Chapter Text
The sounds of birds chirping, trees rustling, and critters scampering filled the outskirts of the town.
Before the sound four engines cut through the orchestra of nature.
Four motorcycles went sped through the back roads, each wearing a jacket that matched the color of their vehicle.
The first wore a white jacket with a silver shoulder board on his left arm, his helmet had a similarly silver laurel wreath painted expertly around the upper portion.
The second wore a red jacket that had more than a few ripped sections that showed a black skintight undersuit, his helmet and bike had yellow orange flame decals on it with red dyed dread locks coming out the bottom of the helmet..
The third wore a black jacket with a frankly absurd amount of gold chains that rattle incessantly against the wind, his bike was also all black though all visible metallic surfaces were gilded.
The fourth wore a grey jacket with off white bones painted all over his torso, his bike was the most ornate, looking like it jumped straight out of a ghostrider comic.
As the quartet entered the town they slowed to a lighter speed, turning into the local diner to have some lunch.
“You're sure this is the place Fin?” the white jacket asked.
“Yeah, this is the place.” the grey biker replied, petting his bike as if it were alive.
“How long till the target’s gets here?” the red biker, who was also built like a brick shithouse, asked.
Fin looked away from the three of them, as if he heard something, before looking back at them. “Within the hour, don't worry, we won't have to look for them.”
The other three nodded, with the gold chained biker walking towards the diner with a pep in his step.
“Well, I don't know about you guys, but I am Famished!” he exclaimed, much to the annoyance of his compatriots.
“Khan!”
Khan laughed bodily, his chains clinking all the while, before pushing in the doors to the diner the smell of dozens of food options hitting the quartet all at once.
“Hello young man! What will you and your friends be havin’ this fine evening?” the elderly woman manning the counter asked, a serene smile on her face.
“A glass of milk, four pancakes and four sausage patties please!” answered khan. “How about you, Alex?"
The white jacket sighed before answering. “Scrambled eggs, with a side of bacon and a hashbrown, one glass of water, and please Khan, keep your voice down-”
“AND YOU JOHN!?!?”
“I'll have a three piece chicken strip, with a side of fries, and ranch sauce.” the red jacket answered, before remembering. “Oh, and a non-sweet tea please.”
“AND WHAT ABOUT YOU FIIIIIIN!?!?!?”
“Three bean and cheese tacos, and a sweet tea please, ma’am.”
Alex slapped his hand on his ‘face’, cringing internally as the rest of the restaurant's occupants stared at them. Not that the woman seemed to notice.
“This'll be your bill, please have a seat wherever ya’ll like!”
Khan yoinked the bill and started walking towards a booth. “She’s a nice lady.”
“You could’ve returned that niceness by using your inside voice.” Alex scolded leering over his friend.
“If you're glaring at me, it would be a lot more intimidating-” Khan interrupted himself by taking off his helmet, showing the face of Mongolian American. “-if I could actually see your face.”
Alex sighed, taking off his own helmet, curly front swept brown hair framing a face of fair complexion. “Khan, please.”
Khan waved him off, taking a seat against the wall of the booth, with Fin taking the other side, also removing his helmet, unveiling the rather pale brown skin of a Mexican American.
The same could not be said for John, who had the darkest skin tone of not just their group, but the whole restaurant.
“Tacos, really man?” John asked.
“Chicken tenders, really?” Fin replied, a smirk splitting his face.
“Wha-come here your little-!”
Alex tried to ignore the two of them in favor of sending apologetic glances at the other customers.
“You know this will probably be the only time we come to this place right?” Khan asked, sarcastically.
Alex sent him a blank stare in return. “It doesn't hurt to have some manners though, does it?”
Khan raised his hands in surrender. “Fine, fine, don't get that stick any further up your ass.”
Alex whipped his head toward Khan. “I do not, have a stick up my-!”
“Uh… Here’s your food.”
The brunette whipped his head around so fast Khan was pretty sure he heard a crack. “O-oh, thank you so much! That was really quick!”
“No problem!” their waiter replied, before handing them each their respective plate. “Please enjoy your food, I'll be right back with your drinks!”
“Hell yeah, that's that good shit!” john said, somehow already having dipped a tender in ranch with one hand while grabbing the ketchup from the table's center to cover his fries in it.
“Try not to choke fatasses.”
“Oh Shut up Fin, like you have any room to talk!”
“I held back from ordering nachos and cheese.”
“They don't serve that here!”
“Irrelivant.”
“No it isn't!"
“Cope.”
“Fin, I swear to Good, I will-!”
Something rolled over all four of them.
Something they hadn't felt since.. Well it was complicated.
They felt her.
She was weeping.
Clawing at them.
Come to me, she seemed to whisper.
They all wanted to, they really did. Like moths to a flame, they almost gave in.
almost.
Alex shot John a stern look, causing the boy to pause in stuffing his face full of tenders. “Get them.”
John sighed before swallowing his food, taking a sip of tea, and standing up to face their targets.
“Okay M&M, here's the pla-ACK!”
John tackled three short red beings to the ground. Causing the other customers to stare at the pile of bodies in confusion, before that confusion was replaced by fear at the sight of horns, red scaled bodies, slit eyes, and literal devil tails.
Screams rang out around the diner as the three imps wrestled John, Khan simply sighed and threw their waiter a bag full of gold coins. “To pay for the damages, and to not tell anyone about this.”
The waiter simply nodded numbly, and ran back to the kitchen, likely to tell everyone what was happening.
“Don’t hurt the lady too badly, she's got a bun in the oven!”
“Whatever you say, Fin!” John replied before roundhouse kicking said lady through a window, head first.
“MILLIE-Gah!” The shorter male shouted out before getting socked by John's fist, a bit of blood spewing from his mouth, before the sound of a tooth hitting the floor echoed through the diner.
“Okay that is it!”
The largest imp present pulled out a gun and aimed it in the direction of the rest of the bikers.
“Get away from my employee, and your friend won't get a bullet in their heads!”
John looked at the imp, looked at the downed imp, and raised his foot to crush the smaller’s skull.
The boss’s eyes widened before aiming for John's foot with his pistol.
BANG.
The bullet struck true, hitting John's foot, but no blood came forth, the only damage done was to his pants, which had yet another hole added. The bullet did have enough kinetic force to make him miss the smaller imp’s head by a few centimeters, causing John's foot to go straight through the diner's wooden floor.
Now with an unstable center of gravity, the smaller imper seized the opportunity, kicking John's other ankle, forcing him onto his knees before jumping out of the way. “Now sir!”
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
A constant volley of shots hit John dead on, only to bounce off and hit every window in the building.
Not that that stopped the imp, as he kept firing while the smaller was digging around his pocket for what was likely another gun.
The only damage to John was the holes added to his clothes.
“Is my helmet scratched!?” he asked over the sound of the gunshots.
“Na it's fine!” Fin replied, before a stray bullet pinged off the red helmet. “Oh, nevermind!”
“What!?” John exclaimed before turning to glare at the imps who had now regrouped. “Oh that is it!”
He pulled out his leg from the floor, causing more wood planks to break off, before grabbing one and throwing it at the boss’s pistol, knocking it out of his hands.
“Gah, fuck!”
As the boss gripped his wrist in pain his employee finally pulled out a gun to shoot-
-CRACK!
Only for it to crumble in the grasp of John's fist.
The larger imp pushed the smaller one back with one hand, while in the other he brandished a knife, just narrowly missing John's neck by a few centimeters.
Then a soft thunk sounded from below them.
All three males looked down, and saw three red dreadlocks on the ground.
“Oh you fucking bitch!”
“Actually it's Blitzø-Ack! NOT AGAIN!”
John lunged at Blitzø, his hands wrapping around the imps throat as he slammed him onto, then through the ground into the basement of the diner.
“Sir!”
“FUCKING SHOOT HIM MOX!”
A spray of bullets from yet another gun collided with John's back as he suffocated the boss.
Slowly but surely Blitzø’s struggling slowed, losing its intensity, before stopping entirely. John checked the imps wrist for a pulse, sure, fin could revive him if he had gone too far, but best not to waste time on this filth than they need to.
Satisfied that the imp was still alive, John gripped it by its horns, before throwing it over his shoulder at the other.
The employee stopped shooting as soon as Blitzø got in the line of fire, before being hit by the unconscious imps body.
When John climbed back up into the diner's main area the smaller imp was still trying to untangle himself from his boss.
Walking over John pulled back his leg before bringing it forward.
“WAIT-” any protest died on its lips as the employee went unconscious.
John stepped over the two imps to go check on the girl. “Khan! See if you can get that crystal working!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Khan walked over to the downed imps before kneeling, reaching out to the boss’s arm to raise it, specifically the glove, and even more specifically, the crystal.
Removing the crystal from the glove, Khan looked at it intently, before his brows furrowed in concentration, before unfurrowing in defeat.
“Well, it's a legit Asmodean crystal, has the sin’s signature and everything. Though there is a Goetian's signature as well, though it's overshadowed by Asmodeus’, and it’s faded.”
Khan looked at Fin. “At least now we know those reapers of yours have their priorities in order.”
Fin rolled his eyes. “Indeed, a shame really. I was hoping to avoid having to correct this imbalance, personally.”
John jumped through the broken window, the unconscious body of the female imp draped over his shoulder. “Why do we even have to deal with this? Shouldn't Heaven be handling matters in regards to Hell?”
“They should be.” Alex answered. “But for whatever reason, they seemed to have loosened the leash around Hell's neck, and Hell, or more specifically, the vermin within, have seen fit to test the limits of Heaven's mercy.”
“Negligence is more like it.” Khan said, his eyes back on the crystal. “Theyve been using this multiple times every week! Sometimes multiple times a day! How haven't they been caught yet?!”
“Like you said negligence.” Fin replied. “Can you get us to Asmodeus using that thing?”
“Sure.” Khan replied before one of the many chains of his jacket stabbed into the crystal, fractal energy patterns traveling from the crystal, up the chain, until the crystal was a grey husk.
Khan opened his eyes, that same fractal energy reflected in his eyes. “Let's get this show on the road!”
…
Asmodeus fell face first into his bed.
He just got done with a day of filing paper work for this month's Asmodean crystal uses.
And covering up the disproportionate use of a specific crystal.
If it were anyone else, he would've taken back the crystal after the first week of constant portaling. Everyday, without fail, that crystal would be used for trivial things, useless things, grabbing something from across the room, petting the hellhound, stalking employees, and magic glory holes.
He was the sin of lust, and he was grossed out by what Blitzø and Stolas do on a bi-hourly basis.
Yes, if it were anyone else, he would have taken the crystal back and burnt the fucker who would use his gift as a ses toy to a fucking crisp.
But it wasn't anybody else.
It was his lover’s ex-friend-now-kind-of-friend-again-sort-of.
So he sucked it up.
For Fizzy
Then he felt it.
Someone was fucking with a crystal!
No, that, crystal.
He pinched his brow before standing up out of bed.
He wouldn't burn Blitzø, but he would give him a very stern talking to.
He stopped however, as before him a portal opened up, and out stepped-
WHOOSH
Asmodeus barely managed to dodge the arc of a flaming sword, nearly tripping over himself to avoid the attack.
Then he got a good look at his attacker, and felt confused?
His attacker was human, at first glance, but it was rather easy to tell that wasn't the full truth.
The man had the body of a man, but the magic radiating off him was more in line with either a sin or an angel.
But he was neither, which was why it was confusing.
Then three more figures appeared from the portal.
It wasn't hard to pick up on context clues.
Horsemen of the apocalypse.
And judging by the red jacket, and flaming sword…
War.
Fuck.