This is part two of my Mayhem trial series. Part one can be found here. Part three is here Here. Craving even more Mayhem? Find it here.
Present...
"Danial, I am suffering the symptoms of being hung over, without the pleasure of actually having been drunk. So I invite you to contemplate whether or not I'm in the mood for your snide attempts at humor." Detective Chimp snapped irritably. Being knocked out always left him with the worse headaches. And he had been knocked out more then once in his career as a detective.
Detective Chimp sniffed at the air. Its not musty, though not exactly fresh either. And it carries various smells.
Alcohol. Formaldehyde. Blood too. Old and fresh. Sweat. Fear.
"So. Hang out here often?" Blue Devil asked, just to be annoying. Daniel Cassidy, AKA the Blue Devil leaned against the wall casually. Well, as casual as one can be with their arms hung above their head.
"Have you even tried to escape? Or are you waiting for your chains to rust away?" Detective Chimp growled. He knew the Blue Devil was acting nonchalant just too annoy him. He also knew Daniel had already given the chains a fair bit of tugging. The wall dust at the devils feet was evidence enough. Obviously Doctor Domino knew all about Daniel's strength levels.
"And here I thought you were the brains of the outfit." Blue Devil replied surly.
"And oftentimes excusing of a fault doth make the fault worse by the excuse." Detective Chimp replied.
"Ooh I just felt my chains give a little. Quick, quote more obscure stuff."
Detective Chimp chose to ignore that. "I could pick my shackles if...if I had something sufficiently thin and metallic....."
"Like a key?" Blue Devil asked.
Detective Chimp rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Well yes Daniel. A key would be simply marvelous right now."
"I meant, like the thickness of a key?."
"Thinner actually. Why?"
"I might have something." Blue Devil replied thoughtfully.
One week ago...
The old slaughterhouse was dingy with years of grime and fungal growth. It had not been used in years. Well, not used for its original purpose anyway. Though it had served as a shelter for numerous vagrants and runaways. And at least one serial killer on the run. Unfortunately the latest tenant knew the structure was built on a magical crossroads. And he knew how to manipulate the arcane flow of energies to his will. Dr Charles Iscariot, a mythology professor turned cultist, turned mixed bag of nuts.
Things were going very badly indeed. Blue Devil had arrived too late to save the girl or to interrupt the ceremony. Dr Iscariot had opened a mystic gateway and Hell was pouring into this realm. Lessor demons and vices mostly. The mission was now effectively damage control. Except, except the demons were hanging around for a reason. Something else was coming.
"Agent Devil Is the situation under control?." Lady Frankenstein asked through the ear piece.
"More or less." He grunted, as he punched a small demon off his arm. He half turned and blasted a bigger demon, a look of surprise crossed its face as it is deported back to Hell.
"I prefer more under control Agent Devil." Her voice is curt and business like. And it was starting to grate on his nerves.
The center for this hurricane of insanity was body of a teenage girl. Iscariot's daughter. She had been bound, hand and foot to the cold, slimy floor. Then she had been ritually slaughtered by her father, split from throat to sternum, her organs spilling out. The pool of her lifeblood had become a well of darkness that hurt to look at, and would drive a man mad if he were to stare into it too long. Blue Devil hoped she had been drugged for the ritual. Probably not though. Ghouls like Iscariot loved to hear screams. Probably saved it as his ring tone.
The situation was already becoming untenable when a pair of purple and red tentacles, covered in wet oozing sores and the thickness of small pine trees reach through the gap and begin pushing the sides apart. Making the portal bigger.
"That's never a good sign." He kicked a scaly demon away, blasting bolts of magic at the tentacles.
"Repeat that Agent." She sounded annoyed now. He knew she would rather be in the thick of the fight, instead of operational support.
"Not now. Big demon trying to come through."
"How big?."
"Uh, 'nameless horror from beyond the stars' big."
"Close the portal Agent."
"Novel idea. So glad I have outside support." He blasted at the thing in the portal again. One of the tentacles whipped itself quickly around his waist and tossed him aside like an unwanted toy. He is slammed into the far wall hard enough to make it shudder, and then dropped to the floor, losing his trident somewhere along the way. He landed on a smelly, soggy heap of cardboard and moldy blankets. Some bums old bed. A fetid odor waifs into his face like a diseased cough. Blue Devil looks up to see the mad doctor looming over him, holding his trident.
"Stupid blue creature. The gate can only be closed by a virgin sacrifice." Dr Iscariot did a little dance and slammed the base of the trident into Blue Devils face repeatedly. "I would say 'see you in Hell', but its so cliche, don't you think? Plus, I'm making my own Hell and you're not invited." He spun the trident business end down, and prepared to plunge it into Blue Devils face.
"I'm going the other way actually." Blue Devil grunted as he grabbed the trident by the middle tine, stopping it effortlessly with one hand. He drove his fist into Iscariot's knee, and it made a sick popping sound as it is dislocated. "You know, a lot of people get hung up on magical rites. But magic, especially dark magic, is full of loopholes." Blue Devil said as he drags the howling doctor by his injured leg. "And seeing how your such a fan of Hell, I know you would love to see it up close." He blasted several demons out of his way.
"Agent Devil, Whats the mission status?" Lady F asked, but is ignored.
"You don't know magic-ah as I do. I am a great s-sorcerer. A master of magic. I command you to release me."
"Yeah, master of magic. And I sell insurance." He stops about ten feet short of the gate and speaks a string of words in Latin.
"Agent-- Daniel! Whats happening?"
"Just ringing the dinner bell." He replied. Though he was looking at Iscariot when he said it. Then he turned to the portal and in a louder voice said, "I command this gate to be closed in the name of the seven princes's. In payment I offer a virgin sacrifice. A man who has never died. A death virgin!" He tosses the screaming doctor into the pit. "Now take you friends and get lost."
A hurricane blows through the slaughterhouse then, dragging demons clawing and shrieking back through the portal. Blue Devil feels this wind, but it doesn't even disturb the trash on the floor. Another unwanted reminder of what he is.
"Daniel, can you report?" She sounds worried for the first time.
"Missions over. Bad guy beat, crises averted, world saved, etc." He sighed.
"And Iscariot? Is he is custody?"
"Tossed him down the pit. Where he belongs."
"He possessed valuable knowledge of the mystic arts. You were supposed to bring him in for questioning--"
"So you guys could give him a badge and put him on the payroll?." Blue Devil interrupted angrily.
"It wouldn't be like that Daniel."
"Oh really? You guys employee monsters. This guy was a monster. Come look at his daughters remains if you doubt it."
"Father employees unique individuals of a--"
"You're starting to sound like Father."
"What do you want me to say?" She suddenly sounded tired. "We are the good guys Daniel. We are. But we get intelligence from where we can."
"Yeah. I thought you were the good guys too."
"We'll-- we'll sort this out when you get back."
"Not coming back Lady. Tell Father I quit."
"Daniel--"
"Don't come after me." He dropped the ear piece on the ground and crushes it under his foot. Then he turned and walked into the night.
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