2D climbed over the broken walls, busted furniture and other rubbish that had once made up the ground floor of Kong Studios. He knew enough to tread carefully, as the only light came from the cracks in the still standing walls and holes in the ceiling, so much of the rooms and hallways were shrouded in darkness. He didn't have any direction, really; he had just decided he couldn't sit still for a moment longer and had left Russel waiting downstairs. Also, he wanted to see first hand how much the place had changed since the last time they had all been together making music.

He was coming close to the remains of the cinema when he thought he'd heard a noise. After listening again and hearing nothing he shrugged and kept going. It wasn't until he was suddenly thrown off his feet by a tackle and pinned to the ground with something sharp pressing against his neck that he realized the sound wasn't in his head.

"Are you living or dead?" A feminine voice with an Essex accent asked sharply in the dark.

"What?"

"ARE YOU LIVING OR DEAD?" she asked again, with more urgency. The sharp edged pressed further into his neck.

"Wh…um…living…I guess." 2D stammered.

There was a tense moment and then the sharp edge moved away from his artery, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hang on" the voice said suddenly. He felt a hand on the side of his head push it sideways into a patch of light coming from the ceiling. "Oh my God, you're the singer."

Momentarily blinded and uncomprehending 2D simply said "What?"

"You're the singer. For the band that used this building. You're um…Stuart Pot. Am I right?"

"Well, yeah. Um, it's 2D. Miss, would you get off me please?"

The figure climbed off him and 2D got to his feet unsteadily, rubbing the front of his neck to make sure it was still intact.

"What are you doing here?" the woman asked him.

2D stared into the dark towards where the voice came from and scratched his head. "Well…It's my home, innit?"

"Look around love; it's not really much of anything anymore." She moved into better light, and the singer finally got a look at her. She was fairly young, a bit short, with blue eyes and long brown hair tied back in a high pony tail. She wore a dark t-shirt, jeans, and boots and carried a large sword in one hand.

2D pointed at said sword and asked "What's that for?"

"Protection." She answered simply. She sheathed her weapon and looked around. "Are you alone?"

"No, Russ is downstairs, we're waiting for-"

"Wait, Russel Hobbs?" she interrupted. "The drummer?"

When 2D nodded she muttered something the sounded suspiciously like "Damn it". But then she asked "Where is he?"

Before an answer could be given a deep voice rang out from down the hall; "D? Where'd you go, man?"

"Over here" the singer called back. "And there's a strange woman in the studio, with a sword."

"What?" Russel appeared as he climbed over the rubble. "Man, you seeing things or something?" As he came closer, he suddenly saw what his band mate was talking about. "Shit! Who the hell are you?"

She crossed her arms. "Think of me as your personal caretaker."

"What?"

"My name is Gillian" she said a bit more harshly. "And I'm the person who's been taking care of the mess you and your band made. So you can quit looking at me like I'm an intruder and tell me why you and the blue haired boy have decided to come back."

Russel had little patience left for this kind of thing right now. "Lady why on earth would I tell you anything? I don't know you or why you're here."

She didn't back down. "Because I'm the only one properly equipped to handle anything this place can throw out. My people have kept these lands in balance for centuries and I've been watching over this place since before Murdoc Niccals was given the deed. So if anything is happening I need to know about it."

The looked at each other hard for a moment, but something about her told the drummer she was telling the truth. After another moment of thought, and a quick glance at 2D, he decided to talk. "Look, two years ago our guitarist was kidnapped and taken into Hell, and-"

"Yes, Noodle" Gillian said. "I know."

Russel looked at her, surprised. "How much about us do you know?"

"I do have access to a telly and a computer" she replied, slightly annoyed. "I know as much about you as the public does. Also, I have resources that the public doesn't have and that fills in some of the blanks. Keep going."

"Well, anyway, Murdoc went down to hell to get her back. He'd been trying to do it through their legal system for a long time, and they're going to make a final decision on her soul any day now, so he's gone down to sort it out personally."

Gillian looked confused. "How on earth would he get down to Hell?"

"Through the mouth" 2D put in. When she still looked confused he said "There's a mouth to Hell in the basement, right at the lowest level. He went down through there."

When she realized he wasn't joking her eyes widened. "There's an actual mouth to Hell? Good God, do have any idea how dangerous that is?"

2D shrugged. "It's just always been there."

A thousand questions rolled through Gillian, but after a moment of thought, she picked one. "How long ago did he go down?"

"About three days." Russel replied.

She shook her head. "You lads better show me."