Misery’s End

Written by Wizalex with Max and 10K

The world is a dangerous place for young love. When Mary develops superpowers on her 18th birthday, she is taken away from her childhood sweetheart to be trained by the International Heroic Front. Eager to demonstrate her powers, she causes fear among the heroic community and complications arise in the lover's reunion. Misery's End is a dark tale of love, power and powerlessness.

Chapter 2: A Run-Of-The-Mill Psychopath.

It wasn’t until over a week had passed that Amelie had a suitable mission for Mary to ride along on. During that time, the atmosphere in the IHF HQ had become tense.

Despite Kevin’s warning, Charlotte had confronted Mary over her careless use of telekinesis. No one was quite sure if Charlotte had intended on helping Mary control her powers or was merely seeking to give her an ill-advised scolding, but it became evident very quickly that no further training was needed. Charlotte didn’t remember the rest of that meeting, only that now, whenever she picked up a piece of cutlery, it bent in the middle.

After the fact, Amelie was able to help work out that Mary had modified Charlotte’s brain to do it, as some kind of joke. With nothing that the psychic or the sorceress could do, the great and powerful Mindscape was forced to either beg Mary to correct it, or eat all meals with her fingers. To add further insult, the issue was fixed as soon as Charlotte mentally decided to seek Mary’s help. Now the psychic could see the smug smile on Mary’s face every time she ate, knowing that Charlotte already acknowledged her own inferior powers.

Charlotte ate in her room after that.

It wasn’t the only point of pettiness though. Mary was evidently getting bored of being confined to HQ and was only really spending time with Melanie. While the shapeshifter was initially happy to be returned to the role of Mary’s closest friend, her time spent with Mary became more uncomfortable by the day.

Mary had exactly three topics of conversation: how powerful she was and how she couldn’t wait to show Damien; how much she loved Damien and how much he loved her; and how she was going to make the world a better place for her and Damien. That last one was Melanie’s main concern. Sharing Mary’s ideals for a better world, Melanie actively encouraged Mary’s optimistic ramblings. Until she realised that most of Mary’s plans did not involve the other members of the IHF.

“Well, it just seems pointless, doesn’t it? Why would all of you be needed, when I can basically just save the world myself? I can do anything you lot can, miles better too.” Mary grinned at Melanie. “Hey, it’s a good thing! You all get to retire and do whatever you want.”

“But, this is all I’ve ever wanted to do. I know the others feel the same too.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll all find something else. No use having so many second-rate heroes when you could have me, right?”

“What about Amelie? You can’t do magic, you’d need her help.”

“I’ll work something out. Don’t worry, you can be my pet or something if you’re worried about me leaving you. Damien would love you, I’m sure of it. Just don’t try making a move on him, or I might bite your head off!”

Following that worrying exchange, Melanie was a lot more cautious about what she said to Mary. She took her concerns to Kevin, who passed them on. Now, they just had to wait for a response.

“Follow my every instruction. Demon ex Machina is one of my most powerful foes, so make sure you stay out of his line of fire. Shield me from any bullets, he normally brings demons and often has them puppeteering human bodies. Do not engage.” Amelie, dressed in her Omen outfit, briefed Mary. “Are we clear?”

“Sure, turn the potentially interesting demon fight into a boring escort mission. This stuff is so dumb. Why am I not just taking out this demon guy?” Mary flew around Amelie as she finished packing away her spell books and ingredients.

“Because this demon guy has killed six of the world’s greatest heroes and three of its greatest mages. I’m serious Mary. This guy is bad news. Hence why I’m dealing with him and you get the minions.”

“So you’re killing him?”

“What, no, I didn’t say that.”

“Seems like a pretty evil guy to let live, but your call I guess. Do you have like, a special prison for him?”

“We have a normal prison. Mages need their tools, so if we capture him and take those away, he’s just a run-of-the-mill psychopath.”

“Gotcha. Sure you don’t want me to tie him up or something?”

“Just do as I say.” Amelie had finished outfitting herself, tying various vials and reagents to the straps hanging from her overcoat. As it turned out, the real key to magic is having enough pockets and compartments in all items of clothing. The long, distinctive coat even had charms on it to allow more to be stored within than would be thought possible given its size.

“Okay, take us there. Just fly slowly, I don’t want anything falling out.” Amelie tightened her coat and donned a set of aviator’s goggles.

“Why don’t I just teleport us there?” Mary gripped Amelie’s arm and space warped around them. When she let go again, they were standing in front of a museum.

“What the hells did I say about doing what I told you!”

“Flying is slow. I thought I’d see if I could teleport instead.”

“You didn’t know you could do it?”

“Oh, I was pretty sure I could do it. I can do basically anything. I’d just never tried it before.”

A maniacal cackling from inside the museum interrupted the argument. The doors rattled and a plume of black smoke seeped out from the gap at the bottom, rolling down the stairs.

“Blasting stars, get back. This stuff touches you, you lose a limb, best case scenario.”

Completely ignoring Amelie’s instructions, Mary strode towards the doors. The ground shook with her every step, windows rattling and birds flying from nearby trees. Amelie knew she didn’t have to do that, so she was obviously putting on a show.

The black fog was about to reach Mary’s feet when she started inhaling. A thin thread of the deathly mist followed the air currents and into the space between Mary’s pursed lips. It stopped spreading out, instead being confined to a single path and destination. Showing no sign of the tremendous pain or more likely death from being exposed to the cursed substance, Mary finished drinking it in and licked her lips.

“Not very pleasant stuff, there’s a weird spicy taste to it.” Mary patted her chest and opened her mouth, belching out a puff of thick black smoke that instantly dissolved the grandiose wooden doors in front of her. Walking through the open doorway and into uncertain peril, Amelie was forced to chase after her errant charge.

Display cases lay broken on the ground, glass smashed in and priceless artefacts strewn across the entrance hall. At the far end of the room, Demon ex Machina stood at the top of the grand staircase, a red trench coat shifting disconcertingly across his body. Between him and the heroes, a dozen gun-wielding people with blazing red eyes stood ready.

“Omen! Always a displeasure to see you. But you are far too late, for I have already acquired the Demonis Terribilus and shall now take control of the city.” The mad demonologist raised his hands as small impish creatures fell from his coat and dove towards the newcomers, fangs bared and claws elongating.

“Keep them away from me, I need about half a minute to do this.” Omen opened her coat and began to fling scraps of parchment and bundles of leaves onto the ground around her.

“Cool. I’ve got it.” Mary waited for the first imp to reach her and as it went to claw at her eyes, it simply burst into flames, body incinerated from the briefest use of her laser vision.

The second and third imps were more wary, splitting up to attack Mary from both sides. At speeds beyond those comprehensible to the human eye, her arms stretched out, sharpened nails slicing through the flimsy bodies of the infernal creatures. The only notable effect was the sudden rush of air and disintegration of the imp’s bodies.

With just two imps left, Mary was disappointed that her fun would soon be over. A mission with an actual bad guy, summoning disposable creatures? She eagerly launched herself at the remaining imps regardless, who were just now noticing the fates of their companions with trepidation. As Mary approached them, they readied their secret weapons: poison-tipped tails.

Both imps simultaneously struck at the most predominant part of Mary’s body, but to their surprise, they failed to pierce the soft flesh of Mary’s enormous breasts. When they tried to pull away though, they found they were stuck. Mary herself grinned impishly at the pitiful creatures as they gnashed and clawed at her body to try to escape, but no action could leave a mark on her.

“Ah ha! My imps have you now, hero. Your end will be horribly vile, but know that this is the fate of all those who oppose Demon ex Machina!”

The look Mary gave him was worrying. She didn’t seem to be in agony of any sort. That just wasn’t right. In fact, she should be screaming in pain right now. What the villain didn’t expect to see was the imps' tails plunging further into her body, up to the base in fact. There was no need for that kind of attack, only the tip delivered the toxin.

It didn’t stop there though, as Mary continued to smile, the imps started to wail out in their infernal language. Their bodies were being consumed into Mary’s, drawn into her quicksand-like breast flesh. Realising that things were not going to plan, Demon ex Machina ordered his minions to fire, took out a large tome from his coat and began an incantation.

“The scourge now flows within your veins,

Removes all life, 'til none remains.

Your death shall serve to my intent,

And rise again to my defence.”

Bullets flew at Mary but reduced themselves to flattened discs on impact. Mary made no move, happy to experience a hail of bullets for the first time. As Demon ex Machina finished his incantation, a beam of red light flew towards Mary. It bounced off her body, hitting one of the firing squad instead and causing their skin to wither and crack, the red light leaving their eyes. As the cracks spread across their body, a strangled rasping cry emerged, before their throat collapsed from the strain. Flesh sloughing off their form and burning into ash, the body collapsed, leaving only finely scrubbed bones behind.

Bones which then rose from the ground, locking into place and rushing at Mary.

While the skeleton ran forward, Omen finished her own ritual, as she tossed a burning bundle of herbs at the closest red-eyed thrall.

“Another chance to call reverse,

Give up pathways leading nowhere.

Release the grip, a madman’s curse,

Upon the artificial, tear.”

As the smoke from the bundle billowed into the face of the minion, the counter-curse took effect. The red light left the minion's eyes and a cloud of red mist formed above the now-released victim. The cloud tried to flee but was caught up in the smoke, merging with the incense until the colour was drained from it and the curse dispelled.

At which point the other minions turned their guns on the freed hostage and tore their body apart with bullets.

“No!” Omen threw up her hands to try to form a protective barrier, but it was too late. The lifeless body was already dropping to the floor.

“Can you not dispel them all at once?” Mary turned away from the horror before her and back to Omen, ignoring the skeleton breaking its bones against her body. “Surely that would have been a better option?”

“You have no idea how much power that would require. It would take hours.”

“Fine. I’ll do it then.”

Grabbing a bundle of herbs, Mary lit them with a glance and inhaled the smoke. Then, she exhaled the incense over the crowd of possessed captives. She couldn’t remember the whole spell, so decided to simplify it.

“Release.”

As the word was spoken, all redness was gone from the eyes. Then the bodies slumped to the floor as the red clouds were actively torn apart by the smoke. But with the redness, something else left the bodies of the captives. A swirling silvery mist hung in the air above the quickly degrading bodies.

“What the fuck have you done!” Omen screamed out in terror, watching the mist begin to fade. “Those are souls, you fucking idiot, put them back!”

Up at the top of the steps, Demon ex Machina was retreating further into the museum babbling a final summoning to aid his escape. If this new mage was capable of a soul trap, he was getting out of there immediately.

“The bodies are breaking down, I don’t think they’d want to go back into those now.” Mary wandered across the room, dragging the silvering shimmer of souls behind her. She picked up an amethyst necklace from the wreckage of a display. “This is pretty, maybe I can put them in here?”

Without waiting for Amelie to respond, Mary guided the mist into the amulet, filling the inside of the crystal with a swirling, reflective shimmer.

“Ooh, I like that.” Mary placed the jewellery around her neck, letting the gemstone rest on her cleavage. “I can still feel them in there. Maybe we can help them later?”

Watching as the souls of people she failed to save were engulfed between Mary’s tits, Amelie almost forgot about the fleeing diabolist. A deafening roar reminded her, as a red-skinned creature; almost 15ft tall, came leaping down the staircase, a spiked club raised in its hands. Amelie tried to raise a barrier in time, but she knew her power wouldn’t be enough to hold it. This creature had to have come from the book Demon ex Machina had acquired.

There was no need for a barrier though, as Mary flew into the path of the demon. She casually gripped the club, rendering it motionless in the air. As the demon struggled to move, Mary just floated upwards, lifting the demon off the ground as it held onto its weapon. With a flick of her wrist, the demon was launched through the wall of the room through which the summoner had fled.

“Are the more powerful ones just bigger then?” Mary floated down to Amelie, still holding the club that was twice her height.

“This is not a fucking game. Protect me while I banish it. We’ll talk about your failure to follow instructions later.”

“I think I’ll pass. Your way didn’t go too well. I’ve got this. You know what they say, you gotta fight demons with demons.” Mary began her incantation before Amelie could cry out to her to stop.

“Demons around, hear me and come.

I want one now, make it the big one.”

It wasn’t even a proper spell. Amelie both knew that it shouldn’t have worked and that it was going to. And knowing what the potential for a ‘big one’ was, she fled the building.

Mary waited for a few seconds before her request was answered. From the perspective of the Demon King, ‘request’ was the wrong word. It had just been forced through reality against its will, fighting against the summoning all the way. It was incredibly pissed off and ready to crush the foolish mortal summoner.

When the colossal Demon King emerged in the entrance hall of the museum, its horns broke through the 50-foot high ceiling. Wielding an enormous axe, it roared and lifted the weapon, demolishing the ceiling and shaking the world around it with a guttural, thunderous battle cry.

A sound that Mary then returned.

Ceiling already demolished, walls shaking and floor of rubble, Mary’s howl tore apart the structure of the museum. Her voice was focused on the Demon King though, who bore the brunt of her power. Its weapon lowered as the powerful creature was cowed immediately by the brute strength unleashed onto it. When Mary had finished her little display, the Demon King was able to bend the knee before her.

“You are going to go and beat up that little demon in the next room. Then, you’ll find that demon summoner guy and bring him back to me. After that, I guess we’re done here.”

With a shaking nod of recognition and acquiescence, the Demon King walked through the rubble of the now-destroyed staircase. Mary floated alongside it, looking at its body with fascination. It was all so fluid, like slick, blood-red oil coating the surface of a cobbled road. She held out a hand to touch it and the Demon King flinched away from her. It was so malleable, like it could fit any form it needed.

In the wreckage of the room at the top of the stairs, the demon that Mary had casually tossed there was emerging from underneath a fallen pillar. Her Demon King approached it, feet still planted on the floor below and legs ploughing through the floor of this room as it went.

When it reached striking distance, the axe raised once more, the architecture of the mortal realm no match for the power of a Demon King. The swing that came down on the demon split the room in two, with half of the creature on either side and ichor dripping from the deadly weapon. It stuck out a forked tongue and licked the blade clean before continuing its task.

Demon ex Machina hadn’t made it out of the building before it all collapsed around him. Trapped beneath tons of fallen wreckage, he failed to reach his reagents, or make the necessary motions for a spell that might save him. Even if he could, he doubted he would be able to manage another spell. That last summoning had drained most of his strength and magic always came with a price. The removal of the rubble above him would never herald salvation, merely another form of prison.

Still, when the hand of the Demon King lifted both him and the rubble into the air, Demon ex Machina felt a whole new level of terror.

As plaster, wood and brick fell to the floor 40 feet below, the mage switched between looking at the most feared Demon to ever rule the Dark and the cheery-looking knockout who had summoned it. He didn’t notice as his magical implements were stripped from him, lifted from his body and into the air, to swirl around this super mage.

“So this is the book of bad things, right? Why hasn’t anyone destroyed it?” Mary mused as she casually leafed through the pages of mind-melting magic. The villainous mage knew the answer of course: the book was entirely indestructible, said to be crafted from the horns of the very first Demon King.

Which made it impossible that this girl was now blowing on each page as she tore it out and disintegrated it.

The other implements of magic floating around Mary had also been degrading, falling apart to the point of uselessness and decay. By the time the diabolist had decided that speaking might be a better option than silence, there was nothing left for him to say.

Mary whipped her hair around as she turned to face the battered mage, but did not focus on him. Instead, her eyes began to glaze over and her body arched backwards, stretching out her legs to emphasise the thickness of her thighs while thrusting her chest forward. She hadn’t experienced a feeling like this since the last time she was with Damien.

Trying to work out the source of it, Mary realised that the ends of her hair had turned a crimson red. She flicked her hair back again, observing the Demon King as she did so. When the strands sliced into its glistening body, the fluid was drawn upwards, dyeing her hair as the Demon King was diminished.

“Oh wow, why does that feel so good?” Mary moaned as she continued swishing her hair back and forth, lacerating the body of the Demon King as its power drained away.

The Demon King was unable to flee, unable to disobey the whims of its summoner and unable to prevent its very essence from being drawn into the body of the being currently tearing it apart.

“It’s a Demon: a being of pure power. If you don’t stop doing that, you’ll kill us both!” Demon ex Machina finally cried out, fearing more for the idea of being vaporised in an explosion of uncontained power than whatever else this mage had in store for him.

“Why would I stop? This feels amazing.”

“Because you can’t possibly contain the power of this Demon. It’ll tear you apart and kill everyone here, especially me!”

“Just watch me.” Mary faced the Demon King, her hair spread out around her as though underwater. Then the ends struck forward, plunging into its chest.

“Mine.”

With Mary’s simple declaration, Demon ex Machina felt the rippling, residual magic spread out. The Demon King faded away, colour leached from it and into the tips of the formerly jet-black hair. After less than a heartbeat, the Demon King was no more.

Mary shuddered in pleasure and the remains of the building rocked around her. She let out a satisfied coo as an aria of overwhelming bliss spread out from her body. The sight of such power was terrifying but equally as alluring to the dark mage.

“I know what you’re looking at, Demon Fax Machine. Don’t get any ideas, I have a boyfriend.” Mary telekinetically lifted up the stunned villain and went to find out where Amelie had disappeared to, leaving the crumbling remains of the museum and broken artefacts behind her. Amelie would be so pleased when she saw how successful the mission had been.

Amelie was not pleased.

Amelie had spent the last ten minutes erecting protective spells around the nearby residences, to prevent the very presence of the Demon King from summoning a legion of imps to slaughter the innocent. Then, she’d had to reinforce all of those barriers when an even more powerful wave of magic spread out from the museum.

The world’s most powerful sorceress lay collapsed against a wall when Mary found her. With a gentle, rejuvenating breath towards her teammate, Mary woke Amelie, who immediately noted that Demon ex Machina was sitting next to her and shifted away from him.

“Mission accomplished. Bad guy captured and only two casualties, neither of which were caused by me.” Mary laid a hand on each of the exhausted mages and in the blink of an eye, they were back outside the IHF HQ entrance.

Standing in the doorway was a somber-looking Kevin, kitted out in a dark metallic costume. He briefly took in the sight of the returned heroes, before shaking his head and approaching Mary.

“Omen, take the villain to one of the cells here, we’ll transport him tomorrow.”

“Guardian, we need to talk. Our new friend here is -“

“Not now Omen, I need to talk to our newest recruit. In private.”

“We’re having words after this, Guardian.” Amelie walked off into the building, tying Demon ex Machina’s hands when she realised that he had been loose this whole time.

“Mary, come with me. You’ll need to sit down for this.” Kevin led Mary to the briefing room, where several reports were laid out on the table. He noted the red tips to her hair, as well as the oppressive aura she now seemed to radiate, but made no comment. Now was not the time.

“I have some very bad news, but I thought it would be best if I were the one to break it to you.” Kevin started, but Mary had already seen the title of one of the documents.

“‘Autopsy report: Damien Fisher’? What - why is that there?” Mary shifted her gaze from the document to Kevin.

“I’m sorry Mary. It seems like Damien was involved in some kind of incident. The higher-ups were reaching out to arrange a meeting when they found out.”

“Found out what, Kevin,” Mary spoke through clenched teeth with such intensity that the building began to shake.

“Damien died a couple of days ago. I’m still -“ Kevin didn’t get to finish the sentence before he noticed that Mary had gone.

Then the wall of the briefing room exploded behind her.

Later reports indicated that three buildings and two bridges collapsed in the wake of Mary’s flight. In addition, seventeen traffic accidents were catalogued, citing strong winds as the cause. The damage to the countryside was more difficult to determine, but it numbered in the thousands of acres of land.

It took less than 15 seconds for Mary to arrive at Damien’s house and it only took that long because she slowed down significantly to prevent damage when she arrived. That still resulted in her costume being torn apart, but that was irrelevant to her. She needed to see Damien, to know he was okay.

When there was no response from repeated taps at his window and the door was answered by his parents instead, that was the beginning of the end. They didn’t recognise her at first. Unsurprisingly, they weren’t expecting a naked woman, almost half a foot taller than their son’s girlfriend, with a body so ridiculously curvy that they had to fix their gazes on her mismatched eyes. The eyes gave it away though, no one else could have that combination of green and grey irises.

A car crash, apparently. Something as stupid as a car colliding with her sweet little puppy had torn away the love of her life. Those beautiful eyes filled with tears that would remain there for the foreseeable future.

Mary cried over his grave when she saw it. She waited for hours, hoping that maybe her tears could reach down to Damien and bring him back to her. She wished him back into existence and pleaded with the powers of the universe, but still found no answer.

Damien’s life had been taken and with it all purpose in Mary’s.

“She’s started a fucking civil war in the Demon Realm, Francis, now is not the time to go easy on her.” Amelie was fuming. Demon ex Machina had readily informed her of Mary’s antics, as well as the fact that he was willing to fully cooperate with whatever malicious scheme the new sorceress was planning. Amelie could only hope that he was being as delusional as usual, until her friends on the mystic side of things had been able to confirm it. The Demon Realm no longer had a king.

“I really think you need to consider how fragile she might be, especially after what she just suffered. And hey, didn’t you say she basically solved everything anyway? You can get those people back, right?” Melanie had little grasp of the intricacies of magic, but from the report, it seems that Mary had actually saved the day somewhat.

“Get them back? She’s wearing the souls of a dozen people in her fucking cleavage! I know you don’t understand magic Melanie, but you can understand imprisonment and enslavement.” Amelie had been on edge since she got back. With Charlotte too busy repairing the damage to the building, Amelie hadn’t been able to get her assistance with meditation. Perhaps seeking the company of her greatest villain had been an unwise choice too.

“Look, I know we’re all a bit tense. But we have to take the current situation into consideration. She needs people to support her. We take her off active missions for a while, let her spend some time with Charlotte learning how to deal with the stress of the job.” Francis had taken over the role of leader while Kevin recovered from being so close to Mary’s wake when she left. Kevin’s left arm and leg had both been dislocated and he had needed to wrench them back into place himself, due to a lack of sufficiently powerful medical staff.

Nope. No. Fuck no. I’m not letting the bitch into my mind, I don’t care if her boyfriend died. She can go and fucking grieve him on Mars. She gets no sympathy from me, overpowered -

That’s really not a nice thing to think about someone.

Everyone in the room turned to the doorway. Mary was wearing an oversized hoodie and had tears running down her face. As Melanie rose to give her a hug, Mary waved her away and mentally forced her back into her seat.

Now, Mary stood at the head of the table; in front of the chair where Kevin normally sat; and inserted her hand into the pocket of the hoodie. She chucked out a load of broken plastic onto the table.

“I found it in his room. He could have a bit of a temper sometimes. But I understand. I would be mad at the person who took him away from me too.”

On the table lay the broken remains of an action figure. Fearless Guardian, known to those in this room as Kevin, was a broken wreck.

And the top heroes of the International Heroic Front looked into the terrifying eyes of the sadly smiling supe, wondering what it meant.

— Earlier that week —

“Behold! For your rustic lair is now graced by the presence of greatness.” Demon ex Machina looked around the warehouse and sighed. “Now lads, I thought we got over this the last time I visited. I’m not a supe, you can lower the weapons.”

Eyes briefly turned to the Top Dog, who inclined his head briefly downwards. Guns were lowered as Demon ex Machina approached the metal staircase, leading up to the masked leader of the Seven Dogs gang.

“I do appreciate you seeing me on such short notice. I’m presently stuck in the horns of a dilemma you see.” The demonologist took off his hat and snapped his fingers.

In a buff of red smoke and a whiff of brimstone, a dozen imps jumped from the hat, each carrying a beer bottle. They each flew to a nearby henchman, handed over the bottle, then jumped back into the hat.

“I don’t appreciate you getting my men drunk on the job, Demon.” Top Dog’s expression was hidden behind his bulldog mask, but Demon ex Machina knew a frown when he heard it.

“Alas, that’s why I saved the best for you, my canine comrade.” The mage reached into his coat and pulled out a bottle of whiskey, presenting it to Top Dog with an incline of his head. “I believe you have glasses in your office?”

“Take a break everyone, our friend here wishes to discuss business.”

A brief cheer went up from the assembled gang members before they quickly scarpered into the break room.

“You have five minutes, this better be a good deal for me this time.” Top Dog took a pair of glasses from a desk drawer before taking a seat.

“Oh, I assure you, you can have your pick of loot, and there’s likely to be a supe to kill along the way too.” Demon ex Machina leaned forward. “Rumour has it there’s a dangerous new one around.”

“I’ve heard the stories, you have my attention.” Top Dog poured the whiskey and offered a glass across.

“I need minions. Well, I can get minions. Specifically, I need your men as hosts. Quick boost from a demon possession, nothing permanent, mind you, but it will keep Omen on her toes if she shows up again.”

“I assume you’ll want to handle her yourself.”

“Oh, of course. Can’t spoil a good rival battle. No, your men would purely be there to deal with any supe threats that may arise. Omen normally brings one or two with her for these sorts of missions.”

“Where is the heist? What loot am I getting here?”

“A museum. I’m after a rare tome, but anything else is up for grabs.”

A yelling from the break room distracted the two, followed by the sound of breaking glass, then the clanging of boots on metal.

“Boss, you need to get down here. The Mad Dog is loose again.”

Curious, Demon ex Machina followed Top Dog down to the break room. The sight was brutal. Standing above a bloodied, moaning man, a tall, lanky fellow with messy black hair and a scar across his eye was holding a broken bottle.

“Say it again, you fucking scum! Say that about her again!”

“She’s a blonde bimbo!” The injured man yelled up. “And she’s probably already moved onto someone better than your psycho ass!”

The bottle slid into the downed man’s throat at the end of the sentence, turning his last words into a spluttering gurgle.

“Any of the rest of you want to insult my girlfriend?”

“Mad Dog. My office. Now. Wait for me until I get back.” Top Dog inclined his head upwards, as the angry, bloody-handed fellow stomped his way upstairs.

“Well, err, you can’t say he didn’t ask for it.” One of the other gang members commented, warily watching as the enraged killer left hearing range.

“I’ll deal with the Mad Dog. The rest of you need to stop provoking him. You’ve just seen how tightly wound he is, and he hates supes just as much as the rest of us.”

“Yeah, but none of us have fucked one!”

A glare from Top Dog quickly shut up the speaker. Demon ex Machina had seen enough though.

“Well, I can see your organisation still has a few issues to work through.” Demon ex Machina handed his glass back to Top Dog, still full, then returned his hat to his head as he started to leave.

“He’s not a bad kid, Demon. In fact, I tend to think of him as a rescue. He’s just misguided.”

“Well, try to guide him away from killing his own allies. I’ll take my business elsewhere today, but I’ll be back as soon as the Mad Dog is tame.”

The demonologist left the warehouse as blood permanently stained the carpet; while from the window above, the Mad Dog watched him leave.