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The Skittering Chaos (Worm/Hazbin Hotel)

Really nice edit. I don't remember, was that different font for Alastor's speech there originally? I feel like no. If so, it was a great addition and a way to transfer his speech to text. Though you forgot to change the font of this part:
"Were I humble I'd say that I couldn't have done it better myself, but then even when arriving in this place I had a bit more experience than most in the ways of magic, and less allies to care about.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, allow me to introduce myself, the name's Alastor and it's a pleasure to meet you my dear, always a pleasure to meet a fellow chaos bringer, especially a speedy one such as yourself! Why I haven't seen this quick and brutal a slaughter since one of Lilith's ladies and her daughters fought their way through the tree fort of all those superhero wannabes! Hahaha,"
 
Really nice edit. I don't remember, was that different font for Alastor's speech there originally? I feel like no. If so, it was a great addition and a way to transfer his speech to text. Though you forgot to change the font of this part:
Thank you for that, it originally wasn't but that's because it was late at night when I finally posted the edits and I hadn't realised that my formatting had been eaten by QQ until after Qaw posted about the eyes.
 
Oh, if you'll pardon the pun, HELL yes!

The Alastor scene worked before, but now it's fun.

(That said, if you're looking to continue to improve, you seem to have an issue with both run-on sentences and unnecessary commas. Obviously it's not a hard and fast rule, but I'd suggest giving sentences that are divided up into too many parts some extra scrutiny in the future.)


More specific reactions:
As I snap a picture, I feel some kind of magic behind me, a sudden displacement of air, the sound of rubber squeaking on blood, and what sounds like the buzz of an old radio coming into tune.

Outside, I coalesce my bugs into balls near where my imps, and fellow former capes are.

"Someone just teleported in, he's powerful. Don't come in yet, but be ready if this goes badly"
Very effective into. If you haven't seen the pilot, it lets the imagination run wild. If you have... I imagine for anyone reading through this for the first time that radio coming into tune would be a major "Oh shit" moment. It also sells how serious his presence is to see Taylor taking him seriously: from the moment he shows up, her full attention is on dealing with new threat.

Fits the story beats, too. The last few chapters gave us a taste of just how terrifying Taylor could be, and now we're seeing that put into perspective. Taylor's become the big fish in her own little tide pool... but there's a great big ocean out there, and the sharks are hungry.

"Territory? Ha! No no my dear, I don't deal in territory, politics or anything else of the sort. I merely enjoy the drama of the moment, the chaos as everything falls apart, which let me tell you, that little shindig I heard up on Earth Bet, unfortunate, but the aftermath has been wonderful to watch."
This is pure headcanon, but I always figured the title of Overlord was assigned based on overall power and influence. The type of power doesn't matter too much: minions, money, technology, political connections, magic... it all totals up. Different Overlords presumably have different mixes.

Alastor is the only one to qualify as an Overlord entirely on personal magical strength. No organization, no income, no territory. Just the ability to tear down everyone and everything around him, any time he likes.

"Can you listen through all the radios in Hell?" I ask, and the demon shrugs.

"Radio, broadcast, etcetera and all that, unless a visual medium is used, that's all Vox's forte.
...I think Taylor's communication bug-balls just got very important. Right now, it might be the only way to communicate they have without others listening in.

"How do you like Hell so far? Enjoying your stay here? How does the big bad… Actually, what should I call you? Skitter, Taylor? Or would you prefer one of your more recent names, the one that those above speak in hushed, traumatised tones
"Skitter then, how do you feel about a little interview, something for my show you see. Maybe act as a bit of inspiration for myself hmm? I do need to get some new material and interviewing the girl who every new arrival from Earth Bet is scared of because of that whole mastering thing,"
...You know, sometimes when I read fanfic, I like to imagine how things might seem if the same event were part of a different story. One about another one of the characters, from a different perspective. How things might look from the outside, if we all didn't know exactly who Taylor is and what she did.

This? This is a good intro for her. Doesn't say exactly what is is she did in life, but foreshadows enough for us to start thinking along certain lines. Enough to know that, whatever it was, it was bad.

as he spoke, the image on the map changed as various different heads and faces began to appear, with myself at the bottom of the little mural, a tiny moth in a fluffy coat looking up at giants who loom over the mini me. I don't recognise most of them, but I do see Valentino there, among them, with three others right by him. Surprisingly the one at the top isn't some classical devil armed with a pitch fork and with a goatee, but rather a well dressed man with a top hat and an apple pin on his hat. Then I notice Alastor among them, a self picture of himself, around the middle of the mural, his original smile there alongside with his pupils being replaced by radio dials.
This is honestly a really cool moment, taking an image we remember from the show and recontextualizing it. It's a great way of showing just how far Taylor has yet to go and how outgunned she is, while also making the fic feel like Hazbin by typing back to the show.

"I thought not. Now both of these men, in one way or another work or worked, for your big neighbour. Now Miss Skitter, how would you react if your subordinates were to end up getting killed one after another by a tiny gang? Would you perhaps squash them like a bug?"
You do a much better job of selling the reader on the deal in this version, I think, instead of just having us screaming at Taylor not to do the dumb thing. In particular, this passage really drives home that she needs protection, that being wiped out by Valentino isn't just a maybe but something that's going to happen soon if she doesn't accept.

That said, it's Taylor. Defeating enemies far outside of her weight class is what she does.






...Also, a random thought that doesn't have anything to do with the update: Taylor stole her new magic-drain technique from a Crimson clone. Clones have been established to have almost no magical strength, meaning that the original version at least must require very little magic to do. And Skitter was established earlier to be struggling to cast magic through her insects because they didn't have enough power to do much of anything useful.

Maybe we'll get to see a magic-draining swarm in the future? Assuming I understand how this works correctly, it wouldn't actually make Taylor any stronger unless she used it personally. She'd just get bigger/more magically powerful bugs under her control. But that in itself would be an asset...
 
You do a much better job of selling the reader on the deal in this version, I think, instead of just having us screaming at Taylor not to do the dumb thing. In particular, this passage really drives home that she needs protection, that being wiped out by Valentino isn't just a maybe but something that's going to happen soon if she doesn't accept.
This.

Doesn't make it true, but then it doesn't need to be true to be believed.

She'd just get bigger/more magically powerful bugs under her control.
Permanent upgrade to Hell's ecosystem? Permanent upgrade to Hell's ecosystem GOGOGO. Kill Skitter, and you soon won't need the Angels to deal with overpopulation.

"and perhaps attracting any allies you might have that didn't make it through your little apocalypse. It would also attract your enemies but what's a little challenge hmm? Besides, you seem to have the general rabble well in hand," he says as he flings his hand out towards the room of corpses.
Still missed this part.
 
The producers of Hazbin Hotel just leak some footage of the redesign of Charlie and release her surname, "Morningstar".

Her new looks will be a bit more ominous such as her clothes color acquire a more bloody appearance and red eyes. She would be downright terrifying if she was not such cheerful person.
 
Chapter 22
The Skittering Chaos Chapter 22

Absolutely huge thanks to Scheissdrauf who beta'd this chapter and now the previous chapter as well. If you are so inclined, I would highly recommend reading the previous chapter to see what improvements have been made to it. Without further ado, please enjoy chapter twenty two~!

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

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Of course, it's not like we won't hug again. It's been far too long for me not to try to hug Mom again, and I know Mom'll too. Even so, the hug has to end. I pull away from Mom and turn to see the clones noticing my forces looking in. Adam and Sherrel are poking their heads in while my imps are watching what's going on.

"Going by the fact that you ain't shooting at each other, and that whole hug there, that you know these guys, Skitty?" Adam asks as I nod.

"Yeah, this is my Mom," I say as Mom steps forward while I place a hand on her shoulder. It's strange being able to do that for once.

"Hello, I'm Annette, I'm glad that Taylor could find someone to help her out after everything that's happened. Though, Taylor," she starts before turning to me. "While it did help us find you so quickly, did you really have to go back to being a warlord so soon?"

"Mom-" I start but she interrupts.

"I mean considering the kinds of stuff that goes on down here I don't blame you, but couldn't you have taken some time off and maybe relaxed a bit? I mean you just got out of figurative Hell, surely you could have taken a load off, maybe… no, you've had hang ups about that kind of stuff, but…" Mom tries to continue, but she shakes her head, wraps her hands around my waist again and pulls me close.

"Sorry, I'm babbling, it's just. It's just. Watching your career, seeing you get 'out'ed, and then go to Endbringer fights, it's just. I don't feel like you've been taking care of yourself is all. Then there was everything with…" she pauses again, before pulling away. "We can talk about it another time. It… well, things were, and some still are rather sensitive with Rose and Scurry, Satan only knows how bad it will be with your paranoid clone when we finally find her."

"There's still another clone out there?" I ask Mom and she nods. I vaguely remember there being three clones, with Rose likely being the one who didn't speak at all, and Scurry was obviously the rat controller we called Chitter. There had still been the paranoid one who'd called into question Lisa's motives and everything else. Scurry starts to speak up but Sherrel interrupts:

"Hold on, clones? Like, evil clones?" Sherrel asks.

"Maybe once, but not anymore," Mom says with a bit of force, while I lean over.

"Not anymore?" I ask in a low voice while Mom shake her head.

"Mastering goes away after, and while Echidna affected their personalities, a part of their hatred was at least partially to do with mastering, your… we can talk about this later, or, no your sisters can tell you when they're ready," Mom says, I want to press her on it but Adam speaks up:

"Shit Skitty, you sure you ain't the hero or some shit of your own comic book and shit? 'Cause shit like that is exactly the kind of bullshit that a comic book hero ends up messing around with," Adam asks and I shake my head, a small breathy snort coming out. Sherrel meanwhile decides to continue his point.

"Hey, you were a villain, so wouldn't that mean that they're you're good twins rather than your evil twins?" she asks, her usual open mouth shifting to a toothy grin.

"There's more to it than that," Scurry comments, looking down a bit as she plays with her sleeve a bit, like I used to do back in high school, though as she says that Mom jumps in.

"None of my daughters are evil"

"Shit mamma bird, I know, I get that shit, we was just having a bit of fun. And obviously there's going to be more to that shit, can't just do evil clone and play it straight, that shit boring, there's always a story line or some shit that makes this clone different then that-" Adam starts to say before Mom this time interrupts him.

"Look, lets get back on track, I never did get your names. Though, considering that you've set up the Merchants again, and the fact that you look like a sex doll version of yourself, I'm going to assume that you're Squealer," Mom starts as she looks at Sherrel before turning to look at Adam. "And going by the bandana, Skidmark right?"

"Shit, got it in one, how about that," Adam replies. As he does so, I hear a buzz from my phone and take a brief look at it.

Anthony: Got everything secured boss, and we're going to drop your guy's loot off at your warehouse, make sure to be there to pick it up and keep people from stealing shit.

Pulling the phone out fully, I type up a quick text to Anthony and send it off.

Skitter: Bring us the APC, the van is out of commission.

"Anthony's coming to deliver the armoured vehicle that the Crimson gang had to us," I say as Sherrel's face lights up, her toothy grin spreading even wider, turning practically manic.

"Aw fuck yeah, serves the bastard right for fucking up my ride!"

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

Like a lot of APCs, the one that came up for us looks like someone had strapped wheels to a somewhat rounded cargo container. The PRT had a sleeker ride though and the turret on top was a containment foam sprayer most of the time. Amusingly the PRT ones were more intimidating even though this one has an anti-personnel cannon on top of it. The moment it drives up, Sherrel squeals in delight as she runs towards the vehicle. As she does so, her bits begin to bounce around; jiggling in ways I can't help but watch. As she runs to the APC, her rear…

Then I hear Mom snort, and look over to her to see her smirking at me. I'm about to look away, when I notice that beside her are my two clones, both of them staring at Sherrel in a similar way. Rose had even lowered her glasses and has a smile on her face, while Scurry's blush is turning her face red as she keeps trying to look away before her eyes get drawn back to Sherrel fawning over her new APC. Had they… but I shake my head. It's this place. Angel said it himself, that this place changes people, eventually. After all, since Hell is so full of sin, it makes sense that eventually people'll change to their environment, and my clones had obviously been corrupted.

I don't even like girls in that way…

Shaking my head, I look away from the APC and the admittedly eye drawing form of Sherrel's shapely body. Instead I look off to the distance, past Mom before frowning. So I found Mom, I need to figure out who else died. Alec's still over in Canada, probably. If I'm able to use that VTOL of hers, then it might avoid the issue of the dangers that Adam and Sherrel dealt with while out in the wastes. Plus it would be faster. From there, then maybe I can figure out who died from Golden Morning. Not many under my control died, though there were some sacrifices. Despite not being entirely there, a whisper trapped in my own body really, I… don't remember any of my friends dying. Even so, it would be good to get reassurance. I know Lisa's alive, Blitzo confirmed it, but perhaps I can negotiate with the imp to figure out who else died?

Though, Mom has resources. She wouldn't have found me otherwise, not to mention the VTOL. Better safe than sorry just in case Blitzo can't find them for one reason or another. Plus, maybe it will prepare her to see Dad again. I… I know we never moved on, but maybe…?

"Mom…" I say, drawing her attention once more. "I think that Dad… he might be dead, he might be down here with us."

Mom blinks and frowns. "I kind of assumed that was the case. Though I already have some private investigators looking for Danny since my usual source for finding people has been rather reticent as of late to help me locate people as of a few months ago. I had to hire one for you as well, but now I don't have to keep paying him to look for you now. As for Danny, I'm not sure if he made it out alright or not, and with news on the surface being rather sparse now in addition to the internet just being gone up there on Bet and a few other worlds, I couldn't be sure. Hell, I wasn't even sure you were dead until my investigator got a lead about someone named Skitter hiring Mr. Spade to go looking for one of your old team mates."

So Mom had been watching my cape career, or at least, was watching the official broadcast about me, though depending on when she or the clones found each other, she might have found out about my time as Skitter fairly close after the whole Echidna debacle. Likely a highly biased view in one way or another depending on how Echidna's mind bending affected the clone's personalities and perspective on things "So you get news about the world here?"

"Yup, while most of the stuff is made here in Hell, there are quite a lot of pay to view channels on the TV that deal with the various Earths they connect to," Mom says as she nods along. "I mainly just watched the Earth Bet channels but I doubt that there's going to be much else on other than the various emergency broadcast channels."

"Yeah, I guess so," I say as I turn away and start to head towards the APC. As I do I call out, my bugs buzzing to alert my imps as well. "Come on; let's get out of here before something else happens."

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

As we turn onto our street, the small crowd that had gathered outside all freeze as we drive closer. The whole of the APC is still painted up to look like it's a Crimson vehicle after all. A few from the crowd break away and run to the door of the shelter while others merely stand there. I feel someone starting to use magic in the crowd.

Which promptly dies away as I form a bug clone, standing atop the APC while the rest of the imps round the corner behind us. Imps and a few others are sticking their fists out of the windows as cheers erupt from the small crowd who had been waiting for us.

The hero's triumphant return if I've ever seen one. Sherrel drives us right to the crowd, while others shove the doors open and climb out. A few imps get engulfed by the crowd as slowly we stumble our way towards the exit of the APC. A few of my girls have already begun to kiss a few of the heroes while the rest of us hop out the back. Grabbing the dried out husk of the Beast, I make my way out as well. As I reach the back of the APC, I fling the corpse ahead of me to land in an open spot on the ground before jumping out myself.

"The Beast is dead, and Crimson is no more!" I shout, and immediately the crowd explodes in cheers once more. Some run up and start attacking the corpse, kicking it, clawing at it. Others come up and I get hugged a few times while I try to reciprocate. There are a few calls of "thank you" mixed in with the cheering while I followed Glenn's steps in how to appear to bask in the praise for moment. While this victory isn't much, and probably doesn't deserve this kind of praise, it is nice none the less. I never dealt with the public much, and the closest to this kind of reaction were the cheers of Boston's political elite raising their glasses to me and the rest of the Wards, or when I returned from fighting back to my territory, though it's closer to the later now.

Of course there are those other PR events, but I avoided those as much as I could. They were a waste of time, and while I did have my fans, I knew I could better spend my time researching, or training myself and the others. I hadn't given myself up for a chance of fame and recognition; I'd already started to get some of it after the entire Echidna debacle took place.

"Like an Amazonian princess returning from conquest," Mom notes behind me as she jumps down. I look back at her.

"You disapprove?" I ask, as despite how the Amazonians of Greek legend were great symbols of female empowerment, they were still barbarians and uncivilised. Yet Mom shakes her head.

"No, not in the slightest. Circumstance makes us and despite all these trappings of civilisation, there is a distinct lack of civility in this city. Even before in Brockton Bay it was similar, but at least there were places where we could get away from it all and just enjoy ourselves for a bit. Here, well… the places that are safe are rather more limited," the last part has her gaze turning off in a certain direction towards the sky scrapers. Though, I can't see where myself.

Turning her head she looks up at the building I'm restoring with the various rafters hanging off the thing, imps either working or watching the festivities as windows are repaired.

"I'd heard you already likely had a place, though I assumed that you were crashing with some friends," Mom said and I shrug.

"It's something of a recent expansion, I needed somewhere to put the people rescued from Crimson, and no one was using it so I've taken it over. It's also got an office that I've started to use as well," Mom nods along, though as she nods she spots a few of the signs that the imps have put up on the sides of the building. Generic neon lights of an XXX, something I remember signing off of without really thinking about it.

"Getting involved in prostitution?" Mom asks lightly, seemingly catching the notice of my clones as well as they look over to where Mom's looking now. Mom herself has moved on though, looking around at the girls, possibly with a new light.

"I'm more just giving them a safe place where they can work their trade, most of them would have ended up doing so anyways, and those that aren't interested are already about to move on or are working with Skidmark on his drug operation," I try to explain but Mom doesn't really react except for a knowing smile as she looks at me, a slight and nearly silent chuckle coming from the owl demon. Then she turns back to my base while wrapping an arm around my shoulder. By now I've shrunk down, no longer the massive creature I'd become after drinking the Beast's blood. While I'm still am a bit taller than Mom in my true demon form, it isn't by much.

"I'm sure that was the only reason you opened this place up Taylor," she says, though I don't really know what she's implying. Yes the money is nice, but with how things are, looting from the corpses of my enemies is far more profitable. Speaking of enemies, I ought to check on how the vigilantes are doing, though not now.

"The money is nice," I mutter, not really wanting to lie to Mom, but that just makes her chuckle harder.

"Right, money," she says, a bit of a blush forming on my cheeks, finally realising what she's implying. To be fair, the lot of them are generally all good looking, and some of them are exceptionally beautiful even in their emaciated state, enough that it would have made me extremely jealous back when I was a teen. I like to think that I've grown beyond that now though.

"Well, aren't you going to show me around? Maybe let me see what exactly you've got going for yourself here? I'd love to see what my little owl has managed to get done in just a month," Mom says as her smile turns from cheeky to just happy. I mirror her while a few people seem to take notice.

Oh god, that stupid rumour. I hope Mom doesn't hear it while we're here. Meanwhile, I sense a certain mouse making her way through the crowd before slipping in near me.

"You know, you never did tell me what you do now," I say, giving a bit of a hint towards the direction I want the conversation to go. Plus, keeping this up would be a good way of keeping Mom from hearing the rumour as well.

"Oh you're right! We've just been all caught up in finally seeing each other and being together and all of this I haven't even told you about anything I've done since I got here. I know the broad details of what you've been doing up top but you've heard nothing about me for the past three years! We've got a lot of catching up to do my little owl, or should I call you my little moth hmm?" she asks as my smile widens a bit as I bump her.

"Whatever works Mom," I say as she giggles a bit.

"Alright then, well I guess to start off things have been going absolutely great for me. I mean there was a rough patch at the start. I first arrived butt naked with horny demons all over the place in some small city out in the wastelands. Yet, I got a bit luckier than most since I actually was able to get away from the horny hordes of hellions and ended up in a fight after finding a cadaver with a loaded gun. Things were a lot calmer back then, but it didn't help that I managed to piss off what seems like the whole damn city," and then she starts to regale me on her journey through Hell, her raging rampage through the streets of New Roe as she took on a cult called the "Followers of Aphrodite" that had taken over the small wasteland city and how things had just kept snowballing. It almost sounds like something straight out of an action flick that the male wards would like to pick when they got to choose for movie night.

Mimi meanwhile follows as we make our way to my office. She doesn't speak up, but she is there. Mom notices her but continues on with her story of everything that's been going on, how she ended up getting recruited by Lilith of all things after dealing with the cultists. Lately she's been body guarding one of Hell's princesses, a girl named Charlie who's up here in the Ring of Pride doing charity work.

What a world, where a demon born of Hell is a better person that most of us humans turned demons. Then again, I guess that's why all of us are in Hell and have been turned into demons, when we're just as bad if not worse than the Hell-born demons. Going by all the shootings, the general chaos and disregard for life that we seem to have up here on the ring of Pride, maybe there's a good reason why we apparently can't got to the other rings of Hell?

"So that's the gist of it, I left out a lot of parts though," Mom says as we enter the office, Scurry and Rose still with us along with Mimi. As we enter, Mom rounds on her, giving her a once over.

"Friend or girlfriend?" she asks.

"What?" the two of us ask nearly in unison as I'm still trying to register what she said, but Mom just giggles a bit.

"You know what I mean," she says, strutting over to Mimi who's stuck looking up at her. "I mean I don't know your type really. I know Rose and Scurry's but not yours. After all, you weren't old enough to have a type when the accident happened."

Mom continues to stalk around Mimi, inspecting her up and down like a predator. Mimi keep her wits though, merely sticking her hands in her pocket and cocking her hips. I can feel a bit of a fiery pulse in Mimi and I know that she keeps her gun in her pocket. Mimi's no doubt has quite a bit of experience dealing with rather predatory people.

"Mom," I start to say but Mimi replies to her question right after.

"Friend," is all she says, and Mom makes a clicking sound, almost sounding disappointed.

"And you're so cute too," Mom says, the disappointment rolling off her tongue and I can imagine her almost pouting were it not for the beak. Then she looks over to me while pulling away from Mimi, "but then I guess you're going through the same thing as the others," she says while the clones share a knowing look. I don't like that knowing look, but at least it isn't conspiratorial, merely the kind of look siblings or friends give to each other when something's ironic. Which doesn't really make much sense; I've never shown any interest in women, even if I can clearly understand and see what some men enjoy in regards to women.

Looking over to Mimi briefly, while she's petite in the chest, she does have what the boys from the Wards would call "thick thighs." They're nothing on Sherrel's which could probably have smothered Leviathan were she to wrap them around his face. Plus, she's certainly cute, though that could be the mouse thing going for her with the rather large ears, curious look, and baggy hoodie on her. Right, enough of that, moving on.

I sit down at my desk; the sound of music starting up begins from one of the boom boxes that someone had already bought. From it I can hear the latest pop music of Hell playing as the party downstairs starts to kick off once again. The clones moves to the window and take a peak outside down to the main part of the floor. MILF hadn't finished putting up solid flooring so there is still space to look through to the main floor where the party is starting to pick up.

"I guess one thing has stayed the same," Scurry says as she looks out to the floor.

"What's that?" I ask, but she doesn't look at me.

"The Merchants, they're still having parties all the time…" she says before rounding on me. "So, Skidmark… really?"

Her expression is like a looking glass into my old life, a mirror staring accusingly at me and my body. Only this isn't some mirror, and the accusing expression isn't over my inadequate body.

"Repayment of a deed well done and he has changed," I say and her eyebrow rises.

"Is that so? While I can certainly say you've changed, you could certainly fit in with Squealer with a slight change in attire," she snipes and while I could take that as an insult, I instead quirk my lips a bit smiling at her, and her still gawky and strangely proportioned teenage body. She's definitely jealous. "But he seems the same, still running drugs, still running a gang, still… well still doing everything he did before."

That part, however, puts a bit of a damper to my amusement. "My fault unfortunately, in truth. Before I came along, he was an upstanding citizen. More than upstanding really, down right heroic if how we met is anything to go by how he acted before I met him again."

"Really, we're worse than Skidmark? I highly doubt it," she says.

"Now Scurry, just because someone ended up in a bad place doesn't mean that they're bad people. After all, I'm sure we've all done things while in a bad place. I mean the three of you ended up villains after all," Mom says, no accusation in her voice

"No, he was definitely a bad person, but like you said, Mom, he did change." I say. "The Skidmark we knew before though is no more. I don't know exactly when he died, but at some point he and Squealer turned their lives around for the better here in Hell. Pulling themselves from the gutter and made themselves a nice little living across the street. Granted it is a drug mill that he made himself to make ends meet, but with how our demonic regeneration works and the fact that there's no laws against it, drugs far less of an issue than in the living world."

"Huh, I wonder what changed," Scurry asks.

"Lots of things, he arrived in Hell, had a kid, and a few other things, which begs the question, what about you two? What happened after you both ended up here?" I ask, finally catching the attention of my less socially inclined clone.

"I kind of just wandered around for a bit before finding Mom, or well, she found me. I didn't know she was here until she was chasing me down an alleyway. I… she thought I was you, and for a bit I didn't have the heart to tell her," she said, looking away from us to Mom, holding her arm as if shamed by it but Mom just walks over and wraps Rose up in the hug.

"You should have seen the look on my face. I ended up stopping in the crowd for a solid minute. Accidentally scared my little Rose into a pack of biters and I only just managed to save her in time," she says while rubbing her chin against Rose's head between the horns.

"What changed?" I ask.

"I saw Scurry one day." I look over to Scurry, but she looks away, instead finding her rat suddenly rather interesting, pulling a bit of cheese from a pocket and passing it to it.

"I don't want to talk about it," she says, her words firm, the entirety of her focus on her pet as she stroked it's fur, even nuzzling it's nose a bit. Mom meanwhile reaches over and puts a hand on her shoulder, and with a tug, she comes over while Mom hugs them both. I guess that's fair enough. I look to Mom but she just shakes her head and her head leans over so that her beak is pointing down at Scurry. I guess if she wants to, Scurry will tell me about what happened in due time, if ever.

"Alright then. If you wish, feel free to take part in the rest of the festivities," I say. The pair frown, almost confused a moment, until I send a buzzing insect by them. I know what my teenage self would have thought. Neither objects. Rose nods before extracting herself from Mom's hug and heading out of the office when something buzzes in Scurry's pocket and she pulls out a cell phone. She shares one look with Mom who just giggles.

"Sorry, I have to take this," she says before making a speedy retreat from the room as well. The name on the screen is too far away to see, but the picture is that of an owl demon. Not Mom, but of someone else, someone younger, and wearing a beanie. Mom almost looks at me expectedly, but after a moment of nothing, Mom herself frowns as she tilts her head.

"Not going to join in on the fun?" she asks, but I shake my head.

"I still have things to do. I need to figure out how to integrate the Raz family into the Merchants properly, I have to plan a trip to Canada to see if I can bring an old team mate, Regent, into the fold, and I have a letter I need to write," while from the drawer, I pull out some paper and a pencil.

"A letter, to whom?" Mom asks, and I hesitate a moment, remembering what Blitzo said, that communication between the living world and the world of the dead is strictly prohibited. Not to mention those rules were likely made by her boss' husband. Would it really be a good idea to tell her this? But then, she's Mom.

"To one of my team mates that's still alive, I've recently found a way that I can get a letter to her. Though it costs a fair bit," I say while an eyebrow rises.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? How do you know they're not scamming you?" she asks.

"I've met a few of their employees and quite a few of my imps are actually family to one. They vouched for their company, it wasn't the boss by the way," I say while writing out the initial part of "Dear Lisa" though I don't continue just yet.

"Okay, um, who are they?" Mom asks.

"A company going by I.M.P, they're apparently a company specialising in assassinating targets in the living world. They agreed to deliver this letter however," I say as a bit of recognition dawns on Mom's face.

"Oh, that's that company who's Stolas' lover runs," then her eyes widen more as she seemingly realises something. "So that's why Stolas couldn't help me with finding you guys," she mutters under her breath, though I still catch it. Then she notices my tilted head and slightly twitching antennae.

"Oh, sorry, just some Ars Goetia drama that's kind of putting Scurry's girlfriend through a rough patch at the moment. Anyways, just something to include in your letter, or maybe even to get you to reconsider writing it, is that we, and by we I mean those in charge, do not like the idea of Hell existing getting out," Mom says, matter of factly.

"Why's that?" Mimi asks, piping up as Mom leans back against the wall.

"Well, imagine that people actually knew that there was an afterlife? Now, who wants to end up in Hell, I mean really?" Mom asks as I look to Mimi and she looks back before we shake our heads at her.

"Had I known you were here, maybe," I say, though I would effectively be abandoning my friends, and possibly even Dad were I to do so. I'd see Mom, but what about everyone else? While I love Mom, and in no way would I ever do anything to push her away… she is only one bit of my social web. Sure, the Undersiders were villains and… well weren't the best influence on me, but they're still friends; good friends that I'll never regret meeting.

While it sounds bad, Lisa, well Lisa and I might have eventually ended up like Emma and I once had been had I not run off to the Wards, without the betrayal and backstabbing of course… I would hope.

"Besides that. If people knew for sure that there really was a Heaven and Hell, they would certainly try to get into Heaven, and the elite of Hell wouldn't get anyone to play with or refill the ranks of those who suffered their final death during the purges," Mom explains, and it does make sense. Though, other than minor tweaks, I doubt I would have changed what I'd done. I'd felt they had been necessary at the time, even if some of my old decisions almost give me conniptions if I dwell on them for too long.

"I don't think it would have mattered with me. I… my head was pretty messed up," Mimi says, looking away. Mom merely nods and doesn't pry.

"Sometimes it's like that. Anyways, Taylor, just, whoever you're writing to, please impress upon them that they need to keep the fact that Hell exists a secret they take to their grave, okay?" Mom asks as I nod.

"Don't worry, despite her name, Tattletale knows how to be discreet," I say before putting my pencil back to the paper. Now, time to actually write this letter. I've been putting it off for too long.

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

Please like and comment if you enjoyed this.
 
Scurry's girlfriend is Octavia!?

Somehow I am not surprise. Taylor's clones has the same predistination of the origin on end up in positions that can make a lot of damage by accident.

Everybody will probably think she likes being surround by eye candy woman, something somewhat true if going by this chapter.

Yes taylor, play by the rules... just until your strong enough to be the one making them!

Overlord Khepri is one day closer in becoming real.
 
"Don't worry, despite her name, Tattletale knows how to be discreet," I say before putting my pencil back to the paper. Now, time to actually write this letter. I've been putting it off for too long
Funny thout of her being on a soup box and ringing a bell while screaming the end is nigh hell is real you sinners while the rest of the team is looking at her on the other side of the street...
 
Scurry's girlfriend is Octavia!?
Ayup.

Everybody will probably think she likes being surround by eye candy woman, something somewhat true if going by this chapter.
To be fair, Taylor in canon enjoyed being surrounded by hot women most of the time as well.

Funny thout of her being on a soup box and ringing a bell while screaming the end is nigh hell is real you sinners while the rest of the team is looking at her on the other side of the street...

Now I'm imagining if TT did set up a cult.

<?><?><?><?><?><?>

The Wardens sat around at a table in their "command center" which was little more than a very big tent since their base wasn't done yet. Chevalier spoke up:

"Okay, so far there haven't been that many situations, a few missing people who for all we know went off to join Hellhound's little village or just ran off to the woods. Most of them probably did, but there are a few that we need to check on. There is also that situation developing on Earth Bark with the paradogs attacking humans that Valkyrie thinks we should deal with."

"It could be a humanitarian disaster..." she said not at all talking about how she on a whim also desired a pup to raise as her own.

"Of course, not to mention if a paradog gets a dangerous S class power. That could be an issue. Now, the other problem is Tattletale's growing cult," Chevalier said as he pulled out a small note pad which he'd been using to keep his notes on the cult.

"Is she doing anything bad?" Legend asked and Chivalier shook his head while Miss Militia spoke up:

"No but she is a villain, and an accomplice to... to her, not to mention she didn't take our approach to her very well. Personally I vote on dealing with her now rather than later. A few days away from her power base while we dismantle it should work. Then if she continues to be an issue, then we might have to take more drastic measures," the hero suggested, though Chivalier didn't look particularly impressed as he flipped through his notes.

"Right, no, her cult doesn't seem particularly geared towards anything particularly violent, and that would most certainly be an overstep. Best I can tell from our reports is that it's more some kind of Hell cult or something of the like, just saying that Hell exists, and that she's offering a service to speak to those beyond. Best I can tell is that she's moved on from villainy to being a charlatan, which is a bit of a better reaction than I expected from her."

"We did basically steal her power base from under her already. If the USA was still a thing, we did technically steal her and the Undersider's property right out from under them with no compensation, maybe we could have some kind of leniency for her, especially if she's becoming less villainous," Legend suggested while Miss Militia shook her head.

"She should be happy that we gave everyone blanket amnesty and should be helping the project rather than doing childish things like this just to spite us, even if it is minor. Besides, as far as I can see, she never should have even gotten this land anyways, so really she hasn't lost anything."

"Alright people alright, lets not get into the blame game, so should we dismantle this cult?" Chivalier asked, and while some wanted to, for others, like Ciara, it was too much of a hassle or were convinced by his and Legend's argument of her turning down a better path, though Chivalier doubted it would last long.

"Then the 'no's have it, now, onto how we handle the Earth Bark situation."

<?><?><?><?><?><?>

Edit: Just so people know there is little consideration for the characters above canon personalities other than vague generalisations.
 
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I dislike this chapter, but I'm having trouble saying why. So far I don't really like Annette, and this happy family bullshit with the evil clones is weird. Like, I really thought Taylor would try to kill them, or the other way around. The almost instant trust and sappy reunion feels off to me. And the whole "Look Taylor and Clones are Bi now!" thing going on. Plus Annette seems a bit too interested in Taylor's love life, it looks creepy. I dunno, maybe it's just me, because I'm not really close with either of my parents.
 
I dislike this chapter, but I'm having trouble saying why. So far I don't really like Annette, and this happy family bullshit with the evil clones is weird. Like, I really thought Taylor would try to kill them, or the other way around. The almost instant trust and sappy reunion feels off to me. And the whole "Look Taylor and Clones are Bi now!" thing going on. Plus Annette seems a bit too interested in Taylor's love life, it looks creepy. I dunno, maybe it's just me, because I'm not really close with either of my parents.
Fair enough, it is a significant tone shift from how it was before, and a lot of the happy family thing is mostly due to how Taylor sees her Mom as the woman who can do nothing wrong, and while she was apprehensive before, she's far more trusting of her than she lets on. Like with herself, if her Mom turned out to be a horrible person, Taylor would likely make excuses for her just like she would herself and she's rather bias, so she very much wants to trust and will look for excuses to do that. The mastering excuse the Annette mentions is part of the reason why Taylor is less apprehensive about the clones, though I somehow forgot to make the changes to make her more confrontational and more suspicious of the clones despite her Mom trusting them.

Though the parent being interested in their child's love life is rather standard. Hell I've got my own Mom every once and a while hounding me about getting a girlfriend and suggesting that some girls are "cute" as a not so subtle hint that I should try to hit on them.
 
Now I'm imagining if TT did set up a cult.
Okay so I just had a thought that just fucking consumed me that I could not focus on that bit after the quote. Is TT going to see if she could summon Taylor in a demon ritual and somehow Taylor ends up making a deal with Sarah/Lisa to guarantee TT's soul will go to her in hell so they can be together?
 
Okay so I just had a thought that just fucking consumed me that I could not focus on that bit after the quote. Is TT going to see if she could summon Taylor in a demon ritual and somehow Taylor ends up making a deal with Sarah/Lisa to guarantee TT's soul will go to her in hell so they can be together?


Though truth be told, considering Lisa, there's no doubt that she's going to Hell.
 
Okay so I just had a thought that just fucking consumed me that I could not focus on that bit after the quote. Is TT going to see if she could summon Taylor in a demon ritual and somehow Taylor ends up making a deal with Sarah/Lisa to guarantee TT's soul will go to her in hell so they can be together?

It's Hazbin. Pretty much everyone goes to Hell save for literal newborn babies that die minutes after being born.

At most they'd just want to put a marker on TT's soul to easily locate her once she arrives, if she doesn't decide to just skip the whole dying bit and just move down there early because dealing with the reality of Ward sucks enough that living in literal Hell is an upgrade.
 
Fair enough, it is a significant tone shift from how it was before, and a lot of the happy family thing is mostly due to how Taylor sees her Mom as the woman who can do nothing wrong, and while she was apprehensive before, she's far more trusting of her than she lets on. Like with herself, if her Mom turned out to be a horrible person, Taylor would likely make excuses for her just like she would herself and she's rather bias, so she very much wants to trust and will look for excuses to do that. The mastering excuse the Annette mentions is part of the reason why Taylor is less apprehensive about the clones, though I somehow forgot to make the changes to make her more confrontational and more suspicious of the clones despite her Mom trusting them.

Pretty sure Taylor's mom is part of the closest thing that Hell has from a government approved death squad or special forces.

Also Annette may be somewhat chill of her daughter criminal career is probably because Hell twisted a bit of her morals and ethics.

Is TT going to see if she could summon Taylor in a demon ritual and somehow Taylor ends up making a deal with Sarah/Lisa to guarantee TT's soul will go to her in hell so they can be together?

Frankly these deals probably involve servitude forever, in other words slaves from the deal maker.
 
If the point of hell is suffering. Why would the angles want to depopulate it? More people condensed into a smaller area seems like it would only cause more suffering. Why would they do the purge when it o jectivly makes things better for those that are left?
And it's not like in endgame where everyone is miserable. Most people in hell wouldn't care about other people's lives.
 
If the point of hell is suffering. Why would the angles want to depopulate it? More people condensed into a smaller area seems like it would only cause more suffering. Why would they do the purge when it o jectivly makes things better for those that are left?
And it's not like in endgame where everyone is miserable. Most people in hell wouldn't care about other people's lives.

In Hazbion Hell isn't for punishment, it's to keep the lesser souls out of Heaven.

Think of it like Heaven's septic tank but it's starting to get full since 99.99999% of all humans have gone there so they need to clear some space so the sewage doesn't overflow into the backyard of their mansions.
 
In Hazbion Hell isn't for punishment, it's to keep the lesser souls out of Heaven.

Think of it like Heaven's septic tank but it's starting to get full since 99.99999% of all humans have gone there so they need to clear some space so the sewage doesn't overflow into the backyard of their mansions.

Yep, the goal is to eat the rich, the angels.

And then loot heaven.
 
Hell, it's not even the good people that go to Heaven in Hazbin, it's influential people. Like that one dog bastard who accidentally made the world a lot better while actually being a super villain, they apparently just wanted to get him because they want to have the person who changed the world.
 
"Going by the fact that you ain't shooting at each other, and that whole hug there, that you know these guys, Skitty?" Adam asks as I nod.

"None of my daughters are evil"
Punctuation?

And obviously there's going to be more to that shit, can't just do evil clone and play it straight, that shit boring, there's always a story line or some shit that makes this clone different then that-
shit's
than

Rose had even lowered her glasses and has a smile on her face, while Scurry's blush is turning her face red as she keeps trying to look away before her eyes get drawn back to Sherrel fawning over her new APC.
has

Shaking my head, I look away from the APC and the admittedly eye drawing form of Sherrel's shapely body.
eye-drawing

Though I already have some private investigators looking for Danny since my usual source for finding people has been rather reticent as of late to help me locate people as of a few months ago.

I had to hire one for you as well, but now I don't have to keep paying him to look for you now.

So Mom had been watching my cape career, or at least, was watching the official broadcast about me, though depending on when she or the clones found each other, she might have found out about my time as Skitter fairly close after the whole Echidna debacle.
was

Likely a highly biased view in one way or another depending on how Echidna's mind bending affected the clone's personalities and perspective on things "So you get news about the world here?"
clones'
things.

A few imps get engulfed by the crowd as slowly we stumble our way towards the exit of the APC.

There are a few calls of "thank you" mixed in with the cheering while I followed Glenn's steps in how to appear to bask in the praise for moment.

the last part has her gaze turning off in a certain direction towards the sky scrapers.
skyscrapers.

Turning her head she looks up at the building I'm restoring with the various rafters hanging off the thing, imps either working or watching the festivities as windows are repaired.
Did you mean something like scaffolding?

"I'd heard you already likely had a place, though I assumed that you were crashing with some friends," Mom said and I shrug.
I

Generic neon lights of an XXX, something I remember signing off of without really thinking about it.
on

While I'm still am a bit taller than Mom in my true demon form, it isn't by much.

To be fair, the lot of them are generally all good looking, and some of them are exceptionally beautiful even in their emaciated state, enough that it would have made me extremely jealous back when I was a teen.

Lately she's been body guarding one of Hell's princesses, a girl named Charlie who's up here in the Ring of Pride doing charity work.
bodyguarding (perhaps body-guarding)

Going by all the shootings, the general chaos and disregard for life that we seem to have up here on the ring of Pride, maybe there's a good reason why we apparently can't got to the other rings of Hell?

Mimi's no doubt has quite a bit of experience dealing with rather predatory people.
Mimi

I sit down at my desk; the sound of music starting up begins from one of the boom boxes that someone had already bought.

The clones moves to the window and take a peak outside down to the main part of the floor.
move
peek

MILF hadn't finished putting up solid flooring so there is still space to look through to the main floor where the party is starting to pick up.
hasn't

More than upstanding really, down right heroic if how we met is anything to go by how he acted before I met him again.
downright
anything to go by for how

Granted it is a drug mill that he made himself to make ends meet, but with how our demonic regeneration works and the fact that there's no laws against it, drugs far less of an issue than in the living world.

"I don't want to talk about it," she says, her words firm, the entirety of her focus on her pet as she stroked it's fur, even nuzzling it's nose a bit.

"I still have things to do. I need to figure out how to integrate the Raz family into the Merchants properly, I have to plan a trip to Canada to see if I can bring an old team mate, Regent, into the fold, and I have a letter I need to write," while from the drawer, I pull out some paper and a pencil.
This would need something like "I say" first

"Oh, that's that company who's Stolas' lover runs," then her eyes widen more as she seemingly realises something.
which

While it sounds bad, Lisa, well Lisa and I might have eventually ended up like Emma and I once had been had I not run off to the Wards, without the betrayal and backstabbing of course… I would hope.
were

Though, other than minor tweaks, I doubt I would have changed what I'd done. I'd felt they had been necessary at the time, even if some of my old decisions almost give me conniptions if I dwell on them for too long.
I did
I
it was ("what I did" is singular - if it should be specifically plural, "things I did")
 

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