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The news did a lot for the reptile: it lifted some of the pall of gloom that had been hanging over his head and helped him feel better about things in general... and the next day, watching Selena step through a vortex and into the Ravenlight Estate was one of the brightest sights the reptile could ask for, as the lizard looked up from where he had been installing new flooring manually and wiped sweat from his forehead, walking towards her as he said dryly: "You're late."

Selena looked embarrassed, not speaking for a few moments as the vortex closed behind her: thankfully, the AMPs had finally vanished all around Hell, meaning they had finally started getting everything back in order and the denizens of the now-planet had calmed greatly when they found out that magic would be returning shortly. Of course, for now they still had to use demonic crystals or magical artifacts like Northern Stars to get around, but just the knowledge that it could be harnessed, Zerrex knew, was doing a lot for the peoples of Hell in general, who had never been forced to go without magic before.

Zerrex looked at her for a few moments, the lizard standing in just a pair of old, ripped jeans, a bit sweaty from the work he'd taken to doing: he'd repaired his room, Sin's room, and Selena's room almost entirely except for a few odds and ends, and he'd redone most of the floor in the entrance hall himself, as other people did the things they were better at. Firenze was still acting as the main director of operations, and Huck and Priest had been discussing laying down fortified power lines that might be able to resist Hell's corruption and electromagnetic atmosphere, and if they could build areas in Hell that would be altered so that the air was clear of all interference, for sensitive instruments and spacecraft to be launched out of.

Selena was wearing a thermal suit made of thick gray cloth, with blue, rubberized pads over her shoulders, joints, and chest, the zipper done up all the way and a strap of cloth cinched tight around her neck. On one arm, she was wearing an armlet with a large sphere of crystal inset into it, letting her use magic freely... and cradled in her other was an airtight helmet, in the vague shape of her royal mask. She looked worn-out, simply put... but she smiled at the sight of Zerrex, and the two walked over to the stairs, sitting at the bottom of them as Selena rested her helmet on her legs, the other workers in the hall murmuring excitedly to each other as she said softly, twiddling her thumbs and looking awkwardly down at the polished head-covering: "Sorry, Zerrex. I know you're probably still pretty ticked at me about what I did, but... well... I thought it was for the best. The last thing we needed was you getting convinced we needed to play hero, and I knew that whoever was planning to attack us on the physical world would want proof... and they've seen my face before. Well, sort of. You know what I mean." She stopped, then looked around and grinned lamely at the Drakkaren, who was looking at her grouchily. "So tell me what's happened here. The fuck are you doing out of bed, anyway?"

"Hey, at least I didn't shoot myself into space at a million miles an hour." Zerrex shout back, and Selena cleared her throat, looking away. "You tell me first what happened with you, then I'll tell you what's going on with Hell."

Selena nodded after a moment, looking irritable herself but also still abashed, and then she finally started: "Well... Priest needed a volunteer, and... I knew that I'd be able to keep myself warm in space, and if something went wrong, I could probably save myself with magic. So I volunteered, and he hooked me up to the machine and taught me how it worked, and it was simple enough I got it down in a few minutes. Or I thought I did...

"Anyway, they launched me, and it was a hell of a ride, Zerrex." Selena smiled a bit despite herself, looking at him with entertainment as he rolled his eyes, trying to hide the bit of envy that came up despite his hatred of vehicles, especially airborne ones. "I dunno, I felt like... a meteor. And space... it was beautiful. I can honestly say I wasn't bored once, and even though it was kinda scary... well... it was just... breathtaking.

"I was moving at such an incredible speed... and in only two days, I realized I was going to collide with a space station orbiting the planet." Selena cleared her throat, and Zerrex grinned a bit at this despite himself. "Shut the fuck up, do you know how damn hard it is to steer? One wrong move and I would have been hurtling through space forever until I exploded or hit a star or some other crazy shit. I turned the ion thrusters to full power, but the crappy little things just slowed me down a little, and after two hours I collided with the hull and went halfway through it, got lodged in it and shit. I managed to crawl out of the cockpit and into the breached hallway, and one of the astronauts who came to check on me was kind enough to escort me inside. When I explained everything to them, they were more than glad to help me send down a transmission... they said they were from... Luna?"

"Lunis, you mean." Zerrex nodded slowly: it made sense. Lunis had grown more friendly towards them, and likely the space station was doing scouting and calculations for the space colonies he knew they planned to launch sooner rather than later, especially with the friendly competition from the other countries. "So no one's going to shoot at us?"

"Nah." Selena smiled a bit, touching the back of his hand awkwardly for a moment before she returned her fingers to twiddling together in front of her. "I talked to that Balthazar dude you're always talkin' about... real nice fellow, yeah. And your family, too. Marina promised to try and contact you herself... you get a message from her?"

Zerrex nodded, and Selena snorted in amusement. "Fucking nuts, that kid of yours is. We should just evacuate Hell and have her throw it at Athéos. She could probably do it, too."

"Moving the alignment of planets is a little beyond her powers still, I think." Zerrex said mildly, but a fear nibbled at the back of his mind: would it always be? If she's this strong as a mortal... "Anyway, I guess you wanna hear what's been going on here." He paused for a few long moments, then said finally: "Not much."

Selena glared at him, and the reptile held up his hands, smiling a bit. "Okay okay. Well... I guess you can tell that magic is working. Only when it's powered by crystals at the moment, but well... it's still working, and that's what counts. We've been doing damage assessments and carefully conserving our crystals so far, using them only where necessary... magical artifacts work too, after all, and so does mortal magic, like runes and stuff.

"The Central Spire is mostly-undamaged... whatever it's made of, it won't fall down even when the wind blows, but so far there isn't much of a wind in Hell. No rain or anything else either, from what we've seen so far... weather's been drastically different than what Ixin predicted, which is a nice change of pace." He paused, then said in a slower voice: "We're scouring the Circles... but so far, there's... there's a lot of people dead. Moving the rubble is taking a long, long time, and even working in shifts, there's only so much we can do. I'm very worried about the Ninth Circle... the only way in and out of the Central Spire right now is through portal, because much of the Circle of Tragedy is covered in ruins. Sabnock might have been down there, and... well..."

Selena nodded slowly, and then the Drakkaren shook his head, continuing: "The Abyss's magical wards and protections have mostly turned back on... it's secure, as are most of the Pits of Torment across the face of Hell. A vast desert is being mapped as we speak, and we've also encountered... strange demons, to the far reaches of the west. It's also been confirmed that dying and lost souls are still coming to Hell, but in fewer numbers... the thought is that a lot of souls are being drawn straight down to the Unworld now, because ironically, the theory is that fewer people believe in Hell as Hell since we merged with the physical plane."

The demoness nodded again, and then, as Zerrex opened his mouth, she reached out and gently put her finger against his lips, saying softly: "I get it, Zer. We're in clean-up mode right now, and still waiting for the rest of the corruption to click back in. You can fill me in on the details later... for now, come on. Let's get you relaxed... and I need a little something myself."

Zerrex looked at her as her fingers slid gently under his muzzle, then reached down and took his hand, and the reptile let himself be led up the stairs and through the corridor to his room. Selena smiled a bit at the state it was in, organized and neatened, and then she tossed her helmet to the ground and turned around, opening the strap around her throat and starting to unzip her front... but the Drakkaren reached out and caught her hand, saying softly: "No. Let me do it."

Slowly, he pulled the zipper down, watching as inch-by-inch, the front of her suit opened, revealing her cleavage still half-hidden by a bra, and the black triangle of the tight bikini bottom she was wearing. The lizard slipped his hands carefully beneath either side of her open thermal suit, and his fingers brushed against the ruby scales of her outer body as he slid his hands up to grasp her shoulders, at the same time pushing his wrists out to pull the one-piece suit wide open... and then he leaned in, meeting her muzzle in a slow, hungry kiss as he grasped the open flaps of her thermal suit and pulled it slowly, deliciously down to reveal her athletic, brawny and toned body.

The lizard broke the kiss, trailing them now along the underside of her muzzle and down to her collarbone as she sighed in pleasure, her eyes closing and her head tilting back as her freed arms reached up to play slowly through his hair, the Drakkaren continuing to trace kisses down the curve of her breast, and then along the middle of her tight abdominals, a shiver tracing its way through Selena's body. At the same, the lizard pulled the thermal suit down lower, dragging it free from her sinuous tail and her long, strong legs, until she was able to step out of it as the lizard gripped into her waist and licked slowly along the waistband of the tight strip of cloth that barely covered her sex, already smelling of her need and her lust, already wet with the juices of her loins.

Slowly, Zerrex leaned down and mouthed her sex through the cloth, his tongue dragging up the wet spot and making her grunt in pleasure, arching her back as her fingers dug into his scalp with a sigh of bliss, and then the Drakkaren reached up and tangled his fingers in the waistband of her black bikini bottom, pulling it slowly down as he pushed his muzzle forwards against the pink folds of her vagina, his tongue sliding outwards to lick slowly, messily up between her lips and making her twitch again at the contact, the female moaning quietly in pleasure as her hips bucked lightly against him, some of her juices dripping free of her folds. The male growled lightly at this, and then he straightened as he let her black bottom drop to the ground, standing up and rubbing his fingers up her chest to squeeze her breasts slowly through her black bra as she bucked her hips towards him and reached down to fumble at his jeans, almost ripping the button off his fly as she breathed: "What the fuck are you waiting for?"

Zerrex shoved her back towards the bed as his fly came undone, grabbing her bra at the same time to rip it down but not entirely off, and Selena fell on her back with a grunt, legs automatically spreading wide as Zerrex strode towards her with a hungry growl, shoving his pants and boxers quickly down and half-stepping out of them as he dropped over her body and dragged his tongue along her throat, making her groan before she moaned lightly as he bit into the junction of her neck and shoulder, her legs twitching and bucking as his half-hard cock flopped against her sex and ground slowly up along it, laying up along her abs like a black snake that was slowly bulging into life.

His shaft thickened and stiffened steadily, grinding down against her stomach as they kissed again hungrily, Selena clawing into one of the Drakkaren's shoulders as he pinned her other wrist and bore down against her with his strength and body weight, and she opened her legs wider for him, moaning into his jaws as their tongues wrestled and tangled together before he drew back and sloppily licked down her face like a feral animal, making her half-close her eyes and only moan again as she felt his now-hard shaft pushing down against her body, the lizard's heavy navy-blue testicles resting on her tail. The Drakkaren ground and thrusted lightly against her before he finally reached and hand down to guide the head of his throbbing forty inches of girthy lizard cock against her vagina, and her moan turned into a loud cry of pleasure as he thrusted forwards without further ado, grunting hungrily and slamming into her like an animal, burying more than a third of his cock into her before he straightened his body slightly and spread his legs some to add to his power, stomping forwards as his hands seized her waist and slamming his thick cock into her with a roar as he moved against her hard enough to grind the bed out of position against the wall, making Selena scream again and arch her back, her enormous breasts bouncing in the air, nipples perked and almost as solid as the reptile's cock as her jaw gaped wide and her eyes bulged in an expression of either agony or ecstasy.

A bit of blood leaked out of her sex as Zerrex pistoned hard into her, grinding his huge penis against her inner folds and making her shriek as her hips bucked, bulging with the girth of the obsidian tower inside of her as she did her best to cradle and clutch the thick waist of the Drakkaren with her legs, her fingers clawing into one of his arms and the other reaching up to grasp his shoulder as he slid a hand over her body to squeeze roughly into a breast. His mouth settled on the other after a moment as he began to thrust more than a foot of his huge member back and forth, slamming deep and hard into her again and again with enough force to rock the bed she was laying on, making her scream and convulse in raw sexual delight that was beyond both pain and pleasure as she grinned up at him, her eyes burning with lust before she yelled: "Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me Zerrex! Fuck me hard!"

She ended on a shriek as Zerrex growled above her hungrily and leaned down over her, throwing even more strength into every rapid thrust as he pounded in and out of her vagina, his testicles slapping her rear hard enough with every pass to begin to bruise her firm ass and the base of her tail as the latter appendage twitched, the female's strong thighs flexing with every movement as she voiced all her erotic euphoria without a care for who heard. It only led Zerrex on all the more, however, making him growl and snarl like a beast as he savagely pistoned his cock in and out of her, pleasure rolling through his entire body as he bent over her and used his weight and his strength to his advantage.

Over and over and over, he thrusted in and out of her body, his shaft squelching and sending up a burst of fluids with every powerful thrust deep into her depths, his testicles slamming into her like boulders as she cried out and her body arched, her passage clenching around his girthy cock with a tightness and a heat that was beyond explanation, beyond words and description. He could already feel his pre bursting into her, mixing with the hot juices of her vagina as he gazed down at her hungrily, loving her, wanting her, needing her, and claiming her as his in so many different ways as he leaned down and almost bit into one of her breasts, and she shrieked as her hands immediately seized into his scalp, fingers twisting into his ivory locks as his teeth left small dents in the scales covering the large, sensitive bosom and his tongue flicked over the fat nipple, teasing it as he suckled hungrily back on her breast.

She twisted and convulsed under him, the sounds she was making music to his ears before he drew back with a gasp, a few strings of saliva connecting her breast to his mouth before he kissed her again, working his jaws furiously down against hers as her hands pulled his head down harder, closer, her body begging to be used and abused by him as her hips rocked hard back against every deep thrust of his thick member, her eyes rolling in her head, half-closed and unseeing in ecstasy, heat and bliss rollicking through her body as she felt herself being split wide open by the massive, girthy cock slamming into her again and again. And then the kiss broke as Zerrex roared and arched his back and she screamed and reached down to clutch into his muscular body, claws dragging along his upper back as he slammed hard forwards into her, grinding his crotch into the lips of her labia and threatening to crush them back into her own body, her legs clenching against his waist before he reached both hands up to pin her by the shoulders, growling as he shoved her down and grinned at her, his eyes glowing with passion as her claws dug narrow scratches along his back and then seized tightly into him just beneath the shoulder, Selena howling in ecstasy as he began to pump even faster and harder in and out of her.

One of the Drakkaren's hands slid up and grabbed Selena by the muzzle, jerking her head to the side before he shoved down on her collarbone to pin her back harder into the mattress, making her arch and her breasts jounce as her legs spread wide for him, her wet juices splattering up his crotch and his abs with each vicious pound into her form as she moaned and gazed up at him submissively, crying out between breaths and moans and whimpers. Every nerve of her body felt like it was being tortured with eroticism, every part of her felt alive and on fire, and every part Zerrex touched was electric, with her crotch a terrible inferno of both lightning and passionate flame.

Again and again and again, he slammed into her, her passage clutching tight to the steel, obsidian rod buried inside of her, her breasts bouncing on her chest painfully fast with the speed of the lizard's thrusts, her form needy and a toy for the Drakkaren beneath him before her eyes bulged as her passage clenched firmly to the rod of reptile cock inside of her, and then she threw her head back and screamed as she suddenly orgasmed, her loins turning into a white blaze as her eyes bulged with the power of it, juices squirting out like a geyser to either side of the Drakkaren's cock as he growled through grit teeth, clenching his eyes shut as every muscle of his body flexed as he leaned over her at the sudden burst of pleasure and the rhythmic clenches around his cock, feeling her gripping into him like a hot vise as she cried out again and again, arching and convulsing beneath him like a crazed sex toy.

He pushed down against her, pinning her, delighting in the way she still squirmed and moaned under his hand before it slipped down to squeeze into her breast as she continued to orgasm, her hips bucking ferociously and then trembling, losing their pace at the extra burst of shocking pain-pleasure at the rough, hard grip on her swell, before she gazed up at him as he continued to slam in and out of her, his testicles making a slick wet sound of meat hitting meat now with every almost-vicious thrust. Her orgasm continued for minutes, the pleasure only building higher and higher with each and every fast buck of her hips, threatening to drive her insane as she shrieked again as the girthy rod of black cock slammed into her body over and over, her expression one of either insane pleasure or utter hellish agony.

Zerrex roared, his body flexed above her, his muscles bulging against his hide of scale and a thin sheen of sweat covering his form, his solid masculine front splattered with other juices as he rode out her orgasm and continued to thrust viciously in and out of her, breathing hard and wanting to get his own pleasure in first. He grinned down at her, slamming hard into her and trying to match her broken rhythm, milking her orgasm for as long as he could and making her shriek as he angled his thrusts to shove along the sensitive walls of her sex. He let his body weight drop again and again and against her form, crushing her against the bed as he pinned her easily, and as her orgasm began to die down, an idea flared in his mind... and he grinned widely as he suddenly leaned upwards, her hands tearing free of his body as she fell back against the bed, and then she gasped as he grasped her hips and pulled free in one single movement... only to grasp his solid shaft and shove suddenly and viciously into her rosebud, the thick head of his cock forcing its way against the tight ring before it simply tore through like a battering ram, the Drakkaren grunting and closing his eyes as he grinned widely, Selena shrieking in pain and pleasure beneath him as her legs kicked out on either side of his body and she clawed viciously at the muscular, chiseled body of the male, but he only squeezed tighter into his waist as he slammed forwards again, forcing every inch of his huge cock between the firm cheeks of her ass and deep into her body, her eyes bulging and her jaw gaping before she threw her head back and shrieked. "F-Fuck, fuck, oh my God, Zerrex!"

"What, don't like that?" Zerrex grinned down at her, then he growled and flexed as he slammed into her, arching his back and straightening his body to literally lift her partially into the air with just his huge cock buried in her tight ass, making her scream again before he drew suddenly back, his shaft splattered with blood as her rosebud leaked a stream of the red stuff, and then he leapt suddenly on top of her, his legs landing on her upper arms as he forced his shaft, stained with blood and other juices and sloppily dripping his pre, down between her huge breasts, thrusting forwards as he grabbed one of her horns and jerked her face upwards, the head of his cock slamming into her jaws as he shouted: "Then suck on it, whore, 'cause I know how much you love it in this hole!"

Selena moaned around the girthy cock stretching her muzzle and ramming into the back of her throat, almost gagging around it but managing to control herself as the reptile held tightly onto her horn with one hand and the other squeezed a breast, his lower shaft sandwiched deliciously between the huge swells as they burned with heat and pleasure. The female let out another groan around the thick cock as Zerrex began to thrust hard and fast, his testicles dragging up and down the smooth-scaled muscles of her front as he shoved his cock deep down her jaws again and again, and she bobbed her head and suckled as best she could back against it, tasting her own blood, her own juices, her own ravaged passages on her tongue and in her mouth as his masculine pre squirted down her throat and her jaws clenched tightly around his obsidian penis.

It rammed down her jaws again and again, slamming between her hot breasts, the reptile panting hungrily as he kept her body and arms pinned with his strong legs, her fingers clawing into the muscular waist and upper thigh of the Drakkaren as he pistoned his member again and again into her mouth, groaning hungrily. Selena's legs weakly bucked over and over, dripping her juices and some of her blood, her sex pulsing and blossomed to reveal her sweet and needy inner folds as she moaned around the heavy cock, her eyes clenched shut as Zerrex growled down at her, his other hand reaching up to grasp her face as he murmured hungrily: "Yeah... yeah... get ready, bitch... get ready for it..."

Selena moaned hungrily around his cock, working her jaws harder and faster in as best rhythm as she could manage against the thrusts of his huge member, her tongue twisting and lapping at the girthy black penis as she clutched tighter into him, the male's body flexed and powerful above her as he growled in delight, his waist smashing into the underside of her huge swells and making them rock all the harder as he felt himself beginning to stiffen up, saliva and pre already dripping messily out the sides of the stretched muzzle of the female.

Zerrex panted through his grit teeth, his eyes tightly closed as he squeezed into her horn almost hard enough to snap it, and then he finally threw his head back with a roar of pleasure, grabbing her other horn as he pistoned himself between her breasts, sandwiching them tighter around his thick cock as his legs closed against the fat sides of the large swells, and the head of his shaft smashed into the back of Selena's throat with every pass, making her gargle even as she tried her best to keep up with the huge cock as it took on the consistency of metal inside of her jaws, before her eyes bulged as Zerrex roared again, giving a muffled cry of shock as the first volley of his seed blasted down her throat and straight down into her gut, almost choking her with how much shot from his heavy cock, thrills running through her body as he slammed into her again and again, and with every thrust, released another huge gout of his semen straight down her throat.

Pleasure rocketed through Zerrex's body as his seed blasted into her jaws over and over, his testicles feeling like they were on fire with pleasure and throbbing as they ground against her hot scales, his cock an iron-hard rod filled with bliss so wonderful it was almost tormenting as volley after volley of his load fired into her. Selena was almost choking on it, seed splashing out of her muzzle as she tried to open her jaws, torrents of the white stuff bursting out to leak down her cheeks and chin and splattering and squirting back out onto the tops of her breasts, strings of seed even finding their way back up through her nostrils as she fought to swallow as much of it as she could, before Zerrex suddenly jerked free as he drew his cock back, letting her cough up a waterfall of seed that gushed out onto her own body before she moaned in surprise as Zerrex slammed his rock-hard cock down against her cheek with enough force to almost bruise it, a blast of seed shooting right past her eye and splattering over her horn and the fin on her head before the reptile drew back further and grinned, getting up to a kneel over her body as he stroked the forty solid inches of obsidian member, massive testicles pulsing between his legs as they fed shot after shot up through the cannon of a cock as he released thick white strings over her face, over her breasts, over her body, and all she could so was bathe in it, moaning as her head twisted back and forth and the reptile only growled like a feral beast above her.

It ended minutes later, Selena laying in a vast bath of his seed, moaning weakly as a bit burbled up out of her mouth and a bubble of the stuff blew out of one nostril and popped, and Zerrex laughed quietly as he slapped his still-hard cock against her saturated breasts, making a loud splashing splat. She gazed up at him hungrily as he finally drew back off her body, and she spread her legs slowly, whispering: "Please... please... more..."

Zerrex stroked his seed stained cock slowly, grinning down at her, his body flexed and powerful, feeling energized and alive and hungry, ready to satiate her need... and then he grinned as he reached down and rolled her over before his hand grasped the back of her skull and slowly ground her face down into the messy sheets, making her moan as seed was both cleaned off her face and smeared further over her, working into her scales as he said softly: "Just keep yourself turned around and in that puddle there, whore... keep your face buried in my seed and remember who's in charge around here."

"Yes, Zerrex..." Selena whispered, and she clutched into the sheets, huge breasts pressed down against the mattress and face rubbing slowly into the seed smeared across the sheets as her legs eagerly spread, trembling a bit before she closed her eyes in ecstasy as the Drakkaren's seed covered cock pushed teasingly at the entrance to her sex... and she closed her eyes in delight, submitting to him entirely in body and mind as she murmured a single word: "Please..."

Zerrex took her hard and savagely, and filled her up: and then even a third time, splitting her rear apart with his huge shaft before he once more released all over her face and body, the hungry, dominant animal inside of him released and vicious, inciting him to do more, mark her as his, claim her and beat her down into her place... and Selena was all too glad to submit. Finally, however, it was over... and then they lay naked in bed together, the sheets and blankets thrown off to the side to be washed later, Selena splattered with his seed but Zerrex not minding even as she ground against him and cuddled up close, smelling his own load and his own virility, then tasting it as they kissed slowly and passionately, his body splattered now with his own semen before he grunted as he rolled on top of him, sliding her hands through his hair to spread more of his gunk through it as she whispered down at him: "Don't think you'll ever break me entirely, Zerrex. I'm still my own proud person."

"Good. That's why I care about you so damn much." They traded a slow kiss, and he hugged her tightly down against him as she curled her head towards his neck, resting atop his naked body before he laughed a bit and murmured: "Ugh, I can't wait for magic to work again so we can get rid of all this goddamn mess."

"Fuck you. I put up with you covering me in your load, you can put up with me rubbing it back all over you for a day or two." Selena retorted, and Zerrex rolled his eyes before he reached up and grabbed her face, and she grinned at him challengingly, asking in a throaty voice: "You gonna slap me, master?"

"You'd like that way too much." Zerrex kissed her instead, slowly sharing another long, delicious entanglement of their mouths and tongues, before he squeezed her tightly down against his muscular body, murmuring softly: "Goddammit, I missed feeling you against me..."

Selena snorted, then she sat up on top of him, straddling him and gazing down at him lovingly as she stroked his face gently. "I don't know why you don't ask us for stuff more often, Zerrex. We're here to serve you... I think sometimes you're still living by the morals and codes of the mortal plane that have been ground into you." She stopped, then took his face gently, saying quietly: "We are your wives because we care for you, and you care for us. Yeah, we're jealous of each other sometimes, but we've had the talk about demonic emotions a lot of times before. This isn't the mortal plane, where you have one short lifetime to try and find one single person... we live essentially forever here, until we're killed by one thing or another. We measure our lives in eternities, goddammit. Sex is more often for pleasure than procreation, too... but then again, I know that's true on the mortal realm, too.

"But here... just accept that this is the normal way things work and you're no stupid freak. And we aren't servile because we're female and you're male... we serve you because of how you've proven yourself..." She paused and grinned a bit, kissing his lips teasingly and making Zerrex blush slightly. "And because we know you love it when you get to feel like a big bad male making all of us your bitches. But I think you know just as well what I like..."

Her eyes half-lidded, and Zerrex licked his lips slowly, nodding as he stroked his hands gently up her sides. "And sometimes you're the one in charge, yeah. But it's just... strange still, to me, I guess. I've never put much weight on... the symbolism, I guess, of marriage. I know that... when you find that person who meshes, the rest of the world fades away, and I've been blessed to have so many people care so deeply about me. I'm just... scared, I guess. Scared that... I'm only using you all for my pleasure. That I'm... trying to fill a hole that can't be filled."

Selena shook her head at this, but then she sighed and looked at him flatly, grasping him under the muzzle and tilting his head upwards. "You're thinking too much again, bringing too much philosophy into shit. If I thought for even a second you were just fucking us to try and make yourself happy-happy, I'd probably kill the shit out of you. But look at yourself. You express emotions to us, you're open with us, you're our fucking friend, even by your high-ass standards..." She softened, then suddenly dropped down and wrapped her arms around his neck, whispering: "Ain't that what marriage is supposed to be all about? Being husband and wife, isn't that just a way to say... we have a powerful bond? Mortals went and fucked up that whole idea, of course, since they marry for money and sex and because they feel they have to after Danny accidentally makes Katy pregnant... it's supposed to be about connection. I mean, even arranged marriages, at least, have... some rhyme and reason to them, creating alliances or for some other reason that people see as practical, if not romantic.

"Mortals are stupid. They put too much importance on shit that really isn't, and they don't stop and think about life itself. They'd much rather just dick around with little things, and then they all wonder why they feel so miserable after yeah, they get their big fancy degrees or 'great' jobs or shit, but they got no real friends, no real family to support them. They forget to think about the long-run, and to pursue their dreams instead of trying to be what other people want them to be." Selena shook her head slowly, then she murmured quietly, resting against him: "And sometimes, like me, they get vengeful and regret it like all hell later on. Fuck, I wish I could see that sweet little girl again... but I got a feeling she ain't here, but in Heaven, and I doubt she'd ever want to see me again."

"Little Arcy wanted to see me, despite what I did to her." Zerrex said softly, but Selena only laughed shortly and shook her head, making him frown. "What?"

"You just killed her, you didn't rape her to death." Selena pointed out, and then she added grimly: "And you, at least, showed change throughout your life. Much as I hate to admit it, you're a weirdly-fascinating case. I, on the other hand, got caught right after and raped to death through the face with my own little fuck-toy that I used to use on people. After the entire army of the castle had their way with me, that is."

Zerrex nodded slowly, gazing at Selena quietly: in life long ago during Ire's medieval days, the battered little girl she had once been, raped over and over by her father, among other males, had been taken in and taught to fight by a knight. She had harnessed this knowledge and used it to kill, however, and built herself several toys at the forge: perhaps the first strap-on cocks ever made, but not used to pleasure other people, but to inflict agony. And she had pretended to be a male knight, her lean and strong body adding to the image, her taped-down breasts easily hidden behind chain mail and armor, until her demise. "Time, they say, heals all wounds."

"Does it really?" Selena looked at him quietly, and Zerrex gazed back... and when he sighed and shook his head, she smiled grimly. "Yeah, didn't think so."

"But you know what? Sometimes facing the person... helps start the process." Zerrex replied gently, and Selena mumbled under her breath, before they both looked up as someone knocked at the door and then Felicity stepped in, blushing a bit at seeing Zerrex but not exactly hiding her gaze either. "Yes?"

"We uh... I..." Felicity cleared her throat, then stood at attention, which forced her to stare at the wall instead of the naked, seed-covered bodies of Selena and Zerrex. "Requesting your presence, sire, at a Hell-wide damage report, sir! Furthermore, ambassadors from another Hell are here, sir!"

Zerrex nodded slowly, making a bit of a face as Selena jumped off him with a curse. "And here I thought I could get another good fuck in. Fine, I guess this can wait." She reached down and yanked the crystal orb out of the armlet attached to her thermal suit, and then she closed her eyes and concentrated before casting cleansing spells over both herself and Zerrex, removing his seed from them both as the reptile felt a slight tingling sensation. He smiled and thanked her, then he reached out with a sigh and picked up his Nanotech Armlet, fitting it over his wrist as he tapped in the commands to make a full set of clothing appear over his body.

Selena, meanwhile, simply left to head to her room, and as Zerrex walked towards the doorway, Felicity stopped him with a grin, poking his chest as she asked with a wink: "Want to play seven minutes in Heaven in the closet?"

"Maybe later. Come on, Felicity, tell me what's going on." Zerrex said mildly, rubbing at the plain black clothes now covering his body, just to ensure they were there. He thought about grabbing his cane, but figured that he could do fine without it for now. I really doubt they're going to attack us, anyway...

Felicity became serious as she nodded, and as she explained the situation, the reptile frowned and crossed his arms, resting against the wall beside the ajar door to Selena's room. He knew she'd be listening in as she got dressed, likely in her usual assortment of leathers, and he hoped she would be able to come up with a solution... because at the moment, he couldn't.

The damage across Hell was fittingly catastrophic for the merge: although the reptile hadn't noticed it until now, there was an eerie lack of Damned souls. It was like every Plasmid, Craven, and other lesser creature had vanished off the face of Hell... and even many minotaurs had gone missing. The Scholars, Historians, and Scribes were all working together inside the Central Spire to hasten the restoration of the corruption and to compile a list of all those dead and injured... but the list was long and even with magic already working in the depths of the Spire, it would take days, even weeks to complete, and who knew how long to go over from there.

The Circles of Hell would take centuries to repair, even with magic... and they had just managed to send a team of Royal Guards down into the rubble covering the Ninth Circle, the Circle of Tragedy, but the reports that had come back so far were horrible. Massive chunks of rock, inaccessible areas, echoing screams for help and muddy, waist-high flooding everywhere described the current state of the circle, or in a word, it was apocalyptic. The Hall of Justice had been devastated and almost completely destroyed, but it had also been evacuated: they found no corpses or demonic residue nearby, and a sheen of ice still covered it, meaning Sabnock had probably been the one to give the order and hopefully escaped the wreckage. But magma vents had opened up, due to how deep the Ninth Circle was beneath the surface of Hell, and it was dark, muddy, and treacherous. Two Royal Guards had already died in rescue attempts, while only thirteen or so demons had been found and saved.

Finally, as Selena emerged from her room, 'dressed' in her usual attire of very-revealing leathers, Felicity led them towards the Entrance Hall as she explained: "The foreign demons have interpreters with them. They speak a different dialect of demonic, which is half-recognized and half-garbled, but apparently it's an ancient form of the language. You should be able to get most of what they say but the interpreter will repeat everything anyway, because some of their words are very different from ours. They say that they once captured a few demonic explorers from our Hell, that's how they learned the language."

"Hostile or not?" Zerrex asked calmly, as they headed down the last flight of stairs and towards the open doors, and Felicity grunted, swaying her head back and forth. That made the reptile smile a bit, and then he asked: "Scared?"

"As fuck." Felicity agreed as they stepped outside, and then she stepped aside and saluted as Zerrex and Selena approached where Sin, Lily, and Amiglion were already standing, in front of several strange demons. Three of them were clad in black robes and one in white with a golden sash, and they all had their hands hidden in long sleeves and strange, squid-like faces with odd, spade shaped fins at the top of torpedo-like heads, and two tentacles hanging down on either side of their pale-pink faces, twisting and mobile. Their eyes were huge black orbs lined with gold, and although at first Zerrex thought they had no mouths, when one of them tilted his head arrogantly upwards, the Drakkaren noted a circular jaw on the underside of his features, filled with deadly fangs.

Zerrex and Selena both bowed, and the squid-faced demons bowed stiffly back before one of the black robes stepped forwards. The white-robed one spoke to him, and the dialect was indeed garbled but recognizable... and the translator said calmly, in a voice with only the faintest accent: "My King wishes to greet you. His name is Slaktoon, and I am Pythia. We are from the City of Sundered Twilight, in what we understand to be a Netherworld to the West of where yours was originally."

"I'm honored to meet you." Zerrex said clearly, looking at the apparent King and bowing again, before he said calmly: "I am High King Zerrex Narrius. These Four are my High Thrones, of what was once originally the Four Compass Provinces of our Hell."

Pythia bowed a bit again, and then he paused and his tentacles twisted anxiously back and forth as Slaktoon said something imperiously. Then the squid-faced being looked forwards and said finally: "My King wishes to know what has happened here. He says there are strange demons everywhere, and the he does not wish for his Netherworld to be invaded."

"Believe me, your majesty, I don't want that to happen either. I'm sure we'll all be able to negotiate fair territory between our differing kingdoms." Zerrex said quietly, and then he paused before shaking his head slowly. "As to what's happened, it has something to do with the Old Gods... they've come to destroy all of us, all of the creations of a god named Naganis."

Slaktoon said something furiously, and Pythia repeated the message in a quieter voice: "We recognize no god, and have never heard of Naganis. We want to know what's happened to the rest of our Hell. We do not wish to be involved in your quarrel."

"I don't know... I don't even know where all of my Hell is." Zerrex stopped, then he said quietly, as he looked up at the red sky overhead: "All I want is peace. We have no quarrel with you, either. It's the Old Gods that are attacking us."

"Lies and treachery!" Slaktoon shouted vehemently, and when the translator started to speak, Zerrex rose a hand, which apparently infuriated the squid-faced demon more. "You have no power over me! I am King of my City!"

"And I am the High King of Hell. Behind me, lays all of my Hell's vast power." Zerrex replied quietly, and then he added in a colder voice: "Do not threaten me. Especially not right now, because what we need to do is work together and rebuild."

Slaktoon hissed furiously at Zerrex, and then he stepped forwards and grabbed the Drakkaren's shoulders, saying up to him icily: "We are a powerful race, and-"

Surprisingly, it was two of the black robes that grasped Slaktoon and dragged him backwards, and he struggled in their grip for a few moments before he finally calmed and stood upright, brushing himself off as he said coldly: "We shall return."

With that, he and the others simply stalked off, and Zerrex rubbed at his head slowly as he looked around at the others, saying lamely: "Well. That could have gone worse."

Within the week, corruption once more flooded Hell, reviving some of its citizenry and restoring magic to the freshly-merged planet, and it rapidly sped up the repair operations all around Hell. Zerrex, after all, had already dealt with a few problems: one of which included a raging Atlas, who had escaped from his prison when his magic chains had shattered and who had been raging through the desert, crushing small settlements here and there as he continued to only grow larger and stronger until the Drakkaren had simply scolded him back to where he was usually imprisoned, the child-like giant almost crying as Zerrex chastened him and feeling a bit like a bully, but glad he didn't have to fight his son.

Atlas was hooked back up to the wall in what was now a deep, wide hole, and after some consideration, they finally built a small outpost overtop it, where Huck could use energy drawn directly from Atlas to power some of his machinery. Atlas himself was sad to go back into imprisonment, but moreover he was ashamed of himself, crying a lot and requiring visits from both his mother and father to calm him down, until the whole business was forgotten by the giant.

Firenze was officially named the director of operations for Huck's brand-new idea of building an electromagnetism-free zone of Hell, and he took to it warmly, fielding calls, directing engineers, and keeping the paperwork filed and in order. He was often helped along by Driz as well, who could use his abilities for a variety of purposes - sending messages, draining malfunctioning machines of power, adjusting sensitive components literally inside of different devices. Driz, however, was all too glad to go back to servicing the power regulation stations around Hell that were still functional, and getting the others up and running with the help of Priest and Markus.

Cities in Hell were repaired and revitalized, and demons calmed down and even welcomes the other, stranger demons that were appearing here and there across the face of the known world, while other demons often reported back from long explorations that they had discovered this or that, and Zerrex put Lily and Selena to work keeping track of all these events, while Ixin built a magical machine that would absorb people's thoughts and location memories in order to build a complex map of the known world.

Gods and demigods that had survived were congregating, some of them congratulating Zerrex and others for what they were doing, others whimpering in terror about the coming Old Gods: a constant threat on the horizon, although for some strange reason, they seemed to have loosened up on their attacks. The Drakkaren had no clue about what was happening on the physical world, however, and after almost a month of being trapped on Hell, he had grown restless, and wanted to return to the world... but he was also constantly trapped in meetings with demons who claimed to be lords from different Hells, many of whom were exceedingly greedy.

Finally, after two months, things began to settle down, and Ixin was able to create a map of the world, declaring that only three of the five thought-to-exist Hells had merged: he referred to these countries as Hell, the Netherworld, and the Deserted Realms. Zerrex declared Ixin was an idiot, and then he finally looked at Sin, and decided it was only fitting that while the planet itself would be called Hell, their countries should all have a name.

After a meeting with the leaders of these three countries - the Netherworld ruled by a strange, blue-faced demon with flat features, two purple eyes on either side of his slightly-rounded head, and long, slender limbs that all ended in hands, and the Deserted Realms ruled by a demon that would only refer to himself as the Lost Lord, clad in rusted black battle armor stained with blood and filled with sand, his features lost beneath the armor except for the slope of a rat-like muzzle - the names of their countries were finally established. The Deserted Realms kept its name, the Netherworld would be called Eslovius, and Hell would become known as Elysium.

Still, Zerrex often referred to his own country as simply 'Hell;' it was the easiest thing to do, as Eslovius and the Deserted Realms were both much smaller Hells: Eslovius was perhaps ten or twelve percent of the planet, and the Deserted Realms maybe twenty, but it had very few inhabitants and included the terrible deserts that had formed around the world, likely remnants of the Beyond; that meant Elysium took up almost seventy percent of the entire world, and it was all concentrated in one roughly-circular area.

The Drakkaren worked out some of the major rules with the other lords despite his misgivings, such as how they would treat the borders: the Lost Lord was quiet, despite his rough appearance, and he was willing to leave the borders open and unprotected as a gesture of faith, while the other demon ruler, who called himself K'laa, was firm in his stance that he would not permit interlopers into his. Zerrex already sensed that K'laa would give him problems - although they would likely be more bark than bite - from the fact he had shown up with at least ten rough-looking bodyguards.

What bothered Zerrex most of all, however, was the sight of these other Hells, as he got to know their demons a little bit more. K'laa, he thought, was only so aggressive because the world his Hell connected to had been mostly aquatic... and out of the water, he and even his burly guards were little more than strong mortals. In water, it was likely he would be a formidable adversary... but there was little water to be found throughout Hell as a planet, much less any of the Hells that had become countries. And the Lost Lord, despite his frightening appearance, was hesitant... and it made Zerrex think he was more likely a tribal spokesperson than anything else, as his desert land was vast, but merciless, and there were very few settlements full of very few demons throughout it.

The Drakkaren was worried demons would want to expand and invade these other countries, especially Greed demons who would see a chance for profit or territory, or Wrath demons who loved war: despite all of Zerrex's hard work at changing the Hell he had been placed in charge of, despite all the plans he had made and the things he had set in motion over the ten million years he had ruled, he didn't know if his Hell was ready for an event like this. And he had already developed a strange need to protect these smaller countries, not just from demons and the Old Gods, but from himself: already he felt an urge to meddle in their affairs when he knew he had no right to do so or to question their culture.

So he had finally removed himself from the negotiations, claiming that he had to get to work on setting up provinces and jurisdictions inside his own Hell, and put Sin in charge, trusting in her gentle nature and wise heart. The reptile had retreated from the meeting, and had actually managed to figure out - more by fluke than anything else - how the Four Provinces of Hell could be put into place...

And then, a blessing had occurred, and Lily had come up to him and gently told him to go home. Zerrex had been confused, since he had been in the Ravenlight Estate at the time, pouring over a map of Hell with a notepad beside him, all sorts of laws and ideas he'd come up with written down mostly in shorthand... and then Lily had kissed his forehead and told him that they could take care of Hell... but if he really wanted to help, he would go to the mortal plane, and deal with the problems there. They couldn't forget about the Old Gods, after all, and this was more a distraction than anything else.

It was why Zerrex loved her: despite her seeming enjoyment of bureaucracy, she could always see past the rules to the big picture, and she never forgot how he loved the mortal realm and often missed it. She never forgot he had family there, and that Hell was only part of a much-larger scheme... and Zerrex had finally nodded, smiled a bit, and gone to the mortal plane.

His family had greeted him with such joy that it had been worth all the pain he had suffered, Cherry and Cindy and Marina all embracing him tightly, Mahihko squeaking and Lone yelling and joining in... and then there had been a moment of silence when Marina had offered her condolences over Sammy, and Mahihko had burst into tears and it had all become a mess.

But it had passed: the weight of sadness was greatly lessened with his family around, and they had all listened attentively when Zerrex had told them what had been going on, before he asked them about the world... but all anyone knew was that Kafka had backed off again, there had been a few minor incidents worldwide involving supernatural beings, and that Raze had left a quick message with them that Heaven had taken terrible damage, but would survive. Balthazar was eager to talk to him, too, but Zerrex had decided to leave that for another day... and instead, he'd only spent the night in the warm glow of his family, and it had made everything seem okay, for at least a little while.

Almost two years later, Zerrex had started to hope that Athéos had turned tail and run away, but he knew that would be too easy... and there were still terrible things happening across the globe, from freak storms to powerful supernatural beings appearing and causing havoc. The Drakkaren only checked out a few of these events, and it always ended the same way: the death of another Old God, usually one that was visibly expendable.

Kafka, however, was still somehow the head of the National Socialist party, and he was still causing problems for Balthazar, who looked old and tired of his job. An election had been called more than a year ago now, and Balthazar had won against the two parties that had run against him with ease... but the Nazi party hadn't chosen to run for Presidency. Kafka had said calmly that the Old Ire party had called the election in an act of destabilization, under the guise of a part that sought a 'Democratic Republic...' and in a freakish turn of events, that single statement had brought all the power Kafka had lost over the years back in full force.

And then Kafka had made a strange move: he had announced that he was running not for President, but for a seat on the World Council, and Zerrex had been shocked when the Dragokkaren Nazi had brought up an old law from when the Council had first been formed, stating that any person with a worldwide political presence could take a seat, and while they would not be recognized as a country or even part of a country, they would be able to cast their vote on resolutions and laws, and be elected to higher seats in the Council itself. And Kafka had been campaigning around the world, often riding to and from Ire not in private ships but on massive, modified Hez'Rannan juggernauts that had been demilitarized and turned into a literal floating Nazi Party headquarters.

Rasputin went almost everywhere Kafka went: he was his second-in-command, and rumored to be the leader of a secret squad of National Socialist Enforcers... although the worst so far these so-called 'Enforcers' could be linked to was collecting dues from party members. Zerrex didn't know if he believed the rumor, on the sole grounds that Kafka was nowhere near stupid enough to so obviously link himself to an illegal private criminal military force.

The Drakkaren did attend several Nazi rallies with Cherry, although he never managed to catch Rasputin at any of them: he saw him once on stage give a speech, but then the Dragokkaren had caught sight of Zerrex in the crowd as he'd been answering questions afterwards, and he had checked his watch and claimed to be late for an appointment before dashing off. It was a curious turn of events... and the reptile shrugged a bit from where he sat now, watching Kafka's immense ship, the Hope, sail into harbor.

"What a stupid name for a ship." Zerrex muttered as he sat back in his couch, looking grouchy. Over the last two years, he had been back and forth from Hell using vortexes, but they were easier or harder to maintain based upon the distance between the planets. The only thing he was glad for was that the planet was finally settling down and starting to mesh together... that, and that when the casualties list from the merge had finally been compiled and read over, he hadn't lost too many friends.

Sadly, however, he couldn't say that everyone he'd known in Hell had survived: Bondage and Ghost, both from the old Goth Legion, had been crushed to death in the Circles. Rose and several people from the old meal club he had used to attend had died as well... and heart-wrenchingly, so had seven of his children: five daughters, and two sons. It had torn him apart to learn this only months ago... although he'd felt a terrible foreboding ever since the second month after the Merge, when he'd gone and visited everyone he could think of.

On the not-so-sad list, Silverfish had been killed trying to hide in one of his own casinos, squashed like a bug under thousands of tons of not just rock, but game machines and illegal mortal contraband like flashy cars that hadn't been registered at the import office. Zerrex had attended the sendoff nonetheless, however, as had the other surviving members of the Legion, if only because of their past service together... and the fact that with enough pressure and a little bit of coin, Silverfish had been able to show he wasn't entirely a bastard.

Zerrex still felt a bit miserable over everything he'd lost, however, and some nights he still called gently out for Sammy, forgetting for a moment that he was dead... just like he often went upstairs to the mural room, where Marina had added Sammy into the paintings on the wall... and Anathema, too, grinning in the background as if she knew something no one else did, beckoning with a finger as if ready to share her secret. She had been a friend... and he smiled a bit as he looked up at the ceiling from where he sat on the couch now, murmuring: "What would you do if you saw me now, though, Anathema? What would you think of Hell and Heaven as planets, endlessly circling the sun and the mortal world..."

Then he shook his head, grumbling a bit under his breath about what an idiot he was being before he sighed and reached for the remote. He made a face at the fact it was just out of reach, and he slowly tipped over onto his side, fingers clawing for it before he grunted as he fell over, his fingers scratching over the surface of the remote... and knocking it to the floor, where it bounced another foot or so away.

"Goddammit." Zerrex squirmed a bit over on his side, reaching down as his fingers bounced lightly along the ground, and then he paused as Cindy walked around the couch and crossed her arms, looking down at him mildly. "Hey, I'm... totally being productive."

"You are not." Cindy walked over and scooped up the remote, then made Zerrex scramble to sit up when she almost sat on his face, making him grumble before he smiled a bit despite himself as she pushed herself firmly against his side, switching the channels to another news show that currently displayed a countdown in front of a massive space colony. "Is this what you were trying to get to?"

"Still two hours away?" Zerrex made a face at the countdown, and then he glanced over at Cindy as it switched to commercials, asking mildly: "So are you as excited as I am about them launching these things into space?"

"Don't tell me you're having second thoughts now, Daddy. It's an enormous achievement for this world... they've never been able to cooperate so well on anything before." Cindy said with soft amusement, tapping her father on the nose with the remote, and the Drakkaren snorted in amusement, shoving at her wrist lightly.

It was certainly a big enough event for him to take a deep interest, though: Lunis was finally launching its space colonies into orbit, all four that had been successfully constructed, each named after a different lunar god - a theme Zerrex found vaguely-unsettling, considering the fact that at least one of those gods was probably currently attacking them. The Alignak, the Candramus, the Hathor, and the Varuna, and all were set to be launched one hour apart from different 'super-platforms' in the great oceans surrounding Lunis.

The lizard was looking greatly forwards to watching the colonies launch, each currently sitting at half their maximum capacity in terms of people on board. Better yet, three of the four colonies were self-sufficient, powered by solar rays and fusion reactors locked away in armored underbellies, with fertile gardens and farms along the top levels of the massive clear metal domes that made up the top portion of each colony, currently shielded by raised blast shutters until they left the atmosphere.

The fourth colony didn't yet have enough farms for its populace, but was to be launched anyway: until they were capable of growing enough food to feed their people, they would live off that in storage. Furthermore, every colony would be supplemented further by regular deliveries carried by advanced shuttles that Lunis had built and were currently being sold around the world for their adaptability and speed.

Several other countries had also announced their plans to launch space colonies into space, if only so they could try and keep up with the exploration and advancement of Lunis: of course, with Hell and Heaven also existing as planets, many countries had already worked rapidly to develop space technologies to travel back and forth between them, seizing on the opportunity to create a brand new tourism industry that hadn't yet been tapped into. It meant that space technology had been increasing by leaps and bounds, which Zerrex was admittedly quite pleased to see: if they ended up needing to flee from the threat of the Old Gods, then they would at least be prepared, and better yet, able to put up somewhat of a fight.

Zerrex looked down for a moment as these thoughts threatened to become darker, but then Cindy nudged him, looking at him with soft entertainment as she said gently: "Now come on, we've built and survived so much... Hell and Heaven are both in high-repair and thriving with some of the tourism they're experiencing, and better yet, even Ire has completed its construction on the space colonies, and you know how much trouble Balthazar was having in motivating people into working on those machines. I know that... you, we have all lost a lot... even in Heaven, there were a lot of deaths... but at least in Heaven, we didn't lose any of our true friends."

"That's because they were able to band together and prepare a little bit more... Hell merged first, so Heaven started evacuation operations." Zerrex said softly, but he smiled a bit and nodded. Tinman was alive, Little Arcy was alive, and Raze was most certainly alive... pissed off, but alive nonetheless. Zerrex thought he was only angry because Francis, Raze, and several other important angels usually saved for military purposes instead had been delegated towards repairs, and Raze didn't like using his mental powers for constructive purposes: to him, sadistic or not, he thought his psychic powers were only for destructive uses.

The Drakkaren mused a bit as he lowered his head, and Cindy looked at him for a few moments before the lizard glanced over at her curiously, asking softly: "Do you think that this has all been... for the best, or is it just another bad omen of the evil that's yet to come?"

Cindy slapped him on the back, and Zerrex winced at this, making a face as she said firmly: "I think that what happens, happens. As Cherry is wont to say, shit happens. So why don't you swallow this philosophical crud for a nice change of pace and just screech with joy like Mahihko does?"

Zerrex looked at her flatly, and Cindy looked back mildly before he finally rose his hands in front of himself, fingers half closed into fists as she shook his hands back and forth, and gave a monotone squeak. Cindy looked appeased by this, however, and then she flicked the television to a cartoon channel, which made Zerrex perk up as she wrapped an arm around him, saying mildly: "I'll never understand how you can be so cynical, yet show such a love for these stupid, senseless cartoons."

"Cartoons have happy endings, resolutions through friendship, and are more often than not, morally, stunningly right." Zerrex said softly, and Cindy looked at him with surprise before he smiled slightly. "I know everyone says this at one point or another about pretty much everything good in their lives, but if everyone watched cartoons and bothered to think about them a little bit, we'd have global peace."

"Oh well, you know we can't have that." Cindy intoned with mild amusement, and the Drakkaren snorted laughter before they both relaxed a bit... and then both winced and flailed as Cherry grabbed the tops of both their heads and then smacked them firmly together.

"Cheese grater!" she yelled senselessly, and then she hopped the couch and crashed down between them, knocking the two half-sprawling before they both glared at her, but she only grinned cheerfully and wrapped their arms around their waists, looking from one to the other. "So, hot shots, tell me just what the hell we're doing. Threesome? Foursome? More-some?"

Zerrex rolled his eyes and smacked her firmly in the breast, making her squawk before she squeaked when Cindy punched her in the crotch, making her pale a bit as she flopped back against the couch and grabbed at herself, rocking her slowly back and forth, mumbling to herself. A moment later, Mahihko and Lone bounced into the room, the former giggling cheerfully and clutching his art book as Lone sighed and rolled his pen between his fingers, looking distasteful. .Finally, Marina entered the den, laying on the other couch and facing her father to begin sketching with a smile towards him, looking a bit older, a bit more worn, but still beautiful and vibrant.

Her body had changed, but her as a person hadn't: she still loved and worshipped her father, she still acted childish at times, and finally, she had graduated from university with a PhD in Art Theory. She had a few suitors, but at most, she only toyed with them and then usually sent them away, often making the reptile wonder if she was puppeting their heartstrings only to try and appease her father, who had spoken to her more than one about trying to find someone special to share her life with, even though she always argued that she was delighted most by him.

But together, they had all formed a wonderful - if odd - little cohesive unit: Zerrex as their leader, Cherry ready to act as second-in-command and a figure the others could respect and look up to despite her many odd habits, Cindy the wisest and gentlest of them, ready to protect the rest of her family, Lone and Mahihko always available to serve the others in any possible way, and Marina, Zerrex's most beloved child and bodyguard, a mortal but as powerful as the mightiest demons in Hell.

For a little while, they sat together, watching cartoons and flicking back and forth to the news channels here and there at the boring parts and commercial breaks, relaxing together, the lizard feeling almost like they were a normal family just enjoying their time together... and then he frowned at the television as Cindy switched to the news channel and they saw Kafka on the screen, a small counter shaped like a rocket ship in the lower corner of the screen continuing the countdown even as the headline across the screen blared: 'Grand Rally scheduled in Valise City.'

"-will be a show not just of our solidarity, but I will announce a plan that has been in development for a long time to my party, and that I am confident will bring about a new era of peace and prosperity to this world for all who believe in us as a people, us all, from canine to reptile, feline to equine, demon to angel, that we are all one people, and united, we can achieve anything!" Kafka said clearly into the microphone, standing on a podium that had obviously been hastily set up at the edge of the docks, reporters crowding forwards and holding up their microphones and jotting quickly down on notepads. "All party members will be welcome at the Grand Rally, and I have chosen Valise City as the point to hold this meeting of the minds because I plan to present a machinery of joy, a metaphor for the future, that has been in development in that area, that is crucial to my plans."

Zerrex frowned a bit at this, and Cherry snorted, leaning back and putting her hands behind her head as she said sourly: "Well, ain't that just great to hear. Fucking brilliant, so I guess we're gonna have to get back to work, huh? Maybe we can catch the bastard off-guard, though, show up at wherever he's keeping this... thingy that he's going to present and blow it the fuck up."

"I dunno, it could be anything from a statue to a doomsday device." Zerrex shook his head slowly, frowning a bit. "Worse, Kafka's an ingenious bastard... and if he really is working with the Old Gods, then he'll no doubt know all of our abilities and have security details set up to blockade us. No, I think we should meet this one head on... we'll go to the Grand Rally and see what he unveils, then deal with him and Rasputin afterwards if we have to."

Cherry nodded with a sigh, rubbing at her face slowly. "Yeah... besides, there's been no convoys moving in or out of the area, and the dude is squeaky-clean. Even his fucking background checked out, which was a major downer for me, personally... but hey, maybe it's a shapeshifter or something, just borrowing the dude's form."

"I doubt it. Kafka gets jostled around by people, and remember when someone threw a rock at him? He actually bled where it hit his arm... and the next day, he was wearing a band-aid in the right place, and even today there's a bit of a scar there. Shapeshifters are very rarely good enough to manage all those changes and keep their form solid for so long... but then again, I'm not saying he's a mortal, either." Zerrex said slowly, and then he sighed and brushed a hand through his hair. "Do you think the Old Gods are really even coming here anymore? I dunno, maybe what you saw through that... telescope thing all those years ago in the Undersea was a... flux or illusion or something."

"Dude, fuckers be coming. I feel it in my bones, you know?" Cherry looked at Zerrex mildly, and the lizard nodded after a moment with a grunt and a sigh. "Yeah, I know you know it too, it's just hard to believe with all the time that's passed. But I dunno, maybe they can only move at or around the speed of light or something like that, and since we like... haven't ever picked up any crazy transmissions or even seen aliens before, maybe like, they were really far away. None of us know how far the universe extends, after all... and if they've been wandering all over it for... forever, they could still be forty years away."

"Wouldn't that be nice?" Zerrex said dryly, looking faintly amused, and then he glanced over at Cindy. "By then, we'd probably have force-fields, huh?"

Cindy snorted, but before she could reply, some reporter on TV asked the question: "Is it true that you're part of a conspiracy to destroy the world?"

Kafka looked stupidly surprised as he stood for a moment at the podium, Rasputin awkwardly floating in the background as the Fuehrer of the National Socialists shuffled his papers awkwardly, and then he leaned down into the microphone and asked slowly, as everyone stared at the journalist: "Can you... ask that again?"

"Dude, I... I don't think he's faking that surprise." Cherry said thoughtfully, as the reporter did so with a serious look on his face, and Kafka straightened as his surprise turned to irritation. Zerrex, on the other hand, only looked at the Dragokkaren, and those shrouded eyes, shadowed by the bill of the officer's cap on his head. I don't know... there's darkness there.

"I don't know what tabloid you write for, but I have not revived Hitler, I have not built a 'death ray,' and I do not have an army of supersoldiers." He stopped, tried to think of something to say as he opened his mouth, and then he said mildly: "I can't even think of a proper joke to add to that. Now, if we could get back to actual questions?"

"Who the hell just shit the bed on us, anyway?" Cherry asked dryly, frowning a bit over her shoulder at Zerrex. "I mean, fuck, if dude didn't know that people were suspicious of him before, then like. Now he sure as hell does."

"Maybe it was a message." Zerrex said softly, and his family turned their eyes to him, making the reptile feel a bit awkward even as he explained: "Well... maybe his surprise was too perfect. Politicians lie and plant people in the audience all the time, it's a pretty simple strategy to get yourself looking better or smarter. And Valise City isn't a hub, and even those it's still pretty big, I mean... it's not like it's huge. His headquarters, after all, is on a freaking Juggernaut that can hold almost the entire Nazi Party, why not hold it where he's docked? He's done it before and it's been a major success... I mean, even I have to admit the fact the guns of the ship have been replaced with cannons that shoot fireworks lets him put on a hell of a show.

"Maybe he's saying that he knows us here... maybe it's an invitation to the rally." Zerrex crossed his arms, resting back against the couch as Mahihko whined a bit in his throat and even Cherry looked disgruntled. "I, personally, don't want to disappoint him."

"Fuck, you're cynical." Cherry said flatly, and then she paused, grinning a bit as she patted him on the leg. "And your mind works in the damn weirdest way, too. You're always suspicious of everyone, aren't you?"

Zerrex grunted, not answering her as he looked a little sour, and Cindy cleared her throat as Cherry blushed a bit and then babbled: "But hey, you know, you might be right and shit and uh... well..." She stopped, then looked down before she glanced back up at the television as Kafka gave a Nazi salute and the crowd clapped and cheered for him. "Fuck. What if he's about to welcome the Old Gods to the planet or something?"

The Drakkaren looked at her with surprise, feeling a chill run down his spine: that was something he hadn't thought of, a place that even his mind had preferred not to go. But now that it was out, he nodded slowly, saying quietly: "Then we'll have to be ready for anything. So, who wants to call Balthazar? I'm surprised he hasn't phoned us already."

"Hey, give him some credit. He's been workin' real hard to not call us every time somethin' goes wrong." Cherry said with a bit of a grin, despite the fact her eyes were still clouded with worry. The thought made Zerrex smile a bit himself, however, since it was indeed true: the ferret was able to calmly deal with many of the problems that had cropped up throughout Ire himself, ranging from Nazi riots to supernatural events and even minor deities.

Of course, even though he knew most people would probably be glad that they weren't being called into action every time disaster struck, the Drakkaren had to admit that he got a little bit anxious and grouchy when he knew something was going on and he wasn't involved. It wasn't that he didn't have faith in the Scanners or even the elite military force Balthazar had ordered Major-General Fredericks to assemble and train for both rescue and supernatural combat situations, it was more that... he liked to be involved, he liked to meddle, and he somehow felt this was all his fault.

Balthazar was a fine President, that was inarguable... and much as he didn't like getting involved in military tactics or ordering operations to begin, the ferret never hesitated when defending the country and its citizenry was needed. Sure, he did things that often, most of Ire didn't understand... but Zerrex could only admire the way Balthazar handled his power with humility and modesty, and the great generosity he displayed in the things that he did.

For example, Balthazar had released the sovereignty Ire had held for many years over a chain of islands that had been safe from much of the Demon Wars, where beautiful forests had started to grow back after being harvested many years ago... and of course, massive, sprawling Estates owned by Old Ire business tycoons, who had done the stealing of the island's resources. Balthazar had also given a sincere and moving apology and eulogy for the people of a small town on that island the Goth Legion had once torn apart... and had also offered a tribute to their people in the form of several powerful generators that ran off fusion cells, knowing that the country's people had a lack of their own electrical power supply.

The gesture had drawn disdain from some people, but applause from others: Balthazar was giving back, and not in any half-assed way, what Ire had no right taking. And everything was always done in his calm and polite way, and even with his graying fur and the wrinkles of premature aging developing over his body, he was a strong ruler and moved with a slow but steady confidence Zerrex admired.

The lizard paused, then held up a finger... and then he tilted it, and the others looked at him dubiously before the phone rang, and Mahihko immediately leapt to his feet and scrambled off to get it with a giggle, as Lone rolled his eyes and grumbled, sitting back and pulling the Drakkaren's portable game player out of his pocket. This earned him a dark look from the lizard, but as the wolf winced and pushed himself behind a chair, the littler wolf ran back into the room, holding up the phone and shouting: "Daddy, Daddy, it's Mr. Balthazar!"

"Inside voice, Mahihko." Zerrex reminded the smaller wolf gently, and Mahihko nodded rapidly with a blush as he held out the phone, the Drakkaren taking it with a slight smile as he held it to the side of his face and said calmly: "Lemme guess. The Nazi Rally?"

"Grand Rally." Balthazar corrected gently, and then he thanked someone in the background before saying softly: "I know you've had a lot of strain over these last few years... but would you mind going to see what's happening there? I've already asked Miss Elenora to deploy a Scanner team around the perimeter, just in case things get out of hand... but it would mean a lot if you would attend this gathering of Kafka's and glean what information you can."

"Of course, Balthazar." Zerrex said softly, smiling a bit as he stood up and walked away, heading down the corridor and trying to pretend Cherry wasn't tiptoeing along behind him with Mahihko in tow. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm as good as ever, Zerrex... there was a minor dispute involving an appearance of undead towards the north, but I believe that was dealt with efficiently enough." the ferret replied, then he paused. "What about yourself? And again, let me extend my offer of a shuttlecraft to you, for your disposal to go to and from Hell... I recognize that you can portal, but taking a few days to enjoy the journey there and back might help with taking things as they go."

The lizard smiled amusedly at this, replying softly: "Thanks, Balthazar, but I'm going to just stick with portals for now. Maybe when they start developing spacecraft that can travel there and back in a matter of hours, I'll think about it, though." He paused, then added finally: "And I'm alright, I guess. Kafka's got me a little worried, but I suppose that's part of the normal routine by now."

Balthazar laughed softly at this, saying softly as Zerrex glared over his shoulder at Cherry and Mahihko, who were grumbling and shoving at each other: "And how is your family doing? I suppose you'll be pleased to know that your daughter Mercy received a commendation today for her exquisite displays of professionalism and empathy while dealing with politics between Hell and the mortal world."

This did make the Drakkaren smile warmly, even as he turned around and kicked Mahihko back into Cherry, making the two grunt and the little wolf squeak and give huge eyes to his father. "It does indeed... but well, they're as troubling as ever. Speaking of which, I should probably head back to them and organize for the rally... I've got a bad feeling about it myself."

"It worries me when you say that... because more often than not, your bad feelings are correct." Balthazar said softly, and Zerrex grunted, rubbing the back of his head before the ferret sighed a bit. "Some days, you know, I wish that he really did want to be President of the country. I think he'd be too busy dealing with this ridiculous amount of bureaucracy and reporting to the World Council to bother with world dominion or destruction or whatever he wants."

Zerrex grunted, and then he responded firmly: "You're a fine leader, Balthazar, you really are. And you should be proud of that, too... but well... take care of yourself, huh? I'll let you know whatever I find out at the rally."

Then, just as Balthazar was saying goodbye, Mahihko squeaked and flew into the reptile's back, and he staggered and dropped the phone, his bad leg flaring up suddenly and making him curse before Cherry dived past him with a yelp, and the reptile stared in shock as she extended an arm and caught the phone, landing heavily on her front with a grunt. Then she grinned stupidly, holding it to her face and saying gleefully: "Hello... and goodbye, Balthazar! Send us some more drugs!"

Then Cherry hung up and grinned up at Zerrex... before she winced and shoved herself backwards when the reptile tried to step on her head, missing her muzzle by inches as he snapped: "What the hell have I told you two? No stalking or attacking me while I'm on the damn phone!"

"Daddy, but, but..." Mahihko's eyes became big and watery, and then Zerrex sighed and patted him on the head: a small gesture, but one that seemed to make everything immediately okay as the childish wolf giggled, hugged him suddenly around the waist, and then bounced off. The reptile looked flatly after him, and then he sighed, dropping his face in a hand as he muttered something under his breath and Cherry crawled quickly past him into the kitchen, likely to put the phone back on the charger.

Zerrex headed back towards the den, sitting back down beside Cindy and letting himself rest for a moment before he glanced over them all, saying mildly: "So Balthazar wants us to go to the rally and gather information, obviously. So everyone's clear, Scanners will be in the area, but they aren't hostiles. Mahihko, Lone, I don't know if I want you two coming in with us."

Both wolves looked hurt, Mahihko trembling a bit and Lone frowning deeply before he asked finally: "Why, Boss? Fuck, aren't we good enough?"

"No, you retard, if Kafka's expecting us, two wolves coming in with four weird-ass Drakkaren will stand out more than a little bit." Zerrex said flatly, and the two exchanged dumb looks before the lizard sighed, rolling his eyes. "You'll both come in later on, so we can cover our exits. Cherry and I can go first, and I guess Cindy and Marina can move in second. We can talk on cell phones or headsets or something to let others know we haven't been spotted or grabbed by guards or something, and signal when to come inside." He stopped, then asked dryly: "Or is that too complicated for everyone to grasp?"

"It'll make it harder for Kafka to know when all of us are present... or even if all of us are present." Cindy paused, then she looked at Zerrex, asking curiously: "Should we get reinforcements from Heaven or Hell?"

Zerrex looked down for a moment at this, thinking about it, before he finally shook his head slowly. "No. Even without the huge time differences, I don't want to drag anyone away from any rebuilding or rescue operations that might be taking place at the moment. Even Vampire has been assigned a job down in the Circle of Tragedy, trying to find a way through the rubble... and in Heaven, well. Raze would jump at the chance to join us, but I'd rather not see him and Lord get in another hissy-fit."

Cindy made a face at this and nodded in agreement: she had been with Zerrex when he'd gone to Heaven to talk to Lucifer and Lord, and seen what had happened when Raze had decided he wanted to try and go with Zerrex to the mortal realm. Lord had disagreed in a meek sort of way, which had vastly irritated Raze... and when Lord had made the severe mistake of phrasing his words in the sentence 'Zerrex can probably do fine without you,' his son had simply blown up and gone on a long, angry tirade.

Zerrex didn't think it was because Lord was necessarily a bad father, or because Raze was a bad son: the personalities of the two simply clashed violently, and Raze, admittedly, had a little bit of a problem when it came to trying to deal with his emotions. He and Zerrex connected because the Drakkaren was able to understand the godling, whatever he said or did, and was gentle with him when it seemed like gentility was the last thing Raze wanted... but then again, few other people had seen Raze's vulnerable gentler side.

It had ended in an ugly way, with Lord looking stupid and distraught and Raze stomping off, kicking down a pillar they'd just managed to get standing again on the way down the road, and then Zerrex and Cindy had quickly left and come back here. Zerrex was also well-aware that at any given moment, Raze might show up, having abandoned whatever rescue or construction operation he'd been assigned, and the Drakkaren hated that he knew he'd have to send him back if he did. But Raze was usually cold and disciplined and responsible, and as long as he wasn't too upset, he wouldn't storm off any job he had to do.

There was silence for a few moments, and then finally, Mahihko looked up and asked hesitantly: "Are we going to need to bring weapons?"

"No weapons, they're not permitted at Nazi rallies." Zerrex said quietly, shaking his head. It was a surprising rule, but even Kafka's soldiers never carried firearms: at the most, they had rubberized batons that wouldn't be all that useful for crowd control in a riot situation. "Not even Kafka carries any weapons, unless he's got a hidden knife somewhere or a gun in his cane or something equally unnecessary and elaborate."

"You should have a gun cane!" Mahihko piped up, and Lone nodded a few times in agreement, and Cherry frowned as she walked inside, looking curiously around the room. "That would just be so cool!"

"You're gay." Cherry said mildly, and then she sat down on Zerrex's lap, batting her eyes at him as she threw her legs up across Cindy's, making the female glare at her. "Are you straight for me, Boss?"

"I think you're too masculine for any kind of sex I have with you to be considered straight sex, even when you're in your most girly of girly forms." Zerrex shoved her off his lap, and the others laughed as Cherry crossed her arms with a huff on the floor.

The rest of the conversation was mostly idle, until the launch of the first space colony, and even Marina turned to watch as the massive, floating city slowly lifted out of the water, propelled by boosters and engines so powerful they turned the very ocean beneath it into a swirling vortex as the platform and buoys that had aided in its support were torn into pieces during liftoff. Slowly, the enormous space colony ascended, gaining speed as it rose higher and higher into the sky, the camera following it as people cheered and yelled at the sight of it vanishing into the distance.

Some five minutes later, the view switched to a reporter, who was smiling at the camera as he announced: "And that was the successful launch of the Lunis Space Colony Hathor, which we are told has made it out of the atmosphere and is heading towards its designated orbit now. I would like to extend our sincerest congratulations on behalf of everyone here at ANN, where we are currently celebrating a day that will surely go down in history as one of the greatest in mortal history, where we have achieved a mastery over even space."

"Not yet you haven't." Cherry snorted in amusement at this, grinning slightly over at Zerrex as the reptile smiled a bit despite himself in agreement. That might be stretching the truth just a little, yeah. "Pricks. We could totally beat them to developing shit, if... you know... shit actually worked in Hell. Ain't Priest supposed to be working on that?"

"Yeah, the shuttle port in the Western Province, remember?" Zerrex looked at her mildly, and she brightened after a moment with a nod and a grin. "They have a magnetic fence around there, it both absorbs and repels the electromagnetic energy in the area."

"Duh, right, fuck, 'cause otherwise the shuttles couldn't land and shit." Cherry paused, then she looked over at Marina, saying after a moment: "And you, Bebop, have been really quiet."

"Just sketching." Marina murmured, and then she smiled as she turned the half-finished drawing around, showing an incredibly-detailed picture of Zerrex sitting with Cherry and Cindy, as she asked shyly: "Do you like it, Father?"

"I love it." Zerrex said softly, amazed by how real it looked, how she had captured every detail, line, and even texture on the paper. Cindy smiled warmly as well, nodding in firm agreement as Cherry only gaped for a moment, and then she huffed and stood, heading over to Lone and sitting down beside him to watch the game he was playing. The reptile paused as his eyes settled on this, and then he walked over to Lone and snatched the game system out of his hands, making the wolf yelp and then wince as Zerrex added flatly: "And how many times have I told you to not take my stuff?"

"Oh, come on, you weren't using it!" Lone whined, and then he winced when Zerrex rose a fist threateningly, as the game blared something about dying. "You're totally killing my high score right now!"

"I'll totally kill you." Zerrex grumbled, and then he glanced down at the screen before turning the game player off and wandering towards his room, feeling suddenly like he should probably put it to use, if only out of spite.

For the next few hours, Zerrex amused himself by lounging around in his room, playing his game and absently wishing he had a normal job, and a normal life, where people would think he was just some kind of weird nerd. It would be so much easier than running around, killing things all the time... but at the same time, he was glad that at least his existence was interesting, and it let him make plenty of friends... even if he also had plenty of enemies.

The lizard sighed a bit as he finally put his game player down... and then he tilted his head curiously as Cherry wandered into the room and sat cross-legged on the floor, looking at him with soft amusement. The reptile looked back at her, and then she finally asked: "So like. Do you think this could be a trap? Or even worse, that... well... this is it?"

Zerrex looked down, thinking for a few moments as he sat up on the bed... and then he finally raised his hands, murmuring softly: "I hope not, to be honest. To both of those things, too... I'd rather not think that Kafka is trying to lure us in for one reason or another. Worse, I... you know..."

He stopped, then said quietly: "I'm worried that Athéos does have... some insane level of power we aren't ready to face. That he's just been throwing these weak gods at us to disorient us, to weaken us... and that when he arrives here in full force, it's going to be terrifying. I'm worried, Cherry... this goes beyond anything we've ever fought before." He stopped, then laughed a bit. "I never thought there were so many gods before either, you know? Nature gods, synthetic gods, titanic gods and psychic gods... and those nasty, vicious primordials, too."

Cherry nodded slowly: they had encountered another one, a primordial that had literally fallen from the skies and crashed to a halt in a city in the area that had used to be known as Northern Ire, and it had been made almost entirely of darkness flowing over a semi-quadrupedal skeleton: a body that could stand on its two legs, but just as easily drop down to the ground and charge. It hadn't spoken, had only roared and screamed and killed and eventually withered and died by itself: they hadn't been able to do much to hurt it, but thankfully it had been seemingly tied to darkness and shadow, and they had fought it under a noon-day sun.

Primordials, they were learning quickly, were bestial and vicious: Old Gods, however strong or weak, tended to be just as chaotic, but often with a bit more tact and a lot more underhandedness. They liked to sneak, and to call in minions to do their dirty work, and to try and escape when the going got tough for them. Whatever the Old Gods claimed, their real desires were almost completely egomaniacal; that, however, only served to increase Zerrex's worries, with how servile they all also seemed towards their master, Athéos.

"Hey, at least we got a few gods of our own." Cherry said positively, and then she cleared her throat when Zerrex gave her a dryly-amused look, rubbing the back of her head slowly. "Hey, I'm trying here, at least, unlike someone I know. It ain't my fault that Loki's pretty much the best secret weapon we got right now."

"And he's far too petrified of Athéos to join in any direct confrontation with any of the Old Gods, especially after what happened with Animaxander." Zerrex pointed out, and Cherry grunted, looking down with a frown of distaste. "Aera Cura is a bit of a self-entitled bitch, whether she's cute or not, and Yemaya is generous, kind, and definitely not someone we can send into combat." He paused, rubbing at his head slowly. "Anubis, well. At least he can fight, but he's still kind of a prick and he really needs a good kick in the ass to make him cooperate at all with me, even if he and Loki are pals. And then there's a scattering of other gods, but well..."

Cherry nodded, making a face as she leaned back on her hands before she asked curiously: "What about the Elementals? Hell and Heaven both have good relations with most of them, don't they?"

Zerrex grunted, shrugging a bit. "True, but they're very chaotic, like the Primordials. Nowhere near as nasty, but remember, that was what birthed them and molded the elemental states of being, or something like that. I'm probably getting the history wrong but you know what I'm trying to say. Elementals and primordials equals very like each other, except for the horribly world-destroying evil part."

The demoness groaned, throwing her head back before she huffed and looked flatly at Zerrex again. "Okay, uh... Astral and Ethereal planes. Those still exist outside of physical time and space, right, in their own weird-fuck dimensions... right?"

"Yeah, but the Ethereal plane is full of echoes and insubstantial beings and forsaken or exiled monsters, and the Astral plane is said to be a weird world that's not totally ethereal and not totally physical, full of... auras and weird, creepy things." Zerrex shook his head, and before Cherry could open her mouth, he added dryly, tapping points off on his fingers as he went: "The Lost Lord can't offer us more than few warriors who are willing to aid us, pretty much all of Eslovius loathes us, and Heaven... well... it's still pretty goddamn concerned with just itself, much as Lord and Lucifer are trying to share resources with both us and the physical realm, too."

"You're such a fucking buzzkill." Cherry said moodily, and then she sighed, rubbing at her forehead before she finally grinned at him, saying finally: "But hey, well. I got faith in you, Boss, and I know if you killed the shit out of Athéos once without knowing what the hell you were going up against, you can sure as balls do it again, no matter how powerful the motherfucker thinks he is."

Zerrex looked at her with quiet amusement for a few moments, and then he finally nodded and grunted, saying softly: "I appreciate that, Cherry, but... it still worries me, especially-"

"Blah blah blah, enough talking!" Cherry leapt up to her feet, then she jumped on Zerrex and sat in his lap, pushing him back against the wall and making him squawk as he flailed his arms, before his eyes widened in surprise as she kissed him firmly, working their mouths together slowly and deliciously for a few moments before she pulled back and winked, tickling under his chin lightly. "See, everything can be solved by a hungry, lustful, firm, moist kiss from your favorite little girl."

"I don't see Marina anywhere." Zerrex said dumbly, and then he grinned stupidly at the look on Cherry's face before he laughed and covered his head as she tried to beat on him with her fists, yelling incoherently at him before she started laughing herself and fell against him.

Finally, Cherry grabbed him by the shoulders, looking amusedly down at him before she brightened and asked: "Hey, wait, what about the Reapers? They sure as shit are pretty damn strong, and the fuckers can go anywhere they want... wouldn't they help us? I mean, come on, you can call on the aid of that freak Dust Toll, after all."

"Yeah, but that's different. Half the reason I can call on Dust Toll is because it teaches him a lesson about responsibility and discipline or something... Thanatos was pretty clear on the fact I wouldn't be able to call on him forever." Zerrex said pointedly, and then he made a face as he sat back, putting his hands behind his head as he looked up at Cherry. "And well, the Reapers... only care about unnatural death, but as Thanatos himself says, violent death and death from causes like illness or old age actually don't have much difference. We like to think they do, but the real difference is in the interaction and what happens to the person, not with the person's death. Their experience of it is different, and the emotions they feel are different... but death is simply death. It's simply the process by which the spirit leaves the body. To a Reaper, the meaning of 'unnatural death' is a death where the soul isn't processed or taken by one of their harvesters, where it's absorbed by something else. Thanatos will only order and allow Reapers to aid Hell if the Old Gods were trying to harvest the entire world's souls."

"Oh, that's retardedly fucking complicated." Cherry said dourly, and then she grumbled as she reached up and combed her hands through Zerrex's hair before pulling him firmly into her breasts, making the reptile squawk and flail his arms, but he didn't attempt to pull away. "Can't there be one fucking thing on our side here?"

"Hey, we're just lucky Heaven and Hell... I guess I should say Elysium... are both so ready and willing to help out." Zerrex said mildly, and Cherry grunted as she let him go before she leapt up to her feet and stalked back and forth, the lizard rolling his eyes even as he smiled a bit. "But gotta have faith, right?"

Cherry looked at him oddly for a few moments, and then she snorted, patting her own breasts lightly. "Amazing what my tits can do, change a whole person's goddamn outlook around. But okay, okay." She paused, then walked over and sat down beside him with a sigh, saying mildly: "I guess we gotta get ready for the big-time then, huh? The same old ultra-violence, shooting, slashing, all that horrific stuff. Fuck, you better have at least some kind of battle plan ready."

Zerrex nodded slowly, thinking for a few moments as he realized how deadly serious Cherry must feel things were if she were asking him to do this... and then he finally smiled a bit, looking up and shouting: "Sin!"

Cherry stared... and then she gaped as a vortex appeared and Sin walked out of it, looking concerned and embarrassed as she glanced back and forth before saying in a meek voice as the portal between worlds closed behind her: "Lord Zerrex, much as I don't like to criticize you... it's a bit of a serious time to be calling upon me just to see if I can appear between worlds..."

"Well, yeah." Zerrex said with a bit of a smile, standing up and patting her quietly on the shoulder and surprised to see that even in this world, her glammer still functioned perfectly well. "Listen, though, I need you to help me with something else, and this is actually very serious."

Sin nodded after a moment, her blush fading as she gazed at him quietly, and the reptile explained softly: "Kafka announced that he's unveiling something likely serious at a Grand Rally in the next few days. It could be anything... but one of the theories is that it's a welcoming present for the Old Gods. So we're going to go over to the home of my... I dunno what you call her. Anyway, she's smart and her brother knows a thing or two about both demons and gods. We need to have a strategy session to discuss how we can establish a safe defense of the mortal world, and I'm putting you in charge of being Hell's voice in the matter."

"L-Lord Zerrex, that... that's a big responsibility, and... well..." Sin stammered, and then she stopped, cleared her throat, and finally smiled a bit at him, saying quietly: "Just... correct me if I say something wrong, okay?"

Zerrex softened at this, and then he kissed her forehead delicately before looking over his shoulder at Cherry, who rolled her eyes but was smiling a bit despite herself. "Sin, I'm sure you'll do just fine... and you, Cherry, go tell Cindy to come with us and to bring her laptop, to write all this nonsense down."

Cherry nodded with a grunt, hopping past them and heading out the door, and then Zerrex let Sin take a moment to look slowly around his room, marveling at it for some reason: there was more mess than technology in here, after all, and the reptile was able to keep things at least mildly organized. Then he silently took her hand and led her into the hall, then down it to the mural room, pushing the door open and saying softly: "I just want you to see something."

Sin was awestruck by the paintings on the wall, tears rising in her eyes as she clung to the Drakkaren, and her silence communicated more to him than she ever could have said with words. Finally, they left and headed downstairs, and the reptile promised to show her the rest of the house once they were done with the strategy session, knowing how enthralled she'd be with the layout of the den and technology there.

The mortal city, however, offered almost as much fascination for her, as did the sky above and the people along the street. She held Zerrex's hand tightly and refused to let go as Cherry and Cindy followed behind the two, and Sin jumped a bit when a truck drove by them with a rumble, looking after it almost like a child before she shook her head and continued onwards, murmuring about the amazing feats mortals had accomplished with their inventive minds and ingenious ways.