trying… trying to keep the dogs alive.”

    “Well I can tell you that they are dead now,” I tell him. The Crimson gang had been rather effective at hunting down the dogs, when the dogs actually started turning around and fighting back against the Crimson gang, they had no chance against them and made it easy. They must have been set to some kind of guard mode while the Raz’s boss came out to help defend the territory. Not the best idea for keeping the dogs alive, but with how things had been going with the mercenaries before we’d shown up, they obviously had needed every gun they could get and then some.

    The imp lets out a groan and leans up against one of the overturned tables. As he leans there, he shakes his head. “Yeah I figured. Never were going to last long without a bunch of micro. Now don’t give me that shit about wanting an alliance, I know how this goes… pardon my language, I’m not exactly in the best mind, space, uh, thing.

    Now you got the power, and it’s a fucking lot of it, I can see that. So, lets cut all the bullshit and just get down to it, you want to take us over, I get it, I’m a greedy fuck to. So what can I do for you?”

    “Boss? You’re just going to give up like this?” one of the Mafioso imps asks as he looks to his leader, concern and bewilderment clear to see on his face. The boss just holds up a hand and shakes his head.

    “Yes, I am, I know when to resign and keep the game from dragging on longer than it should. Now I could decide to be a little shit, and go for as long as I can, just to inconvenience Miss Skitter here, get my town burned to shit for it, or I can just say “GeeGee'' and throw in the towel while we still have flesh on our bones, or did you miss the horror show that went on outside?” the boss of the Raz Family was met with silence from his subordinate, which he took as understanding. Finally he turns to me.

    “So, since you wanted to start a lopsided alliance, you must need us for something at least, so, what do you need?” he asks me.

    “First, I should know your name.”

    “Simon.”

    “As for why I suggested an alliance, I wanted to build some good will, and solidify my gang’s presence. You see, a few days ago, you probably saw it on the news. We rescued some girls from the Crimson gang, and some of those girls used to live in this area,” I can hear some vehicles coming towards the café from outside. I look past the barricade and can see a convoy of different vehicles coming to us. None of those inside look like mercenaries so they must be Anthony bringing in the recruits and the girls.

    Initially, I’d planned on using our rescue of the girls, and how we were able to do it to undermine the power of the leader of the Raz, but he capitulated to me so easily. More often than not, those with power usually cling to it desperately rather than roll over, so now my plans regarding the Raz don’t seem necessary anymore. As I say that, Simon’s head tilts while his brows scrunch.

    “So what, you just wanted to return our women to us?” he asks.

    “Not just that. You are right that eventually we had been planning on absorbing you into us. But first, we, the Merchants, would establish our territory,” as I say this, I reach into my magical other space, and pull out a map I prepared of the local area of the city. With it, I had highlighted the areas where the Merchants would control and where the Raz family’s territory was in comparison to it by the current gang markings of the area. I spray out a string of silk, cut it with a bite, and pull a table to us as I lay down a map for Simon to see. It takes him a second to realise what he’s looking at. Surprisingly, he doesn’t seem too perturbed about loosing a bit of his claimed territory. Rather his focus is on the section of the map where Crimson’s territory used to be, which was now completely yellow, the colour I’d used for the Merchants which also happened to have been my own when I’d been Skitter.

    “That’s Crimson territory, so what, you’re going to move in and take it after they’re gone?”

    “I’m not a patient enough woman for that. No, I’m going to evict them, and as you were so kind of give me your…” I wrack my mind for the proper word, though while he might be my subordinate, he should still have a degree of independence. Perhaps something more medieval? “Vassalage, you are going to help us take down the Crimson gang, once and for all.”

    As I say that, the trucks and cars from Anthony’s convoy have emptied out of their passengers and drivers. Most notably for some of the imp’s, the women that used to live in this area. I can see recognition dawn on some of their faces as the women approach. One of the women even starts running, shaking her hand at one of the imps, crying out at him.

    “Doni!”

    “Jessica!” the seeming couple cry out as one of the Mafiosos drops his gun and the two run towards each other. Others start to leave the ruins of the café as well to greet the women I had Anthony bring along. A few stick around, looking in at the crowd, probably to keep their boss safe but they aren’t paying much attention. Simon looks for a moment through the corner of his eye for a moment as well, but then turns his attention back to me.

    “So you’re going to return our girls just like that?” he asks, an eyebrow risen.

    “I offered them a place working for me. If they want, they can continue working under me, and they will remain under my protection”

    “So what, you’re keeping them as hostages or something?”

    “No, I just said that they can leave if they want,” the imp looks at me for a moment, seemingly uncomprehending for a moment before he shakes his head a bit and rubs his eyes.

    “Sorry, I’m tired as fuck right now. Just… tell me what you need before I fall-” mid sentence he lets out a big yawn and tries to cover it up. One of his men walks up to him for a moment.

    “Hey, Simon, like you said, you’re tired as shit, and can’t focus. Let me handle this for you, okay?”

    “No Frank… I just… I just need a coffee, or, something. Lilac! You still there?” from behind the bar, the curvaceous demon who’d served us when we came here to meet with Angel’s friends rises up from behind her counter. She’s still dressed in her very skimpy French maid’s uniform which she must use as a work uniform.

    “Still breathing Mr. Raz.”

    “Would you kindly get me a coffee? I need to wake up,” Simon asks the demon who smiles brightly at him.

    “Sure thing Mr. Raz, two shots as usual?” she asks, her voice going low and husky as she places her hands under her breasts, and as she says “two shots,” she emphasises her breasts with her hands, making them jump ever so slightly, much to the amusement of Mr. Raz who’s got a wide smile on his face. Had she… done that for me as well? I hadn’t been paying attention to Lilac except where she had been, hiding a fly on the underside of her skirt so I knew when she’d been close enough to hear us. I don’t… wait no, she’d stopped at some point when she was making our drinks, and how her skirt had moved back then, as if…

    “You know it beautiful,” he says before turning back to me.

    “So, since we’re going to be taking down the Crimson gang, what do you need me to do, what’s the plan?”

    “First, we’re going to go to Addison’s A-lectronics and pick up some more of those dogs of his. Because of you, we have momentum, and that gives us a chance to take them out. I already know where all their heavy hitters are except for the Beast. His speed and lightning keep me from being able to track him the same way as I do the others but he will come if we cause enough of a stir. We will target the Crimson clones first, and then move onto the snake. If we’re lucky, we will be able to catch them separate from the Beast, and then we can take him out,” as I tell him my plan, Lilac walks up to us, two cups on a tray. From the smell, one is coffee, and the other is the orange pekoe replacement tea I'd ordered when I’d last been here.

    “Here you go, coffee, triple triple, and one tea with a little thing of cream and sugar on the side,” Lilac says, giving me a wink as she places the tray down. I hide my surprise as I focus more on my bugs as they search around for more enemies to kill. I guess she remembers me.

    “Thanks Lilac, okay, but how exactly are you planning on taking the Beast out? The tank there might be good for taking out the, you said clones?”

    “Unimportant at the moment so I’ll just leave it at that they are clones of mass murderers that died about a month ago.”

    “Right, well, the tank might be good at taking out the clones, or even the snake guy they have, but what about the Beast? He’s bullet resistant enough to be a real problem that you can’t just spray and pray with like with the average speedster,” at that comment I pull out my pistol from my magical other place, and then one of the soviet style assault rifles I’d taken off the Crimson gang member that I’d been layering up acceleration and silencing fields, like with my pistol. To emphasis my point, I tap on my pistol.

    “I’ve upgraded this pistol enough that I was able to get past the durability of the clone that I took out a few days ago. If the Beast is as durable as that thing, then this,” I say as I tap against my assault rifle. “Should hopefully be enough for the job.”

    “And if it isn’t?”

    “With the destruction of most of your dogs, we’ve run out of time to search for other options, but from what I’ve seen of the previous fights that the Beast has been in, the Beast is bullet resistant, not immune. If anything, he likely is less resistant than even the Crimson clones could become if they drank enough blood. If I can pin him down long enough, either myself or Squealer’s van can take him out of commission. After that, the Crimson gang should fall apart,” Simon nods along as I lay out my plan to him before taking a sip of coffee.

    “Okay, but then what are we doing?”

    “You are going to help with the defence of the Merchant’s new territory and help us grab as much loot as we can from the Crimson gang’s stores before either they or some other gang comes in to take it. That and you’ll help us secure the territory against anyone who’s looking to turn this into an expansion opportunity.”

    “Simple and effective if it works. When do we start?”

    “Immediately, call your robot friend and tell him we will be there within the hour.”

    “Woah woah woah, hold on, I’ve still got mercs running around and stirring up shit here, I can’t just leave to take out Crimson while mercs are fucking this place up until they’re dealt with. I know you got your swarm flying around, so maybe I can tell you where they are and you take them out with that swarm?” Simon asks while I use a biter to grab a radio from the armour that one of the mercenaries have and bring it close so I can grab it.

    “Bravo squad, this is Command, if there is anyone alive down there, we are pulling out! Shit has gone FUBAR! I repeat we are pulling out until the client pays up for the extra bullshit we got ourselves into!” a voice from the radio shouts.

    While I’d been talking to Simon, the few bugs I left on some of the mercenaries had been listening, and I’d heard as one person started reporting in regarding my bugs. As I hold the radio aloft, Simon raises his eyebrows in surprise before nodding.

    “I’ll go make the call to Addison then.”

    <><><><><><><><><><><><><>

    When ideas clash and yet work together so well. I hadn’t actually planned for the healing to originally be used this way, as it was both a reaction to people getting hurt and dying in Hell, and Taylor doing a bit of a sneaky power grab.
     
  13. VisV

    VisV Lost in the Dungeons of My Mind.

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    EXPANSION!!!

    EXXXXXXPANSION!

    SUPREME OVERLADY SKITTER RISES!
     
  14. Greatazuredragon

    Greatazuredragon Connoisseur.

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    Hehe the vigilantes are going to have kittens when they realize Skitter is back in town. :D
    Nice chapter, good work.
     
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  15. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    Battery definitely gonna recognise her.

    So how long until Taylor grabs good disguise powers? Like changing her colors, face and body so she can pass as some sort of evil butterfly?
     
  16. Auriel

    Auriel Versed in the lewd.

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    Skitter is back and has access to the insect population of literal hell lol plus whatever else she figures out along the way and has the mentality and work ethic to do so
     
  17. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    Been thinking, wow there is a lot of reasons for Taylor to be in hell.

    Almost everyone ends in Hell.

    Mother was an atheist.

    Taylor was baptised yet never practiced Christian Religion.

    She ended killing and hurting people, some of them completely innocent, during Golden Morning.

    She doesn't regret what she did because she saved billions of people and many Earths doing what she did.

    You know since babies end in hell, you could make it so Squidmark and Squealer kid is adopted. That way you can keep things closer to canon.
     
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  18. Thread Necromancer

    Thread Necromancer Creator of "mean" and/or "excessive" things

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    Or Squealer was already pregnant and just never started showing until after she died.
     
  19. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    We don't know were unborn babies go, maybe purgatory? It wasn't completely ruled out; just said it wouldn't be covered.

    Anyway with how many drugs they took she would have lost the baby if she was pregnant while alive, so adopting a baby when they end in hell makes sence, I mean they could have literally picked it from the street.
     
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  20. VisV

    VisV Lost in the Dungeons of My Mind.

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    Your assuming heaven and god are actually good people in Hazbin...

    They are clearly not.

    babies who cry explicity go to hell according to charlie.

    Besides, Sinners being able to have kids helps explain the pride rings apparently massive overpopulation.
     
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  21. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    No.

    Babies go hell for not being baptized, not for crying. Crying is not a sin, being born is. And without baptism you don't get cleared of the sin of being born.

    The overpopulation happens because Sinners are stuck in the Pride Ring and the Earth population is billions. Since everyone goes to Hell, there is not enough room for that many Sinners.

    Now why are the purges an once a year thing? In canon isn't really justified but here we have both Golden Morning and the whole mess in Ward so that's a whole lot of deaths if Hell has to take death people from so many Earths.
     
  22. doomlord9

    doomlord9 Experienced.

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    Not in Hazbin.

    In the Hazbin-verse, Sin is Sin. Period. Babies crying for attention and for someone to bring them food is Pride/Envy and Sloth. It does not matter if they are incapable of acquiring food themselves and aren't able to be aware of any other option, Sin is Sin. End of story.

    That's the reason the Hazbin Heaven and God pisses off pretty much everybody. Getting into Heaven is effectively impossible. One of the only potential methods I can think of is for someone to have a random heart attack within 5 seconds of going through a confessional where they admit to everything in their entire life, including their Sins as an infant they can't even remember, being forgiven and then dying of natural causes before they are able to commit any extra Sins.
     
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  23. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    That makes you wonder if there is any people in Heaven at all save for a few Saints and the people Jesus redeemed?

    And apparently every dog that died ever because "All dogs go to Heaven"?

    So Heaven is for dogs? It would be hilarious if Bitch got to Heaven because a missfile classified her as a dog.
     
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  24. Qaw

    Qaw Know what you're doing yet?

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    In the episode with angel protective services, they apparently descended to help protect the billionaire because there were people above helped by his products.

    As in, someone took their products, died sometimes after that, and went to heaven.

    Maybe it was one of those 1/1,000,000,000 cases of a heart attack, but the more likely case is that some people simply slip through.

    My theory is that the numbers getting in are decided more by the Heaven's processing speed, not the actual sins committed. So you might have a line before the Pearly Gates with 2-5 secretaries sorting the lucky souls. And then they might take 10 minutes to an hour for each applicant, depending on the sins/virtues amount that they have to weigh. And of course, you can't deny them their lunch breaks. Nor make them work inhumane hours, so the post is open only 10 hours a day.

    And the best part? It's been working this way since the flood. And if it ain't broke, why fix it.

    PS: Everything the sinners say about Heaven is just a giant game of telephone, intentional rumor-mongering, and spite. So I'd take everything said that we haven't seen ourselves with a giant truck of salt. So I think what I proposed above is more consistent with the world-building than any other theory.
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2021
  25. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    That doesn't discount the one who went to heaven being a dog that really liked their brand of dog chow.
     
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  26. grzecho2222

    grzecho2222 Getting sticky.

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    People seem to forget that everyone we see in Hell is kind of a awful person. And Angel Dust's sister is apparently in Heaven, so people are getting there.
     
  27. SystemSearcher

    SystemSearcher "I fought the door and the door won"

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    I'm pretty sure that that's been changed a long time ago. Either that or it's straight up just a pervasive fanon, since everybody I can find around says that it's false.
     
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  28. doomlord9

    doomlord9 Experienced.

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    Part of it is social engineering, being nice and selfless is the path to failure, and for human souls there is little to no penalty until in life. No jail, they can't even kill you, just give you a short time-out until you respawn at worst.

    On top of that the Angels doing the Purges are indiscriminate, focusing purely on depopulation so easy targets are prioritized. Just imagine it. A faithful Christian dies and wakes up in Hell. A Purge starts and all the sinners start screaming and running, then they see Angels coming from the holy light in the sky. They walk out to greet their rescuers, only to become the first victims of soul death.

    Heaven itself is the cause of everything wrong in the Hazbin world. It embodies the most draconian views imagined, and then dials them to 11.

    Having a Lovecraft-verse Elder god decide to show up, devour Heaven entirely, then sleep in the empty void that remained while oozing madness into reality would only improve the setting.
     
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  29. VisV

    VisV Lost in the Dungeons of My Mind.

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    Taylor and QA have a lot of work to do before they can do that though!
     
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  30. grzecho2222

    grzecho2222 Getting sticky.

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    wiki says that apparently she is not in Hell, nor a demon and gives links to podcasts, so maybe it was changed
    if I remember correctly, series was described as "comedy, with bad, mean people", so while Heaven is most likely also bad (unless there is some kind of really weird twist in future) that doesn't change the fact that all characters we see in Hell are kind of awful people (if I remember correctly one old podcast said that the nicest character they introduced so far is Tom Trench (don't remember if they counted Charlie among that number) so think what it says about others)
     
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