Eternal Summer (Torack x NumberThreeInordinate)

[Torack]

Heavy boots stepped onto gravel, shifting them as the figure walked towards an armoured Humvee. Michael, the figure, was a large individual with shoulder-length dirty blond hair, green eyes, and wore a set of urban camouflaged gear, an assault rifle strapped over his back and a sidearm at his waist. It had been a while since he’d come out of the massive complex into the urban city; once a sprawling area filled with life and debauchery, business and pleasure.​

Now it was mostly in ruins. One of the first cities hit. And the only one that was hit hard. Few places within still thrived despite the chaos that occured, people slowly coming back to try and reclaim what they had lost. In the distance, Michael could see columns of smoke rising in the air, and he could hear the distant echoes of assault rifles firing, inhuman screams that would send chills down his spine.​

Getting into the Humvee, Michael turned on the ignition and drove out of the lot and onto the rubble strewn streets. He’d been given orders to check on a nearby facility just on the edges of town that had been repurposed as a weapons storage warehouse. Reports from the area hadn’t come back for two days, so he was to go there and see if anything was wrong.​

Experience told him that those poor men were either dead or they had no way of communicating. Or they’d rather not make any noise in order to keep their lives.​

He turned a bend along one street, avoiding the highway ahead of him and after several more minutes came across a roadblock in the form of a collapsed high-rise building. Completely toppled. Everything beyond the building was a complete and utter mess. As if that part of the city had come right out of a post-apocalyptic themed video game. Buildings were half-standing, windows shattered, grass and greenery growing out of the concrete and up the sides of the buildings. Taking back that little part of the world.​

Turning the ignition off, Michael got out of the car and went through a narrow tunnel of the collapsed building to get to the other side, jumping over pitless holes. He could see the decaying, half-skeletonized forms of the poor souls that had taken the brunt of the attack strewn about . Bodies ripped in half, faces gone, headless bodies impaled on steel poles. It was a gruesome mess.​

He made a small prayer for them in his head as he made it to the other side and began walking, pulling the assault rifle around his back and into his arms, and looked around.​

A perfect place to stage an ambush.​

A whole weapons cache had gone silent and they sent out a single guy. Admittedly he was more than the average human, every Hunter was, but against a horde of these things he didn’t know how well he’d fare. A couple was a challenge, several was potentially deadly, but a whole street of demons was suicide. They’d entrusted him with this mission however, and he was going to see it done.​

“This is Tinkerbell,” he said into his radio, “I’m across the bridge, over.”​

“Roger that, Tinkerbell,” the voice over the radio said, “proceed as planned, over.”​

“Any chance of support over here? I’m facing a whole street of potential dickbags, over.”​

“None. Over and out.”​

Cursing, Michael started walking forward, making sure he didn’t step on any loose rocks or make any undue noise while he stuck to the shadows and kept away from the centre of the street. It would’ve been the quickest way to get to the warehouse, but also a damn sure way to attract all kinds of unwanted attention.​

After about an hour and a half later he gained visibility of the warehouse, perhaps another hour distant. Michael pulled out a flask and took a swig, continuing to look around when his eyes caught something. A quick dash from one shadow to another.​

He instantly brought his gun up, going down into a stance as he looked around. His heart thumping heavily in his chest as he heard the sound of loose rubble being disturbed. He began backing up towards a particular building so that he wasn’t flanked from behind when he heard something and immediately turned.​

A demon.​

Massive, fleshless, pink-red muscles oozing with pus and blood. Eyes bulging from the sides of its large circular head as if some dark, twisted god tried sticking two balls in there and failed. It’s mouth lined with rows and rows of jagged teeth, the top going down towards its incredibly thick neck. The demon’s arms were thin, and twice the length of its body. And it had three stubby, squat legs, each of them with a single, massive claw.​

Michael backed away as the eyes swivelled and focused on him.​

The demon lunged.​

He jumped before it could get to him only for something to smash into him mid-air. Another demon, smaller, like a tall imp with oversized horns and swords for arms and insect wings on its back. Cursing, Michael shot the thing in its face and got up, rolling to the side as the first demon’s arm crashed into where he was moments ago.​

Getting up onto his feet, he sprayed the fucker in the face and began running as it howled in pain. He turned a corner, hearing multiple feet above him on the broken buildings. He turned corners again and again, trying to lose the demon when several appeared in front and behind him in a narrow alleyway. One lunged, managing claw him in the face as he ducked underneath it, shooting it in the stomach.​

He fired again into the rows of rushing demons in front of him, dropping several, but that’s all he needed to slip through and jump onto a ledge above and pull himself up to jump onto another higher ledge to the middle floor of ruined car park. He pulled himself up to his feet and began walking along the edge and finally jumped to the roof of an adjacent building and began going from rooftop to rooftop in order evade the demons below. And that one ugly fucker that nearly impaled him.​

It was then that he heard fighting nearby. The sounds of demons wailing in pain. And he ran towards it.​

 

[NumberThreeInordinate]

'I need you to lead a small team into the human realm. Spread out and slow the invasion. I'll be gathering the forces here and come as soon as I can.'
That was almost a year ago now, and while Elise had been making good on her promise of sending more troops and offering supplies and support when it was needed, it was getting a little old just hunting down these lesser demons and dispatching them. Funny thing about lesser demons...there was a shit load of them and while sure they were easy to kill, they also easily multiplied in numbers. Rubbing a hand down her face in frustration Tori snapped her hand out and fired a throwing knife at an on coming demon. Nailing him square between the eyes as she sat there whining in her mind.

Neko weren't seen as strong Demons because of their human like appearance however they were the demons who were used as assassin's and spies for almost 90% of all missions due to their extreme speed, agility, stealth and of course their strength. Neko's weren't very strong in the first 100 years but after that, they were a powerhouse. Especially for demons like Tori who were easily pushing 5 centuries and she'd also consumed her fair share of S-class demons to boost her own strength thus propelling her into the ranking of S-class demon. Demon classes normally went from D-A. D being the lowest of the race. Lesser demons, under a century in age and usually very aggressive to make up for their lack of strength. Traveling in packs and killing anything they can to boost their strength. C class were the demons who'd passed the 100 year mark and were breaking away from the large hordes into smaller groups. B class were usually seen in groups of 2-3 and were fairly strong.

A class demons were solo demons or a partner on some occasions. Top tier of the standard demon and then there was S class. Rare in their ability to look more human in appearance. They were only ever seen by themselves unless it was a full scale war and they were the elite class of demons. Ridiculously powerful and often times seen right beside Demon Lords as their body guards and main soldiers. The only way for a demon to reach S class was through centuries of fighting experience and consuming other demons of equal or greater power than themselves, which is what gave them that Elite title. Demons usually only fought with the weapons they were born with like their claws and teeth but S-class demons primarily fought with swords as this allowed them more mobility and to keep a farther distance. Sure they still used their claws and things of that nature but only on weaker targets.

Just like all the demons currently around this weapons cache where a small group of humans had been staying. Some of them were killed by the initial wave of lessers but Tori got there right as they fell back to their last available position and started decimating the demons with lightning fast strikes as she zipped around from body to body and cut large, deep gashes in their torso's to slow them down. This also made those wounded a target for the one's behind them. Lesser demons would start consuming those wounded around them for that little boost in strength but they were idiots as they'd do this right in the middle of a fight and leave themselves vulnerable.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Tori spun around and brought one of her two swords around, lopping the head off of a rather cheeky demon who tried to get close. Humans seemed to be rather found of their guns and sure they did the job but if those humans ran into anything higher than a C class they'd really be struggling as the speed difference was night and day. Though those Hunters were a pesky bunch as well. She'd already been forced to kill two of them since they wouldn't listen to her when she said she was there to help. Deaf lot really. So far, only C and D class demons made it through to the Human realm and those two races couldn't speak the language of the humans so obviously she was different. Ducking under a gun shot she turned a glare toward the human who shot it and growled before zipping up the back of a larger lesser demon and slamming her sword right into the back of his skull.

Jumping down she spotted a human female who was about to become lunch for a lesser demon. Reaching to her belt for one of her throwing knives, she snapped her arm out and let two knives fly. One pegging the male in the back of the skull, while the other snapped his spine away from his skull. As the lesser fell dead behind her, Tori jumped over and retrieved her blades then shoved the human toward the bunker.
"Idiot. Get to safety."
She hissed before turning a pair of amethyst eyes on the new smell that was coming into the scene. Seeing a rather large male who'd already taken some damage she narrowed her eyes and breathed in deep. A hunter by the smell of him. Keeping her eyes on him, she slowly backed away to avoid having to kill another one of those lug heads.

 

[Torack]

Michael jumped off a particular building into the window of an adjacent highrise, crashing through it and landing in a roll, then continuing to run down a hallway, gun pointed in front of him as eyes scanned the ruined rooms and cubicles on either side. Going head on against a horde of demons like that wasn’t his plan. Nor was facing a massive class A demon either, but what else was he to expect? A stroll in the fucking park?

Hearing footsteps, Michael slowed down and crouched behind a ruined printer. Waiting. He heard the cackling of demons ahead, the footsteps approaching, getting closer, then stopping. He heard a sniff then the demons moved off, their footsteps receding. Michael let out a breath of relief, then got up and continued making his way, climbing a set of steps up to the roof of the tall building and jumped down towards another much lower roof, landing hard into another roll.

It was then that he paused to check his magazine. He had a couple bullets left before he needed to swap out. Placing the cartridge back, he looked up and saw that the weapons cache facility was just up ahead, no more than half a klick from the roof he was on. Getting up from his crouch he approached the ledge of the building. "This is tinkerbell to command," he said into the radio, "I've made it to the Trashdump."

"Roger that, tinkerbell," a voice said over the radio, "see if there are any survivors on the grounds, over."

He was about was about to respond when the massive, ball-eyed, skinless demon from before sprung up with a roar.

Michael jumped backwards, landing on his back moments before its lower teeth scraped the skin off his face and sprayed into the damned thing until his bullets ran out. It barely had any effect and he rolled out of the way as it landed and got onto his feet, parrying a swing with the butt of his rifle.

He closed, pulling out his sidearm and fired into the thing’s eye.

It squealed in pain, reeling back even as it swiped at him.

The hit landed. Michael was sent flying from the force of the blow onto a wall of a small square building on the roof. Looking up with a groan, he saw the demon was still thrashing in pain and he took the opportunity to quickly reload his rifle.

Just as he did the demon came rushing back, the good eye focused on him. Charging with incredible speed.

Michael tried getting out of the way and failed, feeling his body crash through the stone and cement onto the the inner wall of the rooftop building. The demon’s hand around his throat.

It leaned in, grinning with its massive, sharp teeth criss-crossing as it pinned him to the wall, before opening its mouth wide.

It was then that he took his opportunity to spray it in the mouth, the bullets flying out from the back of its throat.

The demon crashed to the floor, thrashing and screaming again in pain, its incredibly long hands flailing in every direction.

Michael didn’t wait to see if it’d recover or not and instead slammed through the metal door back out onto the roof where he saw a few more Class D imp-like demons and began taking them out before going back to the ledge. Ahead, just in front of the facility, he heard the gunfire, meaning the team meant to protect that place was alive. Some good fucking news finally.

Just as he was about to jump off the ledge he felt the demon grab onto his uniform and pull him back, causing him to fly and crash into the floor again. Looking up, he saw the thing’s face was in complete ruin. One eye popped and half its face leaning to one side, the other half nothing more than hanging strips of meat.

It grabbed him with both hands and before Michael could do anything, it threw him over the ledge sending him crashing down towards the ground, landing hard.

Michael rolled onto his back with a groan. That wasn’t how he expected to get down, but at least he was down now. He needed to find a way to either kill that fucking demon or at least get away from it. His thoughts running, desperately trying to formulate a plan when the demon jumped and crashed down onto his knees causing him to scream out in pain as he felt the joints strain near their breaking points. Before the damn thing could do anything else, he flicked a switch on his weapon and aimed it at the demon's head and fired.

A grenade from the launcher under his muzzle flied straight into the demon’s face before exploding, sending it flying back a good several meters .

A few seconds passed. Michael sat up with a groan and looked over at the demon lying on the ground unmoving. “Good fucking riddance,” he said as he stood and started making his way to the facility, limping.

 

[NumberThreeInordinate]

Tori simply sat back and watched the hunter face off against a rather large demon , but it wasn't anything to really sweat over. Though the way this Hunter handled himself made her worry about the hunters in general. He seemed to have a great deal of trouble with something that had so many weaknesses. Sheathing her swords at her waist she looked to the female who was quickly scurrying away before looking around her to see if there were any other demons. No one was coming her way and as she looked toward the humans, it was mainly imps and a few larger demons but they were all D class. If those humans couldn't handle that then they were beyond fucked. Resting her hands on her belt she walked over to the larger demon and stared at it for a moment. Using her index finger, she carved the belly open and looked inside.

A few D class demon bits were in there but nothing substantial. Shrugging she heard the gun fire dying down and decided that was a good time to head off. The other Neko and Shadow demon's from her unit were cleaning up other sectors around her. This was her sector and right now, this area was clear...of anything needing her attention anyways.

She knew there were a few lesser demons lurking around but they'd make themselves scarce with her in the area to avoid being killed. As she turned she felt a clawed hand on her leg and looked down to see the demon holding her and coughing blood.
"T-Trai-tor."
The groaning demon growled as he raised an eyebrow and with a flick of her wrist, the demon's hand came off before she buried the blade of her sword right above the demon's eyes. Punching through the skull and into the brain.

When it stopped twitching she yanked her blade free and kicked the dead hand off of her leg before sheathing her blade once more. With that done, she headed out of the human's area to avoid any possible conflict by humans who seemed to be blind to the fact that she'd been helping them. That was how it usually went. She'd help, then they'd attack her simply because she was a demon.

 

[Torack]

As he was limping his way towards the facility, getting closer with each step, his mind kept replaying the fight he’d just survived. He survived a fight with a Class A demon. Alone. Intel should’ve told him there was one present en route to the facility; they should’ve fucking known! The fact they didn’t tell him meant that it was either new and had just arrived there randomly as he was on the road, or someone fucking forgot to report it.

He was lucky to be alive. As Hunters they were more than just humans: faster, stronger, could take a massive hit right in the face and keep trudging forward. But they were still humans. Usually Class A’s were handled in small teams of two or three as they much easier to handle. But facing one alone… that was suicide. The fact he’d managed to not only get out alive but kill the fucker as well was extremely fortunate. He was almost hysterical with the luck he’d had.

But damn Command for not fucking warning him.

And now he was hurting. He was pretty sure one of his legs was broken, knew that a few ribs were and that one lung had been punctured. It’d heal itself all soon, but the pain was a real bitch. That was another thing with Hunters: that small amount of healing factor; just enough to keep them alive for the fight against these fucking demons. It wasn’t much, but it had saved his life and countless others numerous times. Any wound that wouldn’t lead to fatal shock would ultimately heal slowly over time.

The only thing it really couldn’t do was regrow limbs. If a leg was gone, that was it. That leg was gone unless it was reattached quick enough for the healing factor to knit it back to the body. Getting a head cut off, though? Or the body split in half? Well, even a healing factor couldn’t fix that.

The gurgling of a demon nearby drew his attention and MIchael saw a female demon cutting the head off the thing. He stopped, frowning. During the fight with the Class A he thought he’d seen a red blur slashing through the demons and helping the squadron meant to protect the facility. Was that her? It couldn’t be. It was just another demon. And yet none of the Hunters at the facility were making their way towards her to attack. More like they were giving her a wide berth as they shot the heads of the still barely-living attackers.

Moving once more, he approached closer to the facility and he wondered if he should instead go to that demon, see what she was about. But, he had a mission to complete. But damn was he curious. What if she was some sort of defected demon? That couldn’t be it, could it? Could the bastards even do that?

It was common among the humans, so why not among them? But why would a demon help the human world? What purpose would she have? What purpose would they have for saving them?

He stopped again and cursed his curiosity, angling himself towards the female demon, holding up a hand to signal he was approaching in peace. From the corner of his eye he could see the Hunter squadron stop what they were doing to watch, some getting ready to offer a distraction should what he was about to do go extremely south.

Damn but he was a fucking dumb bastard for doing this.

“You helping us humans out with these demons, or what?” He asked, the muzzle of his gun pointed towards the ground.

 

[NumberThreeInordinate]

As Tori was making her way out her left ear twitched at the sound of the gravel and loose rocks grinding into the ground which was the tell tale sound of the human turning his feet. Stopping her own movement she had her back to the male and when he spoke her ear twitched again as she sighed. Every cell in her body wanted to comment on his stating the obvious but she refrained from it as she turned her head just enough so that he'd see the side of her face. When she spoke, while her tone was sharp, it was still melodic in tone to show she was feminine in some aspect.

"Just bored. Killing humans offers no challenge to me, nor amusement. That and you taste awful."
She said as she waved her hand in front of her face to signify that humans smelled horrible to her which they did. Thanks to the invasion, most humans didn't have the luxuries of daily bathing so the body odor that humans had was down right offensive to those with a heightened sense of smell like Neko's. Turning her attention to his rifle she motioned to it with a nod.

"Keep that pointed away from me and we'll get along just fine. Point it at me, and you'll be dead before you can use it."
Turning her attention back to the way she was heading she heard the human female call out to her thanking her which made her turn her attention back as she gave a ginger smile with a nod before continuing on with her walk.

While she'd been told to aid the humans, she was told to avoid interacting with them as they had a habit of using someone that they saw as powerful. They'd try to control her and use her for their own gain which wouldn't end well for them. There were already some cases of this with other human groups capturing small imps or other smaller demons and using them as their own little pet army to reign over certain regions. Those humans were on Tori's hit list as she was there to exterminate all demons that weren't a part of her faction and those humans were part of that.

Getting a good distance from the humans she stopped at her own temporary camp which was inside of a small convenience store that was abandoned. Sitting on her pile of loose clothing that she'd made into a make shift bed she removed her boots and stretched her legs out. Thanks to her aura, no demon would be brave enough to bother her, so all she had to worry about were scavenging humans or nosy Hunters.

 

[Torack]

He’d seen demons that looked a lot like humans, the only difference being their skin colour, the tails, the horns, and the colour of their eyes. Those were ones they were advised to stay away from unless there was an efficient plan set up to trap it and kill it. This demon looked like one of those, and he was more than thankful that she wasn’t fighting him or the other Hunters.

He watched as she walked off, then turned and made his way to the others. Their faces tired, haggard. All around them were the bodies of the dead, blood freely pooling around their feet as they looked at the fallen Hunters. Few were dead, but there weren’t many Hunters to begin with.

They stood in silence for a long moment, the wind howling and a torn banner somewhere behind them flapping angrily in the wind.

“Right then,” one of the Hunters, a female with brown mousy hair and green eyes, said. “We gonna bury our dead or keep staring at them like they’ll come back to life.”

Michael followed the others to a nearby shed and grabbed a shovel and returned to the kill site, silently beginning to dig a grave for one of the fallen Hunters as the others did the same. Their enhanced bodies allowing them to dig up the hard, rocky soil below without much effort. And before long, he was lowering a body into the dirt and covering it up again.

Several hours later they were sitting around a small unlit lantern, each of them holding a piece of ration in hand. Looking around, Michael could see the far-off looks on their faces.

“I’m here from Command,” he said breaking the silence, “I was told to investigate why y’all were silent.”

“Figured it out yet?” The mousy haired one said.

“Why don’t you tell me?”

The mousy haired Hunter sighed then sat up straight. “There’s a scrambler nearby,” she said. “Command sent you alone?”

“They did.”

“What? You some kind of Ranger?” Another asked, a black guy, massive with incredibly developed traps.

Michael simply nodded.

“Well fuck me,” another Hunter said, “explains how you survived that massive demon on the rooftop yonder.”

Michael scoffed. “That was luck. That thing could’ve easily killed me if I made the wrong move. I was surprised I was alive at all after that fucking scuffle.” He stood up to stretch his legs and look around. It was early afternoon and he needed to figure out how to get communications back to the facility before Command sent more Hunters looking for him.

“Anyway,” he continued, “know how to bypass the scrambler?”

“Yeah,” the black guy said as he stood and walked towards the building. Michael followed. The interior was all steel and shelves, with fluorescent light hanging from thin poles and surrounded in a wide cone; each cone interspersed equally down a long hallway that branched out into several a few meters in.

They walked into an adjacent room, small and crowded, mostly filled up by a wooden desk with a map on top. The man pointed to a mark. “We believe the scrambler is here,” he said looking up at him.

“Lemme guess, you want me to take it down?”

“If you’re suicidal, sure. The place is guarded heavily with Class A and B demons, but we believe they have a descrambler box over here --” he pointed to another nearby point on the map “--still guarded heavily, but something you can possibly get through. Possibly.”

“What about you guys?”

“We have our orders to stand guard here, so that’s what we’ll do. Sorry, Ranger.”

“No need to apologize,” Michael said as he straightened, “I understand.”

“Godspeed, soldier,” the black guy said as Michael walked out. Going at this alone was probably going to be stupid. Hell it was stupid. He’d need someone, and his mind instantly went back to that female demon and so began walking towards her direction, following the tracks she left behind.

 

[NumberThreeInordinate]

Tori sat in her little convenience store sharpening her swords while looking over the map she'd borrowed off of a dead human not too long ago. She saw that the human had marked key points on the map like where demons were nesting and big concentrations of demons. Area's for him as a human to steer clear of, but for her they were targets.

'A scrambler?'

She thought to herself as she looked over the map notes from the human. Thinking to herself she tried to remember if she saw any real large gathering of demons and remembered seeing a spot that seemed to have quite a few class A's and B's which was strange since they were all moderately getting along while guarding one specific area.

Must be the scrambler. Judging by the notes, apparently this had something to do with how the humans spoke with one another over long distance since they couldn't communicate via mental links like she could. Looking through a hole in the roof she spotted the sun, it was about mid afternoon which meant she had about three or four hours of daylight then it would start getting dark.

Unlike humans, day or night didn't matter for demons. They saw just fine in either, but dark was when demon's got more aggressive and hungry which meant that if she attacked and killed off a few, the others who be much more likely to try and consume the dead then they would during the day.

Deciding to go with the night raid, she leaned back against the pile of clothes to take a light nap. A cat nap as the humans called it which was rather appropriate in her case. Closing her eyes she relaxed against the clothes and sighed, only managing to slightly doze off before her ears picked up on heavy foot falls and her nose caught wind of a specific smell that was not pleasant to her. Sitting up she slid her boots on and hopped through the hole in the roof to hide, waiting to see if this specific someone would just waltz in, or poke around while trying to get her attention.

 

[Torack]

While on his way over to the facility, Michael pondered over whether his course of action was the right choice; whether he should actually involve a demon in following him to try and get the box. On any given situation, he would’ve made a split decision right at the spot and went with it, but since the demon wasn’t there with him, he had the entire walk to deliberate on the merits of the idea.

For one she was a demon and he couldn’t know the exact loyalties of one like her. Much less if the help she was giving the Hunters was a one time thing or not. For all he knew he could be walking right to his death; she seemed stronger than a class A demon, and if she thought he might be an easy kill, she was unfortunately right. Not like he’d make easy for her, he'd certainly give her a hard time of it, but there was nothing he would be able to do to stop his eventual demise.

But then again, if his hunch was right, if his gut feeling that she was for some strange reason fighting against the rest of the demons was right, then perhaps taking her along might not be such a bad idea. Someone as strong as her would make things considerably easier and far more convenient than going at it alone. And yet the merits of going alone were perhaps just as strong. He was only one man. A single Hunter and he could potentially slip in and out without causing a major fuss. If he was careful.

Before he could make any concrete decisions in his mind he saw the makeshift camp and stopped in place. Hesitating.

Fuck it, he thought to himself and moved forward, knocking on the front flap. Or rather trying to knock and took a step back, waiting.

Nothing.

He tried again, and again there was no answer. Curious, he looked around for tracks of whether she left the camp but he saw none, only the tracks leading in.

Sighing, Michael ran a hand through his hair. Well wasn’t this perfect? Perhaps that was a sign from the universe that he should go back and do things on his own? Or maybe it was an opportunity for him to find out more about this demon. If this was her place, he could certainly snoop around and figure something out about her; perhaps what her end goal was, what she was after. Was she in some sort of conspiracy between the various demon lords to try and pose as a friend to humans only to turn on them at the last moment?

Thinking on that last one a moment further and he might as well put on a tinfoil hat as well. Demons were always infighting, weren’t they? Who fucking knew with them. Instead of snooping around, he decided he’d instead wait her out for an hour. If she wasn’t back before then he’d take the fucking sign and go on this alone. Setting the timer on his watch he walked over to a nearby cinder block with thin, bent iron rods sticking out of the sides, and took a seat, pulling out a quick snack bar from one of his pockets.

 

[NumberThreeInordinate]

Tori looked over the ledge of the roof as she heard the male approaching, carefully watching him and hearing the faint slaps of the flap when he 'knocked' against it. Raising an eyebrow she looked at the male and could practically smell the gears spinning in his head as he seemed to be thinking over his options and after a moment, he apparently decided to plop his ass down on a cinder block. Facing her 'home' he decided to start having a snack. Slapping her hand against her face she planted her hands on the edge of the roof, an over hang that stuck out from the wall by about two feet for the sign.

Planting her ass on the overhang she let her right leg hang off while bending her left leg at the knee and planting her foot on the overhang as well. Resting her arm on her knee she kept her ears upright and alert.
"You really are hard of hearing aren't you Hunter? I do believe I said to ignore me and we'd get along just fine. This is the opposite of ignoring."
She said with a hiss at the end as her amethyst eyes focused on him for a moment.

Looking past him, toward the horizon she saw she still had about two hours of sun and he was currently chewing up her time to take a nap. Looking back down at the male she decided to stay where she was as this particular positioning was allowing her to stay out of offensive range of his stench. Humans really did smell like a rotting body when they weren't clean. Reaching to the base of her neck she pulled up a half mask to cover her nose and mouth, mainly to filter the stench even a bit.

 

[Torack]

Michael’s head turned up when he saw the demon sitting on a ledge above him, his eyes narrowing as she put a cloth over her mouth and nose. Hesitating, he looked down at himself and saw the various stains of demon blood and bits all over him, and took a whiff, instantly wishing he hadn’t. The sulfuric scent of demon blood and pieces of meat, along with the stench of sweat wasn’t exactly the most pleasant thing in the world.

And although he would’ve liked nothing more than to take a shower at that moment, he didn’t know how much time he had before the descrambler box he was trying to get would be moved. Though, finding a way to get rid of the smell would be extremely useful regardless.

“It is the opposite of ignoring, I know,” he said with a shrug, “and I wouldn’t have come here if it weren’t important. I don’t know what your deal is with other demons and why you’re killing ‘em, but I figured for this once we could come to a sort of understanding.”

He stood slowly from the cinder block and looked over at the horizon. Going out at night, even with the possibility of a demon by his side, wasn’t really a good idea. They could see him in the dark just as well as he could, and from the reaction of his new “friend”, they’d be able to smell him as well. If he was going to go through with this he needed to find a way to blend in, cover his scent and make sure they didn’t recognize him.

But first he needed to convince this damn demon for some help.

“Think of it as our goals momentarily aligning, if you will,” he said turning back to her, “I need something that is deep in demon territory, and you like killing demons. We walk in, sneak through, kill a few demons maybe, get this object I need, walk out, kill a few more along the way and go our separate ways afterwards to never see each other again. What do you say?”

 

[NumberThreeInordinate]

Tori looked at the male with a confused expression before planting her hands on the stone under her and swinging both of her legs out, propelling herself forward as she leapt off of the overhang and landed softly on her feet in front of him.

"So...you think that even with someone like me...you're just gonna stroll into a demon infested zone. Take something that is of obvious value and then waltz back out? It's going to be a fight from start to finish...not spurts here and there. You could barely handle one whimpy class A. What makes you think you can stand up to dozens of them...even with me near you? I'd be doing more baby sitting than anything else. That and those weapons of yours aren't exactly good at sticking to one target. You may end up hitting me with random spraying."

Not that she'd put herself in that kind of situation but she'd seen it before where bullets go through one demon and slam into another. Hot lead traveling that fast had a way of going through soft targets and keep going. That class A had only been a class A for under twenty years and this Hunter had a hell of a time with it. Now he was going to try and take on Class A's who'd been that way for a few centuries? He'd be killed the moment he lifted his gun. Shaking her head she sighed.

"I'm assuming you're wanting this scrambler no?"

Holding up the map she snagged off of the dead human she pointed to the highlighted area.

"Funny thing about this war...there's lots of dead humans who liked making notes. I. Will go and get this object. You. Will keep your worthless ass here and not get in my way. When I have it and give it to you, you can wander on back to your other humans and go from there. Don't be mistaken human. Just cause I'm here killing other demons doesn't mean I want to be stuck around your kind. You humans are very much shoot first think later. So, be a good little human and sit right there. I'll go get this thing you want when night falls."

Tori wasn't the nicest of females off the bat sure. However she'd been crossed more than once by ignorant and aggressive humans and for whatever reason, human males always felt like females should listen to them. It really annoyed her since she could absolutely slaughter any human male she saw who thought he was a step above others. Motioning her hand to his entire being she pointed to a building that had a water leak and the water was draining into a pool.

"That's my drinking water. Do us both a favor and use it to clean yourself. Some water is better than none at all. My nose is much more sensitive than yours."

Faking a dry heave just to get the point across.

 

[Torack]

He was shocked to find that the demon had a map with her, but when she pointed to the place where the scrambler was marked, he was about to correct her, until an idea struck him. He was initially planning on stealthing through the demon ranks, but this just presented an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up. The question however was whether he should share his idea with the demon or not.

Probably not. She was strong, and she wanted to kill demons, so he might as well let her draw all the attention away from him and his true target. There would be no harm, would there? She’d get what she wanted, and he’d get what he wanted as well. Besides, she said it herself, she didn’t want him in the way. He wouldn't exactly be where she said to stay, but he'd be out of heer way. Way out of her way.

And walking into a group of class A and B demons wasn’t exactly something he wanted to do either, especially at night where they were more aggressive.

“If you insist on going alone, then I won’t stop you,” he said, “but sure. I could do with a rest. Not particularly keen on owing you a favour, but at least it’s a hassle off my shoulders.”

He gave her a look when she started dry heaving and he turned to walk off towards the pool, his mind racing on what he was going to do and how he was going to get past those demons. They had incredibly sensitive noses and could see him in the dark as well, even if he did scrub himself clean; he still had that human scent on him and it didn't matter if there was a fight going on nearby or not, he was afraid the moment they got a whiff of his scent, they'd go after him instead. Which he needed to somehow get rid of.

Once at the pool he turned to face the demon and began stripping. His eyes carefully on her in case she made any sudden movements to attack him as he began taking off his gear and belt, then shoes, and finally the urban camouflaged clothes underneath. And once he was fully stripped he walked into the pool and spread his arms wide, as a way to say ‘are ya happy?’ and began scrubbing himself from the sweat and grime he accrued earlier.

 

[NumberThreeInordinate]

Tori raised an eyebrow at his lack of argument but didn't question it. Another reason she wanted to attack at night was because SHE was more aggressive and thus had more power to her attacks. When he spread his arms as he got into the pool she looked around her in the store and sniffed a few bars before finding one that didn't have a distinct smell to it. Hurling the bar of soap into the pool with him she turned around and walked back into the store so that she could sleep. The scentless soap would clean his skin but wouldn't make him stick out since smelling like vanilla or lavender in this dump would be a big neon sign pointing to him.

Closing her eyes once more Tori took her little two-ish hour cat nap and when she woke up it was already dark enough that humans would have a difficult time seeing even if their eyes were adjusted. Stretching her arms over her head she headed out toward the area that had the biggest concentration of the demons. She didn't focus on one particular spot, she just drew her swords and headed to the area she'd pointed to on the map. Climbing a four story building in one leap wasn't hard for her and as she stood on the roof over looking the area below she could see several dozen class A's and B's wandering about.

She also noticed a strange cage looking object which was holding several dozen humans, none of them Hunters but by the looks of it, they were travelers and scavengers who'd been caught by the demons and were taken there as snacks. Popping her neck she looked under her to see a class C was right under her. Bad luck for him, dropping down she slammed both of her blades into the top of his head and split his head open before turning around and looking at the A's and B's that she'd gotten attention from.

"Hello boys."
She said with a smile as blood red markings began glowing along her cheeks, neck, shoulders then down her arms and along the sides of her body to her legs. The markings came out at night to not only signify her more aggressive state but also her clan and the brand on her stomach, right below her sternum to show who she was loyal to.

A few of the B's backed up as even with their numbers, fighting an S class of her caliber was not a healthy decision but as she charged them, the option of running was removed. Loud hisses sounded off as her blades cut through skull and bone, screams of pain and agony as she cut through the demons around her. Bouncing from one to the other like a pinball. The moon light reflecting off of her feline eyes, almost leaving a stream in the air from the neon color of her eyes. What would have given a squad of Hunters a run for their money, Tori was cutting them down like weeds. Completely destroying seven class A demons in a short time span without stopping, just running past them and either taking their heads off or cutting through them.

Sheathing a blade she gripped the lock on the cage holding the humans and yanked it off before ripping the door open. Looking at the terrified humans she growled.
"Run. That way."
She hissed as she pointed toward the dead demons she'd already killed, giving the humans a fairly clean path to run down toward the city which would give them more cover to escape. Spinning around she rammed her blade upward through the chin of a class B and out the top of his skull. Looking back at the humans, they were all gone...except one small human female who looked to be about sixteen. She had a leg that looked to be burnt and unable to function properly. Yanking her blade free she was about to leave the female but as she looked at her she chewed on the inside of her cheek before reaching down and hoisting the female off of the ground by her wrist.

Slinging her over her back like a back pack she looked at the younger female.
"Hold tight."
With that said, she drew her blades again and began cutting through the other demons, cutting a bloody path through the demon numbers. Those who weren't killed in her initial assault were either running for their lives, or to wounded to move. Skidding to a stop on the other side of the open field, she looked behind her. She'd killed about two dozen demons in less than twenty minutes, freed a handful of humans and now had a human back pack. Wiping some demon blood from her cheek she wiped the back of her hand on her pants and made a face at the stench. She'd need a bath soon...and she'd have to take this female to Angel for healing.

Well, she'd caused enough ruckus that the demons were all fleeing the area and warning the demons in the surrounding areas of her presence and most likely what class she was so if there were any Class S's in the area, they'd stay...but anything below that would be high tailing it. Word would spread that a warrior from Selene's faction would be there which would tell the others to run and re-group in much more heavily defended areas.

 

[Torack]

While the demon was in her makeshift camp doing whatever it was she was doing, Michael went off to a nearby stream and began gathering mud, making a sort of mound next to the pool. It was arduous work going back and forth, but by the time the sun had set, he’d got a significantly sized mound going. Of a size that he liked and that fit his purposes.

Seeing movement from the corner of his eye, he turned to watch his new demon “companion” walk off and make her way deeper into the night. He waited a full minute and a half before he stripped down into nakedness once more, got into the pool and wiped away all the new sweat and grime, dried himself, then began applying the mud all over his body. His hope was that it would keep in his human scent while also preventing any of the demons that could see in infrared from noticing his heat signature.

Whether it would work or not remained to be seen, but even if it didn’t, or if it worked minimally, he was confident that the distraction he was receiving from his new friend would provide at least something for him to get by.

Taking his belt, he put it around his waist and holstered his pistol, knife, and put in a few pistol cartridges in the various packs around the belt. He wore nothing else, if only because they would give off his scent. If it was up to him, or rather if he had the time, he would have at least washed his pants, but one had to make due.

Michael waited a few more breathes, then ran off into the city. Demonic screams rising and filling the night air as he sped towards the high-rise buildings, coming to a stop just as he reached the first building. He waited a few more breaths then slowly made his way into the streets, keeping himself to the wall as he looked down the roads and the alleys. He could hear the fighting going on in the distance, the clashes of the demons, their screams of agony. And he could hear demons more nearby in a sort of panic.

One hell of a fucking distraction, he thought to himself as he drew out his knife and carefully passed building after building, keeping himself off the center of the wide roads. He would stop often when he heard prattling footsteps of a demon run by, or panicked conversation between a group of them, each time crouching low.

A few times he came across a couple class A demons across the street or beyond a walkway arguing whether they should go help their screaming brothers or flee. And each time he came across them, he would take a different route, either going around, or going to the roofs just to climb back down to street level. He doubted they would be able to see him if he was careful, but he wasn’t going to risk it.

Eventually, he made it to the building the descrambler box was in, drawing the map from memory and using local landmarks as a way to make sure he didn’t get lost or go the wrong way. The building itself was a compact and squat two storey structure, made entirely out of cement with small rectangular glass windows.

Michael crept forward, carefully peering into one of the windows to make sure it was the right building when he saw the descrambler box on a steel table in the middle of a wide, empty room.

Save for the two demons guarding the table.

Michael slowly got down. One class A and class B were in there.

Shit. Looked like the distraction his new friend was providing wasn’t exactly going to draw those two demons away. Whoever was commanding them was competent enough to make sure to have guards on the box at all times, and from what he was able to see from the short glance, he noticed the slight nervousness in those demonic eyes. And he needed to find a way to get past them, to get to the box without having to confront the both of them at once.

The class B he could handle alone, somewhat. If he was smart about it, but the class A? He didn’t know if his body could take another beating like that. His knees still hurt like a bitch and one of his lungs was currently still repairing itself; though at least his ribs weren’t broken anymore. Small blessings.

Cursing again, he scooted his way to the corner of the building and jumped up to its roof. He was going to have to play this smart.

 

[NumberThreeInordinate]

Teleporting herself to Angel she dropped off the human female before heading back to the slaughter that she'd left behind because she didn't feel done. She had a lot of blood lust she needed to work off. Getting back to the area she began cutting through the remaining demons, some that had come back to devour the dead, and others who were too wounded to leave. After that was done she began looking around, using her feline eyes and nose to hunt for more A class demons. Finding a few in the buildings around her she bounced from the road and crashed through a window. Kicking a class B demon into the opposite wall she slid to a stop and stood up looking at the A class as he was staring at her in shock.

"Oh...did you think I'd leave you out?"
As she asked this she drew one of her swords while looking at the A class and fired it to the right, nailing the B class to the wall with her sword through his stomach. While he screamed in pain and shock, Tori smiled at the A class and wigged her claws his way.
"You're not leaving here...so best TRY and beat me pup."
The male was frantically looking around for a way to escape while slowly backing up like a newborn deer seeing a wolf.

"Y-you're demon! Why are you helping those humans?!"
"Because I was ordered to...and because killing you lot is so much more amusing. Killing humans is boring."
With that, she bolted for him like a bullet, and ducked under his wild swing, slicing his gut open, spilling his guts at his feet as she spun around behind him and rammed her claws into his back, slicing through tendons in his legs to make the male drop to his knees in pain and panic. Bouncing out of the way of another wild swing as the male was trying to recover, Tori jumped over him, grabbing the back of his head as she hooked over his head and brought his face straight into her knee, blood splattering to the sides.

While the male was laying in a pool of his own black blood and guts, Tori walked over to the male stuck to the wall. Gripping her sword she yanked it straight up, slicing through the wall and the demon, cutting him in half. Looking at her sword she frowned.
"Nicked my edge....fucker."
She said as she kicked the dead demon through another wall. Stopping, Tori looked up, hearing a sound above her for a moment. Looking back at the demon she walked over with a relaxed stroll and slammed her blade through the back of the males neck, severing his spine from his skull, killing him. Pulling her blade free she jumped up, through a skylight in the roof and swung her sword, stopping it inches from the human's neck.

Looking at him for a moment, her eyes scanned down his very naked body and stopped at his crotch before a slow smirk crossed her lips, then she returned her attention to his eyes.
"Nice to see you have some positive points to you."
She said as she sheathed her blade then walked to the edge of the roof and looked for more prey.

 

[Torack]

He had a plan for this. He knew if he threw a rock or made any sort of suspicious noise outside the building, the class A would've made the class B demon go outside and investigate, and from there he would have killed the thing, pulled it some distance away, then got back up to the roofs and watch the class A feast on the dead demon’s body and run with the descrambler box while it was distracted. At least that was plan he was going with. Until he heard his demon friend crash through the room and make short work of the things.

His eyes went wide as he heard the screaming, the sick sound of flesh being torn from bones, rent apart with her sheer strength. The strong smell of demonic blood filled the already rank air around them, the sulfuric scent threatening to topple him from its strength. And the screams. When was the last time he heard a class A and class B scream in sheer terror like that.

It wasn’t normal. At least not to his ears.

Then he felt the demoness’s sword on his neck and his blood went cold.

Was this how he was going to die? If she could handle demons like that as though they were nothing more than a nuisance what could he do against her? He’d had trouble fighting a fucking class A, there was no chance he’d manage to last a minute with this beast of a demon. He was careful however to keep his face stoic. He wouldn’t meet his death with fear, but rather snarling, or even laughing in this bitch's face. If she decided to attack, he knew he couldn’t do much, but he’d damned well do something.

But she didn’t. Instead out of nowhere she made a remark on his cock and he looked down confused, and when he looked back up she was gone.

It was only then that he let out a shaky breath as his face went white with fear, his body collapsing as he sat down, his back against the ledge of the roof as he slowly began to hyperventilate, his hands shaking violently when he looked down at them. Damn, but he’d never been that frightened since he was first thrown out into the field and told to kill his first demon alone. And even then he was sure that his skills would get him out alive, that if he was careful and played it smart no demon would get to him.

But facing her and witnessing how easily she killed the demons below her. It was one thing to hear it, the various screams that rose into the air miles away, and actually be a part of it. He was a damn, fucking fool for going to her.

After half a minute, he closed his eyes, forcing himself to calm down, forcing his breathing to slow and think of things rationally rather than letting fear take over him. He needed to get the descrambler box back to the facility and quick. He could worry about his demonic friend later, but he did need to find a way to get rid of her in case she ever decided humanity wasn’t worth saving anymore. But he’d get to that. Eventually.

Picking himself up, he walked to the sun roof and jumped down, ignoring the torn up demons and grabbed the descrambler box, tucked it under his arm, and ran out of the building.

 

[NumberThreeInordinate]

Tori hadn't left, she was just on the opposite side of the roof. She had been looking for more prey but when the human decided to move she glanced back to see him jump down through the skylight. Raising an eyebrow she walked over to the hole in the roof and looked down to see him grab the strange box and run off with it. Ah, so that's what he was after. So...he'd let her wander off to the field below and cause a distraction for him. Smirking she walked off and decided to call it a night. She'd have to go and have a chat with him about using her as bait. While it was clear she was able to handle herself, looking back at the blood soaked fields and the two dead in the building he currently left, BUT he did try to use her as bait none the less and that was rather rude.

Closing her eyes she ported herself to where Angel was once more and took a shower first and foremost. Changing out of her bloodied clothing and taking some time to sharpen her blades and put a new edge on her blades. Once she was sure they'd cut through anything, she sheathed them behind her then went to Angel to check on the human female that she'd brought her.

"How's she doing?"
She asked as she walked up behind her friend.
"She's fine. She's been healed, fed and now she's resting thanks to some relaxing energies I pushed into her mind to relieve her mind of any nightmares."
Tori nodded then looked into the room where the human female was sleeping. She was fairly young but the fact that she'd stayed alive in this hellish world was a testament to her survival skills. Demon's didn't care about money, or the temptations of the flesh. The only flesh they cared about was food. So she wouldn't have been able to pay or fuck her way out of a demon attack, she would have had to evade or kill. Both skills are needed for survival.

Tori then walked toward the area where they'd been storing food and got herself some food as well. They'd taken up shelter in an old mansion outside of one of the cities, after killing the three class A's that lived there. Now it was the central hub of their teams. Everyone having a room there to sleep in and recharge after going hunting. Just as Tori was doing. After her meal she went to 'her room' and went to sleep to recharge and just relax. Sleeping a solid twenty-four hours to recover her energy. When she woke she showered again and changed into a pair of form fitting leather pants, a black lace bodice and a pair of black knee high combat boots. All clothing they brought from their own dimension so they wouldn't have to wear the rags here in the human world.

Sheathing her blades on her hips she walked toward the door and stopped as the small human female was looking at her. Without a word, she rushed over and hugged Tori's torso making her a bit surprised but she carefully pat the female's head.
"Do you have parents?"
A shake of her head made Tori wince a bit.
"Then you'll stay here and help Angel. You'll be safe here."
A nod. Smiling at the female none of them expected the child to speak. She had to be scared.

After leaving, Tori opened her mind and her senses to find her rude human. Finding him in a fortress of other humans she ported herself a few hundred meters away and stood there looking at the high walls of the fortress. Smiling she walked up till she got the attention of the wall guards and after getting their attention she projected her words into their minds rather than yelling.
'I believe there's a Hunter in there who was rather rude to me yesterday. Sending me into a demon infested field as bait while he went to seek some strange box? I'd like to have a chat with him about that.'