by Michael Todd
Everyone lowered their weapons and Wilson smiled, waving to his men to move out. As Red got them situated, Wilson walked down and took the badge back from the cop. “Thanks. I know it’s hard to work together sometimes, but it’s a different kind of world out there now.”
The cop’s lip snarled, and he released the ID. “Right.”
Wilson and his team headed out, the cops around them murmuring. They had never seen or heard of DDF until that point, and they hoped they never dealt with them again—especially considering what they knew they would find inside.
The sound of the machines pulsating and humming as Katie walked into the armory made her smile. She looked across the manufacturing floor to find Joshua waving at her with clipboard in hand. Katie walked quicker, stopping every now and then to greet one of the girls. She missed that part of her former daily life, she wasn’t going to lie.
Joshua put out his hand and shook Katie’s from habit. “Hey, you’re back already.”
Katie shrugged. “Figured I would check out what you might have come up with. These demons are trying new tactics, and things are getting crazy with politics. Something big needs to happen, and soon.”
Joshua hung his clipboard on the wall. “I can’t even imagine. Come on into the creation room. We’ve been working on your request.”
Katie smiled and followed Joshua to one of the glass-fronted rooms with a large metal table in the center. He closed the door behind them, shutting out the sound. “Here it is! It’s similar to the weaponry and missiles I’ve made before. Let’s face it, in this day and age, I think it’s best to go with what we know works. Of course, it will emit a huge explosion, something you don’t want to accidentally release on the general population.”
Katie grimaced. “No, that would be a fucking disaster. The Council would string me up by my fucking liver.”
Pandora chuckled. They could try, but how much do you want to bet I could get them all tied up by their testicles in half the time?
Katie hid a grin. I would sign up to watch that.
Joshua walked around the table. “On top of that, when the explosion occurs, it will release our special metal-infused smoke. What is different is that now we have readings from hell’s atmosphere, so I was able to engineer the smoke to immediately permeate it. If we’re lucky, it’ll spread across hell within hours, if not minutes.”
Katie was impressed. “And if not, it should take care of those on the ground, right?”
Joshua nodded. “Of course.”
Katie rubbed her hands together. “Perfect. I’ll take one with me when I leave. Actually, right now. No need for holiday wrapping. This gift will be used immediately.”
Pandora giggled. We should have had baby Jesus’ face painted on the tip.
Katie laughed. That would have been amazing. All they see is the baby Messiah flying straight at them and then…
Pandora finished. Boom. Choke on that, bitches.
Katie’s eyes went wide. “Oh, yeah. I might need new hellscape atmosphere suits.”
Joshua pulled his brows together. “Why? I thought that Pandora protected you from hell.”
Katie stared at the bomb. “Things change.”
One of the girls opened the door to the room and Sean wheeled himself in. “There you are. I thought I saw you come in here.”
Katie’s attention flashed to Sean. “Hey there, wheelie, what’s up?”
Sean’s face went straight. “There’s been an incursion in Taipei. It’s right where Korbin and Calvin are setting up their fort.”
Katie swallowed hard and grabbed the bomb. She tore open a portal and looked back at Joshua. “Hopefully we’ll see exactly what this bad boy is made of. Hold down the fort, you guys.”
She stepped through the portal into the unknown dimension.
Holy frozen cock and balls! You had to pick a dimension made of snow and fucking ice? Pandora was not happy.
Katie looked around as the portal slammed shut behind them. They were standing in the center of a frozen field, the wind blowing plumes of fluffy snow all around them. In the distance, there was a village. Katie narrowed her eyes and took a step closer.
Pandora was impatient. Come on. Let’s get out of here. It’s fucking cold.
Katie’s mouth fell slightly open. Do you see anything strange about that town? The buildings are huge, and the doorways are enormous.
She walked a few steps farther and stopped, spying a crowd of blue people. Holy fucking frost giants! It’s a bunch of Junttos!
Pandora instantly focused. Well, what do you know? We ended up walking straight into Juntto’s dimension. Uh, may I remind you what Juntto was like before he had his Buddha-loving life affirmation?
Katie froze and turned back around, opening a portal. She stopped and looked back. Do you think we can get back here?
Pandora sighed. I really have no idea.
Beelzebub took a deep breath and wrinkled his nose. He hated the smell of Earth, especially when he didn’t want to be there. It wasn’t in any way his idea of a good time. He looked around at the large tea bushes, touching one with his claw. The portal behind him emitted hot flashes of air, wilting the edges of the plants. To his right was a house with several large barns beside it. It was a tea farm, something he hadn’t seen before, but he wasn’t impressed.
He stomped through the bushes to the edge of the field, looking into the distance. There was the beginnings of a wall with some heavy guns mounted on top. A smirk moved over his lips, and he chuckled. “Not quite in the nick of time, are we, Korbin?”
He whirled and put his large fingers to his lips. Letting out a whistle, he told his band of demons to charge. The ground rumbled slightly as a flood of slow, fat demons emerged from the portal. They ran on all fours, their heads like rhinos’ with long, sharp horns coming from their foreheads. Their bodies were long, round, and covered in black scales. Along their spines were spikes, gnarled and twisted as they ran down the beasts’ backs and over their long tails. At the end of their tails were ball-like structures covered in smaller spikes. They swung the tails back and forth as they trampled through the tea bushes, slicing through the branches and knocking over the plants.
Beelzebub stood to the side as the beasts pounded ponderously toward him. They came to a stop in front of him, and steam blew from their nostrils. Beelzebub rubbed his large claws together with a maniacal grin. “My beauties, built for battle. Small tanks of destruction. No humans have ever seen the likes of you and lived to tell about it. Your job is to destroy the barriers and keep going as far as your fat little legs will carry you. Destroy everything you come across.”
Beelzebub paused, looking around him. “Take down this fucking farm while you’re at it.”
The beasts clawed the dirt beneath them, letting out small wails of anticipation. Beelzebub chuckled and clapped twice, giving them the signal. The demons raced off in all different directions. Some headed through the fields of tea bushes, demolishing everything they could hook their horns in. Others charged the house and the barns, ramming their rotund bodies into the walls and crumbling the structures.
When they reached the edge of the field, they stopped for a moment before charging full-force toward the wall. Beelzebub watched the people milling about, just now noticing something was going on. Before they could react, two of the demon destructors rammed a section of the incomplete wall, trampling the gun it bore into shards of metal.
Beelzebub smiled. “What will you do now? Katie’s puppets will be destroyed.”
16
Korbin and Calvin stood at one of the base stations, overseeing the preparations for the next day’s building. Korbin checked off his list, making sure they had everything they needed. “This wall is going up pretty quickly compared to the others. I don’t foresee us being here more than a few more weeks.”
Calvin grunted as he set down a box. “Hey, whatever it takes to make these places safe, right? We need to do these as fast as we can so that the demons don’t catc
h onto what we’re doing.”
Korbin groaned. “That’s the plan, although every day we grow closer.”
Suddenly, the alarm blared over the loudspeakers spread around the perimeter. Calvin’s head whipped toward Korbin. “Looks like the jig might be up, my friend.”
Korbin shook his head, throwing down the clipboard. “I knew I was speaking too fucking soon.”
He ran over to the edge of the space and narrowed his eyes, watching a large dinosaur-like demon crash into the perimeter wall. “Looks like fucking Jurassic hell out there.”
Calvin ran up next to him. “Well, those’re new.”
Korbin quickly turned around as the soldiers lined up, battle-ready. “These aren’t your run-of-the-mill demons. I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen anything like these guys before. It looks as if they have heavy armor on top, so your best bet is to shoot for the head and knock them over, then go for the soft underbelly. Watch their tails, and keep out of the range of our gunfire. Good luck, men. Let’s save this town and the perimeter we are building.”
The soldiers’ commander stepped up and began shouting orders to the teams. Korbin ran back over to Calvin and pulled out his guns. “I want you off the ground.”
Calvin scoffed. “Please, Damned or not, I am not hiding from this fight. I’ll take one of the turrets. That should keep me safe enough, right?”
Korbin nodded. “Be careful out there. Who knows what’s coming next?”
Calvin smirked and took off across the ground, heading straight for one of the guns that hadn’t been touched yet. He climbed the ladder and stood behind the gun. Pulling the large slide back, he cocked the massive gun and readied for the attack.
Calvin laughed as he aimed at the demons. “Oh man, I’ve been missing this shit right here. If only Pandora could see me now—a big cock with an even bigger gun.”
He gripped the trigger tightly and let the shots fly, spraying the demons. The ones that were struck in the face went down hard, flailing and swinging their tails. As soon as they rolled, Calvin laid into them, shooting them from belly to dick. They turned to dust in the grass, but more were on their tails.
They were charging the wall, ramming their heads into it over and over, trying to knock it down. They could have come through the openings in the wall, but they didn’t, which made Calvin believe they were there to slow their progress. No matter. They were red-eyed fuckers who were going to get what was coming to them.
A loud crackling sound came from behind Calvin and he stopped, turning his head to see what it was. In the center of the training area, a large portal began to open. Before Calvin could swing his gun around, Katie flew out, her wings wide. Her golden angel armor sparkled and gleamed, as did her mighty angel sword. She held it high as she zoomed into the air. Looking around, she spotted Calvin and swooped down, landing on top of the wall.
Katie took the bomb from under her arm and set it down next to him. “Keep this safe for me, will you?”
Calvin glanced down at it and raised an eyebrow. “A Christmas gift for Lucifer?”
Katie smiled. “Tis the season, right?”
Calvin chuckled. “You like my new digs?”
Pandora groaned. Who gave this man a gun? That thing is as big as his fucking ego.
Katie smirked. “Pandora says it fits you perfectly.”
Calvin laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s exactly what she said. Why don’t you go on down there and handle the light work?”
Katie tilted her head back. “Of course, mighty warrior. And may I ask, what the fuck are those things?”
Calvin looked down at the beasts as they blew steam from their nostrils. “Uh, return of Jurassic Park?”
Katie rolled her eyes. “Oh, great. Haven’t they heard they went extinct like millions of years ago? I guess I’ll just have to remind them.”
Katie took off, flapping her wings hard as she dove toward the demons. She pulled back her sword and swung hard, slicing through the tough scales on one demon’s back. The beast’s tail fell off and the animal screeched, falling on its side and flopping around. Katie dove again, this time aiming for the head. With one slice, the demon was dead, its head and tail severed and black blood pooling around it. Small sparks shot out, and then it burst into ash.
Pandora chuckled. That’s new. They have sparkly deaths. That’s some Timothy-level shit right there.
Katie giggled. I’m pretty sure that when Timothy dies, he will burst into a pile of glitter, even without a demon inside him.
Pandora sighed. Stephanie will not be happy with that mess.
Katie whirled and took herself down to the ground, immediately swinging her sword and killing another demon. You hanging out in there today, or—
Pandora scoffed. Are you calling me lazy? For your information, bitch, I am staying in here because those demons have spiked tails. If you get hit, you’re going to need Doctor Love to take care of that shit.
Katie slammed the tip of her sword into another demon and snarled. Don’t ever call yourself “Doctor Love” again.
Angie sat in the corner of the couch, a book open on her lap. Every once in a while, she would bounce up and down. Glancing up, a laugh echoed from her chest as Juntto fought hard against the demons in Dante’s Inferno. His fingers slapped the controller as he sent every single person back to hell instead of redeeming them.
Angie pointed at the screen. “That wasn’t a demon. You could have spared his soul.”
Juntto snarled. “What’s the point? Humans always end up fucking up their own fate in the end anyway.”
Angie lifted her eyebrows, surprised at Juntto’s negative comment. Her phone rang, and she looked at it. With a grunt, she set her book down and hopped up, running over to the table it was on and putting it to her ear. “This is Angie.”
The general sounded winded. “Angie, it’s Brushwood. There has been an incursion in Taipei, right where Calvin and Korbin are working. I’m sure the base already knows about it, but I wanted to call you.”
Angie glanced at Juntto. “Should he get ready?”
The general sighed. “No point. They are too far away for Juntto to do any good. However, I want him ready in case any other incursions pop up closer to home. I got word that Katie is over there, so we are sitting ducks everywhere else.”
Angie shook her head at Juntto as he glanced at her. “General, what can I do from here?”
The general lowered his voice. “I’m glad you asked that. I just got some intel that puts Katie in a pretty unfair position. There is a very good chance that Katie is currently breaking international law by fighting in Taipei.”
Anger flew through Angie. “What the fuck? Those dickless sacks of monkey cocks. Does this fucking World Council know that if she doesn’t, a lot of fucking people will die?”
The general sighed. “At this point, I don’t think they care about anything other than ramming it up Katie’s ass. And to be honest, I think that eventually this will bite them hard. Unfortunately, that would mean that Katie was out of the picture, and quite frankly, that can’t fucking happen. Whether she is fighting with us or on her own, she needs to be fighting.”
Angie shook her head. “This demon shit is getting out of hand. I would like to find this attorney and ram a gavel right down his throat. Show him what real American justice is all about.”
The general chuckled. “I like this side of you, young lady. For now, though, I need you to focus that anger on protecting Katie. They know she is in Taipei. We need to be prepared for anything, and that includes bailing her out of whatever shithole they might put her in.”
Angie snorted. “Like they could even capture her.”
“Let’s hope not. For now, put Juntto on alert, and I will be in touch.”
Angie hung up and Juntto paused his game. She sat on the arm of the couch, putting her feet on the cushion. “There is an incursion where Korbin and Calvin are.”
Juntto immediately threw his stuff to the side. “When do I leave?”
Angie shook her head. “By the time you got there, it would be over. Katie is there with them, or at least, that’s what the general is being told. He wants you on alert in case there are any incursions closer to home. We’re spread thin right now.”
Juntto turned to pick up his controller, but sighed and shook his head. Angie glanced at him curiously as he turned off the television and looked her in the eyes. “I don’t feel good. I’m a bit weaker after that E-sports convention.”
Angie was shocked. “Really? I thought for sure that you would be stronger, or if nothing else, the same.”
Juntto groaned, rubbing his face. “The video games were fun, but the conquering I did in those games didn’t actually save anyone. They were characters on a screen. I feed off compassion and empathy now, and let’s face it, there isn’t a shit-ton of that going around. I thought that maybe I could pull from it if there was, like I used to pull from the anger before. There are a hell of a lot more anger and fear in this world than love and compassion. I need to save people to get that.”
Angie lowered her head, looking at her hands. “I really thought I’d be able to sustain you with this. You know, give you something to get your mind around. I didn’t realize what you would feel would be pride and accomplishment, not the ones you need.”
Juntto gave her a kind smile. “And it was amazing for you to try, but let’s be serious here. I’m responsible for this. When I pick up that controller, I always end up asking myself, do I want to go up a level or save lives? A life saved in a game is not a person saved.”
Angie sighed and slid onto the couch. “I know it’s not. I should have thought about that from the beginning. You need something to do between incursions that gets that juice flowing for you.”
Juntto nodded. “Or I need to figure out how to be more active in the fighting. It’s driving me nuts, just sitting here watching other people fight. Watching people die when I know I could have done something. It’s almost the opposite effect of saving a life.”
