Chapter Eight: The Welcoming Committee
Author's Notes: Okay, I fail completely. I got sidelined by the Nano, and then I tried to get this out before I went on vacation… last winter. And now, here I am. I'm not immensely proud of this chapter – but after nearly six months of fussing over it, I figured if I didn't post it now, I probably never would. Thanks for all of your reviews! Also, if there are any formatting issues, let me know. The site gave me a lot of trouble uploading this...

---

The city was deserted – hardly a surprise, considering it was the dead of night and the Seeker demons had likely killed any foolish enough to venture outside. Stupid creatures, yes, but they'd done their job. Sergius knew where the halfing was hiding, now.

He glanced up at the flashing neon light above the door. Sergius had torn the city apart and honestly had not expected to find him in a place like this. When they ventured above, demons generally preferred the lowest levels of human cities, where the rankest of human motivations thrived like a disease – but this brat obviously thought he was above such nonsense.

When backed into a corner, pride was the first thing to die.

Sergius climbed the steps and quietly knocked.

A small girl with stringy blonde hair answered in seconds, swinging the door open. The room behind her was shrouded in darkness that seemed nearly unnatural. Generally that wouldn't have been a problem for Sergius, but while he wore human form he was subject to many of its limitations.

"Can I help you?" she asked, her voice scarcely above a whisper. Her eyes darted left and right.

"I'm sorry," Sergius said. "Do we know each other?"

"Can I help you?" she repeated.

He tapped a finger on his mouth, looking down at the girl quizzically. "I'm looking for a man, with a shock of white hair. Grievously injured."

She continued to squirm. "…name," she muttered.

"Hm?" Sergius raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"

"I need your name."

He smiled. "Well, that's simple enough. My name is Sergius."

"Mara, down!" And that was a new voice.

Though it sounded oddly familiar.

The girl threw herself to the ground, both her arms wrapped around her head, and the darkness started spitting fire. Sergius took hits to his chest, his arms, his face – and staggered back, stunned by a new revelation.

This hurt.

After twenty, maybe thirty of the blows – he was overwhelmed, and fell to his knees in the street. The inside of his mouth was strange, coppery, and he stared down at the white of his shirt, streaked with his own blood.

He touched one of the holes in his chest with his finger. The stinging agony was shocking. If this was even a small taste of what it was to be human, then Sergius did not like it.

He looked back into the doorway.

The girl was back on her feet, staring at him with a mixture of shock and horror. She raised a shaky hand to point at him. "Jesus fuck, he's still alive!" she shouted, and the shakiness in her voice had vanished. "Do you know how much lead you filled him with?"

"Mara, go upstairs now," the voice said from the shadows.

"I mean, if you threw him into a lake, he would sink! And I am never going to be a decoy for you again, because he's looking right at me and he doesn't look ha—"

"Mara!" An arm garbed all in red grabbed her roughly. "Up the stairs, now! You remember what I said—"

The girl tried to shrug him off, ineffectually. "Yeah. Yeah, if things go south I'd better—"

"Then go!"

The girl gave him one last long look – Sergius caught her gaze and held it. Though it was unlikely the trap had been hers she had been instrumental in his humiliation. She would pay almost as much as the man who had shot him.

Mara broke off her stare and spun into the dark room, vanishing.

He could feel the flesh of his torso shifting and fusing, in a moment his clothing would be the only evidence of his injury. He stood up slowly, keeping his narrowed eyes fixed on the doorway, and sure enough, his opponent stepped outside.

Sergius was not shocked to see the face of the man he'd sworn to kill – though he was surprised to see it worn by another man entirely. This opponent was dressed in red and carried an outlandish sword across his shoulders. The smirk, however, was exactly the same.

Sergius smiled again. "I did not expect Vergil to seek the help of his brother."

The man called Dante shrugged. "He didn't."

"And yet you'll fight me in his place?"

"Not exactly."

"Oh?" Sergius asked. "You'll tell me where he's hiding, then?"

Dante rolled his eyes. "Not a problem. He's right behind you."

Sergius spun hard – too late, he faced his opponent just in time to receive a brutal slash that sent chunks of flesh flying off his face. He swore and seethed, holding his ruined face as Vergil smirked and resheathed his sword.

"You underestimated your opponent," Vergil said flatly.

"On the contrary." Sergius struggled to right himself, though he could now recognize the sinewy feeling of his skin knitting together. "You've done nothing I wouldn't expect of you." And Sergius was done with surprises. He raised a hand above his head.

"Dante," Vergil said, suddenly not so apathetic. "He's summoning—"

A series of red lights flashed behind Dante. The demonic shrieks were unmistakable, and both brothers instinctively glanced at the small hoard gathering in the building.

Sergius moved.

Vergil's stance was solid, but injuries like his did not simply vanish, son of Sparda or not. The halfling moved to block Sergius' attack but was unprepared for the devil to teleport behind him – Sergius grabbed him by the hair and jerked his head around with a dry crack.

Vergil crumpled.

Sergius glanced towards the brother.

Dante cursed, pausing for just a second – he was trying to decide whether to challenge Sergius or the demons. In a moment, he lost the opportunity to make that decision, because they were both on him.

Sergius punched him hard in the gut. Even taken by surprise, Dante was quick; he twisted out of the way and the blow was only a glancing one. It didn't matter. It was enough to knock Dante back into the building, into the thick of things, and the demons swarmed.

Sergius followed, confident that his minions would do his fighting for him. He watched Dante struggle – his killing speed was remarkable, but there were just too many enemies for him to take his eyes off them for even a moment. The scene amused him for several seconds, and then he turned his attention to the room.

A drab place, certainly, and small. Where had the others gone?

He heard snarling behind him.

Vergil was standing, panting. The sword he held was not the graceful katana he'd wielded only moments before.

"You looked so comfortable, child," Sergius said, smiling. "Were you not enjoying your nap?"

The halfling seethed, he gripped Sparda's sword tightly. "I'll show you what happens to those who make a mockery of me." Sergius did not have to guess to know what was going to happen next.

The brother was up to his neck in demon pawns, and it was a miracle he could even hear over the racket his weapons were making. "Vergil, what the hell are you—"

"Be quiet, Dante!"

Sergius smiled. "You haven't the strength, child."

"Do not try me!"

Sergius was only vaguely aware of the powers the sword was supposed to contain – and it was painfully obvious the halfling hadn't a clue. Power was coursing through his body, Sergius could plainly sense that. But his appearance stayed the same, the sword maintained it's current form. The only change Sergius could see was in his eyes – still blue, but they almost appeared to be burning.

The halfling leapt forward.

Sergius dodged the attack, but only just – the very tip of the sword passed so close he could feel the wind off it. Vergil spun full circle with the strike, and the demons at his back vanished.

They fell in a rain of sand, and Vergil advanced again.

More portals opened – demons appeared in his path, they fell all around him, and he destroyed everything with careful, deliberate strokes of his sword. Nothing even slowed him down.

Even as he fell back, almost desperately, Sergius could admire that power. Even if it might kill him.

The flurry of blows continued, never pausing, never wavering, and Sergius sound found himself with his back to a wall. And Vergil was still coming.

It took all of his strength and speed to vacate that space; he moved so quickly that any human and most demons would think that he'd simply disappeared, and he found himself behind Vergil. His position did not make him feel secure.

The attack had left a clean hole in the wall, as large as a man.

"Vergil, what the fucking hell?"

Vergil's eyes were flat, but they flickered to the left, towards the voice. Instead of his brother his eyes fell on more demons – and he drifted towards them as if pulled by a string.

Powerful, and completely thoughtless. Fitting for a creature that was, after all, half human.

The distraction gave Sergius the precious time he needed. He dove to the side, summoning the power that would give him a chance to regroup. The portal closed over him, the scene faded to black.

Though he'd lost the battle, Sergius smiled. This was a complication he could use, oh, most certainly.

---

Well, Vergil had wiped out the demons.

Demon blood was splattered across the walls – the walls he had left, anyway. Several had come down in the chaos, and most of those had been knocked down by Vergil himself. "God damnit, Vergil, you asshole. This is my place!"

In response, Vergil turned.

He'd kept human form, at least, but beyond that there wasn't much normal about him, not anymore. Vergil's face was completely slack, his eyes were glowing red. And his grip on the Force Edge was just unnatural, clinging to it like his life depended on it.

He took a step forward, and naturally Dante took a step back.

"Dude," Dante said. "Are you okay?"

The attack would have made contact if Dante hadn't been expecting it. He flipped over Vergil's head and landed with his sword drawn. "Vergil, the fight's over!"

Vergil turned to face him, raising the sword in front of him. He was a lot stronger now, Dante could feel the power coming off him, but something was clearly wrong. Maybe he couldn't handle it?

"You want to duel? Fine with me." He smiled, raising his own sword as well. "Been a while since I got some quality sparring in." Maybe Vergil had a lot more power now, but his body was all kinds of fucked up. That was something Dante could use to his advantage, so long as—

"Dad!"

Lady and Verge were both standing at the bottom of the stairs, wide-eyed and confused, and Vergil's head slowly turned in that direction. Like an evil robot gone mad, he was seeing everything as a threat right now, and Vergil only knew one way to deal with threats.

He started towards them.

"Shit!" Dante leapt again, this time at Vergil instead of away. He landed between him and Lady and Verge, just in time to block that attack. And the one after it, and the one after that, each strong enough to knock him back nearly a foot. "Knock it off, Vergil!"

"Dad!"

"Dante, what's—"

Sparks flew off the colliding weapons, but Vergil couldn't get through the guard – the guard that was taking everything Dante had. Snarling, Vergil drew the sword back with enough force to crack the wall behind him.

Twenty-five feet behind him.

"You two stay behind me!" Dante shouted over the destruction. "Actually, just get the hell out of here."

Lady held Verge but the hand – Dante knew that if it wasn't for the kid, he'd never talk her into leaving. But, damnit, she still wasn't going. "What are you planning on doing?" she called back.

"What do you think I'm planning on doing? I'm going to fight him!"

"You'll lose!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, babe." He hefted Rebellion over his shoulder. "But I've got a job to do, so beat it, will ya?"

It sucked that she was right. He'd faced down this kind of power once before, and even then he'd needed help. Vergil's help. Which made the situation kind of ironic, really. Now he could only hope that Vergil didn't really want to hurt him all that badly. Deep down.

He was counting on Vergil's soft sport. On him having one. Freaking hysterical.

"What are you guys doing?" Mara asked, wandering down the stairs and scratching the back of her head. "Aren't the demons—"

Vergil twitched.

"Look out!" Dante yelled.

Mara shot to the ceiling and ran like a rabbit. Once she'd put about twenty feet between herself and Vergil, she started yelling: "What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck—You are all crazy, you are all—"

"Mara!" Lady shouted. "See if you can—"

Mara laughed. "Oh, Christ, you are fucking nuts. I'm getting the hell out of here, is what I'm doing." She flipped off the ceiling and landed in a crouch on the floor, making dead sure to put Dante and Lady between herself and Vergil.

"But tell you what, I'll do you a huge favor." Faster than either of them could respond, she vanished and appeared directly next to them, grabbing the kid and stepping outside. "I am going to kidnap your son. You'll thank me later."

She crouched and leapt into the air, holding Verge by the arm and taking him with her. They flipped twice in the air and then landed against the wall of the opposite building, and she ran up the side of it, dragging Verge along with her. They disappeared over the roof.

"Mara!" Lady shouted after them.

"Leave it," Dante said. "She's right, he's safer!" In fact, once V got over being terrified, he'd probably be thrilled. Just like Spiderman.

Vergil watched their retreat.

Lady scowled. "Now what?" she asked.

Dante stepped sideways, circling Vergil. He had no idea why his brother wasn't moving right now. Hell, even under the best of circumstances he was hard pressed to say why Vergil did anything. "We need to shut him down," he said.

"How?"

"Hell if I know!"

Lady rolled her eyes, drew her guns, and started firing.

Dante charged forward.

There'd been a time when he and Vergil had been almost evenly matched – maybe Lady would tip the scales in his favor. Probably not. Vergil didn't seem to have any trouble dodging her hail of bullets. He didn't seem to have any trouble parrying Dante's slashes at the same time.

Dante knew he wasn't going to win.

It was like Vergil could read his mind, because the instant Dante let that sink in, his brother smiled.

Shit.

Vergil attacked with renewed energy, slicing and dicing and locking Dante's sword up with an attack he'd never even seen. Rebellion sailed out of his hands, across the street. It clattered way, way too far away, and all of a sudden Dante was having flashbacks.

They all stood still for just a second, hardly breathing, and then Vergil did the one thing Dante hadn't been expecting. He went after Lady.

She tried to duck, and even if she was fast for a human she wasn't quite fast enough. The blow caught her across the temple, and she collapsed.

"Lady!"

Vergil swept forward to finish the job.

Without a sword or any kind of weapon, Dante was running low on options. He jumped forward anyway, reaching forward in an attempt to knock the attack away. It earned him a few nasty wounds but it worked out better than he'd hoped – the lunge knocked both of them backwards, onto the ground.

Dante's hands fell on the amulet.

He didn't know why he grabbed it, but it sure pissed Vergil off.

The grappled for a couple seconds like kids after a piece of candy, Dante keeping his hands locked on the amulet and Vergil trying to pry him off. For a second, it seemed like Dante might be winning – even if Vergil was landing some stinging slashes on his back, even if the air was flashing red and there was suddenly a strange smell in the air.

Vergil dropped his sword, shouting, "Dante, you will let go—"

Dante didn't take a moment to appreciate his brother's sudden return to lucidity. He slugged him—hard—and just like last time Vergil slumped to the ground.

Dante got to his feet, and then kicked Vergil in the head twice, for good measure. That'd keep him out for, like, an hour. Maybe. Better safe than sorry.

He kicked him again.

He wanted to feel relieved, like he'd dodged another bullet, but no. He didn't, really. He ran a hand through his hair, and looked around. Things were about to get interesting.

He looked at the pillars of stone and bones all around them, the unfamiliar terrain. He looked at the blood red sky. He knew this should come as kind of a shock to him, but it didn't, not really.

He sighed. "Yeah, that's just fucking great."

----

So, you learn something new everyday. Apparently Mara could pull people into her own weird gravity by touching them. She supposed it was just a little risky finding that out under the present circumstances, but no time like the now, right?

They touched down about four blocks away from the raging battle – they could still hear it, but Mara was pretty sure they were safe. She let go of the kid, who jerked away from her like she was the monster she'd just rescued him from.

"Hey!" he shouted. "My mom and dad—"

Mara brushed the wall powder off her shirt. "Are going to be completely and totally fine, with my luck."

Hardly reassuring words, but the kid relaxed. "I guess so. They're really strong, huh?"

"No kidding." Mara looked left and right. It was a little late, maybe eleven o'clock, but that was no reason for this part of town to be completely deserted.

Demons, probably. That was no good.

"You saved me, didn't you?"

Mara shrugged. She honestly had no idea why she had – for the first time in a long time, she hadn't done it with any ulterior motive, and she was now hard pressed to find a way to turn it to her advantage. "It was on the way."

"The way to what?"

"To getting the hell out of there." Mara looked up and down the street. "And I'm about to get rid of you, too, because you're really annoying and the last thing I'd ever want is your mother after me."

The kid sighed. "Lots of people are saving me today."

"And you're not even cute enough to justify it. Life's just weird sometimes, huh."

So the kid was kind of cute, but not near cute enough for Mara to actually feel sorry for him. His parents would probably be fine – in fact, they would probably subdue and befriend that monster, and then they would come after Mara with a bloody vengeance. The kid was like a juicy steak tied around her neck, bait for monsters she didn't even want to catch.

Mara was so, so sorry. To whoever she had done whatever to. Because now she believed in karma.

"You have cool powers," the kid was saying. "Can you fly?"

Mara shrugged. "I don't have a clue. Was I flying?"

"Nuh uh. But you can run up walls and stuff. My mom says my dad can run up walls, but she says it's not good for anything but showing off, and I think—"

Mara was feeling a lot less special after meeting this particular family, who could do everything she could do. Just, better. "I think you've probably got powers, too," she said.

Verge raised his eyebrows. "Me? How come?"

"'Cause you're the spawn of Satan and Neo, that's why." Sure, maybe to this kid, people like his parents were normal. She'd bet money he didn't go to public school.

"Who's Neo?"

"Uh, the Matrix? The movie?" Definitely not public school.

"Is that rated R? 'Cause my mom says—"

"Uh, this might be news to you, but your life is rated R." She sighed. "You know what, never mind. We'll just hang out until your parents kill the scary man, and then you can run home and… be, um, away."

The kid looked doubtful. "I don't think my dad wants to hurt him. I don't know why Dad knows him, but—"

Mara thought about that, dragging memories from a few minutes ago to the front of her mind. "He's your dad's brother," Mara offered. Sometimes seeing everything had its advantages. This was probably not one of those times.

"He is?"

"They've got the same face. And they said—never mind." She shrugged. "Either they're twins or the result of some horrible evil genetic experiment gone very wrong, and even though your family's freaky enough that it's not even that unlikely, I'm gonna go with…"

"I don't know what you're saying," he said, and then he yawned. "I wish I had a brother. My mom and dad are broke up so I don't think I will, but it'd be nice if I had—"

Mara nodded. "Uh huh. Whatever."

The kid sighed. "I just want to go home."

"And that is so not my…" She looked at the kid. "Your home, huh. You live with your mom?"

"Uh huh. We have a house, it's big and old but I like it a lot, and I wished Dad lived more close but that's okay, because on Mom's bike she—"

"Yeah, whatever." She caught the kid by the shoulders and spun him around. "Listen. Your mom's done me some favors over the past few weeks, and I've been just itching to repay them."

The kid narrowed his eyes. "You're lying."

"I am not."

"Then how come you were tied up?"

"That's easy. To stop me from repaying her! Your mom is very generous." If Mara could get into that house, odds were very good she could figure out why the witch woman was so damned obsessive about her. It was something, anyway. "I think taking you home would be a good place to start repaying her."

He yawned again. "I don't believe you."

"Do you want to go home? Ever?"

The kid caught on to blackmail quicker than she would've expected, considering his age. His little shoulders slumped. "How come the people who save me are never nice?"

-----