WARNING: The following contains graphic violence and injuries, strong language, sexual themes, mentions of domestic abuse, attempted rape, suicide, mental and emotional instability, and self-harming, as well as rampant demon horniness... so yes, it's intended for mature audiences.

VIEWER/READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

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3rd Person POV

All things considered... it started off as a good day...

I.M.P. had gotten an easy job of killing some big-shot corporate boss who liked to work his employees and personal assistant literally to the early grave as the latter had hired them after he OD'd on coffee on all things...

They'd gone in, killed the guy, left his remains with the words "Jared says hi..." spray painted in red on the wall so it'd look like the client's ghost had killed him in revenge, and were now trying to make a discreet escape through the alley.

All in all a good day...

"MRROOOOW!"

Until Blitzø opened his mouth...

"Shhhhh! Remember, we can't be seen."

"Then why'd ya step on my tail!" Ayden hiss-whispered holding up said appendage where it had a distinct heeled boot print on the end as they were on top of some dumpsters and piles of trash bags that Blitzø promptly fell into after slamming a dumpster lid shut with a loud,

*BANG!*

Making Millie silently chuckle before walking away as Moxxie complained staying behind a second,

"Pardon my words, sir, but you're currently being the loudest."

Just before Blitzø jumped out of the bag pile with trash on him from a newspaper on his forehead, a half-eaten lollipop stuck to the side of his head, a scrap of paper on his horn with an old banana peel impaled on the end of it, and a used condom on his index finger, which he then uses to poke Moxxie's face indignantly as he "whispered,"

"I said shuuush your dick-sucking lips, Moxxie!"

Moxxie jumped away grossed out and Ayden stood beside him in matching disgust before they heard the portal back to Hell open behind them as Millie had already stepped through to join Loona on the other side waving to them all.

Just as they were about to head to the portal too, Blitzø tackled them down to the ground yelling,

"GET DOWN!"

Right as a net was shot where they'd been standing previously with a man in a black suit, Agent One, holding a net launched and was cocking it readying a second round when another agent, a woman called Agent Two, rappelled down from the building in front of the portal so Blitzø yelled,

"LOONA! CLOSE IT!"

"Wait, no!" Millie tried to get back through the portal but it closed, leaving Blitzø, Moxxie, and Ayden on their own in the Living World.

Moxxie looked upset at first about being separated from Millie but it quickly turned to anger at the agents trying to capture them so he pulled out his pistol to fire at them while Blitzø and Ayden hid behind a dumpster, Ayden shaking in place as she held her head in her paws muttering distressed,

"Notagainnotagainnotagainnotagain..."

Before her eyes snapped open as the sound of another net and dart being fired caught her attention and Moxxie was about to fire on the agents when a tranq hit him in the neck from behind and he stumbled around, mumbling something incoherently, before faceplanting to the ground.

"MOXXIE!" Blitzø shouted before rushing out to grab Moxxie's body with one arm and dragging Ayden behind him by her wrist with his other hand as they shoved past Agent Two to keep running through the alleyway while Moxxie slurred,

"I smell... *sniffs* colors..."

"Uurk!" Ayden's paw was suddenly ripped from Blitzø's hand as another man, called Agent Thirteen, appeared from another direction to use some kind of pole with a U shape with spikes at the end of it to trap and pin Ayden to the wall by the neck.

"Keep goin'!" Ayden yelled at Blitzø and he hesitated before she brought a fist that was flickering with flames down on the pole, snapping it in half and making Agent Thirteen yell out incredulously,

"My sasumata! Oof!"

Just before Ayden delivered a solid kick to his ribs sending him on his ass before she ran to catch up with Blitzø as she urged with her voice cracking slightly as she put a paw to the red marks around it,

"C-C'mon!"

The two of them resumed trying to get away before-

"Shite!"

They were cornered in a dead end and the three agents blocked their only way back out.

Blitzø pulled his pistol out ready to fight and Ayden hissed while raising her sparking claws, trying to summon a fireball,

"HSSS! Bugger off!"

"Yeah back off, you tuxedo-wearing FUCKS!"

The two sides readied for a firefight before-

"RAOW!"

A net was shot at Ayden from above by a woman, known as Agent Seven, as Agent Two pressed a button on her gun.

*BZZZRT!*

Blitzø and Moxxie were electrocuted just as Ayden was shocked by the net trapping her, the three of them dropping to the ground before Blitzø is zapped a second time by residual charge.

The four agents get into Blitzø and Ayden's lines of sight as their vision starts to go dark while Agent One chuckles confidently,

"I'd like to see the suits at corporate callin' us losers now! That was pretty badass!"

"Super badass!" Agent Two agrees as she cocks her gun while Agent Thirteen, holding the remains of his sasumata in one hand, bent down in front of Ayden grabbing her by her hair as he spit,

"It broke my sasumata!"

"Cool it Thirteen you have like 10 more..." Agent Seven pulled him away with a glower before he whined petulantly,

"But this one was my favorite!"

Just as it went fully dark for Blitzø and Ayden...

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A while later, Blitzø and Ayden were the first ones to wake up and grimaced at the situation they were in; Blitzø and Moxxie were tied back to back in chairs under lamps with their tails twisted, wrapped, and chained around an iron ball to prevent them from using them.

Meanwhile, Ayden was also tied up with her paws both stuffed into heat-resistant gloves that were duct taped to her wrists along with her tail but separated from the others on what looked like a cheap collapsible stool sitting in the middle of a kiddie pool filled with water.

"What the...?" Ayden questioned as she wriggled around in the stool before it abruptly dropped a level and-

*Tsss!*

"Yow!"

As soon as her toes hit the water it burned like a million fire ants biting into her skin and she quickly brought her feet up just as she realized it was-

"Holy water." Agent Seven stated while she and Agents One, Two, and Thirteen were entering the room as Thirteen got in her face to snap,

"Just ta make sure you don't try anythin' funny..."

Making her snarl back at him before her ear twitched and she looked over to see Moxxie starting to wake up and briefly struggle in his seat until Agent Two shone the intense light in his face, making him stop and flinch away as she snapped,

"Finally awake, huh, little fella? Your partners have been a while now."

"Look, shitbag, it takes a lot to keep me down, alright? I took a fuck-ton of tranquilizers in the college I dropped out of. Also, I've been strapped nipple first to a car battery. So, I-Ohhh, okay!" Blitzø started to brag before Agent One shone the light in his face making him flinch away as he demanded,

"Tell us, demon scum! Who do you work for? Satan?!"

Before Agent Two grabbed it too and they started switching back and forth asking Blitzø and Moxxie different questions,

"How did you get to our world from the afterlife?"

"Why are youse killin' humans?!"

"When did you show up here?"

Before Blitzø interrupted them as he snapped in an annoyed tone,

"Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there, bitch. First of all, we just woke up from a veeeery nasty shock. And I'm still feelin' fuckin' woozy, so I'm gonna request you fetch us some coffee before we get into this. I mean, everyone gets coffee in shitty movies with scenes like this, am I right? I want somethin' iced, bitch! Kid?"

"I'll take a col' nitro brew, Mox?" Ayden stated while sticking her nose up snobbily, despite the fear still simmering beneath the surface, before passing it on to Moxxie as he started to go on a long order tirade,

"I'll have a Neapolitan cappuccino, more cappu- than -ccino, make sure it's got no more than four ounces of milk; the beans won't have the right texture otherwise, and make sure they spell my name correctly on the cup, they always put 'Foxy' or 'Roxy' I hate that. If you can't handle that, I'll have a Venti traditional misto. Please use soy milk, with two blond shots affogato and ristretto! I'd also love three vanilla pumps at the very bottom, then add the coffee after, then add-"

"ENOUGH! We aren't getting youse coffee!" Agent One finally snapped as he pointed in Moxxie's face before Blitzø complemented Moxxie while smirking,

"Wow. I was getting massive douche chills just there, Mox. Congrats!"

"Knew ya had it inya." Ayden added before Agent Two bent down to lean into Moxxie's face to threaten,

"If we have to, we are willing to resort to torture methods to get answers outta you nasty hell beasts!"

"When you say 'torture,' do you mean physical or psychological? Physical seems counterproductive; we would likely tell you anything if it meant an end to the pain, and you would have no way of knowing what was true!" Moxxie pointed out without missing a beat before Blitzø added,

"Or we might like it too much. And then you've got a whole new thing to deal with."

"What do you mean by that?" Agent One questioned accusingly pointing in his face making Ayden snark while rolling her eyes,

"Whaddya think he means dumbass?"

"Ah, you're stupid, huh? I can work with stupid. ~Daddy likey dummy.~" Blitzø started to suggest while wiggling his eyebrows up and down and Moxxie started to squirm in his chair trying to hold in his laughter but laughed out loud anyway while stomping his hooves on the ground and even Ayden had to crack a smirk as he chuckled,

"Good one, sir! 'Daddy likey!'"

"You better stop laughin' at us!" Agent Two snapped at them while stomping a foot down childishly as Agent One grabbed Blitzø by the collar to pull him closer as he threatened,

"Yeah! You are the ones at our mercy!"

"It's hard to resist, I'm really sorry. I mean, considering your approach thus far, you've had us tied here for what, hours? And you haven't even had us confirm what exactly we are!" Moxxie pointed out unfazed by the threats.

"What are you?" Agent Two leaned down in front of Moxxie again to ask and he quipped while making a goofy face and sticking out his tongue,

"I'm a Virgo."

"I'm a Aries." Ayden added, also sticking her tongue out mockingly at the agents.

"HAH!" Blitzø laughed before Agent One let him go to clap and say sarcastically,

"Ohhhhh, a smart guy, eh?!"

"One more quip outta you and we'll shut you up!" Agent Two threatened with a hand held ready to slap them before Blitzø insinuated,

"Ooh, getting kinkyyyy!"

Making Agents One and Two full on back away in shock and disgusted horror while Agents Seven and Thirteen just recoil to where they stood on either side of Ayden as she frowned at Blitzø's suggestive antics before Agent One yelled incredulously,

"WHAAAAT?! We aren't playin' into your vile demon kinks!"

"I mean, that's what it sounded like back there, you sickos!"

"Please don't give them ideas, sir!" Moxxie "begged" Blitzø sarcastically with a smirk before Blitzø pointed out,

"Why not? I know the shit you're into!"

Making his smirk turn to a look of embarrassment just before Agent One yelled starting to lose what composure he had while pointing in Moxxie's face,

"Stooop! We are NOT gettin' kinky wit youse!"

Causing Agent Two to grab One to physically pull him back to calm him down,

"Calm down, One! Don't let these monsters get to you!"

The two of them started to walk away making Blitzø tease,

"Heyyyy, aren't we gonna get our phone call, bitch?"

"Well, that entirely depends! Who are you gonna call? Hmmm?" Agent One questioned mockingly before Blitzø answered shamelessly,

"Your fat mom, thankin' her for a fat time!"

"Nice try, demon! His fat mom is dead!" Agent Two shouted as Agent One started crying into his arm.

"Speakin' o' moms, Ally," Agent Seven directed to Ayden making her eyes widen as Blitzø and Moxxie looked over at her just as Seven continued speaking, "Yours's been lookin' for ya back home in the 'City of Angels' of all places."

Ayden froze with her eyes shrinking to slits as Blitzø questioned,

"The fuck are you talkin' about?"

"Oh didn't lil' Ally here tell you that she's half human?" Agent Thirteen questioned while harshly pinching her cheek and poking her forehead making her snap at him.

"Ayden, is that true?" Moxxie asked and Ayden was quick to try and cover,

"Don' listen ta these wombats! They don' know what they're talkin' 'bout!"

"Oh don't we?" Agent Two snarked while pulling out her phone to show the imps various camera footage snapshots that seemed to go farther back each time from how younger Ayden started to look in each one: coming out of her burrow in the Living World as a hellcat, her running out of a grocery store with food in her arms in human form, being beaten up by a human man against a dumpster, her on the roof of a building at night in a crouch with her mid-back length hair flowing slightly in the wind as her eyes glowed in the dark-

"And of course the one that started Operation: D.C...."

"No!" Ayden started thrashing around trying to get free before Agents Thirteen and Seven each put a hand on her shoulders and added some pressure, subtly threatening to make the stool drop another level closer to the holy water if she didn't settle down.

The picture was of Ayden as a young teenager slightly floating in the air as fiery streaks that were rising up from a glowing red pentagram on the ground nearly covered her form as parts of her were morphing into her demon cat form while she cried blazing tears through her shifting paws and a woman nearby was yelling at her with her hands cupped around her mouth and a burnt up corpse on the ground below her.

Blitzø and Moxxie stared at the photo before looking over to Ayden, who looked at them with quiet desperation in her eyes that begged something of them, for what, they didn't know...

"HA!" Blitzø suddenly laughed out loud making Ayden and the Agents look at him in surprise as he snarked,

"You really think this puss is capable of all that? She can barely pull off a kill with her bare paws."

"Wh-! Hey!" Ayden stuttered in some offense before Blitzø cut her off with,

"Nah I'm more interested in this dickwad's dead fat mom!"

"Th-that's not-!" Agent One was surprised at the turnaround the conversation took.

"Y-yeah! I bet she died of disappointment that her son's a government-level loser." Moxxie taunted, catching onto what Blitzø was trying to do.

"Stop it!"

"Probably took two-no three graves to bury her fatass!" Blitzø teased with a cocky smile.

"Stop insultin' my mother! She's dead!" Agent One snapped at Blitzø while he was cheekily sticking his tongue out at him.

"Hey, hey. Let's just leave them here until they feel like talkin'. You both too." Agent Two coaxed One out before telling Seven and Thirteen and they both gave Ayden a final glare before leaving the room as well with the door slamming behind them.

Blitzø glanced at the door to make sure they were gone before trying to struggle in his seat for a few seconds before giving up.

"Guys..." Ayden spoke up dejectedly, "Everythin' they said 'bout me-"

"Kid," Blitzø cut her off before continuing with, "You can bet your tailed ass we're gonna talk about all that shit later but, for now, we gotta get outta here."

"How?" Moxxie questioned validly and Blitzø sighed before devising,

"Haah... Don't worry. If we keep being obnoxious, they'll eventually slip up and we'll get a chance to get out. Let's just keep fuckin' with them until they get so frustrated, they stop thinkin' clearly. It usually works."

"Yeh One and Two us'lly get heated pre'y quick but Seven 'n Thi'teen follow through on threats so we gotta be ca'eful 'bout fuckin' wi'h'em." Ayden shrugged as she tried wriggling her paws around to try to dislodge them of the gloves and her tail of the duct tape while also being careful to not wriggle her whole body too much.

*Tssss...*

Her ear twitched again at the faint hissing sound filling the room but before she could search for the source of it, Moxxie started expressing,

"I'm just worried about Millie. She'll be on her way by now, I'm sure!"

"Ugh, she'll be fine, Moxxie. It would take a roided-up hippo to take down that woman when she's upset." Blitzø huffed and Ayden added,

"Yeh she's a serious badass..."

"We've never dealt with the human government before! She's in danger!"

Ayden was about to reassure him when Blitzø suddenly snapped angrily,

"Do you ever honestly shut up about Millie?! It's always 'Oh, how's Millie?' 'I can't tonight. I'm hangin' with Millie!' 'I'm so worried about Millie!' And she's ALWAYS FIVE FUCKIN' FEET away from you! It's pathetic!"

There was a second of silence before Moxxie pointed out,

"That... was oddly personal."

"When did you sta't bein' so open?" Ayden raised an eyebrow in question.

"Y'know, you're both right! I don't know why the fuck I just let my guts spill like that." Blitzø realized in surprise.

The hissing sound was still going but it was accompanied by a weird smell that Ayden was starting to pick up on at the same time Moxxie looked down at the floor and saw the green clouds of gas spraying into the room with the three of them.

Eyes widening in fear, Moxxie warned them,

"Sir! They're filling this room with something!"

"Fuck! *sniffs* The hell is this? Kid?" Blitzø questioned while trying to move away from it before looking over at Ayden as she was trying to keep herself above the gas as well before answering,

"How'm I s'posed ta know?! Last time I was he'e they just kept me in a cat carrier with a chain and a spray bottle. This is new!"

"I think it's some kind of airborne truth-telling serum!" Moxxie theorized and Blitzø snarked,

"Oh, you just guess that's what it is?"

"Well, uh... Just ask me something specific I wouldn't normally tell you." Moxxie told Blitzø and he did so,

"Okay. Uh... Does Millie ever peg you?"

"~Sometimes.~" Moxxie admitted smiling at the thought before his eyes snapped open in realization and cursed, "Wait! EWW! Fuck! Why that?!"

"Heh! I knew it." Blitzø chuckled before Moxxie yelled at him,

"Well, your suit is tacky!" Before he flinched in regret and quickly tried to apologize, "Fuck! I'm sorry..."

"Haaah!" Blitzø gasped dramatically before yelling back, "How fuckin' dare you! Youuu have shitty taste in music!" Before he too flinched in regret and apologized, "AH, I'm sorry!"

"'Shit taste?!'" Moxxie repeated before he teared up as he expressed, "You said you liked that musical I recommended to you!"

"I lied! I left halfway through!"

"You... You said you loved it!"

"It was awful, Moxxie!" Blitzø teared up before full-on crying out loud, "It was about ugly, horny caaaaats!"

The two of them started sobbing with each other for a good minute or two as Blitzø told him,

"Oh, God, Moxxie! I've said so many lies to you!"

"'Onestly I'da thought you'd be into somethin' like that," Ayden spoke up in a judging tone before adding snidely, "seein' as ya like to shag wi'h eve'y slagger ya see like a horny gigolo. Oh fuck sorry!"

Ayden's apology went unheard as Blitzø argued,

"Well at least I don't get grossed out every time someone even mentions havin' a good time!"

Blitzø's lack of apology made it clear that's how he really felt so Ayden got annoyed/mad and shot back at him,

"Least I don't gotta whore mahself out to get 'ere since I got my own portal! Fuck!"

"You what?!" Blitzø shouted in disbelief and Moxxie stopped sniffling long enough to ask,

"What else are you hiding from us?!"

"I'm actually 15. Shite!"

"We've been letting a teenager on missions this whole time?! We've been baaaad teammates!" Moxxie started crying all over again before a rumbling sound came from the vents and more gas started to pour in making the three of them cough.

Each of their visions started to get a little hazy but Blitzø managed to shake it away long enough to yell,

"Dammit, Moxxie! This is all your fault!"

"How is this my fault?!" Moxxie yelled back.

"Why do ya always gotta pick on'im?! Huh...?" Ayden shouted at Blitzø before she noticed that the scene in front of her was changing before her eyes.

*Whsssssshhhhh...*

She took a long blink before her eyes snapped back open to find herself in a room that was small but cozy with punk, rock, and hip-hop posters and an Aro Ace pride flag on the wall above the bed she was currently sitting up in under a black with hot pink-red paint-splatters bedsheet and a cat calendar off to the side of a vanity dresser with pictures of a girl and her parents pinned around the edges of the mirror.

"What the-?!" Ayden bolted out of bed so she could look at herself in the mirror and saw her human form staring back at her but with no scars or shackle anywhere.

"Was it all a nightmare...?" Ayden asked herself as she looked at her hands and found no claws or paws in their place.

"~Allyyyyy!~"

A woman's voice made her snap her attention to the closed door before she called up again,

"Brekky's ready! Hustle down befo'e it gets cold!"

Walking hesitantly to the door, she walked out of the room to find herself back in her childhood home and into the kitchen where a woman with dark brown skin and short wavy hair dressed in a green muscle top with black capris leggings was cooking something while a man with slightly lighter brown skin with short tousled hair wearing a suit was grabbing some plates from the cupboards.

"Mum...?"

"There ya a'e ya little ankle bi'er!" Her mother, Adelaide, more commonly known as Ade, lightly chastised her without fully turning around as she told her, "Hurry up and sit, food's 'lmost done."

Ayden hesitantly sat at the table before looking over to the man and questioning,

"Dad...?"

"Of course." The man turned to face her but she jumped back in her seat when she saw that he didn't have a face as he set a plate down in front of her so her mother, with a large scribbled-on "X" over her whole face, could scoop and plop a large human heart with several smaller hearts and other organs around it onto the plate in front of her and a burnt up corpse suddenly appeared in a chair on the other side of the table with its tilted head resting on their burnt stumps where their hands used to be.

"Uhhhh..." Ayden made a nervous noise as the hearts and organs were still pulsing and spurting small streams of blood and the corpse was staring at her with hollow eyes before a gift-wrapped box suddenly appeared as her "father" told her in a warped voice,

"~I've got a gift for you. Open it.~"

Lightly patting around the table while Ayden kept her freaked-out gaze switching between her faceless father and the smoldering body until eventually she grabbed the box and took the top off to reveal her choker necklace.

"Wait.. this's...?" She reached out with her fingers to lightly graze the gemstone on the choker before she blinked and it was suddenly gone from the box.

"What the-?!" Ayden jumped up from her seat as she felt it around her neck and she suddenly shifted into her demon cat form.

♫ Cold as a valley where I lay my head

Cold as a woman in another man's bed, mm-mm

Down in the forest with the devil in me

I remember the looks on their faces through the sycamore trees ♫

"AHHH!" Ade screamed while her father turned away and disappeared into thin air as she ran away screaming into a mist where many people silhouettes were seen just as heavy thumping beats could be heard all around as the corpse disintegrated into ashes that swirled around her, making her home fade to darkness and Ayden's vision suddenly turned everything rough and jaggedy like a psychotic child drawing with chalk.

♫ Ain't no chariots of fire, come to take me home

I'm lost in the woods, and I wander alone ♫

"Nonononono wait! I can fix this!" Ayden screamed into the abyss and closed her eyes to concentrate on turning back to her human form, succeeding but as soon as she opened her eyes back up she found herself in her human form in front of Blitzø, Millie, Moxxie, and Loona, still in the rough scribble style, in Hell.

♫ Hellfire, hellfire, take my soul

I'm waiting, waiting, I'm ready to go

Mothers, children, lock your doors

I'm waiting, I'm ready to go ♫

"Sir! A human!" Moxxie pulled out his rifle with a psychotic grin and Millie gave a crazed smirk as she pulled out her axe to shout gleefully,

"Let's end'em!"

"Oh I am all over this little humie shithead!" Blitzø laughed maniacally as he brought out his pistol and took aim at her with even Loona snarling and eyeing her viciously looking ready to pounce on and maul her.

"Guys no wait! It's me! AH!"

Ayden was sent stumbling backward as the shot landed on her right arm-

♫ Burn in an alleyway through a dead-end street

Murdering promises that I just can't keep

We could sing pretty melodies on the unmade bed

Slow dancing to a silhouette 'cause I ain't dead yet ♫

*CHINK!*

But she suddenly found herself stumbling into a rusty chain link fence in an alley, still in Hell, in her demon cat form wearing a torn-up shirt with equally ripped shorts, and her knee-length hair was tangled in the fence links.

"A-ah..." Ayden whimpered as she took her hand off the bullet shot but was shocked to see it had turned into a freshly bleeding three-clawed scratch where her scarred scratch marks would be.

"What the...?" Ayden was on the verge of hyperventilating into a panic attack when a chill ran up her spine at the voices that sounded with the four shadowy figures approaching her.

"Nnn... ha-aah!" She made a move to bolt away when she was snatched back and kept trapped against the fence by the shadows of a bunch of hands and paws and ropes and chains.

"He-hel-!" Ayden choked trying to call out for help to a tall figure seen at the entrance to the alley but they were forcibly dragged away by another figure, leaving her to continue struggling alone to get away with tears forming in her eyes.

"~Awww... back for some more fun...?~" The lead shadowy figure, a hellhound, came right up to her face and dug her claws into the side of Ayden's face forcing her to stop struggling while grabbing her hair with one hand as the other roughly stroked down her waist under her torn shirt and shorts to harshly grab the base of her tail while leaning in to sneer into her ear after forcibly licking up her neck,

"~You know you can't escape us.. and especially not me...~"

"NO!" Ayden wrenched her arms up out of the shadows' grips to push her away landing on the ground with one arm propping her up and the other on her lower stomach as she panted, trying to catch her breath, and not noticing she was back in the Living World.

♫ Ain't no chariots of fire, come to take me home

I'm lost in the woods, and I wander alone ♫

*BZZRT!*

"Ahh!"

An electric prod was jabbed into the ground in front of her making her crawl back abruptly as Agents Seven and Thirteen stood in front of her with their weapons in hand as Seven shouted,

"There you are!"

Right before Thirteen tried to use his sasumata to trap her in place but she managed to roll away and pushed herself to her feet to try and run away in hellcat form but was trapped by the sasumata as it clipped around her neck and they suddenly transported back to the D.H.O.R.K.S. headquarters.

"Nonononono!" Ayden panicked trying to get away when she saw the dark hole that Agent Thirteen was approaching, no doubt to toss her in.

"This is where beasts like you belong..." Seven sneered just before Thirteen dropped her in and shut the opening leaving her in a dark three-sided, mirror-walled cell lit only by a single, dim light.

She was picking herself up from the, surprisingly, long fall when she noticed herself shifting between human and cat demon form and she stood up to see each of her forms in each mirror with figures in the mirrors of each form (I.M.P. with her human form, Ade and her unknown father and the Hellhound and her friends with her demon cat form, and D.H.O.R.K.S. agents with her hellcat form) taunting her from each mirror,

*Monster!*

*Nobody will ever love you!*

*Disposable bitch!*

*Freak!*

Ayden crouched down with one of her hands grabbing harshly at her hair and scalp while the other clenched at the skin over her heart, drawing drops of blood as tears threatened to fall from her eyes but she squeezed them shut as the voices continued taunting her,

*Demon child!*

*You'll always be alone!*

*Worthless!*

*You're nothing on your own!*

*Just end it!*

"SHUT UP!" Ayden screamed in anguish as she stood up to punch each mirror, shattering them with her sparking fists.

*PSSHHHHHH!*

But water spurted out from the cracks to start filling up the cell as the light turned red and Ayden panicked trying to claw her way out but the water quickly filled up the cell leaving her to drown, silently struggling before giving up as everything went to darkness...

♫ Hellfire, hellfire, take my soul

I'm waiting, waiting, I'm ready to go

Mothers, children, lock your doors

I'm waiting, I'm ready to go... ♫

...

...

...

After an indeterminable amount of time under the influence of the truth gas, Blitzø, Moxxie, and Ayden started to slowly wake up from their trips as the gas started to dissipate from the room.

There was a moment of silence before Moxxie spoke up, talking to Blitzø,

"Do you remember what you said to me after my first day with the company?"

"...Not really." Blitzø bluntly answered after a second before Moxxie told him,

"I remember. You told me I did a good job and that you were proud to work with me. I feel like you wanted to say something more judgmental, but... you said that because I needed it... And it helped."

"Look, I'm hard on you because I know what you're capable of, Mox." Blitzø expressed truthfully, without the need for the gas, before continuing, "You care too much about what everyone thinks except for... me, because, y'know, my opinion is correct, but just... keep doing a good job. 'Kay? You shoot 'n kill good, you escape things easy... you can be strategic and cold-blooded when you need to, aaaand don't expect any more compliments; I'm maxed out."

"Thank you, sir." Moxxie thanked him before he cut in with,

"You know my name... Use it."

"Thanks, Blitzø."

"And you Kid..." Blitzø turned to Ayden as she looked at the ground despondent before she looked up to tell him in a hollow tone,

"Ju's say it... I know ya want to..."

"What, the fact that you're a freak?"

"Blitzø!" Moxxie yelled incredulously as Blitzø argued,

"What? It's true!"

Ayden looked down, about to tear up again, when Blitzø added,

"We're all freaks I mean what the fuck is so great about being 'normal' anyway?"

He shuffled in his seat to try to face her better as he told her,

"You listen to me Kid and you listen good, you're a badass who can get in over her fuzzy head every other day but you claw your way out just as easy.. and that's not something just anyone can do..." Blitzø spoke encouragingly, softening his tone a bit towards the end.

"Yeah I mean, you got those chains from here right?" Moxxie brought up and Ayden answered,

"Yeh?"

"You've managed to turn the very thing that held you captive into the thing that protects you, helps you fight back when you were held down for so long, an-"

"OK I think what Mox is trying to say in a long, repetitive, and frankly boring way is that you've bounced back from whatever crap's been thrown at you, so keep doing that." Blitzø cut in but Moxxie added in,

"And whatever it is you're running from, Ayden, you can trust us with it.. when and if you're ready to tell us..."

"Thanks mates..." Ayden thanked them genuinely with a small smile just before her ear twitched as a muffled pounding in the ceiling sounded before Millie came crashing through, landing on the floor in a superhero pose.

"THERE'S my Millie!" Moxxie exclaimed excitedly as the three of them smiled when she went to untie Moxxie and Blitzø as he praised and asked her,

"Impressive work, Mills! How'd you get here all by yourself?"

"Lil' help 'ere?" Ayden brought up that she was still tied up but before they could help her, the window was bashed in by Loona, in her human disguise, using Agent Two as a makeshift battering ram.

"LOONIE?!" Blitzø yelled in disbelief before Loona yelled back,

"Get your asses out here before MORE FUCKERS SHOW UP!"

She threw Agent Two back into One before she started to revert back to her hellhound form and dropped a backpack of weapons in front of the imps before going over to Ayden to slash her binds off and throw the kiddie pool full of water back into the other room, being careful of the splash.

"Thanks." Ayden thanked her as she handed her her satchel so she could grab her weapons.

"Here." Loona tossed Ayden her choker necklace, she hadn't even noticed it had been taken off of her neck, and she caught it with one paw before clipping it back around her neck, before giving Loona a grateful nod.

"Kid, if this's too much for you you can bow out..." Blitzø assured her with a hand on her shoulder as he and Moxxie were grabbing their weapons from the backpack but she just smirked at him and snarked,

"And miss out on a loooong ove'due massacre with these dickwads, no way."

Brandishing her chain in one hand and Glock in the other with a determined smirk while Moxxie pulled out twin submachine guns, Blitzø wielded his signature golden percussion pistol, Millie readied her trusty axe, and Loona bared her fangs and claws as One pushed a button to call more agents into the room until they were surrounded on all sides by humans in black suits wielding Japanese weapons.

"Ooookay, I've had one too many emotions for today! Guys..." Blitzø started to express before turning to them all to declare, "Let's fuck these fuckers up!"

Moxxie gave him a smile and nod just before one of the agents tried to strike Blitzø with the sickle end of his kusarigama but Loona caught it in her mouth and she yanked on it to swing the agent away into another agent with a katana.

The group then split up to cover more ground in killing every single agent that came across with Ayden whooping and laughing every time she made a kill with her chain and Glock until it ran out of ammo and she sheathed it back into the holster on her leg to switch back to using her chain before-

*CHINK!*

A foot stomped down on it rendering it still as Ayden was faced with Agents Thirteen and Seven with their respective weapons in hand as Thirteen stated,

"Didja really think it'd be this easy to escape again?"

"No." Ayden answered without missing a beat before she dipped her head down to shadow her face as she unclipped the chain from her shackle before she smirked and told them, "But that's what makes it fun..."

Eyes glowing and voice deepening at the end of her threat, she dropped the chain before launching forward with her claws ready, grabbing onto Thirteen's sasumata as he lunged it at her but she grabbed it with a paw before rapidly shifting to hellcat form to land lightly on the shaft of it before shifting again to kick Thirteen in the face, landing on the floor in a crouch that snapped the sasumata in half.

When Seven snapped out of her stupor to swing a katana at Ayden, she rolled to the side before punching the flat side of the blade with her fist and it shattered into tiny pieces with embers flying in the air.

Their weapons destroyed in front of them, Seven and Thirteen resorted to fistfighting with Ayden but, using the tips and moves Millie showed her, she was able to block and fight back easily until she headbutted them both to the ground, backing them into a corner of the room.

With the two agents who caused her the most harm on the ground in front of her, Ayden's head dipped down to shadow her face again as she spoke in a dark tone,

"I think it's 'bout time I really brought the heat..."

She raised her paw to reveal the lighter being held in it as some flames started to flicker from her palm on her other paw before growing into a mid-sized fireball.

The agents barely had a second to admire/fear her powers manifesting before she yelled,

"RAH!"

And fired on them scorching the flesh off their bones and leaving the crispy remains of muscles and, surprisingly, intact suits on their smoldering bones.

Ayden was left panting in mild exhaustion from using her powers on a slightly larger scale than she was used to when a cheer broke her from her thoughts,

"WHOO! Now that's what I call a pig roast!" Blitzø cheered as he choked an agent in a headlock before snapping his neck in the middle of his sentence before running over to headlock her too but gave her a joking noogie that she snickered at before pushing him away as he criticized with air quotes,

"But the whole 'fire pun before finishing off your enemy with fire' schtick is way too played out..."

"O' maybe not played enough..." Ayden smirked looking down at the lighter in her paw before-

"YAAAHHH!"

She set her sights on a warcry-yelling nunchuck-wielding agent coming at them and yelled while side-spinning and throwing her hand out like she was throwing a ball,

"Fi'e in the hole!"

Sure enough, a small fireball flew out from her hand and landed in the agent's mouth as he swallowed it and it looked to have blown up inside of him from the way his body blew out and splattered blood all over Ayden and Blitzø as he rectified,

"I take it back; fire puns are fucking awesome!"

Holding up a hand for a high-five, Ayden was about to return it when she noticed some flames still licking around her palm and commented,

"Ah! Hold on."

She shook her palm around to extinguish the flames before returning Blitzø's high-five and the two split up to get back to killing more agents, Ayden started to use her powers more to throw midsize fireballs fueled by her lighter, gaining more confidence as she used them by yelling a fire pun each time she used them.

As Ayden was strangling a woman with her tail while holding a burning paw to her chest over her heart, she turned her head towards Blitzø when he yelled,

"Oh, yeah! I'm gettin' hard holdin' this motherfucker!"

Looking over, she only had a split second as she saw him and Moxxie holding up a giant rocket launcher that had "MY DICK" painted on the side before a rocket was shot out with "PUSSY DESTROYER" on the side heading toward the office where more agents were about to come in not knowing they were about to be blown up by an incoming projectile.

"Oh shite!" Ayden threw the dying, if not already dead, woman aside so she could leap out of the way just before the rocket exploded and sent out a shockwave of air and fire that made Loona and Millie flinch away since they had been the closest to it and Ayden's eyes widened when she saw that Millie's axe had landed in between her legs from where she landed on her back.

"Yah!" Ayden jerked away just before Moxxie asked them all,

"Oh, crumbs! Is everyone okay?"

Only to be interrupted when Blitzø jumped onto his back, squishing him flat against the ground and stomping on him as he yelled,

"WOOOOOO! How's THAT for demon scum?!"

Making them all smile before they all jumped as an alarm went off all around them and the lights turned red.

"Oh, shit! C'mon, fam! Let's blow this cocksicle joint!" Blitzø urged them all so Millie picked up Moxxie from the ground and Ayden put her chain back in her satchel as they ran for the exit.

*SHINK!*

But, just before Loona could get through, she yelled,

"HEY!"

As the door closed in front of them and the multiple sounds of doors closing, locks locking, lasers activating, and steel clamps sliding over kept them all from leaving even as they tried to beat on the door and Ayden tried to use her powers to burn a hole in the door but she was already feeling drained from the earlier fight so she couldn't muster up enough heat.

"Quick! The book!" Moxxie turned to Loona and she pulled the Grimoire out from the backpack to open it to the portal spell but was squinting in frustration as she yelled before trailing off with a worried look,

"Shhhit! I can't-I can't read the spell in this light! I can't see dick!"

"Kid can't we use your portal?" Blitzø questioned causing Loona and Millie to chorus,

"What?"

Right before Ayden argued,

"It doe'n't work like that! Only I c'n use it!"

Blitzø grumbled impatiently before searching himself for more weapons but came up empty as he stated while Agents One and Two approached them all with their guns in hand,

"Well, shit. Looks like we've milked this weapon tit dry, and now we're out of badassery."

"Not yet..." Ayden stopped trying to burn a hole in the door as she made her way to the front of the group, separating them from One and Two as Blitzø questioned,

"Kid...?"

Ayden got on all fours looking like she was ready to pounce before she shrunk to her hellcat form but something new started happening... she got bigger, growing to the size of a jaguar, her fur darkened until it was almost completely murky reddish brown and got more pointed and wild, her tail started to look more like roaring flames than fur, and a glowing red encircled pentagram appeared on her forehead as her eyes blanked out and glowed pinkish red that matched her mouth as it also glowed like a jack-o-lantern mouth with fangs.

The others watched with a mix of awe and shock as Ayden completed her transformation and started to deeply growl at Agents One and Two as they had also frozen from watching her change.

"Ayden...?"

Hellcat Ayden turned back to look at the imps and hellhound with a softening look in her eyes and a soft, but also powerfully loud, purr rumbled in her throat before the sound of a gun clicking made her whip back as she hissed while Agent One yelled with his gun raised,

"S-Stay back beast!"

Just before Ayden pounced,

"RAAAAA-"

*PSH!*

*POW!*

"-ark!" Ayden's roar was cut off after Two had pulled out and splashed a bottle of water on her mid-air and One shot her back towards the imps and hellhound as she started reverting back through her forms from hellcat, to demon cat, finally stopping in her human form as her arm burned from the holy water that had splashed on it on top of the bullet wound in her left shoulder that was oozing her glowing blood.

Millie and Moxxie kept a hold of her, being mindful of the blood since it was radiating heat, as she was on the verge of passing out from the pain while also gasping from the exhaustion while Loona started growling at the agents as she held onto the Grimoire and Blitzø stood in front of them all in a protective stance with his arms held out while Agent Two taunted,

"Ha! Now you demons aren't goin' anywhere! Ha-aa!"

Before she cut herself off when she saw how the shadows of the imps, hellhound, and hybrid started to merge into one with four eyes.

Behind them, one of the many TV screens in the surveillance corner turned on and started flickering and shaking in space before it turned off showing their reflections with a tall shadowy being next to them even though there was nothing there when they looked.

*KRSH!*

One of the TVs flew off the wall, landing at their feet before sliding away while the others started flickering on and off and shuddering in place as I.M.P. started looking around in confusion at everything that was happening just before a demonic voice sounded from all around them,

"Who daaares threaten... my impish little plaything?"

"Who said that?!" One called out before they both looked to the ground in front of the trapped demons as bird-like footprints started to appear to walk towards them in the dust of the rubble.

*PFF!*

One of the flying TVs hit One in the face and he was shoved to the ground as his sunglasses flew off his face before he looked back at Two since she was still standing and questioned in a shaky tone,

"Agent Tw-wo?"

Only to reveal that Two's head was spasming with her face frozen in a look of shock and horror as her eyes and mouth were open even as she tried to get control of herself while the bodies of their fallen fellow agents started to rise from the ground with their eyes completely black and empty before they kneeled in a circle around her.

When One tried to approach Two with his sunglasses back on his face, Two pulled hers off before her neck twisted around in a 180-degree snap to look at One with her teeth now sharpened to points, her eyes bloodshot, and her mascara striping down her face from her eyes in two sharp macabre streaks as she spoke in a voice that was a mix of hers and Stolas's with a British accent,

"What's the matter, demon hunter? Never seen a REAL demon before?"

Malicious cackles sounded from all around as the dead bodies started drawing some kind of summoning circle around Two in their own blood as it dripped from their eyes and mouths while One watched in terror as Two's head snapped back around before it threw backward to vomit shadowy sludge and feather into the air as it manifested into a demonic owl creature.

I.M.P., still looking on in shock and mild fear, kept watching what was unfolding before them with Loona snapping a picture on her phone, Ayden staring at the being that looked similar to what she had transformed into earlier, and Blitzø stared slack-jawed in mild awe as he realized who the creature was...

Meanwhile, demented laughter was heard from the creature as it approached One and Two, backing them against the wall as they huddled together in fear before it screeched and roared inches from their faces as they cowered away just before the creature pulled away and transformed back into Stolas as he looked down at them in angry disdain.

Walking away to leave the two of them shaking in fear on the floor, Stolas went back over to the operations desk to push a large red button that shut off the red light and alarms making the lights go back to normal and the doors open back back before he approached the group, stopping in front of Blitzø as he stuttered while questioning,

"Stolas? Wha-A-Wh-Hold on, how did you know that we needed help?"

"I have my ways, darling." Stolas boasted a bit before leaning down to face Blitzø as he cradled his face with both hands while asking concerned, "Are you alright...?"

"Ugh. I'm fine, Stolas." Blitzø answered slightly muffled while rolling his eyes but his rough attitude seemed to drop when he relaxed into Stolas' hands after one stroked his head as he spoke gently,

"Mm. Good..."

Right before he grabbed Blitzø's head roughly, putting his face right up to his as his white pupils appeared in his lower eyes, and switched to a sharper, angrier tone as he scolded him and the others,

"How the FUCK did you get caught by humans?! Are you little creatures not being careful up here?! You know, if you get in trouble, I get in trouble! WE don't want that!" Stolas emphasized with a harsh nose boop and face grab on Blitzø before Moxxie pulled his hand away as he told him,

"They... caught us off guard, your highness."

"Pre'y sure they won't mess with us 'gain 'fter that show..." Ayden noted groggily as she shifted to demon cat form to use her lighter to put some flames on her paw to heal the bullet wound in her shoulder, after figuring out she couldn't access her hellfire powers in human form, but it didn't do anything to the holy water burn and she had to shift back to human form since holding her demon cat form with a holy water burn was too strenuous.

Stolas was noticing Ayden's human form when Blitzø added to take his attention off of her and to reinforce,

"...Yeah, you can unclench your bird puss, Stolas. It's not gonna happen again, 'kay?"

"Luckily for you... most don't believe the word of the demon-obsessed lunatics. They are seen as kooks!" Stolas reasoned while looking back over at One and Two as they kept holding each other while shaking in fear, a sight that gave Ayden a cathartic sense of justice since they had put her in a similar position a few years ago before Stolas chuckled and noted playfully,

"Kooks! Such a silly word!" Before he clapped his hands together and announced to them all, "Now! Let us all return!"

Easily opening a portal back to the I.M.P. office with his bare hands as Moxxie spoke up urgently,

"Yes, please. I'd like to get back to the correct hellhole as soon as possible."

"Uuup we go sweetie..." Millie got on one side of Ayden to help her up, avoiding jostling her left arm since the holy water burn had started to blister and bubble up slightly, and to the portal behind Moxxie as he helped them both through before Loona went after them while looking through Stolas' Grimoire.

Blitzø was about to walk through when Stolas scooped him up to ask while blushing,

"Am I going to get any thank you for the rescue, ~Blitzyyy~?"

"Well, I suppose you should." Blitzø agreed before offering while bumping his eyebrows suggestively, "Want me to fuck your brains out tonight?"

"Very much so." Stolas answered without hesitation before he leaned in to kiss him but Blitzø stopped him by grabbing the feathers on the back of Stolas' and pulling his head back causing his blush to deepen as Blitzø threatened seductively,

"Alright. But, you're keepin' quiet, or I'm usin' those bear traps."

Running a finger down Stolas' face as he shuddered in anticipated pleasure before his feathers fluffed up and he moaned out,

"~Ohhhh, please do~"

The two of them engaged in a French kiss where everyone could see their tongues intertwining in each other's mouths and grabbing onto each other's faces before the portal closed behind them with One and Two being seen looking through it before it fully closed.

"Tsss ahh..." Ayden winced as pain surged in her holy water burn and it started throbbing causing her to lean against the meeting table, pulling away from Millie's hold.

"Oh crumbs! That looks like it needs urgent care!" Moxxie cried out as he got closer to help her out but she just weakly smacked his face with one hand before it went to her temple as she muttered,

"I'll be fine, I've dealt with this kinda burn b'fore... Jus' wrap it up, I'll head back ta my burrow, an-"

"Those humans know where your burrow is, it's not safe to go back there." Moxxie argued making Millie and Loona look at them as Ayden argued back,

"Well whe'e else 'm I s'posed ta go?!"

"Kid, stay with M&M!" Blitzø told Ayden from where he and Stolas were still sucking each other's faces as the owl demon opened a portal to his room back in his mansion and they stepped through, already starting to shed their clothes, before Blitzø had the last word in right before the portal closed, "That's an order!"

"Looks like ya've been outvoted." Millie smirked lightly at Ayden before looking to Loona to ask, "Think ya can drop us off at our place?"

"Sure..." Loona shrugged nonchalantly as she went over to Blitzø's desk to grab the van keys he's left there before they went on the mission that'd gone wrong.

"But-" Ayden started to argue but Millie cut her off by pointing in her face and scolding,

"No 'buts' except yours out that door!"

Ayden looked at her in wide-eyed shock for a few seconds before begrudgingly following them out of the building and hurrying to the van, since she was still in human form, where Loona was waiting and sat in the back room with Millie and Moxxie as the van bumped along.

Ayden was starting to nod off when Moxxie poked her uninjured arm and told her,

"You can't fall asleep yet. You've had some blood loss and if you fall asleep now you could end up in a coma."

"Whaddya s'ggest I do then...?" Ayden weakly snapped back.

"How about telling us what the fuck we missed out on?" Loona questioned as she got to a red light and looked back with Millie at Ayden and Moxxie.

"Apparently Ayden is some kind of human-demon hybrid, her real name's Ally, she's been living in a burrow in the Living World this whole time, she has her own portal that we can't use apparently, she's actually 15 not 22 like we thought, and-"

"Ya think I can't tell mah own story...?" Ayden cut in sardonically but tiredly.

"Oh is there something else you wanted to add?" Moxxie questioned accusingly and Ayden gave him a deadpan glare before admitting,

"No, not really..."

"What about that monster.. cat.. thing you changed into?" Loona asked and Ayden shrugged slightly as she answered,

"Yeh that was new... don' really know how it happened..."

It went silent for a few seconds before Moxxie deduced with a hand to his chin,

"Every time your powers have come up, it's usually when one of us is in danger, perhaps they're an extension or result of your protective instincts."

Millie looked like she was about to agree with her husband when Ayden cut in tiredly,

"Look, 's much as I wanna figure this all out, I just wanna get some rest, mah head is killin' me..."

"We're already risking a lot not getting you to a hospital for a blood transfusion..." Moxxie pointed out and Loona added,

"It's not like it'd matter, we don't even know her blood type."

"Or if there's even a blood type for a demon-human hybrid..."

"We'll just have to have you rest for a few days... after that, we'll figure out what to do..." Millie placed a gentle hand on Ayden's shoulder but became saddened when she flinched away from her as she turned away to look out the window.

A few minutes later they arrived at Millie and Moxxie's place and, after the three of them disembarked, Millie asked Loona as Moxxie hurriedly guided Ayden inside,

"You'll be fine by yourself right?"

"Duh." Loona rolled her eyes slightly in a 'like you have to ask' manner but, just as Millie turned away to follow her husband inside, she asked her somewhat hesitantly, "Let me know how she is?"

"'Course." Millie nodded and went inside as Loona drove off.

Inside, Moxxie had left Ayden on the couch before going to grab the first aid kit and she was still holding onto her injured shoulder while staring listlessly at the floor until Millie walked in and she looked up slightly before looking back to the floor.

Millie stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before commenting,

"Well I always knew you were different from other Hellborns hehe..."

And Ayden just gave her a deadpan 'seriously?' expression before Moxxie came back into the living room with the first aid kit in his hand as he sat down next to her and spoke,

"Now let's get that burn taken care of."

As he pulled out a roll of gauze, a bottle of murky green gel, and some bandages before holding out a hand to gesture for Ayden to take her hand off the burn, but she didn't and just clenched it tighter with a wet squish as she grimaced while looking and turning away.

"It's gonna get worse if we don't treat it." Millie told her gently as she went to sit next to her husband but Ayden just shook her head and muttered,

"I shoul'n't be here..."

"Well ya are, and whatever twisted thinkin' ya got goin' on up in that stubborn head o' yours ain't gonna change that." Millie spoke up, her accent coming through as her tone took on a slightly forceful but caring edge before it softened as she added, "I may not know everythin' that's happened to ya but you don't have to be afraid to trust us..."

Ayden kept her gaze on the floor but her dangling hand looked like it wanted to turn over to them but twitched in hesitation before settling to grab at the edge of her scarf wrap in a vice-like grip from the way her knuckles turned pale, something Moxxie caught onto.

"Millie, could you grab some cool water in a bowl and a clean towel from the kitchen please?"

"Sure thing..." Millie set off to get the requested items and, once he was sure she was out of earshot, Moxxie spoke in a hushed tone to Ayden,

"Look.. I know what it's like to have your trust betrayed... you feel like you have to hide away from the world and everyone in it just to keep going... but it's possible to let people who really care about you back in, like I did.. with Millie and I.M.P.... do you think you can at least try for us...?"

"I got'em honey." Millie reappeared with a bowl of water in one hand and two clean white towels in the other, dipping them into the water before squeezing them until they were damp and handing one to Moxxie as she retook her seat on the other side of Ayden.

Holding out his hand out again, this time Ayden only minorly hesitated before taking her hand off the burns, letting Moxxie gingerly press the damp towel to them making Ayden wince her eyes shut before she felt Millie take her other hand in hers to clean the blood off it before holding it between her hands and looked at her with a watery gaze that she returned with a warm smile.

After cooling the burn down, Moxxie spread some of the gel on it, placed the gauze over it, and wrapped it snugly with the bandages before declaring and questioning rapidly,

"There... that should be enough.. for now at least, we'll have to recheck it in the morning... does it itch? Does your head still hurt? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Not really, a li'le less now, and 2..." Ayden answered with little hesitation and a raised eyebrow at the last question.

"That's a good sign..." Moxxie sighed in relief before packing away the first aid supplies as he added, "You should be able to get some rest now..."

"I'll go grab you somethin' to get comfy." Millie let go of Ayden's hand to stand and disappear into the hallway alongside Moxxie and Ayden was left in the living room to look at her bandaged shoulder, remembering the last time she had gotten a holy water burn and how she had had to deal with it alone...

'We have to try again!'

"Mum!"

'It has to work!'

'It didn't and it never will! So stop wastin' time tryin' ta 'fix' me!'

The memories of arguments started to come up making Ayden want to rummage furiously though her satchel for her gummies before-

"Here ya go..."

Ayden snatched her hands back when Millie appeared with a blanket and bigger pillow in her hands that she laid next to Ayden before taking the decorative throw pillows off the couch to make more room before Ayden asked out of nowhere,

"Why...?"

"Hmm?" Millie hummed in question turning back to Ayden as she

"Why are you all doin' all o' this for me? You all ba'ely know me, you find out I've been hiding' not one but m'ny bombshell secrets and yet ya still-jus' urgh! I don' get it!" Ayden blurted out before ending with a frustrated noise as she grabbed at her hair with her broken-nailed hands with tears falling from her eyes before she smashed them shut.

Small hands on her wrists made Ayden pull hers away from her head before she could hurt herself even more as Millie looked her in the eyes to tell her earnestly,

"You're our teammate, our friend, a part of the I.M.P. family, and anyone with even just one'a those things takes care of each other when in need..." She released one of Ayden's hands to brush her tears away before adding softly, "I'm jus' sorry that it's taken this long for someone ta show you that..."

Ayden stared at her, still trying to process that she'd been shown more kindness in the past 2 hours than the 2 years before she'd met and joined I.M.P. when she'd been dealing with all the crap life had thrown at her her gas-induced trip had forced her to revisit without even one friend to help her through it.

She was about to ask something else when Millie stopped her with,

"Get some rest, we c'n talk more in the mornin'..."

Giving her a gentle hair ruffle before standing up and leaving the living room, stopping to note,

"You can leave the light on if you want.. good night..."

Before disappearing into hers and Moxxie's room with the door closing with a soft *Click* leaving Ayden alone.

Making sure to refrain from using her left arm too much, she fixed the pillow against the arm of the couch and spread the blanket out before noticing on the side table a few candles and grabbed one of them to put on the table in front of the couch to use her lighter to ignite it before walking over to the light switch, about to flick it down when her weaker human ears heard the very faint sound of Millie and Moxxie talking in their room.

'They're havin' second thoughts... Should jus' leave and spare the goodbyes.. easier that way...'

She shook her head to stop her thoughts before they got out of hand and flicked the light off before going back to the couch to settle under the blanket.

As she lay on her right side facing the candle, she tried to keep her mind clear as she stared at the flame flickering with each breath she took that blew toward it until her eyes started to flutter shut before they closed completely and she fell into a, somewhat, peaceful sleep, thankfully, free of any more nightmares...

Back in D.H.O.R.K.S. HQ, seconds after I.M.P.'s departure

As the portal to Hell closed behind the demons, Agents One and Two watched before Two questioned,

"...So, what now?"

"'What now?!'" One questioned excitedly before he walked over to the rubble-covered console to brush it off before typing away on it to explain enthusiastically, "We finally got the evidence we needed to be taken seriously!"

Revealing that, on the cracked screens, some videos of I.M.P. and Stolas had been recorded during the fight; Blitzø and Moxxie shooting at some agents, Millie slicing away at them with her axe, Loona mauling a couple of them, Stolas in his eldritch form rearing over One and Two, and Ayden in her grown hellcat form before she got shot.

Two walked up to One before they both pull out their sunglasses to put back on with confident smiles as One noted,

"Nobody in corporate is ignorin' this and we'll finally get the supplies and backing needed for Operation: D.C...."

His victorious chuckle echoed in the background as the screens faded back to static...

...

...

...

11,752 Words

AN- Whaaa? A post on a Friday?! I figured since today is spooky Friday the 13th, I'd post this chapter early and the season finale on Sunday like normal so I can get Season 1 finished to begin working on Season 2 (more details to come in the next chapter)

Also... Oof! Quite a few notes to be made here about Ayden's trip/nightmare:

The song playing in the background is "Hellfire" by Barns Courtney of which I based a lot of Ayden's personality, character, and history aroundI based the "rough and jaggedy like a psychotic child drawing with chalk" style off the scenes of Jinx's mini-mental breakdowns from the Arcane League of Legends show but a few clearer drawings I made of a few moments from her trip will be posted to Deviant Art if you'd like to check'em outMore about the mystery hellhound and her friends will be revealed in the next episode/chapter but, from what you can probably tell from their scene earlier, it will deal with some serious and possibly triggering issues so just a warning for that in the futureThe order of the scenes isn't the same as how they happened in her life and there's still a few surprises to be revealed later on, such as the identity of the tall figure that Ayden tried to call out to

Other than that, I hope you all enjoyed, or at least found it interesting, to learn a bit more about my OC and some of her history, there is still plenty more to learn about her that will be covered in future chapters, starting with the Ozzie's and Queen Bee combined season finale chapter on Sunday!

Until the next chapter, Bye!