The Skittering Chaos (Worm/Hazbin Hotel)

[Thread Necromancer]

Wait, who's Mrs pictress?

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A new character, ceo of MILF.

Edit, I kind of passes the appearance off of Blitzo crossdressing.

 

[MareBelloFiore]

A new character, ceo of MILF.

Edit, I kind of passes the appearance off of Blitzo crossdressing.

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What the hell is Milf, do I have to go back and re-read something.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

What the hell is Milf, do I have to go back and re-read something.

Click to shrink...

The Manual Imp Labour Force, basically it was referenced as a possible building company in the time leading up to the false flag attack.

Edit: Also, how well did I handle Taylor reacting to the revelation that people can actually die in Hell, specifically the imps? Could I have done better with it? What should I do in order to fix it?

 

[Deathwings]

It went well enough in my opinion. Some reinforcement in later chapters, such as Taylor consciously making sure imps get jobs less likely to be lethal compared to sinners wouldn't be amiss, tho.

 

[Night Hunter]

You know, I imagine the day before the Purge is probably chaos with massive riot and mass robery happening everywhere. Since everybody will try to stockpile food and weapons while trying to find a safe place to lay low.

Massive riots with gang wars broke out everywhere while, at least in Pendagron City, the corrupt goverment just look out for themselves on this time.

 

[Vladicus]

Massive riots with gang wars broke out everywhere while, at least in Pendagron City, the corrupt goverment just look out for themselves on this time.

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It's Pentagram I think, and when was that ever not the case even IRL?

 

[Modus_Tollens]

It's Pentagram I think, and when was that ever not the case even IRL?

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When the corrupt government is so wound up in some self destructive ideology that they put their collective dick in the first wasp's nest they can find, lacking the sense to even look out for themselves.

 

[TitaniumQuartz971]

When the corrupt government is so wound up in some self destructive ideology that they put their collective dick in the first wasp's nest they can find, lacking the sense to even look out for themselves.

Click to shrink...

The closest thing to a law in Hell is "don't fuck with the Demon Lords, because they will end you."

 

[Modus_Tollens]

The closest thing to a law in Hell is "don't fuck with the Demon Lords, because they will end you."

Click to shrink...

And people still keep dicking the wasp nest with some regularity.

 

[Night Hunter]

New episode was release. Basically in the end appear why you don't mess with Hell leadership and we get to see Stolas true demon form and how outclass humanity is against the supernatural forces.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 16

Bit of an ambitious project I've set out for myself, sorry for delays and such as sometimes I have to rethink and rewrite some of the plans I have for the story as things get derailed and sent off course by events both in story and out of story.

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

I walk into the office of Sam Spade, the detective I'd called last week in regards to finding Alec, leaving the envelope of money for this first session with the man's secretary. The man himself is at his desk, looking up as I walk in. The sinner looks like a humanoid falcon, sharp eyes watching me as I enter the room. He's dressed like a stereotypical detective main character in most film Noir. The standard white button up shirt, his long coat hanging off his chair along with his hat, and he's puffing on a fat cigar. As I walk in he leans back and pulls the cigar from his mouth.

"So, you must be the lady that called last week. Please take a seat, and you can tell me about this friend of yours who you're trying to find," The falcon says as he points towards the seat across from him. Graciously, I sit before I begin.

"Well Mr. Spade, my friend is a man named Alec, he died nearly two years ago, on the twenty sixth of July, killed by Behemoth."

"Behemoth hmm? Did he attack your friend's city?" I shake my head.

"No, we were there fighting the thing. He was a villain that went by the name of Regent, though he has gone by other names before. Hijack is the other one I know of," the falcon nods as he pulls out a small note pad and starts to jot down some notes.

"I see, now knowing you parahuman types, your powers generally leave some kind of major impact on your psyche, and thus, can possibly affect your appearance. It isn't sure fire, but it can certainly influence things. Now one of his villainous names was Hijack, so I assume that this Alec fellow was some kind of guy who could take control of something, vehicles maybe?"

"People, he didn't control their minds, but their bodies." I correct him.

"Hmm, kind of like a puppeteer. Maybe something related to that like maybe a puppet? Or maybe even something that generally controlled things. Could also be spider what with all that "string of fate" nonsense that comes up in mythologies."

"His father was also a master, he went by the name of Heartbreaker, and Alec triggered because of him and then fled some time after," I add in, if I were to guess, then Alec would likely be a puppet. It would make the most sense, and if Sherrel could end up a latex doll kind of demon from her experiences, it would make sense for Alec to end up as some kind of puppet from how he was always moving to someone else's tune.

"Hmm, right, so probably some kind of puppet then, or maybe even a robot or something. I won't discount the possible mythological theory either, but this definitely gives me a place to start. Now, what did this Alec fellow enjoy doing? It might give us a bit of a clue as to what he might be doing now…"

The questions continue for a time as I do my best to give the detective an accurate picture of what I know of Alec. As we continue, I'm slowly beginning to understand the extent of my lack of knowledge about Alec and his everyday life. While we hadn't been the closest of the Undersiders, we had still been team mates, and I still regret not getting to know him more. There had always been more to Alec than meets the eyes, we'd just never had much time to really interact as much. I'd regretted it after Behemoth, and I'll be making up for it now… if he is still around that is. The purge is a yearly thing, and while Alec hadn't died too close to it, it can be hard to pick yourself up enough in three months enough to keep from becoming a casualty, especially with all the competition that would be coming from Endbringer attacks all the time.

"Alright then miss, just a couple more questions and then that should hopefully be all I need to start off this investigation. Is your friend Canadian?" I raise an eyebrow at his question. What did it matter if Alec was Canadian?

"Yes, he's Canadian, why?" Sam's beak moved a bit as if to show a smile as he wrote that down on the large pad of paper he had in front of him.

"Because here's a little fact about Hell ma'am. All Canadians end up in New Canada. No idea how they do it but every Canadian citizen that dies, ends up there. So that will actually make this much easier. I can start my search there. Now, judging by the fact that Alec was a villain, he started off as a Canadian villain right?" I nod and Sam sighs.

"That probably means that he's in jail up there then. Them Canadians apparently don't believe that death absolves you of crime, and they view themselves as a continuation of the Canada up on the surface. So if you were a criminal and didn't serve your time, then you end up as a criminal down here. So I guess I'll have to get into contact with my buddy up in Canada and see if we can't find your friend Alec, or rather, "Jean-Paul" and see what exactly his sentence is like," I nod before getting up.

"Well if that is all, then I'll take my leave then, when might I expect a phone call from you about Alec?" the falcon demon stands up as well.

"Considering he's likely in a Canadian prison, probably a few days, if he somehow managed to escape that, it might take a week. Only issue is if he's joined up with the rebels up there or left the country. If he's in the wastes, then I can refer you to a few man trackers in Canada that might be able to find him, but if he joined with the rebels… well, you'll have a hell of a time. I don't do rebellions."

"I'll keep that in mind, good day Mister Spade," I say before I walk out of his office.

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

I pinch the bridge of my nose as I continue to look at the sign up sheet. A lot of the girls and some boys want to stay with us and would rather not join up with the imps heading back into the wastelands. That made about most of them staying with us. That was fine, I had already been prepared for that eventuality especially from what Skidmark had been saying, what I hadn't been prepared for was when I came back after asking Mimi to help me get people to sign up for jobs, was how many of them signed on the sheet asking to be prostitutes. I'd just saved these people from that, and now they want to go straight back to it, only under me rather than with the Crimson gang.

"To be fair, you are actually asking them rather than telling them, and they get to keep some of the money," Mimi pipes up from her chain in my office. I open my eyes and just look at her.

After the party, I'd decided that I couldn't just crash with Adam and Sherrel the entire time, and I had one of the MILF imps move a bed up to one of the spare rooms in the office area. It was a temporary arrangement for now, especially as some of the money I've gotten is going towards overhauling the building, turning the main area into a series of rooms for people. Even just from the work this morning until now, the people of M.I.L.F. work quick, likely helped by the various men we'd saved also helping out in the renovations. Much of the scaffolding was in place already and the base was soon going to be constructed to turn this warehouse into a proper two story building, with them starting below my office and the little area I had to myself.

The plan, at least for this building, was something of a general purpose dorm, though with how many names I'm seeing on the sign up sheet for working as a whore, I might have to reassess that and instead make this into a brothel and take over another building to turn into a housing block.

"I would have thought that their dignity would have been worth more than easy money, especially when you take away the need for money to pay for basic needs," I say then realise my naivety as I say it out loud. Of course people aren't just going to be satisfied with that. Considering the amount of whores in Brockton Bay despite the risk, the cheap shipping container housing the city had set up in the docks, and the various charitable organisations that helped feed them, many still turned to prostitution.

"That sounds right to me. You know, I actually had an encounter with a pimp once, he wanted me as one of his working girls, but I turned him down cause I guess I have too much respect for myself to become a two bit whore, but then maybe we're just different than most people?" Mimi asks and I just sigh. Now I almost wish I'd actually gone with Skidmark's suggestion of taking a sixty percent cut rather than the fourty I'd decided on. Not because of the money since it seems like I won't even really need that if Spade was able to find Alec in New Canada. It would be more to push those we rescued away from a life of whoring towards something more productive and less degrading.

Though, if it was such an appealing prospect for them to become whores despite them having been slaves doing the same thing, then maybe I'm doing something right? Or maybe they just like sex and are like Angel Dust? He seems pretty okay with the sex part what with how he acted about the whole thing. Mimi doesn't know much, and I'm not sure I can trust Skidmark on this kind of stuff since the Merchants were mainly drug pushers and not pimps, though I doubt there were none in the old Merchants. I reach down for my phone and dial Angel's number.

"Heya tiny tits, how's things over there? Caught any backlash from your little move?" Angel asks.

"A few casualties with one still in hospital in critical condition. Otherwise, we're doing well. No attacks on us yet," everything had become rather quiet after the attack last night. Perhaps the Crimson gang is still licking their wounds and trying to figure out what just happened. Though, the Raz family had gone quiet as well, and their Eagleton look-a-like robot enforcers had disappeared from the streets entirely.

"Eh, just an imp," I frown.

"Just an imp?" I ask, to which Angel responds immediately as if it were just some natural thing.

"Yeah, just an imp. They're a dime a dozen and breed like rabbits. Hell from the vids I saw of your guys going in, it looked like you were a bit understaffed, but then you guys still managed to get the job done so I guess you had exactly what you needed," I can feel my lips pursing and my bugs and biters acting up. Frankly what I am hearing is awful, but then Angel did probably die before the civil rights movements of the sixties. It makes a bit of sense that he might be racist, or in this case speciesist. Culturally, we hadn't morally developed as much as we have now, not to mention we are in Hell, where the worst of the worst come.

Besides, I'd worked alongside far worse people than just a racist. Many heroes I knew personally during my cape career had done far worse things in the past. After a moment Angel pipes up again.

"So whatcha need anyways? Some more gossip of what is going on in Val's place? 'Cause it's mostly just the same old as usual, repairs from the raid, bounties for the heads of vigilantes being brought in, clients blowing their loads in me."

"I've somehow managed to become a pimp," once more there is silence, this time caused by Angel, before he finally responds.

"Wait, seriously? You got yourself some girls? Ha! I didn't think you had it in you tiny tits, I thought you were some prudish feminist type but now you've got yourself a nice stable of whores. Oh wow that's precious. So how'd it happen? Come on, gimmie the deets so I can tell Cherri," I let out a slight groan before telling him, relaying how we'd put out a sign up sheet and how most wanted to be whores.

"Okay yeah, makes sense. Whoring's easy if you got the looks and no dignity… not to mention its fun. So what's your cut like, because you obviously not some gorilla pimp if you got them working for ya. Plus, it ain't like they're doing it out of gratitude or some shit like that, Hell don't work that way."

"I take fourty percent, and they get to keep the rest," I say, to which Angel whistles after hearing the number.

"Only fourty percent? Damn that's a steal. If it weren't unhealthy to leave Val for you I'd run to join your stable quicker than you can say cha-ching. But seriously, that's got to be the best cut in the city. Only people even close to that are usually two bit chumps who just came down from the living world and haven't figured out that the going cut for whores is usually only twenty percent at best. Course those guys either realise real fast and raise it up, or they find themselves on the other end of a Chicago typewriter when the whores run off to the new pimps, pissing off the old ones."

"I assume most aren't able to defend themselves?"

"Considering most of the competition is both more experienced than them or at least has had a head start in hiring some goons? Nah, most of the new guys don't last a week after word gets around that the whores are getting good pay, especially since the law don't care unless you are messing with the nobles or you're paying them to protect ya."

"And no one else has tried to lower it to undercut the competition and get more girls in?"

"Eh… there are a few, most of them are pretty big though. Like I said, it paints a big target on your back. I mean if you keep it you'd still have to deal with some of the other pimps coming after you for stealing their whores, but considering that your neighbours are picking up shop and leaving, and the other is an imp gang of all things, and Val who everyone knows not to fuck with… well if you don't manage to piss off Val you might actually be able to get away with it. Still, I'll keep my ear to the ground and watch for any irate pimps coming your way."

"Will Valentino be a problem?"

"Funny enough, nah, at least not for you. See Val's got something of a monopoly on most businesses that deal with sex and stuff, but since you can't really monopolise whoring, especially since that would mean declaring war on basically everyone and taking over the whole city is something no one will allow, that ain't happening. Instead he buys up pretty much all the stores that deal with this kind of stuff. Sexy outfits, sex toys, strip clubs, sex clubs, you name it he'll probably try to buy it or something, and for the places that can't be bought he'll see if he can't get something to profit off of it like exclusivity deals for his brands and stuff."

"Then who will he be a problem for then?"

"Like I said before, it is pretty unhealthy to try and get out from under Val's thumb without his permission or the backing of some pretty powerful people. Hoes don't leave unless they got a death wish, same with the pimps that try to protect them. Just make sure your girls don't go hoe'ing in Val's territory and you ain't liable to get a visit from him, oh and go with whatever exclusive deal he offers, he ain't one for playing nice after the first refusal, and shit will only get worse from there."

"Alright, any advice for the business in general then?"

"Always charge extra, people down here are freaky as fuck, and the longer you stay down here the freakier you get. People are going to want to do extra with your hoes, so charge them out the nose, since they'll be horny, they'll pay it, just you watch. Other than that, pimping is just managing your girls while also acting as protection. Know your girls, know what they are best at, and figure it out from there. Got it?"

"I do, thank you," while I wasn't involved in a majority of the money making schemes of Coil's and later Tattletale's gang, I had been an effective manager of both my funds and staff during that time, taking on a significant amount of the workload with the rest of it going to Charlotte. Amusingly, while I was in the Wards, my experience managing my gang in Brockton had helped with the various administrative tasks that were a part of being a ward and would often have to help some of the others with those kinds of tasks.

"My pleasure tiny tits, now I gotta go, I'm meeting up with Cherri in an hour and I need to go earn me some lunch money," and with that I end the call.

"So how did the call go?" Mimi asks from her seat as I pick up the sheet of names that had signed up.

"Productive. It's given me a better idea of what to expect in the future and he even gave me some good advice regarding Valentino."

"Oh okay, I guess you will be busy running the business then?" sighing, I shake my head.

"We don't really have a place for them to even start working properly, and with a gang war likely about to fire off, I don't want them out on the streets possibly getting caught. At the moment we will be just living off of the money from the raids, and the drug money," Mimi nods along as I speak before then piping up.

"So does that mean you're free, or did you have some other stuff to do?"

"Other than monitoring the alleys and the developing gang war, not much at the moment, why?"

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to go out drinking with me and Sherrel? Just a little fun before turning in for the night, you know? Plus, it's at Anthony's bar, so you can see about how he's coming along with recruiting people," I nod along with her reasoning. With what was going on with the false flag on Crimson, I hadn't had much time to check up on Anthony, and we did have a deal with him as a recruiter. Despite how hands on I am with managing my forces, especially back in the Warlord days, having people who you could delegate some of your duties to was definitely a must when it comes to organisations. I hadn't really understood that in a combat sense back when I was a warlord, but with the kinds of enemies we fought, it wouldn't have made a difference anyways.

"Sure, why not?" I ask, seeing Mimi's smile grow as I say so.

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

Interestingly, the Raz family begins to move first while the dust settles and before the Crimson gang has fully regrouped. Their absent Eagleton robots now charging into the territory of the Crimson gang, riddling anyone they came across full of holes as they blitzed their way through the streets. There were three teams of Raz family troops, each a group of seven, five imps, two Eagleton robots. The imps almost looked like a mirror of our imps had the night before, with two of them armed with various kinds of submachine guns and machine pistols. Two of them however wielded melee weapons like fire axes and machetes while also wearing butcher aprons over their fronts.

Moving alongside them in the alleyways, I can see mechanical biters moving in tandem, becoming far more aggressive than before, patrolling the alleyways to attack lone members of the Crimson gang who were moving towards the teams of Raz family troops, and no one else, mulching and tearing apart any of the gangsters they found with their iron jaws and claws.

As I get a better look at the mechanical dogs, the more they seem to at least superficially share a similar look to the Eagleton look-a-likes. While they have no symbols, they share a similar colouration, though the mechanical biters definitely seem more advanced than their more humanoid counterparts. Almost like an early variant of the Eagleton bots before they turned themselves into moving coffins and buildings of death in the living world. While I can't say for certain, but the mechanical biters are more than likely being provided by the same tinker that is making the Eagleton bots.

I watch as the Raz family troops advance into Crimson territory swiftly, the bots act as the spearhead while the imps followed behind, taking cover behind them whenever fighting starts. While they advanced, whenever the imps would come across one of the Crimson gang corpses left behind by the robots they would have their melee weapon imps begin to hack off limps and heads while the Tommy gun wielders would watch the rear. They don't take long as they only hack off a few pieces before continuing to follow the twin robots.

With my own mental map, I can tell that one team of them are pushing towards some of the garages of the Crimson gang, one team heading towards a slave pen we'd just saved the girls from last night, and one was heading in the direction of a warehouse, but they are likely to miss it.

"Hey Skitty what do you think about the Merchant outfits?" I hear Mimi ask.

"Other than a bandana, a symbol, or maybe a general colour, I think it would be a bit unrealistic, or just wasteful to just have every member of our gang wear costumes," I say in response. During the course of the night, the conversation had turned to Mimi and Sherrel talking about the aesthetic of the Merchants.

Mimi had been arguing that because the Merchants are a gang of former super villains, we should have our "henchmen" wear costumes corresponding with our villainous nature, with her citing various examples from comic books. One example was some fictional villain named the Joker had his minions wear clown outfits. It was kind of similar to what Leet and Uber would do back in Brockton Bay for their show or what a few of the more comical villains I'd taken down during my time in the Wards would do. We'd tried it at least a little bit to have themes in the Undersiders, but with how chaotic things got, I wasn't around for long enough to actually see if anything like that had really continued.

"Aw, but that's boring, come on! Bee outfits for Skitty! Mad Max stuff for Sherrel! Uh… uh…"

"Portal stuff for Skiddy?" Sherrel asks, to which Mimi's face brightens as she vigorously nods her head. I can't help but giggle a bit, though that might be from the drink that Anthony had given me.

"I'm not going to do bee stuff, besides, I'm a moth now, it'd have to be fluffy," I say, humouring Mimi's suggestion for a moment. That caused Mimi's eyes to begin to twinkle as she seems to think of something and starts giggling.

"You're going to have the fluffy moth men," then she gasps as she gets another idea, "and your moth girls'll be fluffy to! That's a great idea, but it kind of doesn't go with your previous theme you know?"

I shrug as I take another sip of my drink, enjoying the sweetness of it mixed with the distinct taste of alcohol. "Well maybe I'll be both? I'll be fluffy, my girls will be fluffy, and my "goons" will wear black and yellow."

"Maybe they can be dressed up like thieves you know? Kind of point back to your old gang and stuff… the Undersiders, they're… you're were… beh, you, were, thieves right?" Mimi says after a long sip, slurring her words a bit as she talks.

"Yeah, before they became big shots, they were just a small gang of thieves. You guy's mostly robbed businesses and stole from stuff like casinos and stuff like that before you hit the bank, right?" Sherrel asks top which I nod.

"The Undersiders before I joined mostly did small targets yes. Coil when I joined, however wanted us to hit bigger stuff which was when we hit the bank," I say, remembering my first few days as a part of the Undersiders, and that idiotic plan of mine. I give a breathed chuckle as I remember my foolishness. Even so, it had given me the best friends I could have ever asked for.

"So how about this then? You know the stereotypical thief right? Got like black outfit and stuff with a weird hat and the black and white striped shirt? Why not make it a yellow and black striped shirt? That would be cool!" Mimi says as she holds up her drink for emphasis, but I just shake my head.

"Maybe later when we have a bit of spending money, but for now, I think I'll just have them wear a yellow bandana, or wear black and yellow for now. We can go into themes later okay?" Mimi pouts at my words, then deflates and nods.

"Okay fine, but I'm so going to be wearing that henchman outfit I thought up and then you'll see!" she says as she points her glass forwards a bit, letting some drink spill out. I smile as she does so while I drink the last of my own drink.

"What? You don't want to stay with us?" Sherrel asks, to which Mimi's ears fall.

"Well, not it's not that, it's just… well, you guys have Felix, and, and all those new guys who're going to help out with the drugs and stuff," Mimi starts off, sputtering excuses but Sherrel just laughs it off, reaching over and ruffling the mouse demon's head.

"Nah it's alright, I get it. Skitty's a badass and probably the closest thing to the superheroes and villains you love to read about in your comic books. Plus, you're right, we got all the help we really need right now until we start expanding to the other warehouses with our drug growing. Just make sure you don't forget to come over and visit with Mark, he'll be upset if you don't come and see him every once and a while," Sherrel says while Mimi nods. At the same time, Anthony comes over with another glass of alcohol for me while also holding a piece of paper.

"Here's another drink, oh, and I got some names for you, just some people around here that might be interested… Probably going to need them soon enough if what I've been hearing on the news is anything to go by," Anthony says as he passes me the note with about a half dozen names on it.

"Oh, what's the news been saying?" I ask as I take a sip from my new drink. At the same time across town, I can see that Crimson has finally gotten a proper response to the blitz of Raz forces moving into their territory. A dune buggy or two are driving up the street towards the warehouse group, with a couple of demons hanging off of it, including a few with the same very heavy armour of the demon I'd blown up last night. There's also a van a red symbol spray painted across the side speeding towards the group of Raz family troops.

"News says that a bunch of imps hit Crimson last night while some vigilantes were hitting them as well. Said something about them likely belonging to an old rival of Crimson called the Raz gang. Seems like a gang war is about to start, and the news anchors were kind of baffled that Raz might attempt something considering last time. Those two also happen to be right near you in case you didn't know, so the fighting might spill over close to your guy's place," Anthony continues.

At the same time in Crimson territory with the warehouse group, the robots have turned towards the oncoming buggy and lit up the vehicle, sparks flying everywhere and men falling off as bullets wiz. Despite what the news anchors might be saying, Raz certainly seemed to be doing well for themselves at the moment. If anything, it might be a complete reversal of what was going on a year ago. The ones that were heading to the garages have already reached their objectives and have begun torching the place, destroying the vehicles left inside, shooting up those inside, and stealing what they can.

"Poor sons of bitches are going to just light a fire under Crimson's ass, and Raz'll probably get burned for it. They're just an imp gang from what the news said," Despite Anthony's words, the Raz family seem to be doing fine. Of course, as I think that, the back of the van opens up. The biter I'm using to watch the carnage's eyes open up wide in surprise as I see Crimson, a full powered Crimson step out, his tongue thick in his mouth, his skin as red as a cooked beet. The robots turn their guns on him, along with the members of the Raz family that brought their Tommy guns.

With my bugs at home I feel around for Crimson's head in the corpse bag, and quickly find him. His head is still in there, and with a few bugs I feel his corpse. They still haven't cleared out the warehouse, and his headless corpse is still there, with no head. How is he still around? Do they have multiple of him?

Then it hit me. He, or maybe they, are clones. Clones have souls, or at least, Bonesaw's clones have souls. Wait, did that mean that Echidna clones have souls as well? What about Nilbog's creations? Did Dragon have a soul? Suddenly I'm struck with the idea, the thought that perhaps there was more than just one me running around. My evil clones, Scurry and Chitter, from Echidna. They were likely out there somewhere in Hell, along with everyone else's clones as well. I frown further as I realise all the clones of the slaughterhouse that must be out there. They likely aren't helping with the slaughter and chaos. Then there are also the powers that make sapient copies of their hosts, did they have souls as well? What about projections that were also sapient, what of them, what of the Fairy Queen's host?

Seems Sam will at least be receiving a few more visits from me in the near future.

Despite my epiphany the assault continues on. Among the other groups of Raz family troops I watch as more Crimson members come out to meet the Raz family's assault. With the group at the garage, I see a massive mountain of a muscle man, with bronzed skin and a ferocious bestial head speeding into battle. Lightning following his moves and as he passes by a group of Raz imps, lightning flaring out and hitting them before the Beast turns on the robots and begins to move in on them.

With the group that moved towards the brothel, I see a massive snake man, armed with a shotgun and a cleaver. The naga has blood red scales and has covered himself in some kind of metal armour. He ignores bullets much like Crimson does as he rips and tears his way through the imps while trying to crush a robot with his massive tail. One unlucky imp gets his head sliced off and the snake demon stops to grab the imp's body and begins to drink deeply, growing larger as he does, eventually crushing the robot, causing the rest of the imps to retreat, leaving the final Eagleton robot to distract the naga.

"I feel sorry for them, they don't stand a chance," Anthony says as he cleans the bits of drink that Mimi had spilled.

"Certainly seems that way," is all I can say as I watch as the groups of Raz family troops break off their attack and leg it for friendly territory, the biters moving in to support their robotic comrades. Of the fights, only the one with the Crimson clone seems to be going at least evenly, up until another jumps from a nearby building, slams into another bot, and the two of them start fighting off the various mechanical biters.

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

 

[VisV]

Yesh! is good!

Keep your pimp hand strong taylor!

 

[Judge_Dragon]

It's alive ALIVE.
Good to see this fic ain't dead. Also it seems like Taylor might be able to see her mother when she goes looking for her clones.

Kind of hoping that when she really starts to escalate it will be a scenario where the collective agitated growl of her Swarm would shake the ground. Also since her magic isn't limited to species I wonder if her territory would get a reputation for having a very docile fauna population. Well if not that then very little in the way of bugs.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

It's alive ALIVE.
Good to see this fic ain't dead. Also it seems like Taylor might be able to see her mother when she goes looking for her clones.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, sorry for the long wait, I was rethinking some of the things going on in the fic and in a few others I've been writing, especially because of how many threads I set down and have converging since unlike in video games you can't just do things one at a time as things will keep moving if you don't act fast enough. Taylor'll have to prioritise what issues to deal with as they continue to mount.

 

[Night Hunter]

I can feel my lips pursing and my bugs and biters acting up. Frankly what I am hearing is awful, but then Angel did die in the sixties.

Click to shrink...

Actually Angel die in 1947 accord to his bio. Apperently he was part of the mob and possible die from overdose.

Don't know if was a author mistake or Taylor is unaware when he die and make a guess.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

Don't know if was a author mistake or Taylor is unaware when he die and make a guess.

Click to shrink...

For some reason when I thought mafia I thought the sixties, don't know why, I'll fix that now. Though Taylor also doesn't know when Angel died that is true.

Edit: Fixed, she now guesses that Angel died before the sixties and the civil rights movement.

 

[stads]

nice chapter thx for writing it
make's sense that canada gets its own area of hell
polite hell and all that

 

[Greatazuredragon]

The clones are in hell... well that will complicate things by a lot.

Very nice chapter, thanks for the update.

 

[VisV]

Thread Necromancer

I've been lurking the SB thread! And I saw this.

Might actually make it so that Contessa isn't anywhere near Teacher and his gang when things start going haywire since she turned her PTV off once and immediately got captured by Teacher at some point. From what I've heard, Teacher got turned into the new Jack Slash where everything goes his way because everyone is an idiot and just lets him do things. Which either means Contessa ends up bagged and Blitzo ends up with stupid levels of money or Contessa doesn't end up in Teacher's prison.

Click to shrink...

I say do it, have Contessa git gibbed By the Immediate murder professionals while she is in her coma!

It opens a few things you can write about!

Like Contessa now without PTV being forced to work for the now vastly more powerful REAL SAVIOUR OF THE MULTIVERSE, that she killed... in the only way she can~

Also a sideplot with what Blitzo and co do now that they are more loaded then a decent chunk of hell's nobility.

You could have lucifer give em noble title for shits and giggles, because we know that sort of thing would cause all sorts of drama amongst hells uppercrust!

 

[VisV]

Seriously just imagine it...

Fortuna, now powerless, at the mercy of the girl she killed after she saved the multiverse... but that girl is the only thing keeping all her other victims from just torturing her.

Afterall as long as Fortuna works for taylor, all her victims can work out thier Frustration~ with her in... other ways~

 

[Thread Necromancer]

Thread Necromancer

I've been lurking the SB thread! And I saw this.



I say do it, have Contessa git gibbed By the Immediate murder professionals while she is in her coma!

It opens a few things you can write about!

Like Contessa now without PTV being forced to work for the now vastly more powerful REAL SAVIOUR OF THE MULTIVERSE, that she killed... in the only way she can~

Also a sideplot with what Blitzo and co do now that they are more loaded then a decent chunk of hell's nobility.

You could have lucifer give em noble title for shits and giggles, because we know that sort of thing would cause all sorts of drama amongst hells uppercrust!

Click to shrink...

I can certainly see Lucifer doing that because it would be funny. As for if it would happen, it is certainly possible, especially if they get enough uses to begin a better advertising campaign (or they just do what they did in the summer episode and some of the capes realise this. Way things are going, they are going to get slowly busier until they are hiring on new guys if nothing changes). It might even end up looking like some kind of demonic invasion when in reality it's just assassins coming to kill their target. Also would open up the idea that Hell is real and are coming to conquer the world if the Wardens don't get ahold of some imps to interrogate.

Seriously just imagine it...

Fortuna, now powerless, at the mercy of the girl she killed after she saved the multiverse... but that girl is the only thing keeping all her other victims from just torturing her.

Afterall as long as Fortuna works for taylor, all her victims can work out thier Frustration~ with her in... other ways~

Click to shrink...

Hmmm... I like where this is going.

 

[Wolfboy]

Hmmm... I like where this is going.

Click to shrink...

it reminds me of one of the final scenes in the movie "Wyatt Earp" with Kevin Costner, where years after the main story, he and his wife are one the steam ship to Alaska and the young kid comes up and asks him if he was Wyatt Earp, and then tells the story about the boy's uncle who Earp had kept safe from a lynch mob. note, found the relevant clip for those who don't have access to the movie itself

 

[Deathwings]

I can certainly see Lucifer doing that because it would be funny. As for if it would happen, it is certainly possible, especially if they get enough uses to begin a better advertising campaign (or they just do what they did in the summer episode and some of the capes realise this. Way things are going, they are going to get slowly busier until they are hiring on new guys if nothing changes). It might even end up looking like some kind of demonic invasion when in reality it's just assassins coming to kill their target. Also would open up the idea that Hell is real and are coming to conquer the world if the Wardens don't get ahold of some imps to interrogate.

Click to shrink...

I can just imagine the reaction when they interrogate an imp and discover that they're being sponsored by freaking Khepri. Death didn't stop her, it just made her even harder to counter.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 17

Made an edit to chapter 16 so that Taylor took a bed upstairs to the office in order to preserve her appearance as someone that could protect them.

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

When I came to one of Hell's hospitals, I didn't expect the place to look like it was a PRT base of operations inside an Endbringer disaster zone. The place was filled to the brim with what looked like machine gun nests. My bugs can also make out four different anti aircraft towers surrounding the place with more on the roof, and the electric fence was so high current that it was uncomfortable to even come close to it with my enhanced senses. Yet, some part of me called out to me to touch it as I passed. The guards almost looked like they were wearing some kind of variant of Dragon's Teeth while also armed with what looks like some kind of energy weapon guns. Much like with the fence, as I passed the guards, I couldn't help but train my senses on the guns, almost like it was calling to me or something. Perhaps it was some kind new instinct, because while it would have been nice to have an energy weapon, I'd never felt this kind of desire for an energy weapon as I felt as I passed by the heavily armoured guards with their high powered weapons.

In either situation, however, if I were in need of medical assistance, needed protection, and money didn't matter, I would definitely want to stay in this hospital, and not just because baser instinct in my new body yearned for those energy weapons.

I walk into the waiting room and I can already see Lars there with his wife Lilly. He's still in the suit he borrowed from Moxxie for the raid. He stands up from his seat, and while he tries to put on a smile, it slips near immediately. The imp beside me and my ride, Lee-Anne rushes over to him and Lilly, but slows down as she sees him try to smile again, but it doesn't even start to turn upwards, tears in his eyes as I can see him clenching his fists. I can smell blood, and I watch some blood begin to drip from his hands, his claws having opened up wounds in him.

For a long while, they just embrace each other, tears falling as they take comfort in each other. Compared to some of the reactions I've seen among those who've lost people, this is a bit more stoic than the horrible wailing I've heard from those who lost people in service, or those parents who lost their children who served as Wards in Chicago and other places. Just from the reaction, I don't think Lloyd will be going home today. After many long moments, they finally pull away, and then turn to face me.

"Miss Skitter," he says, his face stony as he looks up at me.

"I know that my face must be the last thing you want to see right now, the woman who failed you. I just want to say that I'm sorry, I should have planned more, and you have my sympathy," I say. I see Lars jaw clench, and he takes a few deep breathes before he answers.

"You're right, I don't want to see you right now. I want to see my son, standing tall, proud, and healthy before me," he gives another big sniff, and wipes his nose. "I also know I'm being unreasonable right now, and I certainly won't be reasonable for the next while. I want to fuck up the sinning bastard that killed my son and leave him out for the angels, I want to box that boy Felix's ear in for calling us out here, and I want… well I ain't going to say what I want to do with you Miss."

Lars breathes in deeply as he closes his eyes and runs his hand through his hair, before letting it out in a angry groan. "Thing is, my family's been lucky thus far. Barely a hand full of deaths to go around, and none from my immediate family until now. Not like how it was for my grandfather, not like how it was for my bothers and sisters. You'd think I would be used to it, having to stand there as my Father buried some of my siblings, buried some of his. You know my father lost twelve brothers and nine sisters before I was born? And I lost just as many brother and sisters out there in the wilds of Hell from bandit raids and other bullshit. All to build the little piece of paradise we live in out there today."

Lars sighs, tears in his eyes again as he wipes his face, seemingly tired out from his rant, his hands go into his pockets again as he looks down, Lee-Anne placing hand on his shoulder which he places a hand on hers as well.

"I… thank you for the concern; honestly, it means a lot to me that you can actually pretend to give a shit about us imps. Just… give me some time, I can't fucking see straight right now. Alright?"

I nod, backing away from him and leaving him to his grief, instead looking to the other two imps in the room. The other imps that came to the hospital look alright, Billy-bob actually looks, to borrow a rural colloquialism, fit as a fiddle, but Felix is in a wheel chair. I walk over and Felix looks up, doing better at faking a smile as he looks to me, though I can still see the pain in his eyes.

"Hey Boss, don't worry about me, nurse says I'll be back up to work in a day or so after the doc heals me up," Felix said, a little fearful and possibly worrying about his work, which was ridiculous… except that we are in Hell which probably means no labour laws. Either way I'm not too worried about how long his recovery takes.

"I'm sorry," is all I say and it's all I can say. Despite this, Billy-bob and Felix look up surprised, though for a moment, Felix looks a bit fearful.

"I should have done better research, and I should have prepared better. If it weren't for my neglect, this would never have happened," for a moment everyone is silent, before Billy-bob speaks up.

"Damn cuz, she must be new right?" to his question, Felix just nods.

"Yeah, I forgot that she only just died Only here long enough to lose the smell of the living world… fuck… wait, does that mean I get to keep my job?"

"We weren't planning on firing you," I say.

"Thanks Boss, it isn't much, but well at least I don't have to worry about that."

"So, when we going to do another attack?" Billy-Bob asks, looking me dead in the eyes. I raise an eyebrow, even though it makes sense.

"At the moment we have nothing planned as we're waiting to see the results of what we've done. After that, we will likely hit whoever is suffering the most, or is weakest in order to eliminate them quickly, before rounding on the other. If you wish to help with this, we might have a place for you and those others that want revenge with us if you would like. We will however have to discuss it at a later date since we aren't exactly in a private place at the moment." Billy-Bob frowns a bit at my pronouncement, but doesn't say anything more.

"How many might be joining us for revenge?" I ask, knowing it can't just be Billy-Bob wanting revenge. Revenge is a powerful motivator, especially when the target of that vengeful desire has hurt or even killed one of your friends and family.

"Just a few, Cousin Lary might stay here to help out, Uncle Lars and Aunt Lilly with Lee-anne, along with her new girlfriend are heading back to their home so they can bury Lloyd and start planning a small funeral. My brother Joe-Bob and me were close to Lloyd, so we were planning on staying, and uncle Cletus is kind of hoping to get some more loot before he heads back so he's looking to stay as well. Might be trying for one of your girls as well. As for the rest, either they are giving a part of their loot to the cause, or they wish they could help, but well… Home, compared to the rest of the places in the wastes, is a bit of a paradise, but not if they don't keep it safe, so they're going home to help protect it, plus, the Crimson gang aren't the only raiders riding the wastes," Billy-Bob explains as I nod along.

"If that's so, you are welcome with us for however long it takes for us to deal with those who hurt your family. Though you'll likely have to stay in the warehouse or in your vehicles as that is the best we've got at the moment. Help with the renovations would be nice as well since it can get us some better sleeping arrangements than what we have right now."

"Thanks, that's kind of ya, though we'll likely stay in Cletus' RV since he offered us the extra bedding there. Though, with your girls being right there, I doubt he'll be sleeping there too often."

Glad I figured out how to turn my antennae into earmuffs then.

Then I sense something, I adjust my antennae, looking in the direction I felt it. There is a lot of energy in the direction, but I ignore it, instead focusing on the magical energy being used.

"When you said you would be healed up, did you mean with magic?" I ask Felix, who nods.

"Yeah, the doc'll start healing me with his healing magic, kind of boost my regeneration so it doesn't effect those without that kind of stuff much, but it can help with recovery. After a few hours my spine should be fixed, turning what might have been a few weeks off work into a few hours long job."

"I see… do you think they will allow me to be there so that I can watch the process?" I ask while Felix just shrugs.

"Maybe? I know Lars and Lilly were with Lloyd in his final moments, so I doubt it's an issue," I nod along, already thinking of the possibilities. I'd controlled a few dozen parahumans with healing powers during Golden Morning, and had had to use them to great effect while I was commanding the army. If it weren't for those healers, our forces might not have had as many survivors during our fight, and were it not for Panacea, I wouldn't have survived until the end either. Hopefully it functions somewhat similarly to parahuman healing.

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

The hardest part of waiting for things to fall into place, is the waiting. Despite myself, I've grown less patient over the last little while. I've always had something to do, something to prepare for and a clear way of moving forward. In the Wards I had the ability to train, to work, to patrol. Even during my down time I was doing my best to build relations with other Heroes so that we could properly trust each other if we had to team up to fight Jack, so that we could do so without them looking at me with suspicion. Here in Hell, it's been a constant rush of trying to properly orientate myself, keep myself alive and free. Then there is my work to expand the Merchant's influence, territory, and power by attempting a false flag operation to start a gang war.

Now we just have to wait. Thank God for my birthday gift because it gives me something to do, well that and watch Mark while talking with Mimi.

"So you scooped out his eyes?" Mimi asks, having been relegated to listening to my stories while we babysat Mark. Adam was helping train his new workers, acting as the supervisor while Sherrel had actually gotten a new car to work on this morning, so they'd asked me to baby sit and Mimi came along to help and keep me company.

I nod as I continue to work on the thing I was making, my hands slowly getting used to using such small tools with my larger transformed body. Mark himself was cuddling up to my leg, giggling and gurgling as I lift my leg every once and a while for his entertainment while he holds on like a little monkey.

I'm just trying to knit some scarves for my people to wear, though where I'll get yellow dye I don't quite know yet. I've slowly been getting better, my first scarf Mimi had tucked in the back of Mark's shirt making it a cape. I'd accidentally made it too long, having not cut off my silk fast enough. The thing was long enough that it could even act as a blanket for the excitable tot. As for how I'd gotten distracted, I'd been paying a bit too much attention to some truck that was dropping off what looks to be another Eagleton robot for the Raz family.

"It was the only way I could think of to disable him, he was already powered up, and nothing else was weak, so I just gouged at them because otherwise he wouldn't have stayed down long enough for the PRT to pick him up," I say with the ball of bugs I have near by my head, acting as my voice while my mouth was occupied producing silk.

"Jeeze, I can see why you got your reputation, if you kept acting like that,"

"I never stopped really, even as a Ward I continued to go in hard. Most criminals didn't care for it and ended up giving up before things got to that point though. I actually had some of the best arrest records for a Ward that wasn't inducted extremely early in their life or from Brockton Bay and a few other areas which weren't really following the rules of what Wards are allowed to do." Mimi nods along as I talk, growing contemplative. For a moment she looks like she wants to say something but eventually thinks better of it before eventually asking something else.

"So I guess you are still going with the gang colour thing? With the yellow and black bits?" I nod again as I continue to knit.

"My people will have a scarf to show that they are my people, or under my protection."

"Anything else?"

"A bit of magical experimentation, you know how in movies and other media vampires can burst into a cloud of bats in order to move around?" Mimi nods at my question.

"I've been trying to figure out how to do that, or rather, how to create something of a clone of myself using those I possess."

"How?" to Mimi's question, I have the biter that had been resting beside me on the couch get up and jump down from it's resting spot. Mark immediately looks over to the furry black creature and detaches from my leg.

"I kind of feel as if I can do various things with the creatures under my control, including use some parts of it that I have no context for as either a human or a moth demon." I have the biter circle Mark so that Mimi can see the front of the biter as well. With the small magic that the biter has, I have it use it's ability. The biter's eyes start changing colours, shifting into a rainbow pattern, drawing both Mimi's and Mark's attention, especially Mark's. The colour shifting in the beasts eyes aren't anything special other than a somewhat similar spell to that of the body modification magic I learned from Angel Dust. I don't actually know why the biter has it though. It hadn't used it against me when I went through the alleyways and caught it.

"The only issue is that the creatures have a very limited amount of magic that can be used. That and I've only been testing this kind of thing lately."

"What if you possessed a person? I mean you can do that right?" Mimi asks. I think for a moment. It would likely have to be a sinner, as imps aren't as inclined towards magic as sinners are, though that brings up the question of acceptable targets.

"I think so, my possession isn't limited to bugs. Though… I am a bit hesitant to master people."

"Why? We're in Hell, there are only good targets." Mimi exclaims, to which I raise an eyebrow at her. As someone who was, presumably, raised in the same culture as me surely being mastered and mastering humans holds a bit of a stigma?

"Even yourself… Even little Mark here?" I ask. Interestingly, Mimi only seems to frown as I say for Mark, rather than herself. Curious.

"Okay, maybe not Mark," Mimi relents, but I press on a bit.

"But yourself? You are an acceptable target?" I ask. Mimi starts to look uncomfortable, looking to the ground at her feet.

"There are some good reasons why I'm in Hell…" Mimi says. For a moment we are silent, I continue to knit, while Mimi keeps her head down for a bit. Why was she so blasé about mastering? Did she want to be mastered? If so, why? Does she think being mastered will give her penance? I want to ask her, to break up this sombre moment, then Mark does something that breaks up the silence.

Mark makes a sound almost akin to a war cry and his tail shoots forward, the tip smacking up against my biter's face while Mark himself charges forward but falls on his hands and stomach. I have my biter reel back and let out a surprised yelp before having it sprint back to the couch. Mark explodes into a fit of giggles that draws Mimi's attention to him, having still seen the whole thing despite looking down. She begins to giggle as well, and I allow myself a little chuckle as Mark continues to giggle and gurgle on the floor, looking over to the biter that had retreated from him to safety.

Serving as a useful distraction, I pivot the conversation to something more concerning, like the Slaughter House clones. "Have you heard any news of any of the slaughter house nine running around?"

Mimi looks over almost immediately for a moment, before frowning, thinking for a bit. "Not exactly, at least, not until recently. There are enough psychos around here that any one of them could have been part of the Nine. Though lately, there have been easier to see examples. I saw burnscar on the news a few weeks ago once. She almost looked like her old self. Though she was off."

"Off how?"

"Off like she was just emotionless. News was slow so they only had a few shoot outs to show that day, but it was just before we realised how many people were about to show up. Some naked human looking people started fighting, and I saw some Burnscars among them, and they all looked like they were a part of the nine at some point."

"You could tell?"

"Um well um, yeah, she wasn't wearing a mask, and some of them never wore masks, you know?" I nod along, but am not very convinced. If it were as simple as to not wear a mask then maybe, but when I'd been revealed, it hadn't been so easy even when every corner had my face plastered to it, I had still been able to walk around Brockton for a bit without a mask and not be recognised. Unless Mimi had been killed specifically by Burnscar… or Mimi Mance…

The name couldn't be a coincidence. There hadn't been much on Mimi in her PRT profile other than she made sculptures of people made of fire occasionally and was a fairly powerful pyrokinetic. Even my own experiences with her were limited, but Burnscar was far more emotionless when I'd met with her, not so animated as mouse Mimi was. Though, I had seen Mimi use a bit of fire, or rather, imply it. It had been how she dusted the shop apparently, with a snap of her fingers and a bit of fire she'd gotten it clean in no time, and yet had enough control that she could only burn that and nothing else. Then there is also the fact that Mimi, despite being a woman on the street, had felt safe walking about with a twenty two, which judging by how effective my nine millimetre pistol had been on the first day without upgrades, might as well be a toy gun. While I can't say for certain, fire might be Mimi's way of defending herself.

Her profile said that her compassion and other emotions fade with the prevalence of fire, so now without her power, if Mimi really is Burnscar and it's not just some coincidence, Mimi was possibly herself again or rather, not so sociopathic as before.

"How could you tell that she was acting emotionless?"

"Um well, they managed to capture a cop, and kept him alive for some reason. He still had his body cam, so while they were torturing him, viewers got to see a few of the nine up close, and Burnscar was one of the ones torturing him, and she was so cold."

"Like there was a lot of fire around, was there a lot of fire?"

"No, not really."

"I see." Now how could a civilian know that? The fact that she would loose her emotions with more fire wasn't exactly that well documented outside of the PRT offices and documentation from the asylum.

"What happened to them?"

"They got rushed. Some kind of SWAT guys showed up, snipers took out most of those at the window and like cars of SWAT guys came in and took them out. Last part of the video showed a SWAT demon come in and fire off a bunch of magical scythes at everyone inside that wasn't a hostage. I can show you the video if you want? They're showing is actually kind of pathetic since only a few of them have powers, and those that still have their powers only have really reduced versions of them, like Burnscar could only make small fireballs and heat up her hands." Mimi says, unaware that for two years I'd been researching and watching various videos of the Slaughter House Nine both past and present for the final confrontation with them. Even so, it might be amusing to watch the Nine be taken down like low level villains by some police officers.

I nod my head to her and Mimi gets up from her spot to come over here, her phone already out of her pocket and typing. Eventually she sits down next to me, and leans into my larger and fluffy form, cuddling up like she had a while ago while showing me the videos of the Beast and other Crimson gang clashes. The video starts and while I watch, I continue to knit, and I have my biter jump down to play with Mark.

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

Typing a quick search into my phone, I look up the phone number I need and begin dialling. There isn't much of a chance of meeting in person, not with how delicate things are and with how things are developing in the gang war some blocks over. Though luckily, it seems that Crimson is continuing to be distracted by the forces of the Raz family, just not the regular kind.

When the Raz Family troops pulled back, they lost most of their Eagleton look-a-likes, but what is still prowling around there is their robo-biters, harassing and moving about, attacking at things that look important. With their enhanced strength and power due to their mechanical nature, they easily rip through thin sheet metal walls and weak doors, quickly hitting their target in a lightning strike before pulling away and fading into the alleyways.

It had pushed the regular members of the Crimson gang to either fortify their buildings or to move to ones that were better defended. With the attacks from before, they didn't suffer a significant amount of casualties from these biter attacks, but it did keep them from moving around except in large groups with heavy weapons. The powerful members of the Crimson gang, the snake, the two Crimson clones, and the Beast were out and about, exterminating biters and robo biters alike wherever they found them, but the robo biters act as if they were being controlled by a master, moving in sync and usually avoiding the four gang members.

"I.M.P., whadya want?" a bored sounding teenager answers the phone. Not particularly enthusiastic, but then this is Hell and people likely stop caring after a while unless threatened with something.

"I would like to talk to you're boss Blitzo, I have a few questions about your organisation."

"'kay," was her only reply before the phone cut for a second, ringing again before someone else picked it up.

"Yellow, Immediate Murder Professionals here, you're talking to Blitzo the "o" is silent, so who's the living son of a bitch that needs to get fucked," a man, likely Blitzo answers.

"I have a few questions about your organisation."

"Uhuh, what's your question sis?"

"How exactly do you find your victims?"

"What haven't you seen our advertisement? We have a magic book we use to get to the living world, and we also use it to find the fucker you want to kill."

"I see, are you able to track anyone with that book?"

"Kinda, I don't quite know how but we do some magic thing that lets us look into worlds of the living and check up on where stuff is, we find who we need to fuck up, and then figure out how to deal with them."

"Are you able to do the same for people in Hell?"

"Yeah, but we're assassins for people in the living worlds, we don't do Hell assassinations, especially because if we fail, they can come after us and you, m'kay?"

"Alright then, are you willing to deliver a message to someone who is alive?"

"Nah not really, see we go out to kill people, we aren't a postal service or something like that, plus doing stuff like that can get me and you into a Hell of a lot of trouble."

"And killing people won't?"

"Not if they aren't alive to tell no body up top, it's all good."

"I see, what do you normally charge for a kill?"

"Ten thousand, now are you going to ask me to kill someone or are you going to just keep yapping?"

"How does twenty thousand sound for just giving someone a letter?"

"Deal! No take backs, so who's this poor schmuck that gets to find out that Hell exists?"

"A woman by the name of Lisa Wilbourn, though she also goes by the name Tattletale. I don't have the letter ready yet but I'll have it ready in a few days."

"Alright, but you have to pay half in advance, then just call back when you want to send that letter. Fuck yeah! Hey Lun-" I put the phone down as Blitzo starts shouting at someone across the room, probably one of his employees.

I'll have to thank Moxxie for the advice. The imp had been rather useful in his suggestions on how to get Blitzo to agree to things. With everything being rather materialistic with his boss and the near complete disregard for the law so long as no one brought it up, he'd suggested Blitzo would do anything so long as the money was doubled. I.M.P. had already done some body guard duty for a noble by the name of Stolas because he offered to pay Blitzo more money than what their company made each assassination job.

While rather expensive for a letter, they do literally transcend life and death, entering into the lands of the living. Though, after all the payments for the renovations going on, establishing the budget for the basic needs of those saved, and planning the payments to those willing to join me. This spending is eating through my portion of the money from the raids rather quickly. I might have to do another raid on a vigilante target before this gang war is over with, or maybe even raid Crimson again.

Of course, now I have to write a letter to Lisa telling her I'm dead, my plans, everything that has happened…

For a moment I just sit in my chair at my desk, my phone down, not even properly paying attention to the various creatures under my control, and just stop for a moment. Lisa. I'll get to send a letter to Lisa. God it's been too long, and that short reunion was not enough, not nearly enough.

Granted, we weren't being reunited now, at least, hopefully not so soon… but at least… hopefully I can make up for cutting her and everyone else out from my life, and apologise for what I did to her, did to them. It won't make up for what I did, but maybe it'll be a start.

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

As I continue to work on experimenting with my magic, the truck that had delivered the Eagleton look-a-like finally arrives at its home. As it approaches the building, my biter gets ready to sneak out, and my bugs fly towards the building. Mentally I figure out the general area of the place is by generally how far away my bugs are and their direction. With my phone, I open up the maps feature and move the map until it's somewhere around an industrial area, not an exact match of course, but it's in the general direction. With my bugs on the driver, the man gets out and rings a doorbell. At the same time I move my biter back so that it can sneak out once things start getting moved into the truck.

The driver is some kind of automaton, vaguely man like and from what my biter had seen, was like some kind of mechanical man, complete with a skull head and metallic body parts. Seems like whoever was making these early models of Eagleton robots was really going all out on automatons. After a moment, the door opens and my biter sees that the bay doors were opening as well, showing a small warehouse beyond with Eagleton look-a-likes standing at the ready to be loaded up and shipped out. From what my biter can see, they are not on and not moving. There is nothing else around that my biter can see and with my bugs inside, I can't seem to find anything other than the two by the door and the deactivated Eagleton bots.

With some of the bugs that were a part of this small scouting swarm, I move them onto the one that opened the door and from the feeling the bugs were having, it was metallic as well, only less bulky to the point of being skeletal. Deciding to take a chance, I move my biter out of the truck, and move behind some kind of obstacle I'd felt by the bay doors, which turned out to be a fork lift. Looking back, my biter saw what looked like one of the robots from a Star Wars film that had the elongated heads and the skeletal bodies that had invaded that swampy/plains planet in that movie.

Then I noticed one of my bug get stuck, before quickly dying to something. I look over with my biter and spot a spider's web in the corner where the bug died, and some kind of lumb in the web. Looking back to see that the robots had moved away from the door and closed it, I move my biter to the web, find the spider, and with the meagre magic in my biter, possess the spider, then I have my biter look at the lump.

It's an egg sack, full of nearly mature spiders. Reaching over again, my biter works its magic into the miniscule minds of the tiny spiders. Within a day or so I'll have them hatch and spread throughout the facility. Looking around again, I spot an ajar door, and with my biter push it open and move further into the facility, moving my swarm about to see more of the facility and watch for more robots.

Beyond the door, the area opened up into a far larger factory area, in one area it seemed that some machines were being loaded with raw materials by a few of those skeletal Star Wars robots which went up a conveyer belt. Sensing with my bugs, parts are being slowly shaped and moved into different machines at the top and slowly making their way down towards the bottom, the parts leaving the machine growing more complex with every machine they gothrough. From what my biter can see, it ends with the final products being mostly parts. One robot at the end of it is working on putting all of the various parts together into a mechanical biter.

The last robot was closer to that of the diver robot; only it seems far more complete. The thing had plating over it, and seemed to have a proper colour scheme about it. Dark metals with a kind of bronze lining along the edges of its various plates. As it turns around, its face is almost cartoonish, with one large eye and a smaller eye, both lit up. It seems to have for a mouth a kind of small rectangular opening but other than that, nothing else. It seems to have the hulking biter nearly done as it moves to connect the rather large biting head of the mechanical biter onto the neck, before using a finger as a screw driver to fasten the head. Then finally, it stands up, raises its hands up high above its head, its fingers shifting to Tesla coils, and finally lighting starts firing from its hands, entering into the machine. For a moment I wish I was there with my enhanced senses watching the thing, so I could understand magically what was going on. Just watching it through a biter, however, was useless. The mechanical biter stood up after a moment, looking around, and panting as the robot pet the mechanical dog.

Then the robot points towards where my biter is watching and said one word in a tinny robotic voice.

"Fetch," realising that my biter had been caught, I have it try to bolt away but as it reaches the door, the steel teeth of the mechanical biter grabs the skin and fur on the back of my biter's neck, gripping it tightly enough to cause a bit of pain but nothing serious. Even so, I have my biter thrash, even though it's useless. These biters usually thrash if picked up, and who knows, maybe it will give my biter a chance to escape. The mechanical dog turns around and walks towards the assembling robot, and the assembling robot crouches down to look at my biter, grabbing the head and looking it straight in the eyes.

"Hmmm, possessed hmm? Now, who are you? The PCP!? No, they dissolved months ago… the Vigilantes? They're always getting new recruits from those who die above… hmm… the Crimson gang? Mmmmmm maybe… though… it could be Pentious… No, no, possession isn't his style… a curious master perhaps?" the robot muses at my biter for a moment, and I quickly realise this was no Automaton, but a sinner.

"Well whoever you are, know this, Addison A-lectronics and Robotics is open for business, and if you have the money, we've got the bot for you! You can contact us as 666-1638-9999-5555-2385! Order now! Our stock is limited due to the abundance of sales of my own creation, the Rob-o! Now scram unless you have business with me," and with that my biter is dropped to the ground. The robot tinker walks to the door and opens it, pointing outwards. Without further prompting needed, I have my biter run out the door and out of the warehouse before looking at the factory itself.

What a strange encounter…

 

[Edifier]

The siren call of the bug zappers.

 

[VisV]

I see that the moth desires... L A M P.

All is right with the world.

Also Lisa Letter! Lisa contact!

Is overlord skitter going to end up endorsing I.M.P at some point?

 

[Thread Necromancer]

Is overlord skitter going to end up endorsing I.M.P at some point?

Click to shrink...

Quite possibly, though at the moment they are more a service for her to use, but then, people generally become patrons of those services they like to use.

 

[Finagle007]

"Deal! No take backs, so who's this poor schmuck that gets to find out that Hell exists?"

"A woman by the name of Lisa Wilbourn, though she also goes by the name Tattletale. I don't have the letter ready yet but I'll have it ready in a few days."

Click to shrink...

Does the book work on assumed names? Because while we know that Lisa's real name is Sarah Livsey, Taylor doesn't...

 

[Thread Necromancer]

Does the book work on assumed names? Because while we know that Lisa's real name is Sarah Livsey, Taylor doesn't...

Click to shrink...

I am more thinking that they open up a viewing portal to get a general idea of where people are, then search around for people talking about some kind of Lisa and look from there. Course, then they'll see the portal, shift target worlds from there to Gimel, and see the starting of the city's miss management begin. Might even make a good show if IMP can somehow film the decision making and management of the city for city planners and other people to rage at on line and hate watch. Otherwise, why would Luna have the job of figuring out who the proper target was, and why would there be an issue with possible targetting if it auto tracked the kid rather than having to do research on the target?

 

[Deathwings]

Lisa : Pass messages between me and Taylor for free and I'll do all the target investigating for you. Locations, weaknesses, the whole nine yards.
Blitzo : Nice try but n-
Luna : Deal.
Blitzo : LUNA!