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The cruise to Ire was shorter than Cherry had expected, but then again, she hadn't taken into account the speeds that the Juggernaut was capable of reaching, nor the fact that they didn't need to stop for food after all, although she was left miserable when she found out that most of what they did have on board was plain military rations and several fruit trees. She decided to use her demonhood to her advantage and not eat at all over these four days except to restore her strength, ignoring Cindy whenever she lectured her on acting like a child just because the food didn't taste good.

"You're like those people we ran into in the Big Refuge." Cindy scolded, even as they walked down the metal dock towards an abandoned guard post, and Cherry groaned loudly as she grabbed her horns and shook her head violently back and forth. Even though she had still failed to open a portal, she had, on the other hand, managed to figure out how a Hez'Rannan cloth wrap worked, and now she wore this around her breasts, along with a plain pair of combat pants. The major advantage to the wrap was that she could now bust out her wings whenever necessary... and she didn't have to feel like a nippleless freak while walking around.

"You know, I'm going to fucking punch you in the face. And then I'll laugh. And then I'll be the one laughing, and you won't be. Because I'll have fucking punched you in the face." Cherry said irritably, turning around and jabbing the air a few times. She paused, then glanced around and added in a lower voice: "By the way, doesn't this place seem kind of empty?"

Cindy paused and put her hand on the grenade shotgun she had holstered at her side, looking back and forth. They were all equipped with the same sort of gear they had been earlier, except that Cherry now had her old bolt-action rifle strapped over her back and Marina her two straight katanas on her hips... and she made a bit of a face as she motioned at Szar, the draconic demon who had followed them from Lailland.

He walked quickly up to her, and then she stepped past him to rummage through the large pack he was now wearing. They had also traded out his enormous hammer for an old-fashioned 15mm gatling gun, and his bulky armor had been replaced by a Hez'Ranna Military uniform and a longsleeved jacket made of a bullet-resistant fabric. It was a bit stiff, but Cherry figured he didn't have to be exactly acrobatic with a gatling gun... although they had let him keep his dagger, but he didn't seem to mind starchiness of the jacket.

The Drakkaren drew back a moment later with a pair of binoculars, as Mahihko and Marina walked up curiously, and Cherry frowned slightly at them, too. Over the voyage, the two had apparently bonded even more than they had over Zerrex's death... and she simply didn't like what she had seem them getting up to. Watching Mahihko following Marina around like a sidekick was only funny until Marina got one of her urges... and then someone usually ended up wounded or humiliated in ways that even Hell had rules against doing.

"Fuck." That word, uttered from Cindy, immediately drew her attention... and the female put the binoculars back into the pack the draconic demon was carrying, and she zipped it slowly closed as she muttered: "The Project's headquarters looks like it's been completely burnt out and destroyed... and I don't mean by demons. The scorch marks, the explosion signs... one glance and I could tell that Irenic soldiers were responsible for this, by how... how messy it was."

"Why the hell would they attack there, though? There's nothing of value... I mean, New Tears and everything in it was destroyed by the Meteor that Narrius dropped on it." Cherry made a face, remembering the broadcast she'd been forced to watch of the city being blown up in a massive nuclear blast from a stealth bomb advanced beyond anything she had ever seen before. Something Ire obviously tried to replicate, but the operation was thankfully shut down... "I mean, why would they do it, just for the sake of the slaughter?"

"Would you really put that past our proud nation's soldiers?" Cindy asked darkly, and Cherry grunted: it was a fair point, since they'd once put her to work for just that same sort of reason, all those years ago, now. But hey, I was damn good at my job, at least. "But no... that place might not be a valuable military target to any demons... but I can't think of a better excuse for private companies like the Aztec Corporation or Peace Unlimited to hire out some military muscle to attack government-funded or volunteer organizations, and charge double to clean it up. Don't you remember how the Hunters worked after the end of the war?"

"Killing off the international police and other agencies sent in to capture war criminals from Hez'Ranna... just so they could add some more meat on the bounty and catch it themselves." Cherry nodded slowly, shaking her head a bit and muttering: "Fuckers. This is some seriously silly shit... you think knowing that there's a Hell would influence people to actually fucking behave themselves, but I can see Ire and its wonderful inhabitants are still up to the same old nonsense."

Cindy made a face, then she sighed and looked over her shoulder as half a dozen CSS units followed them down onto the docks from the deck of the ship. "I can't say I'm much surprised... but at least for once we'll have some muscle with us."

The demoness snorted and grinned sourly as she walked towards the pair of empty metal huts guarding the dockside, saying mildly over her shoulder: "Fuck, sure. Because we always run into something the muscle can take care of... it's not like they usually end up dying in ten seconds or we just don't run into anything at all, or shit like that. That'd just be bad luck."

"Shut your face and work on your sarcasm." Cindy muttered, following along as the draconic demon started forwards again. A few feet behind them, Marina and Mahihko were walking side-by-side, the female absently tightening a strap on the wolf's shoulder and Mahihko looking down at his paws with a thoughtful expression as they strode forwards, and then he glanced up in surprise as Cindy asked gently: "Are you two doing okay? You've both been awfully quiet lately."

"It's nothing..." Mahihko murmured, and Marina nodded, giving Cindy a look. Although that just made her want to pursue the subject all the more, she resisted the urge on the basis that Marina would likely stir up all sorts of chaos if she did... so she left it at that, although she made a bit of a face at the behavior of the two. This just gives me a really bad feeling for some reason...

She shook her head slowly as she turned her eyes back front, where Cherry was leaning through the broken window of one of the guard booths and muttering to herself as she felt along some sort of control panel... and a moment later she brightened as she twisted something, and the small gate between the booths slid slowly open as the demoness crunched through the broken glass, saying mildly: "The alarm system wasn't intact anymore, it looks like... to be honest, I'm just glad that nothing's exploded yet."

"Let's not talk about explosions." Cindy said pensively, looking back and forth with a frown before stepping through one of the small doors into the booth, as the draconic demon looked back and forth at the mortal buildings. Cindy thought she heard it ask Cherry something, but she ignored it for now as she instead ducked beneath one of the control consoles to pry off a plate of damaged metal from the terminal, muttering: "Let's see here..."

She fiddled with the wiring for a moment, then cursed under her breath as they only sparked uselessly: it meant someone had either taken out the generator or the circuits had been completely fried. Either way, they didn't have the time to sit around and check it out, although Cindy dearly would have loved to get into the security footage... and she stepped out a moment later to look over at the others, shaking her head quickly. "I can't get anything working... we'll just have to go in blind and hope there's nothing waiting around."

"Szar here says this whole place stinks, and I agree with him." Cherry said informatively, patting her demon friend on the shoulder before looking over to the Lunis soldiers armed with the CSS units, saying clearly: "Lock and load! I want a wide double-line formation up immediately... stick to the rear and have no fear, but keep those gatling guns prepped just in case we run into bogies. Watch your asses twice as well, because we expect mortal combatants instead of demons, and like they say, people fuckin' suck."

"Sir!" The soldiers geared up their machines, the CSS machines whirring loudly as the barrels of gatling guns revolved and safety shutters on the missiles pods opened and closed. Claws extended slightly, then retracted, and Cherry turned away from the mechanical mayhem with a dry smile as she walked onto the mixture of dust and everlasting ash that had once been the port of New Tears City, and was now only a scattering of rubble and several guard outposts at a long, rickety wooden dock. At least they know who their boss is... but... we're back in Ire. After all these months...

She shook her head a bit as Cindy walked forwards and squeezed her shoulder, then she cleared her throat and said mildly: "Looks like I'm in charge here. Fucking brilliant. But let's... let's just keep moving forwards. We'll deal with whatever the hell we have to deal with when we come to it, simple as shit."

"Alright." Cindy nodded, gazing over her with quiet concern before murmuring: "It's hard, isn't it, though? To stand here again... I know that... you and Daddy worked here for a while, too..."

Cherry only grunted and looked away, then she shrugged Cindy off and quickly strode ahead, looking embarrassed. She didn't bother replying to her younger sister, instead raising a hand and motioning for everyone to move forwards. Although their goal here might not be to stir up trouble, Cherry still wanted a look at the ruins... and moreover, she wanted to know what the hell was going on in Ire these days.

Four hours later, they were finally cresting the other side of the crater of New Tears and heading towards a set of white tents. There had been no point in going inside the wreckage of the few quickly-constructed buildings or silos that had stood silent sentinel over the ashes and dirt of the city that had once been the capital of Ire and in its own way, perhaps the entire world. Cherry couldn't sense any life forms, demonic or otherwise... and Marina had said there was nothing but them for miles around.

Now, they were approaching what looked like a group of harrowed survivors, most of them wearing at least two layers of lab coats just to keep warm in the cold weather. Most of the tents were scorched or torn, and many of them were little more than sheets and tarps splattered with paint, thrown hastily overtop research equipment and weighted down with rocks... and then a dog in glasses approached slowly, followed by a Dragokkaren with one arm wrapped in bandages. "Please... we've already agreed to leave the area, you can do whatever research you want here..."

"It's okay." Cherry said almost-gently, and she reached out to squeeze the aged beagle's shoulder as she added: "We're not with whoever drove you out of there... we just want to stop the havoc the demons are causing." She paused, then glanced over at Cindy and tilted her head towards the wounded Dragokkaren, and Cindy immediately nodded, walking to him and gently pulling him aside as the demoness continued dryly: "But on to business, right? Who the fuck was stupid enough to blow up a reclamation facility in the middle of a war?"

"The Aztec Corporation... they wanted the area for weapons testing, and they wanted to use what little we've rebuilt of the city so far for training soldiers." The dog relaxed a bit, looking up at her gratefully... but what bothered Cherry was the fact he wasn't apparently upset at all by the appearance of a demon before him. "We... we had no way to defend ourselves, we thought we were isolated, safe from the demons... but at least half of our families were killed or wounded in the attack, and we're just... scientists... most of the medical equipment was destroyed, and we... we just don't have the training to deal with this, not without nurses and doctors to assist us..."

"They probably torched the medical staff first..." Cherry muttered, looking off towards the sunset and making a face of disgust before shaking her head slowly. She turned grimly around to the Lunis CSS commandos, then whistled loudly to gather their attention and said sharply: "Redeployment, motherfuckers! Your new orders are to encircle and protect this encampment for as long as necessary from any PMCs or mercenaries working for any private companies. Radio the Lucille and tell them to rebroadcast to Lunis asking for reinforcements, we'll use the Juggernaut to block any Irenic forces that attempt to slip in through the port."

"I... thank you... we're indebted to you..." The dog grasped her shoulder, looking up at her with shining eyes. "If there's anything we can do for you..."

Cherry grinned slightly... and an hour later, she was at the wheel of an ugly white and black van stenciled with all sorts of peace symbols and slogans, and the rest of the little family was sitting in the open back of the vehicle with some fresh fruit and their equipment stacked neatly beside them. It wasn't exactly the most inconspicuous way to move... but it beat sitting around doing nothing.

But she soon saw it didn't matter what they looked like: the countryside had been razed, crops burnt down and buildings reduced to nothing but piles of blackened wreckage. Demons and mortals alike staggered backwards here and there, and as they pulled through one small town, Cherry saw a demon sitting at the wreckage of a burnt-out orphanage cradling a mortal baby, and a few feet away a wounded minotaur and a soldier in a torn uniform hugging each other and crying.

The wreckage was like nothing she'd ever seen, and bodies littered the ground in every settlement, every village, every city they passed through. It was like the apocalypse had come to Ire... and the worst part wasn't the dead and dying, the dark shadows of buildings that had once been spires of hope or the corpses being piled into mass graves dug by both demons and mortals alike... it was the military encampments they passed, where grinning soldiers armed with flamethrowers smoked cigarettes and chatted amiably, gorging themselves on the ruins of their own society.

In some ways, it was worse than when Narrius had ruled Hez'Ranna, during the Great War: he had been cruel, but he had also been cunning, if not intelligent, and knew how to twist people's desires and terrify them into submission. This was not terror: this was simply stupid, raw destruction, done for the sake of self-gain and chaos in itself. And it was as if neither side wanted to fight, wanted only to join forces... but some malevolent, malicious force had seized control of another faction and sent everyone into killing and lashing out at each other without mercy or cause, until it passed and left only destruction and a residue of hatred in its wake.

Villages and cities alike had been devastated not just by conflict, but by these ‘clean-up crews' of soldiers utilizing ABADs, Combat Armors, and heavy-duty vehicles armed with mobile psychic repressors... and, of course, the fire units armed with everything from medium-range chemical flamethrowers to drum-loading grenade launchers with incendiary shells. Thankfully, the camps ignored them... perhaps they thought they were too small a target to bother attacking, or perhaps everyone was just busy engaged in the feast offered up by their own dying country.

Either way, they made their journey through Ire without event: when bandits or roving gangs attacked them, it took little less than a glare from Cherry or a single shot fired into the air to scare them off, and most of the guard posts they came across had been burnt to the ground. After a steady twelve hours of driving, Cherry finally halted at Valise City: their home, and the place where they had first been given the mission that could have halted this whole war, if only they'd moved a little faster.

Cherry looked down silently as she stepped out of the van in front of their home, Szar getting out the other side and awkwardly standing at the ready. It looked as if it had been ransacked, like everything else... but their valuables were likely still secure, since she noted the dead corpses of several Plasmids after a moment. Not waiting for the others to pile out of the back, she walked inside and drew one of the .52s, then raised it and fired twice into the first of three Plasmids to charge her.

It collapsed backwards with a loud scream of pain, and Cherry tilted the gun sideways as the last two charged forwards, firing once and allowing the recoil of the gun to guide it to its next target, before she shot the last round through the skull of the hesitating-too-late bug-demon. It fell on top of the others, and Cherry checked her clip before pushing it back into place. Just in case...

Cindy walked up behind her, but Cherry shook her head quietly. After seeing the chaos unraveling in Ire, and feeling like she could have halted this, should have halted this... she didn't want comfort in words. She wanted it in killing the motherfucker who had destroyed her home and taken away her father and master... and I won't rest until Az'Iriel is dead. It's a personal vendetta now... that piece of shit has to die, has to suffer for what he did to Zerrex...

They searched the house as Marina made a beeline for her room, then yelled in frustration and threw a half-tantrum when she found many of her art pictures torn up, but no one bothered to stop her, only letting her have it out. Mahihko, meanwhile, was kneeling by a cupboard and eating chocolate cookies he'd found while looking utterly miserable, his form as little as he could make it as he ignored the ruination and the wreckage, only feeling empty inside. He expressed his misery by becoming a child; Marina expressed her misery by rage; Cherry expressed her misery in silence; and Cindy simply did her best to stay moving, not letting any one emotion compel her in any extreme.

The last made her way slowly to communications room, and she glanced inside to see Cherry muttering as she all-but-attacked the satellite feed, probably in an attempt to get through to Albatross. The gentle female slipped quietly backwards, then instead made her way to Zerrex's office, stepping inside and gazing mournfully around at the fallen papers that had been strewn about and the general mess and disorder of things, whispering quietly: "Father..."

She walked slowly over to sit in his chair, and she crossed her arms, hugging herself gently as she looked at the desk, tracing over gouges he'd dug with his claws and the other markings he'd left on the surface: here a vague dent, there a set of rings left from his coffee mug always being placed there. She cleared her throat, but she couldn't concentrate, couldn't make the pain running through her body go away... and so instead she lowered her head and let it come, only to guide it gently away before it could form into tears, taking slow, deep breath after calming breath.

She rocked quietly as she hugged herself around the stomach, and for a moment silently wondered if this was all in vain: could Zerrex ever come back? Could this night ever be ended by them, people who had already failed to end it once? She grit her teeth... and then looked up in surprise as Cherry grasped her shoulder quietly, looking down at her softly as she murmured: "Don't beat yourself up, kid." She paused awkwardly, then glanced away and asked in a mutter: "Do you know where Bebop took off to? She ain't in her room, although butthead is still out in the kitchen, eating cookies."

Cindy shook her head, and Cherry made a face, then sighed and ducked, leaning under the desk to pry a small board loose from the wall as she said: "I'm going to go and check out the city... you stay here and make sure that Mahihko doesn't have a hernia or give himself a bellyache with all the shit he's shoveling down his throat. I'm worried about where Marina's run off to, but I guess she can take care of herself..."

Cherry emerged a moment later with an extra pair of clips in one hand and a box of custom-made bullets in the other, and then she grunted, holding both arms wide and looking embarrassed as Cindy leapt up and hugged her tightly around the waist. She patted her slowly on the back, then cleared her throat and said lamely: "Hey, this is hot and all, but like, I uh... I heard some explosions and shit, and-"

"I wish you'd learn to shut your fucking mouth sometimes." Cindy muttered in an exasperated voice as she pressed her head against Cherry's neck, and then she drew back with a sigh as the demoness grinned stupidly. "Take your demon friend with you, though... and take a quick glance around for Marina, if you don't mind. I don't like the state any of us are in from being back here after so long."

This made even the battle-hardened, reborn-from-Hell female soften slightly and nod, looking down as she tucked the clips and mostly-full box into the sidepack on her hip before she said quietly: "You've always been the gutsiest of us all, Cindy... even I don't want to admit it, but... fuck. I thought it would bring back the good times, the good dreams... but I'll be damned if this place don't give me nightmares after... losing Zerrex."

She quieted... then swallowed and stepped back, rubbing the back of her head and glancing back and forth around the office, feeling suddenly claustrophobic before she mumbled: "I better get out of here. Take care of yourself, Cindy... I'll make sure the city ain't in too much chaos and shit."

She quickly turned and half-staggered out, breathing harder as she shoved through the door and made her way down the hallway, clenching her teeth together as she made her way to the front door and threw it open, jumping out and taking a long breath as she stepped into the city... and then she halted, seeing, really seeing Valise for the first time.

The streets beneath her feet felt soft under her feet from all the damage they had taken, cracks like spiderwebs covering ever foot of road, and buildings stood lopsided and knocked into pieces from some tremendous force as if they had only stacked up piles of blocks. The skies above had turned red and black, as if God himself had decided that these people should be struck down. The buildings were all burning, and smoke was floating slowly into the sky, adding to that terrible, chaotic skyline... and even around them, where they stood here in this once-pleasant, quiet suburb, home and home alike had been torn apart by demons, soldiers, and the things in between until only nests of Plasmids and abandoned, broken structures remained.

This world had not faced the apocalypse with Narrius's life, but instead with his death: from beyond the grave, the monster Zerrex had slain over and over again on this world had finally been sent down to Hell and locked away forever inside and inescapable prison... and yet it had been from there that he'd finally triumphed over them all, and crushed all of existence using a machine that had brought not total destruction, but the ragnarok of proportions beyond biblical. It was somehow worse than complete annihilation of the world, however... because it was fighting a losing fight for survival, it was battling against a cruel fate with all your strength, winning battle after battle... only to know that in the end, you would lose despite your best efforts.

Cherry cursed under her breath as she looked slowly back and forth along the decimated road, and then she glanced at Szar, who was sitting against the van and looking miserable. She paused, then tilted her head towards him and asked quietly: "Is that demonic pressure in the air? Some sort of force being exerted by... by something in the city? Or is it just from the city itself and the state that things are in, the destruction that's been caused here?"

"It's bad." Szar said simply, and he stood up slowly, looking back and forth despairingly. "I'm a soldier demon, Lady Cherry... I'm not built for this level of combat. I don't know how well I'll be able to handle things, even fighting at your side, and-"

"We all start out as soldiers, so shut the fuck up." Cherry said mildly, tapping her own nose lightly. "Look at me, motherfucker, and tell me what you see... a Dius that was able to turn Lieutenant Ezekiel back into nothng but ashes and energy. I ain't the strongest, and I ain't the toughest... hell, even Zerrex ain't the best at some of the things he does. The difference is that the motherfucker is stubborn as balls and doesn't give in, no matter how tough things get... if you believe, if you keep fighting, if you endure, you'll reach a whole new level, believe you me. You got a choice in life: be a number, or be somebody. Stick with me, Szar, and one day you won't just be some soldier demon anymore." She paused meditatively. "Assuming that, you know, you don't die or anything like that."

Szar smiled a bit, then he bowed before saluting and saying quietly: "My apologies, Lady Cherry, for doubting in you and myself. I'd appreciate it if you let me continue to fight by your side." He paused a bit, then asked hesitantly: "Is... Lord Zerrex really as strong as they say?"

"Even stronger." Cherry grinned slightly as she walked over and patted the demon firmly on the shoulder, before kicking the gatling gun on the ground next to him. "But come on, bitch, we got some work to do. Let's haul ass and take a look around this broke city."

"Yes sir!" Szar saluted, and Cherry nodded, waiting a moment for the demoness to pick up her weapon before turning and striding quickly down the road, one hand resting on the butt of a .52 as they strode down the street together.

It was the same here as it had been everywhere else, though, and Cherry frowned a bit as she stepped into a deep, wide crater in the earth, kneeling and examining the damage and the scorch marks. Although some of the craters and burns surrounding it had been made from some sort of fire magic, this she could see had been done by some sort of mortal weaponry, despite how smooth the crater was. She wondered vaguely what sort of weapon could create such a controlled explosion, and then she glanced up to the side as a female voice asked raggedly: "Are you here with the Aztec PMC?"

"No..." Cherry stood up, tapping her horns and frowning a bit at the elderly rat dressed in rags, cradling a young wolf in her arms who was sucking his thumb... and she felt an odd reminder of Mahihko as a minotaur walked up behind them, roughly-bandaged and covered in bruises. "I'm not with Az'Iriel or the Princess, either. My name is Cherry, I'm uh... I guess I'm not really affiliated with anyone... why would you think I'm with a PMC when I'm obviously uh... not from around here, though?"

She looked lame, rubbing the back of her head slowly and looking awkwardly over at Szar before the female nodded and sighed softly. "The PMCs have employed every kind of soldier they can... they target demon officers and soldiers but... Lavos can explan it better than I can."

The female glanced over to the minotaur, who nodded a bit and slowly rubbed at a large piece of white cloth taped over his eye, before he asked in a stumbling voice: "You demonic okay?"

"Yeah, I speak demonic just fine." Cherry responded mildly in the common tongue of Hell, before she cracked her knuckles and frowned a bit, looking up towards the terrible, scorched sky again before turning her eyes back towards the minotaur. "So what was she saying, that the soldiers are using the Pawn Army System of Hell to their advantage?"

"Worse... they've been luring out the officers and making deals with everyone they could, while killing or capturing the lower-ranking officers left in charge of smaller areas just to gain more soldiers. They're using some ancient mortal alchemy to..." He halted and looked down, and Cherry felt a chill run through her body as she looked back at that smooth explosion. Not an RPG... not a grenade... but it could be...

"They're making crystals?" Cherry tilted her head as Szar winced, and the minotaur nodded with a quiet sigh, before Cherry looked away with a curse. "And they have authorization to make deals with the mortal soldiers?"

Lavos nodded with a quiet sigh. "Yes... and they've been collecting and keeping the strongest soldiers, while the rest of us are simply wiped out or left to die. And since the mortals have been enhancing their technology with demonic magic and using it to increase the power of whatever they can, it's... become a slaughter. They're able to produce any effect with the magical crystals... it's like... someone has revealed to the world many ancient arcane secrets that we thought mortal wizards had sealed away long ago..."

Majesty... that bitch must be the one behind this shit. She and Az'Iriel are playing both sides against each other... "So what are you doing here, then? And the other demon soldiers... and fuck, it's only been three months, how's this continent turned into such a war zone? Where's the regular military, for fuck's sake?"

"We were told most of the military had been sent out to aid other countries... and that it had left Ire vulnerable. We weren't told about these... strange soldiers wielding mortal weapons that shoot streams of fire or exploding canisters, who don't care about their own and gladly crush other mortals underfoot." Lavos shook his head and sighed quietly, then he patted the female's back gently. "They don't tarry... they move quickly from area-to-area, burning all in their wake, using demons as shields and sealing the spiritual essence they can capture into crystals, killing the officers and taking the strongest they find under control. Their march is fast, and they don't care if they leave us dead or alive, or if they save their own or kill allies... they're unstoppable."

"Fuck that, I'll stop them." Cherry snarled, and then she shook her head and turned to the rat, switching from demonic to her native tongue as she muttered: "Fuckers. Do you have safe shelter and shit, or know where the PMCs are?"

"They're moving towards southern Ire... we have a safe shelter, yes." The elder female murmured, looking away and rocking the little boy gently in her arms for a moment, before she looked evenly at Cherry. "I think that we should all head for safety, though, just in case... there are still scouts and vultures roaming through the city, and I don't have any wish to be caught by them and end up in the middle of another slaughter."

"Believe me, it's not you and us who would be slaughtered." Cherry grunted, but she nodded and then saluted the minotaur, who bowed respectfully to the Dius before turning and leaving with the female. Cherry noted the armed civilians sitting in the wreckage of a building across from them, but only nodded and rose a hand before turning and muttering to Szar: "We better get back home... I don't like either the look or feel of this place. Besides which, I'm worried about what Marina's getting up to and exactly where the hell she ran off to..."

The journey back was just as uneventful, and the two found Cindy sorting through piles of torn up newspapers that the Plasmids had dragged inside to begin making nests with. The female was frowning a bit as she sat at the remains of the kitchen table, slowly piecing together ripped articles that were half-covered with bug-demon drool, and Cherry said mildly: "That's one of the most disgusting things ever. Do you know how many diseases you could probably contract from touching that gunk?"

"Thanks for your opinion. Press ‘one' now if you want to get punched in the face." Cindy said absently, and Cherry rubbed the back of her head before looking up in surprise as the Drakkaren read: "‘Today, Irenic War Leader Vladimar Himmler announced that they have discovered the location of the demon's main base in Yutan Province, near the Dwarf Mountains, also known as the Row of Skulls. Most of Ire's military has been sent out to this area to do battle with the demonic horde and the rumored ‘demon king' that leads them.' It sounds like an ambush, to me..."

"Although the area is right..." Cherry shook her head slowly, looking disgusted as she slammed a fist into her thigh, then looked up and asked flatly: "Do you know where Marina is? We can deal with all this other shit later, after we make sure everyone's okay. PMC soldiers working for Aztec and Peace Unlimited have been scouring the areas using crystals made out of demonic essence to fuel their weapons... it's a forbidden mortal magic, I heard rumors about it in Hell but never believed it..."

She broke off, then looked at Cindy for a few moments before the female frowned a bit and nodded down the hall, saying quietly: "Last I checked, she was in her room..." A pause as she looked through the broken door into the hallway, and then she paled, and Cherry frowned and drew a .52 before she whispered: "M-Marina?"

Cherry leaned over enough to look into the hall... and her jaw fell open as she stared at Marina, who looked at them both coldly in return. She was standing there in a bikini top and a set of plain black combat pants she'd changed into that looked as if they had once belonged to Zerrex, but every visible portion of her body was covered in bloody runes she'd cut into herself using the bloodstained combat knife in her hand.

The two stared... and then Marina leapt back into her room and the older sisters shot down the hallway, Cherry sprinting along in front of Cindy and kicking the door down to see Marina crouching with the dagger held in both hands, aimed towards her heart, and the female snarled and brought up her .52, shouting: "Stop it!"

As expected, it had no effect, Marina glaring at them before stabbing viciously downwards... and Cherry shot a single round into the blade, shattering it into pieces at the hilt and peppering Marina with metal fragments, the female giving a curse of pain as she tumbled over and shook her head quickly, and Cherry's eyes traced out the circle of demonic runes she'd carved into the floor. Before she could push herself back up to her feet, Cherry threw herself forwards in a tackle and punched her hard across the face, Marina cursing before letting out a cry of pain as the demoness belted her with the .52 in her other hand, shouting furiously: "You stupid, stupid bitch! What the fuck are you thinking? Are you that desperate for Daddy's attention that you're willing to kill yourself?"

Cherry rose her hand to punch her again, but Marina only grinned viciously up at her as Cindy moaned from the doorway, covering her muzzle... and the demoness grit her teeth before grabbing Marina by the shoulders and settling for pinning her down against the floor, glaring into her eyes as she shouted: "You don't even fucking know that it would work!"

"Oh, I know. Don't worry, I made sure first." Marina replied coldly, looking up at Cherry with a twisted grin as she rose a hand and slowly stroked over the demoness's face, and the female snarled before something clicked in her mind, and the color drained from her features as the misguided daughter of Zerrex added almost-teasingly: "It's not too late, Cherry... you and Cindy can join me, and we can all die together to join Daddy in Hell... the world, the war doesn't matter if we have each other..."

"Cindy, check on Mahihko." Cherry said curtly, then she glanced over her shoulder to look at a shaking Cindy, before shouting: "Now!"

"Y-Yes..." Cindy staggered backwards and nodded quickly, and she walked quickly down the hall to the next room before pushing the door open... and she let out a wail of despair, staggering backwards at the sight of the wolf's mangled, dead corpse, his body laying in the middle of a circle of runes and his eyes wide and glassy, a knife sticking up out of the center of his chest. She staggered back against the wall of the hallway, Szar running over to her from where he'd been awkwardly lurking, and she grabbed him and fell against his shoulder, beginning to cry hard as she yelled: "Mahihko! Why... why, goddammit, I don't want to lose all of my family..."

"You bitch!" Cherry snarled, and Marina glared up at her challengingly before she asked in frustration, shaking her violently: "Do you really think this is what Zerrex would want?"

"I want what's best for Daddy! Not any of you really know what that is, not even he knows what it is sometimes!" Marina shouted furiously in return, and as Cherry rose a fist, her eyes flashed, and the demoness was sent rocketing backwards to crash into the hall, Marina standing up slowly and snarling as she clenched her hands into fists. "Mahihko was weak, but he was dedicated... and so I sent him down to Hell early to see our father, whom we love... unlike you, slut, who rejected him so you could keep slavering over his cock like the slut you are!"

Cherry froze halfway to her feet, and Marina grinned coldly, tilting her head as her eyes burned with purple light, obscuring her ice-cold irises. "Yes, I know about that... I know everything, Cherry. You can't hide anything from me... you want to make it up to him now, but you're just a coward. You're too afraid to take an ‘extreme' route like I do, you're too scared to even create a portal... fuck, you don't even want the portals to work, I know!"

The demoness trembled, then forced her gaze up, whispering to her youngest sister, to the Drakkaren that had once been only a gentle little girl: "Shut up..."

"You want to put it in your mouth, you want it ramming up your ass, you want to taste your own guts while he fucks your cunt, but you're so terrified of change that you couldn't bear to think about how things would change if you two married-"

"Shut... shut up... shut up!" Cherry covered her head, clenching her eyes shut tightly and beginning to shiver violently, yet Marina only continued to speak cruelly, overriding her easily as Cindy watched with terror.

"-And now he's gone and dead, and how often did you even say ‘I love you' to him? How often did you swallow your pride, admit that it was more than pure ownership... it was affection, adoration, love? And how much does it hurt now, whore, how much do you regret it?" Marina tilted her head upwards, her eyes alight with sadistic righteousness, her expression making her both beautiful and ugly. "I can see into your soul, Cherry, and it's dark in there, and it's sad, because you're nothing but a pathetic slut who's just like her mommy."

Cherry let out a roar and charged forwards, then punched Marina hard across the face, knocking her staggering before she threw herself forwards and tackled her through the rickety wooden walls, plaster and ugly plastic siding flying in all directions before the demoness was kicked viciously in the stomach and sent crashing back into the building with a curse as Marina leapt to her feet, laughing despite the blood flowing from her mouth and nose and shouting: "Come on out, then, show me what you got, Cherry! You're nothing compared to me... I'm the only legitimate daughter of Zerrex!"

"I fucking hate you!" Cherry shouted angrily, charging forwards and snarling through her tears as she swung hard back and forth at Marina, only trying to hurt her and not using her precog... and hence Marina easily slipping backwards, dodging her wild claws and strikes. "You're not the little girl I knew!"

"Glad you noticed!" Marina snapped a knee up into Cherry's stomach, and it knocked the wind from her before the female smashed the demoness across the muzzle with her elbow, sending her staggering down into a kneel before a booted foot crashed into her chin and sent her sprawling. "I'm better than you... I'm better than all of you, and I'll kill everyone who stands between me and Father!"

"Fuck you!" Cherry snarled and tackled Marina's legs, knocking her flat before she leapt up and straddled her waist, slamming left and right hooks down over and over again into the youngest girl's features, blood and drool flying from the female's muzzle, both ignoring Cindy's screams to stop. Then Marina brought both her hands up and caught Cherry's fists, and she grinned before her eyes flashed, and the bulky demoness was sent rocketing into Cindy, knocking her flat on her back.

Cherry cursed and scrambled to her feet, stepping on Cindy and then turning around with an inarticulate yell and kicking her hard in the face when she scrabbled at Cherry's ankle, and she was sent crashing to the ground as the demoness turned and barreled stupidly at Marina once more... but Marina only flicked her head to the side, and Cherry was sent flying into the van they'd arrived in with enough force to tip it over. She grinned... then her eyes widened in shock when Cherry leapt off the vehicle before it could even topple completely to the ground, her wings spreading in midair before she went into a sharp dive and crashed into Marina, dragging her back against the uneven road for more than a dozen feet.

A moment later, Marina kicked her hard over her head, and Cherry's limbs flailed awkwardly before she managed to flip herself forwards and land painfully on her feet, staggering forwards and then spinning around with a snarl. Marina had already rolled to her own feet, and the two lunged at each other, throwing hard punches back and forth as Cindy shouted at them to stop and charged towards them again.

She leapt between them and grabbed Marina by the shoulders, throwing her hard away before Cherry lunged at her like a snarling beast, clawing at her face. Cindy caught her wrist, however, then slammed her other palm into the demoness's face, and Cherry was shocked back into reality from her rage, staring in horror at a crying Cindy as she yelled: "Haven't you two done enough?"

"You haven't even begun to see the extent of my powers..." Marina whispered, and she slowly stood up, her eyes burning with fury at being interrupted. Cherry leapt backwards with a curse, raising her fists but trying to see through the haze of rage in her head, breathing a bit harder as she rose her hands with a wince... and then Marina turned towards Cindy as she turned around with a look of despair, and the Drakkaren froze on the spot as she pointed at her and added darkly: "Stop being such a fucking goody-goody and give in to your rage, mother darling... there's plenty of hate in you, after all."

Cherry felt her precog slowly fading in... and then she cursed and leapt backwards a moment before Cindy spun around and swung furiously at her, snarling as her eyes burned with supernatural aggression. She dived at her like a wild thing, and Cherry immediately jumped forwards and kicked off Cindy's head, leaping past her and sending the Drakkaren crashing down into the pavement as she ran towards Marina and shouted angrily: "This is between me and you, whore, so-"

Marina took a deep breath, and Cherry leapt backwards... and right into Cindy's arms, her eyes bulging as the female began to laugh cruelly, her arms squeezing around Cherry's waist with enough force to cause her to vomit blood before Marina leaned forwards and spat out a blast of green and black bile in a wide shotgun volley.

Cherry winced, then stared as Szar ran forwards and leapt in front of her, covering his eyes with a howl... and Marina hissed in fury from where she had fallen to a crouch, raising a hand and seizing Szar in a telekinetic hold before snapping him hard to the side and hurling him into a building, the draconic demon releasing a scream as his body steamed and writhed in midair a moment before he crashed into the structure and it collapsed on top of him. It distracted Cindy, too... and Cherry immediately stomped both of her feet down onto her younger sister's, the Drakkaren cursing and looking up in surprise before Cherry smashed the back of her head into Cindy's muzzle.

She let go of the demoness, staggering backwards, and Cherry spun around to slam an open palm into Cindy and knock her flat before charging towards Marina, who snarled and snapped a hand upwards, sending a purple blade of telekinetic force flying at Cherry's face... but the demoness anticipated it and ducked, gracefully spinning in a circle to watch the blade's movements and gain a precognetic snapshot of where it would go next... and then she turned around and drew her remaining .52, firing several shots off at Marina's body and limbs.

Marina rose a hand with a snort of disgust as Cherry rose her gun, and the bullets halted in midair, trapped in some sort of telekinetic field before Marina mimed a gun in one hand, and Cherry's eyes bulged before she threw herself into a high jump, pinwheeling her arms almost comically as the bullets shot back past her with enough force to create a loud whipcrack. They narrowly missed her, instead colliding with Cindy, who flew backwards under the barrage with a scream of rage before crashing to her back and immediately kicking up to her feet, snarling and bleeding from several severe wounds, but still possessed with whatever terrible rage Marina had filled her with as she howled: "I'll kill you both, you fucking whores! You and that worthless piece of shit you call my child... neither of you could save my father!"

Marina froze in the middle of whatever attack she had been preparing, looking stunned... and Cherry took the opportunity to dive-tackle her, but she struck a psychic wall and instead fell to the ground with a groan, shards of purple energy falling to the ground around her as Marina leapt away and backpedalled with a curse, before she took a deep breath. Cherry crawled to her feet with a mutter, then stared... and took a quick breath herself, covering her face with both hands and wincing as Marina leaned forwards and vomited a massive gout of smog and smoke, her entire body shaking and convulsing as they and everything around them were both covered by a thick, foul-smelling gray fog.

"What the hell are you doing?" Cherry asked in a snarl, looking back and forth as she heard panting and grunts before closing her eyes. Shit shit shit. Concentrate, do what Zerrex taught you... fuck, I ain't no samurai... "Neither of us can see now, you dumb bitch!"

"Neither of us has to." Marina said cruelly, and then she laughed and asked teasingly: "Are you really this stupid, or have you already forgotten about the other contender in this fun little game? Besides... I can see you perfectly... and if I do this..." A terrible pain shot through Cherry's mind, and she staggered and cursed, grabbing her head and looking back and forth in horror at the psychic static in her head. "Then you can't even use your last-minute precog to dodge. You're the only one blind here..."

Cherry only growled quietly, then calmed even that as she ducked and pressed her palms against the ground, trying her best to listen... but her heart was thudding too loudly in her ears, and the psychic static was add a further distraction on her worn mind. She felt naked and beaten, vulnerable and broken as she heard someone pacing slowly to her right... but she had no idea who or what it was as she slowly dragged her .52 out of her holster, feeling a chill run down her spine. Cindy knows this shit... Cindy can navigate her way through the jungles of Hez'Ranna in a night blacker than the Boss's cock and not make a fucking sound, though... and Marina has me in her sights and she could-

"That's exactly right... I could have killed you at any time... because I've always been the strongest..." Marina said teasingly, and Cherry winced as she slowly aimed her .52 in the general direction of the voice... but the heavy smog was muffling it, making it hard to judge where anything was coming from. "I'm the best, and Daddy has always loved me the most... you and Cindy were always secondary tools to him. I'm the one he saved, while he let the rest of you die... we are just his playthings, his toys, and I will return to him and-"

"Shut up, you don't even know what love is!" Cindy's voice howled, and Marina screamed before there was a loud crash, followed by a terrible psychic lashback that tore through Cherry's head and sent her falling forwards... before a powerful telekinetic blast knocked her flying backwards, the smog tearing apart as she forced her body to flip in midair, landing on one leg and skidding backwards before dropping her other foot forwards, anchoring herself with a curse as she rose both her hands, then stared in shock at the sight of Cindy dragging Marina around like a rag doll, smashing her into the ground by the ankles before she threw her into a nearby building.

Marina spread her arms, clenching her hands into fists as ripples spread through the air, halting her movement and glaring in disgust at Cindy as she levitated a foot or so above the ground before snapping a hand out... and then she wobbled in midair with a surprised look as Cindy batted her psychic force aside with one hand like it was a physical fist, and the middle sibling rushed forwards. Marina shoved out both hands this time, and a purple glow surrounded both them and Cindy as the psychic's eyes burned with the same terrible violet light... but Cindy threw herself forwards, tearing through Marina's psychic attack and tackling her to the ground as she grinned sharkishly, and in that moment, Cherry saw the old, cruel Ravenlight in her eyes as she rose one fist.

She ran forwards, not even knowing what she was doing, and tackled Cindy off Marina before she could land a finishing blow to the dazed psychic's face... and then Cindy instead smashed her elbow into Cherry's ribs, and the demoness felt the crack as she groaned in pain, clutching herself as the youngest, once-gentlest daughter of Zerrex rolled off her and brought her elbow back to this time slam into Cherry's face, as Marina got to her feet with a snarl of fury, ready to kill them both-

All three were sent flying in different directions as a white meteor crashed into the ground and sent out a massive shockwave, and Cherry rolled backwards a few times before crashing on her back, and Cindy blinked as she caught herself and slid to a halt. Marina, meanwhile, landed awkwardly on her feet before she overbalanced and fell on her rump, and an angry, childlike voice shouted: "What are all of you doing? This is disgusting, Mister Zerrex would never wish for you three to bicker uselessly like this!"

"I... what?" Cherry asked dumbly, sitting slowly up and rubbing at a cracked horn slowly, before staring at the little kitten girl that had replaced the glowing white comet, and Cindy flushed deeply and looked down shamefully as Marina stood up with a snarl. She staggered forwards, reaching a hand out... and Little Arcy turned her full gaze on her, looking at her disapprovingly as Marina flexed her fingers and then stared, looking stupidly down at her own hand after a few moments.

"I may only be a Prophet, but I do have some skill... and I'm immune to any type of psychic play, so please don't even bother with that, Miss Marina. It seems you're the one who requires the real talking-to." Little Arcy put her hands on her hips, and then Marina snarled and took a deep breath before the angelic kitten sighed as her wings slowly spread. "Why does it always have to come to this with some people..."

Marina leaned forwards and released a gout of white-hot flames... but as Little Arcy winced back, Cherry rose a hand and bent the stream of fire away, twisting it in a curve as she shouted: "Enough is enough, Marina! Don't you recognize her? She's the angel who was with Francis at the funeral, she might know what's up with Zerrex!"

The flow of flames came to a halt, and the youngest sister snarled angrily before Little Arcy pointed at her... and Marina's body shivered before slowly turning blue, the psychic collapsing to her knees as her eyes faded a bit in her head, grasping her skull with a quiet moan. A moment later, she fell to her side and curled up in the fetal position, and Cindy asked in a weak voice: "What... what did you do to her?"

"I just repressed her psychic abilities for the moment and forcefully calmed her down... I'm sorry it had to come to that." Little Arcy bowed a bit to them both, looking quietly around at the three as she added in a soft murmur: "You three have done quite a number on each other... but you know, unless you three learn to work together properly, you truly stand no chance of helping Mister Zerrex out from Hell... and things now have become very tense indeed. I may soon have my wings removed, and Mister Zerrex may yet end up on the chopping block himself if things continue as they have..."

"What? What are you talking about?" asked Cherry urgently, crawling forwards towards the angel, but Little Arcy only flushed deeply and looked away, holding up a hand... and the demoness halted, staring at her desperately as she asked in a whisper: "Is he okay?"

"As okay as you can be in Hell." Little Arcy offered a bit of a smile as Cindy slowly forced herself to her feet and staggered closer as well, falling to her knees with a grunt a few feet away, and the doll-like girl looked over her slowly before adding quietly: "I'm not supposed to be here... so listen to me closely, I have precious few minutes left to spare, I'm supposed to be in hibernation. You need to find a safe place immediately and go into hiding... Prince Az'Iriel has put a bounty on all of your heads, and the Princess has also encouraged her troops to hunt you down and kill you. She sees Mister Zerrex... the Zerrex we all call ‘father' in one way or another... as her greatest trophy, weapon, and acquisition, but realizes that his refusal to bow to her makes him as dangerous to her as Az'Iriel. Something isn't right in Hell... and..."

Little Arcy halted, looking back and forth before she stepped backwards in her little sailor's suit, creating a portal and saying urgently: "Stop fighting and escape! Suicide is not the route to Lord Zerrex, none of you have the power to escape Hell or even help him once in the Inferno... I have to go, I'll send a message later to you somehow!"

The angel child vanished through the portal a moment later, and Cherry stared at it as it closed before she straightened and punched the ground hard... and then a groggy Marina rose her head, blinking stupidly a few times before whispering: "Tell me... more... about Daddy..."

"She's already gone, Marina..." Cindy murmured, looking quietly over at the two, and then she shook her head with a sigh, standing up with a wince and slumping as she limped towards the house, whispering: "I'm going to go and grab the first aid gear from the house... you two... stay here..."

Cherry grunted and rolled onto her side to face Marina, and the two looked at each other for a few long, silent minutes. Finally, the older of the two murmured quietly: "I have nothing left to say to you for what you've done, Marina... in the name of Zerrex or not, there's plenty of other fucks who've done shit in the name of God and all the cartoon heroes, and they're just as wrong as you were in using our father's name to do the things you did. I don't care what he is to you: father, beloved, master, or even if you think he's better than God himself... you were wrong, Marina. You were wrong. And you know that Zerrex only respects what's right."

"You don't know anything." Marina said angrily, but she couldn't look away from Cherry's steady gaze. She trembled for a few moments instead, then whispered: "It's all for father. I loved Mahihko, I-"

"You sicken me." Cherry rolled over onto her other side, and behind her, Marina trembled violently, staring at Cherry's back stupidly as the demoness murmured quietly: "If there's a place worse than Hell... I hope you go to it. I might go there for saying that to my own fucking sister... but I fucking hope you go to it."

Marina shivered... and then she began to cry, and her sobs grew louder and greater in intensity as Cherry continued to ignore her, forcing back her own tears and breathing hard as she clenched her claws into her arms. She hated to be so cruel to her youngest sibling, but she still felt the embers of fury simmering inside her heart from not only what Marina had done, but what she had said resounded with truth to her very soul, which was probably what hurt her most.

She sighed quietly, looking down and closing her eyes as she sat up, but continued to face away from Marina, breathing softly and refusing to look at her despite her whimpering and crying as she tantrumed on the ground... and even when Cindy came out, it was neither of the girls she tended to first, but instead Szar, who was crawling slowly out of the wreckage of the ruins of the building her had been thrown into. He was badly injured, and Cherry looked over at him with concern she didn't want to feel... and then she cursed under her breath, muttering: "Fuck, I don't believe this shit..."

She was so different from what she'd once been: once upon a time, years ago, she would have laughed at the suffering of these people, perhaps even been a part of the other side and fought not against Hell, but with it: for chaos, for destruction, for the sake of violence. Yet Zerrex had taught her discipline... so those days were long gone now, and here she was, a creature of chaos, a whore that thirsted for violence and destruction, who had found Hell cozy and comfortable, fighting on the side of order, and to protect the weak she had once thought had only existed to please her. Fucking irony...

She sighed and stood up, then winced when Cindy walked over and grabbed her roughly by the bicep, dragging her off to the side, causing the demoness to curse under her breath in pain that rang through her body. She flailed a bit, and then winced when Cindy grabbed the back of her neck and squeezed, causing her to twitch as she muttered: "Just shut up and take it for a change, okay?"

"I always take it." Cherry mumbled, and she winced again when Cindy growled at her and dragged her over behind the fallen van, sitting her firmly down and causing Cherry to curse loudly and then twitch, frowning and hugging her stomach as she looked up at the other female owlishly, who glared at her angrily for a moment before her expression blanked as the demoness mumbled: "Please step backwards."

Cindy only tilted her head... and then Cherry leaned forwards and vomited blood once, then twice, before slumping over to the side with a loud groan, coughing and hacking as Cindy dropped to her knees and quickly checked her pulse, her other hand checking carefully over Cherry's stomach until she groaned loudly as pain twisted through her body. "Oh, shit, that feels extremely ouch..."

"Something's popped inside your stomach... yeah, something's ruptured, probably your stomach or a line of intestine." She shook her head slowly, then muttered: "Your heart rate's pretty high up there, and I know your breath rate doesn't matter, but it's still way up there, too. I don't like the way things are with your body right now... especially because you're still bleeding out your nose, among other things. Strong as you are... you know that you can't take this level of damage forever, Cherry..."

Cherry shrugged a bit, grunting under her breath and looking down as she swayed groggily on the spot... and then she looked down and mumbled under her breath: "Fuck, I wish the Boss was here... I got no clue what to do."

Cindy sighed and nodded... and then she silently leaned forwards and began to check over Cherry's body. For the internal damage, she couldn't do much... but she could at least stitch up the moderate wounds and bandage the rest of her body. Cherry, of course, fidgeted throughout most of the procedure, muttering about how she didn't need this and should go and take care of Szar and Marina... and finally, Cindy sighed and halted after making sure she'd fixed the worst wounds as best she could before nodding and heading around the van to where Marina was yelling and raging on the ground.

Szar staggered over to where Cherry was to sit beside her, and she glanced over at him and reached out to touch his bandaged hand, the draconic demon covered in cloth wrapping that was stained with blood and black bile. She smiled faintly at him as he looked down embarrassedly, and then she asked quietly: "Still feel like just a soldier?" A pause, and then she added awkwardly: "Thanks."

Cindy, meanwhile, was leaning by Marina, who was refusing to roll over to face her, covered in blood and wounds and her body beginning to pale a bit from sheer blood loss. It was disturbing, the massive amount of damage she'd done to herself... and Cindy didn't know how to take care of her or fix her before Marina's eyes slid up in her head and she fainted, and the female cursed before spinning around and charging towards the hole in the house. Cherry stared as the female shot by, and before she could struggle to her feet, the Drakkaren charged back out of the hole in the house and ran towards her daughter and youngest sister, dragging a sheet behind her.

She slid to a halt beside Marina, then she snapped the sheet out and laid it flat on the ground before rolling Marina tight into it, the female's body moving limply before muttering as she pulled it tight, then she folded the sheet down around Marina's face before applying pressure slowly over her body, as Cherry and Szar staggered up behind her. "What the fuck's wrong with her? Like, is she... what, hypothermic? That's not possible, is-"

"She's bleeding from everywhere. She might need a blood transfusion, but she's type D-AB... she's a rare blood type. We need to stop at the hospital on our way to the safehouse." She paused, then shook her head, muttering: "We also need to find a proper transport in order to stop at the hospital or a military complex before we go to the safehouse... I'm thinking the place near the abandoned mines to the south of Valise."

"The empty processing plant..." Cherry nodded and winced, then she turned down the road and glanced at Szar, adding in demonic: "We have to find a transport big enough to carry all of us and some of the stuff from the house... a pickup truck is what I'm looking for, I'll point it out to you when we find it. Come on, let's move."

Fifteen minutes later, Cherry rolled back in a dented red truck with several long scorch marks over one side of the vehicle, and the two demons hopped out to quickly assist with loading the back of the vehicle with the supplies Cindy had prepared. Marina, meanwhile, was trembling violently as she rested with her back against the van, shakily drinking a cup of coffee as she breathed a bit hard. After loading the back of the vehicle, Cherry carefully helped Marina into the passenger side, trying to avoid eye-contact as she muttered to Cindy: "We have to get our asses out of here soon. There are ABADs and Kingfisher Unmanned Aerial Gliders scanning the area... and I scouted down a bit towards the military base, but they've set up ciphers and Automaton Tanks to patrol the city. No doubt if we don't move fast it'll get messy... if they've modified their equipment to run off crystals instead of fuel cells, those things will have pretty much infinite power supplies..."

"How the hell could they do that, anyway?" Cindy asked, frowning as she passed a toolbox up to Szar, who was sitting in the open back of the truck. "I mean... demon essence? That's a bit different from fusion or ionic power cells, isn't it?"

"Not so much... energy is energy. Crystals can be shaped and warped to any means... slip them into a machine designed to extract energy and harness it as fuel, and you got yourself one big everlasting battery." Cherry looked disgusted as she hopped up into the cab, taking a bag of canned food and rations from Cindy as she added sourly: "Machines are programmed to eat. We're programmed to provide power. One day we'll deal with some robot apocalypse on top of the other two or three we've already had if we ever teach the AIs to crystallize demonic body parts through ritual magic."

Cindy didn't reply to this, instead climbing into the front driver's seat and shutting the door. Across from her, Marina was eating several cookies shakily, and Cindy pulled a bottle of pills out of her pocket, handing it to her now-youngest sibling and murmuring: "Here, this is all I could prepare. Take one every two hours while you're awake, starting now... it's a hemostatic medicine mixed with a sedative, it should keep you calm and cool down your nausea and discomfort. Don't push too much of that sheet down, keep it tight against your body like a big bandage, at least until we get you to the hospital."

Marina nodded shakily, breathing hard as she took the pill bottle and popped it open, before she whispered: "I'm... I'm sorry..."

"We'll discuss it later... for now we have to concentrate on getting to safety. You're a non-combatant this time around, keep your head down and don't die." Cindy replied quietly but firmly, and she shifted the truck into gear before rolling onto the streets, heading down the road and turning south down the first road she came to, figuring their first stop should be the Public Hospital. Although the Mercy Hospitals are probably already stretched thin... but it'll let me get a more-accurate assessment of the survivors than if we went to a private hospital or clinic. Either way, I can also stop in at the drug store and just hope the prescription boxes are still locked and that no idiot with a hammer or crowbar has broken in to loot the place...

But when they pulled up ten minutes later towards the hospital's front entrance, Cindy's breath caught in her throat and she stared in horror at the flaming wreckage of the once-magnificent building. Half of it had already collapsed, and the glass doors and every window had shattered inwards, as if from some massive explosion... and Cindy snarled and hammered a dent into the dashboard before turning off the ignition and leaping out of the truck.

"Stay here!" she snapped to Cherry, then paused and held out her hand, adding in a mutter: "Give me your whip and a handgun, I want to be prepared just in case... this place looks as if it's been torn apart by monsters that might still be waiting inside."

Cherry winced a bit, but she sighed after a moment and tossed her chain whip down to Cindy, who rubbed a finger over the metal links before attaching it to her belt by the plain rawhide tie Cherry used to keep it closed. She glanced up as the demoness offered her a revolver, but she shook her head, and the femme fatale sighed before tossing her the Drakkaren's much-preferred 9mm handgun. "That's not big enough to take down some of the demons that might be lurking in there, and it'll just bounce off the armor the soldiers are wearing..."

"Not if I shoot them in the knees." Cindy muttered under her breath, and Cherry stared as the female turned around and walked off, checking the clip before snapping it closed and cocking the gun, holding it loosely in one hand as she made her ways towards the shattered glass doors on one side of the wreckage.

She paused as a familiar figure emerged from the ruins of the hospital, a hand rubbing at her forehead... and Cindy rose a hand and waved to her, calling: "Reia! It's me, Cindy!"

Reia looked up in surprise, half-raising the submachine gun in one hand before relaxing at the sight of Cindy, brushing off her scorched leather jacket as she said mildly: "It's been a while... what are you doing here? Don't bother if you're here for survivors... whatever plowed through here killed everyone inside and left little behind. I heard a radio broadcast begging for help at the hospital but..."

She broke off, looking away and settling her eyes on the red truck in the distance, before pausing and tilting her head back towards Cindy, asking slowly: "Where's Zerrex? I don't see him there."

Cindy looked away, and the dragoness stepped forwards, frowning a bit as she asked a bit more urgently: "What is it? Where's Zer?"

"Dead." Cindy closed her eyes and let out a long, shuddering sigh as Reia looked up in horror, then paled at her next words, the ivory scales over her chest darkening as she added quietly: "More than three months now... he was slain fighting his way through Az'Iriel's army, the demon behind this."

"I... no. No, that's not possible. Zerrex... he..." Reia shook her head quickly, her hands trembling a bit as she grit her teeth, and then she turned away and stumbled off down the dirt path, whispering: "He promised me he'd come back..."

Cindy watched her leave, watched her stumble break into a run as she shouted and waved back and forth in frustration, the submachine gun almost flying out of her hands as she cursed and snarled... and then the Drakkaren sighed quietly before turning and stepping slowly through the shattered doors of the hospital, walking into an open reception area as she murmured softly: "Daddy was always so worried that you'd forget about him... he'd be thrilled and upset to see your reaction to his death..."

She shook her head a bit as she walked past the reception counter and then jerked open a warped wooden door, and a massive spider with a pair of large talons instead of forelegs rushed at her, but Cindy rose a foot and squashed it before she rose her handgun and fired two shots into a pulsing nest of papers on the desk, and green goo exploded in every direction as spiders the size of her hand fled towards the nearest cracks. Cindy quickly scanned the area with her eyes, including the ceiling, and then she stepped deeper into the small, paper-littered office and towards another door covered in webbing.

She pulled it open and stepped into a pharmacy littered with plastic bottles and broken glass, and something immediately leapt at her from the right... but Cindy smashed her elbow into the Plasmid's face before she struck its skull firmly with the butt of her pistol, knocking it flat to the ground with a hiss. She finished it by stomping on its head, and it twitched violently before slowly relaxing in death.

The other Plasmid on the other side of the reception counter chattered and ran away, and Cindy made her way through the shelves in the back of the pharmacy. It had been torn apart, and handfuls of pills were here and there... before she knelt by a dead body, checking him for keys. She didn't find them, however... and a glance to the side as she emerged from the shelving units confirmed her worry. The storeroom door was open, which meant someone had likely torn it apart in a search for drugs... and who knows what's left...

She walked down the shelving units, ignoring the corpses and the small hell-bugs feeding on them: she had become harder and colder now, and such things didn't bother her... at least, not much. A careful lean into the room, and nothing attacked her; the issue was that it was dark in here, lit only by the glowing red security lights. Cindy shook her head a bit before stepping into the room and then blinking as her foot knocked against something heavy... and she ducked to pick up one of the portable encapsulation units used to measure and place the various powders into various gel-caps. "Thank God..."

This made things worlds easier for her: instead of guessing or sorting powders by hand, she could now measure them out... and she put this aside on a table for a moment before searching for the light switch. She went cold as she touched something fleshy, however, and a quiet sigh filled the room... and when she drew back, the thing she had touched moved slowly towards her and whispered something in another language.

She backed further into the room and rose her handgun, and a rotund, ugly shape filled the doorway before Cindy hammered a switch on the counter to turn on the smaller lamps standing over the counter... and she stared in horror as they flickered on and revealed terrible growths of thick ivy covering the wall of the room. The plants in the greenhouse next door must have mutated from all this... oh god, what the hell is that?

The creature in front of her was slouched and mishappen, with a huge belly and grotesque, flat features: black eyes like saucers stared at her, the yellow pupils slowly adjusting to the light as the monstrous beast grunted and licked its lipless mouth with a black tongue. Flat, ugly teeth gnashed together as long, wing-like arms shrugged a bit, resting on either side of its huge belly as it mumbled something in what she guessed was demonic, before slowly lurching forwards again, and Cindy said clearly: "Stay back, I don't want to kill you unless I have to."

It tilted its head, standing in place and rubbing at its naked, yellowed body, and then it sniffed disdainfully before slowly turning around and wandering off through the doorway. Cindy relaxed with a sigh, then looked around the dimly-lit area for any other hazards before shoving the pill-maker and several different powders she recognized into the pack as well, along with several canisters of empty pills, just in case.

She left the area quickly, carrying the package over one shoulder and wincing at the sight of the fat demon now eating both the hell-bugs and the corpse they had been gorging on, and she felt sick at the sight of it picking up a chubby black beetle and shoving it into its maw even as it flailed, eating half of it in one solid bite that least halted the bug's struggling, but instead spilled yellow and green gunk all down the chest of the demon. Cindy covered her mouth before quickly running into the shelving aisles as it turned to look at her, and she halted only momentarily to search through several of the drawers for painkillers or other medications, grabbing a few that she knew had off-label uses as a hemostatic medicine. Better I give her a clot in ten hours then she bleeds out in the next two... besides, she's got so many deep cuts on her body that I could probably pluck a clot out of her heart or lungs with only a pair of tweezers...

It was a dangerous game, but she felt more glad then she'd ever been right now about the fact she had so much medical training, both in the fields and in the OR. She made a face as she headed back out into the lobby... and then she froze and glanced slowly over her shoulder at the now-open waiting room door and the other fat demons slowly waddling towards her, licking their lipless mouths hungrily.

Cindy backed slowly away, raising her handgun... but the fat creatures continued to advance hungrily before one paused at a mutilated corpse and bent down to dig in... but three more were still wandering towards her sniffling at the air with their piggy noses before she turned and bolted. Immediately, the three gave chase, but their waddling gait was no match for Cindy's sprinting as she shot out into the parking lot.

She ran towards the truck, at the same time shrugging off the black, square pack on her back and shouting to Cherry inarticulately as she threw it, who stood up and caught it... then winced and fell over from the weight and force of impacy, blinking stupidly. She put it aside... then stared in horror at the Gluttons wandering hungrily out of the hospital. "Shit! Drive, girl, drive, or those fuckers are gonna make munchies of us all!"

Thankfully, Cindy didn't need much more encouragement than that, almost tearing off the door of the truck before she started it and immediately peeled towards the edge of the parking lot, hopping the curb and rolling down the dead lawn back towards the street as the creatures moaned and grumbled things after them, waving their thick arms. Cherry covered her head miserably, then looked over at Szar and muttered: "Those are like, the only creatures in Hell that when they say they're gonna eat you out, they mean it literally. You know how I learned that?"

Szar winced and looked away embarrassedly from the Dius... but thankfully, the rest of the trip was without any sexual remarks. They drove on for forty minutes in silence... and then Cherry looked up and sighed as the sky began to lighten from the long dark they had been under, Marina slumped and asleep in the cab before her eyes flickered open as a shooting star flickered overhead in the dawn light. Cherry saw it too, watching it move towards Valise... and she murmured: "I wish that was the Boss."

They continued driving forwards, out of the city and into the dying wastelands surrounding it towards their new, less-than-hospitable accommodations... and Cherry's wish was the last real thought in her mind for some time as she simply stared at the fading stars above the dawn light, as a dark red and black sky that reminded her of Hell slowly faded into the distance with the fires and fogs of war that had obscured Valise.