ic the Devil his Due

[Cube]

Pyre was surprised by the sudden appearance of the nearly monochrome heroine.

"Oh, didn't see you there. I'm Pyre. I've been investigating this guy named Jerry Singer for a few weeks now, but this is the first I've heard of a Lady Fatale being involved..."

The prickling feeling on the back of his neck was starting to get to him. "...But if it means getting out of here, I'd be more than happy to accompany you. Though... how would someone in a jail cell be able to pull this off? I mean, even with magic, someone would have noticed a convict trying to do a ritual."

[Tiffany Korta]

“No of cause not. Lady Fatale is an emotion controller, she gave me and Bluesman quite a few troubles.†She gave a sly smile “But she was close to the inner circle so she might be able to give us an idea of where to find whoever did this. Unless you want to try a few bars and see if anyone knows where they’re keeping whoever did that.†She gestured towards the corpse “Though once news gets out I doubt we’ll have any luck.â€

---

The sergeant almost swallowed his cigar for the third time with Whiplash’s appearance and looked like he was about to say something biting when a voice cut him off from behind,

“It’s okay Sergeant I’ll take it from here.†The voice came from a young African-American woman.

“Hi there I’d detective Rhonda Rhodes and you must be Whiplash. I must say you look much better than our pictures; all our photos are a little blurred. If I didn’t know better I’d think you didn’t like us.†Her smile suggested she wasn’t totally serious “If you’ll follow me…â€

[Derin]

"Thank you, detective." Whiplash followed the policewoman inside, remembering to wear a friendly smile. I'm not being arrested. I'm a good guy now. She gave the corpse a cursory look-over, careful not to touch it and not really expecting to learn anything, before turning to Pyre and Revenant.

"Old friends of yours?" she asked Revenant. "I assume you know their boss is after you? Something about bringing the family down a long time ago. This one... this one betrayed them." The body was even more chilling up close. Who did that to another person?! This was the sort of thing the "harmless" crimes led to. This was the sort of thing she had to stop.

[Cube]

Pyre smiled as Whiplash was led in. "There you are. Thanks for helping out earlier. I... really wasn't expecting that to happen..."

The news that this now skinless corpse's former employer was after Revenant was new, though.

"So... this Lady Fatale person has connections to this person who's after you. But if she didn't do this... who did?"

Whoever pulled this off had some serious mojo at their disposal. It was enough to make Pyre's insides squirm. He wanted out.

"...Maybe we should talk about this outside."

[Tiffany Korta]

“Yes there is some kind of bad vibes about this room, and we all seem to be after the same people so let’s take this outside.â€

Even though this was an area where people general appeared not to pay attention a small crowd had gathered and the driver of the CSU truck was currently trying to park up with adding another incident to the day. The three hero’s obviously go a lot of attention especial Pyre, who couldn’t help to stand out in the crowd.

“This may be a little too crowded to compare notes, does anyone have somewhere nearby we can go?â€

[Derin]

Not for the first time, Whiplash wished that she had some kind of secret headquarters. Instead she shrugged, following the pale woman out. "Can't say that I do, unless you like heights as much as I do." Her first choice for a meeting spot was a good high rooftop, but that didn't seem to suit most people. Pity. So few prying eyes ever looked up, and hardly anybody put security on their rooftops. "I sent your friend home, Pyre. He was getting very nervous and I didn't want him to bolt and get himself killed. After seeing that and hearing his story, I'm amazed he was willing to talk at all." She didn't add that the man had clearly found Pyre scary as hell, as would any rational person meeting him for the first time in darkness. Presumably he already knew that.

[Cube]

Pyre was acutely aware he was scary as hell. That once incident with the Trick Or Treaters was more than enough to attest to that.

"Heights are fine, unless you'd rather sit in my garage or something. Don't have many other options. I just want to get out of here..."

Pyre instinctively edged a few feet away from the mangled corpse. "Though... I would like to find out what our mutual friend has to say about all of this. Who ever is responsible for this has some seriously bad mojo at their disposal..."

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy watched the body being taken out of the apartment and Pyre’s visible reaction to the corpse.

“Yes I think the roof top would be a good idea. Whiplash it’s your territory do you want to pick out a spot?â€

Once they had found a suitable rooftop Revenant started to fill the other two in

“Now we’re alone call me Lucy, it’ll make a lot of things make more sense. Back in the 1920’s there was a powerful mafia family call the Giovanni. Until their boss got taken down by a young lawyer called Lucy Harker.†She paused to let this sink in “The current head of the Giovanni family is trying to regain power but any means possible. First he started with super humans like Lady Fatale, then he turned to magic. Though I’m not sure what he’s turned to now…â€

[Derin]

"I'm told he worked with some kinds of voodoo doctor, trying to bring you down," Whiplash said. "Apparently he's obsessed with dark magic. His current accomplice is a sorceror who summons demon servants. He dresses in dark yellow robes and keeps his face covered. The contact doesn't know much; isn't even certain whether he's male." She glanced at Pyre. "I believe he mistook you, Pyre, for one of the sorceror's pets, which might be why he attempted to run right off the edge of the roof. I'm not sure how much he wants to talk to you.:

[Cube]

"So that's why he wants revenge on you..." Pyre scratched his chin. "And... a pet? Really?" He seemed amused by that. "Clearly the guy doesn't know his comics. Still... where have I heard about Dark Yellow robes before? It's not exactly a common color for a demon summoner. They usually red or black, right? Maybe a Dark blue or green. But yellow? That's pretty distinctive."

Leave it to the artist to start rambling on about colors. "But if he's after you personally, why hasn't he made a direct attack yet? Is he waiting for something?"

[Tiffany Korta]

“The Haitian and I tussled, but we managed to come to an arrangement.†Lucy wondered if she should mention the whole deal, but thought it best to leave it out for now. “He left there service in less than friendly terms, so I know he wouldn’t still be involved.â€

Lucy then considered Pyre’s words.

“The current Don blames me for destroying the power of the family, but he’s also trying to bring the family back into power. I suspect he’s trying to use fear and intimidation to bring the local gangs over to his side. That’s probably why the gangs around Southside have been so jittery the last few months. This murder might be enough to bring them over to his side, unless we can stop him.â€

[Cube]

"So if word about this gets out, then he'll have every gang in the city on his side..." Pyre sighed. "Fear tactics, of course... He'd only need a few demons to keep Southside in check. Then he can move in on you. But... Ugh, this robe thing is bugging me. Who wears a Yellow Robe? Monks?"

It was a rather stupid thing to get fixated on, and he knew it. Someone was releasing demons onto the city, and Pyre's main concern was how it would look on a comic page. I mean, who would be afraid of the Archmage Colonel Mustard? When was the last time someone genuinely terrifying wore a...

"...Wait a moment."

Pyre pulled out his cellphone and started furiously pulling up Google Image search. "I know I've seen this before. Back when I was working on paranormal comics for castle. One of my coworkers was doing an adaptation of some old book of horror stories... Nice guy, not sure what happened to him. But... Ah! Here we go!"

Pyre tossed his phone to Whiplash. "Does that guy look like our mysterious demon summoner?"

[Derin]

"I haven't seen the man, only heard him described." She hesitated a moment, then shrugged and typed her number into his phone. "Here, send me the picture," she said, tossing the phone back. "I can ask our friend if we have any further chats. What is that guy, anyway? And these demons... are we looking at actual demons, or people like you?" This was not Whiplash's element. She'd gotten involved to bust a simple drug ring, hit some criminals, make a few citizen's arrests maybe, and now she was playing with demons and sorcerors. Sometimes she hated this city.

[Tiffany Korta]

“This summoner must be hidden away somewhere or one someone would have found out about him by now. And there is only one person who would have been important enough to know where he could be. I’m going to see about arranging a meeting with Lady Femme, would be a minute.â€

Whiplash soon had her answer in a text which consisted mainly of expletives, which she took to mean yes.

Beaudrie Opera House

The hordes of hell were dragging Faust down as the news arrived. The mobster shuffled in nervously, the creepy thing in the robes always made him nervous.

“The men at the apartment report that the police have arrived. It won’t be long before news get out.†He paused and swallowed hard, he wasn’t going to like this. “But some of those super types also showed up. Including her…â€

The opera must have been good; he didn’t lose his temper at all. Instead he gestured to his pet summoner.

“I think we should send them a warning, don’t you?â€

The robe figure didn’t answer, other than a hissing laugh, but began a chant in a strange tongue.

Southside

There was a smell of sulfur and above the two waiting heroes and a shimmering in the air forming two winged humanoid figures…

[Derin]

Whiplash didn't hesitate. Since she'd come to Freedom City she'd helped a giant bee and been rescued by somebody who looked like a demon, but even she wasn't going to run toward these new apparitions with sunshine and smiles. "You can do fire at a distance blind, right?" she asked Pyre. Without waiting for an answer, she pulled her echolocation goggles down and dropped a smoke grenade at her own feet, engulfing them in a 50-foot radius cloud of black smoke. She drew her whip. The tricky part, she decided, would be avoiding any fire that Pyre or the newcomers might throw around; her echolocation goggles let her see through the vision-obscuring fog, but they wouldn't show flames.

[Tiffany Korta]

The demons were fully formed by now who looked down them with inhuman faces, with looks of glee at there promise of carnage. Only for them to be denied by the curling smoke from the grenade. Giving angry inhuman screeches, they swooped and flapped in the air they vented there frustration by unleashing goats of unholy fire down up the rooftop.

The smoke did its job however and the bolts missed are two heroes, though the blast were quite close to there intended targets. Instead the flames lit up the smoke with an eerie orange glow.

[Cube]

The swirl of smoke obscured Pyre's vision just as the real demons manifested.

"I... I could, but..."

Too late. Shoot... Alright, it's worth a shot anyway...

Pyre's body burst into crimson flame as he sent forth a volley of supernaturally accurate flame through the smoke. The sound of a fireball exploding on impact was enough to signify he hit, but... the lack of a dead demon was concerning.

"...I don't think Fire will work on these things, Whiplash!"

Of course... Fire didn't work on him either.

"...Whiplash, Revenant! Stay behind me!"

[Derin]

With fire raining down around them, staying behind the huge fire-controlling ally sounded like a good idea. It occurred to her that she could see everything but the fire, and he could probably sense the fire and very little else. If they were going to make a habit of this sort of thing either he'd need sonar goggles or she'd need a fireproof costume.

Whiplash flicked her weapon out to tangle the wings of one of their opponents. If she could pull them out of the sky they could simply beat them into submission. Then she took Pyre's advice and stepped behind him. If the demon came down, she'd tell him where it landed; if not, well, she'd have to try again.

[Tiffany Korta]

The demon gave a little surprised sound as Whiplashes whip caught its cloven leg. It tumbled to the rooftop landing with a solid tump just beyond the smoke screen. Though the fall wasn’t that major it must have done something to the Demon as it seemed to be lying very still.

The other demon gave an enraged shriek and returned to bombarding the smoke cloud with its unnatural hellfire. Even in the mist Pyre stood out substantially in the gaps where the wind caught the smoke and the demon managed to engulf Pyre in its unnatural hellfire.

[Cube]

Pyre yet out a yelp of surprise as the Hellfire engulfed him. It burned!

It didn't burn that much, but it still burned. Whatever these things were using, it wasn't normal fire. If it wasn't for his abnormally tough hide, he'd be done for.

"That was NOT COOL!" he roared, as he rushed the Demon that now lay prone on the sidewalk, swinging a massive boot at the prone creature. Sure, kicking people while they were down wasn't always the noble thing to do, but considering that this was an actual demon from Hell who could flay people alive, he was willing to make an exception.

Besides, Whiplash didn't have the same resilience he did. If one of those demons managed to get to her...

[Cube]

"WHOA!" shouted Pyre, as his foot passed harmlessly through the so-called demon, nearly sending him to the ground

"Whiplash, it's a trap! That one's an illusion!"

Scrambling on all six limbs, Pyre dove to protect the other hero, diving to use his massive bulk to shield her from the demon's onslaught.

"I really hope you can see them with those goggles of yours, because they're trickier than I thought!"

He needed to think fast... How the hell could he fight something that shrugged off his powers?

[Derin]

"I'm pretty sure that I see what you see," Whiplash shouted over the sounds of battle. "Except in the smoke, where you can't, and the flames, which I... you know what I mean!" She dashed out from behind the hero long enough to flick her whip up and entangle the wings of the demon firing upon them. Please let this one be real. Even if it wasn't, maybe she could get it to stop shooting for a moment. Then she dashed back behind Pyre.

Ha! Hidden in smoke, a master of stealth, behind a living fireproof shield; there was no way they could hit her! Don't get cocky, Helen, she told herself. You always get shot about five seconds after you start to get cocky. Always.

[Tiffany Korta]

The airborne demon was like its partner brought crashing to the rooftop thanks to Whiplashes attack. But unlike the other it quickly picked itself to its feet. Instead of flying back into the air and bombarding the smoke it instead advanced on the bulky form of Pyre, now hazily visible on the edge of the smoke and attempted to harm the hero in a rapid series of slashes with its claws.

Unseen by Whiplash the other demon was anything but down and it also attempted to harm Pyre. But the smoke still provided some cover to the Pyre and it claws failed to connect with his skin.

[Cube]

"Whiplash, they're right in front of me! Gah!" Pyre barely managed to lean out of the way as a razor sharp claw nearly grazed his face.

So the goggles did nothing, apparently... Wonderful.

He barely had time to think of a way around that little issue when a second Demon lunged from the smoke at his face.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" he shouted, as he brought all four fists down on the lunging demon like a rain of hammers, arresting it's momentum mid-lunge.

"Let's see you shrug that one off, sulfur breath!"

[Derin]

Well. That demon, at least, appeared to be real.

"Can you see the other one?" Whiplash asked as she stepped sideways to get a clear shot at the demon and lashed her whip across it, careful to stay under the cover of smoke and out of range of the demon's claws. They didn't seem to be raining fire any more, so she was at least free to move without being hit by something she couldn't see. She was beginning to see how her enemies felt. "Do we need more smoke? I'm not sure it gives us that much advantage in this situation and I'm a little worried about blacking out large parts of the street."