As I entered my own office I was smacked in the head with a rather heavy lamp, not exactly the warm welcome I had hoped to have. The blow was something, that’s for sure, and if I were anyone else, maybe even one of the thralls outside, I would have been incapacitated if not killed. Thankfully the newly recharged me felt little aside from the dispersal of kinetic energy through my body.

“Glad to see that you are safe and sound, Becca.” I said, pushing aside the heavy lamp before my frazzled secretary could strike again.

“Shit boss, don’t scare me like that! I thought you were one of them, you should have said something.”

“I thought that unlocking the door with the keys would have constituted as a warning. Did you think that those thralls could have done the same?”

“Oh right…” Becca replied, her cheeks blushing red, “Uh, sorry boss, you ok?”

“Could be better.”

The blonde girl hiding beside Becca looked at me with a strange look of concern and disbelief, probably from seeing me getting up unscathed after a direct hit to the temple. Although Becca wasn’t exactly strong, she used the full weight of her body when she swung at me, so I guess it seemed pretty amazing that I would be cracking jokes with her right now. After she realized that I wasn’t brain damaged, another look appeared on her face, and without a moments hesitation she shoved Becca aside and made a mad dash towards the door.

A pretty good move, if I do say so myself, taking advantage of the momentary lapse in Becca’s concentration and the state of my apparent weakness. Unfortunately I grabbed her before she could even make it past the open door. Ignoring her teeth sinking into my arm, I calmly closed and locked the door behind me, dragged the struggling girl towards my office and gestured Becca to follow.

“What on earth is your skin made of!?” Sara exclaimed, staring wide eyed as she rubbed her jaws. I guess her surprise made sense; she probably did more damage to her own teeth than to my skin as there wasn’t so much as a mark on where she bit down, much less a wound. I made myself comfortable in my office chair while Becca was guarding the exit in case our captive tried her little stunt again.

“Anyway, it is nice to finally meet you, Ms. Sara, I am Mark Bastion, and can I assume that my Secretary failed to explain the situation to you?”

The girl nodded.

I sighed and gave a icy glare to Becca, who only shrugged in response - as if my scolding would do anything anyway. I turned my attention back to the blonde girl sitting adjacent from me and gave a very brief summery of the situation, skipping the more unbelievable details. Unfortunately, even the “more” believable parts were pretty unbelievable, so it didn’t really come as a shock when she looked at me like I was a lunatic when I finished. That fact that she didn’t buy a single word I said probably meant that Uriel did a number on her memories, undoubtedly for the sake of letting her daughter live a life free from the ever present eyes of Heaven.

Well, given her situation I’d have thought that she was the insane one if she actually bought any of that. After all, from her point of view she was kidnapped, imprisoned in some unknown place by a (what I can only assume) less than pleasant Becca and then had a bunch of crazies storm the place she was placed soon after; strange no matter how you see it. I almost pitied her if my situation wasn’t even worse.

“Right…” I sighed for the who-knows-how-many-time, “I can see that you are hard pressed to believe what I have told you, and I can’t say that I can blame you, but after witnessing the earlier intrusions you surly understand that our current situation isn’t exactly mundane.”

Sara nodded again. I guess she doesn’t trust me enough to give a more solid answer.

“Ergo, you must have, at some fundamental level, acknowledge that what I have said is not a lie.”

She nodded again.

“Uh… Boss,” Becca interrupted, “why are you talking like that?”

I gave my secretary an odd look and said, “Talk like what?”

“Talk like, well, like Steve does. All formal and shit; you think you’re Phoenix Wright or something with your “ergo”s?”

Something’s probably very wrong with my employees if they thought that me speaking formally to strangers was viewed as strange… Well, it’s probably my fault for trying to sound professional in front of Becca.

“Objection!” I screamed, pointing an outstretched finger towards my bewildered, and now chuckling secretary, “I am merely putting on professional airs towards my client, Miss Sara, ergo my speech - which includes the use of “ergo” - is perfectly reasonable.”

Becca, who could no longer retrain her laughter, said, “I’m amazed that you actually got that reference, Boss. My opinions of you are changing, but seriously, don‘t you think we‘re past the point of formalities by now?”

“Point taken.” I said, turning my attention back to Sara, “I guess I should show you more solid proof.”

I looked at the girl, and without speaking another word I discarded the human guise off of my right hand (I’ve learned the full body transformations were not the ideal method of demonstration from earlier) and willed Hellfire to burn from it, letting the soft flame dance in the air above me. She looked at the scene wide-eyed, a part of her brain still refusing to believe what she saw. Sara continued to stare but eventually she accepted the scene before her as real, and slowly nodded her head.

“And speaking of Steven,” I said, breaking the silence, “where is the old guy?”

“Dunno,” Becca responded, “he left the place before those fuckers showed up, and he never came back. I tried to call him earlier; no signal. That old fart’s probably forgot how a cell phone works.”

“Well, if it’s Steven then I’m sure he’ll be ok. He still has connections he can use if things get rough. And how do you even know his number?”

“I called with your phone. Duh.” the girl said, rolling her eyes, “Hopefully he’ll trip and break his back.”

“How did you unlock my ph-”

“Um, sorry to interrupt, but what exactly are you guys planning to do with me?” Ah, it seems that Ms. Sara finally decided to speak up!

“Good question!” I answered, “And since you asked I can assume that you finally believe that we did not kidnap you simply because we’re crazy?”

“Everything’s a little bit hard to grasp, but you guys don’t seem to be uh… after money or anything. I’m not sure if I believe that I am actually a, uh, Nephilim, but if all those things are after us - after me - then you guys have a plan to make it stop, right?”

“Of course I do,” I lied; best not to let the girl think that I’m incompetent, “but our top priority right now is to get to somewhere safe.”

“I thought this place is safe.” Becca said, “I mean, those things didn’t get in, and it sure wasn‘t from a lack of trying.”

“Those were just appetizers, Becca. Our office won’t stand a chance once the main course comes. I’m actually just amazed that they found you guys so fast.”

“So where are you taking us, Mr. Bastion?” inquired a meek Sara.

“Safest place I know.” I said with a smile, “The Sprawl.”

* * *

“So where exactly is this place?” asked Becca as she buckled herself in the front seat of my car.

Originally I tried to have Sara sit in the front in case she tried to pull another stunt, but there was no arguing with Becca today. Instead, I merely glanced back to check that Sara was safe and hopefully not trying to break through the window. She sat behind us with the calm mannerism of a nun, but I could see her brain working behind those eyes. Although I’m fairly certain that she understands the gravity of the situation, it’s still best not to take my eyes off her for too long.

“I already told you, a safe place, The Sprawl.”

“Yeah, but what the hell is it?” voiced Becca, the irritation clear in her voice.

I tried my best to avoid explaining it to the two of them, as it would probably take much too long to get through - much easier to just show them. But still, it doesn’t seem like their curiosity would be satiated until I gave in, and I hated car rides beside a nagging Becca.

“Ok, The Sprawl is more or less a pet project I created when I first arrived on Earth, about 400ish years ago - or was it 600? There wasn‘t calendars back then to remind me.” I explained, “Anyway, originally it was meant to be a small, secure place I could hide in, but over the years it’s kind of… expanded.”

“That’s telling us a whole lot of nothing, boss.”

“Yeah yeah, I’m getting to it, Becca. Anyway,” I continued, “as you may know, when I left Hell it was inevitable that I was going to get weaker and weaker as time passed on, so I decided to make sure that I had a safe place to go to in case something bad happened - you know, like what’s happening now - while I still could. Contrary to what Lilith may have you believe, Becca, I do plan ahead. Anyway, conveniently, the humans at that time were pretty keen on the whole notion of Christianity and they were already actively condemning the not-so-lucky creatures that didn’t belong to their ideology, which is basically everything else. So I gathered the scattered remains of the supernatural community - and yes Becca, those kinds of supernatural - that were being driven out by the humans and gave them a safe place to stay. Sort of like their own nation, except it’s really hard for humans to get to. Heck, I even destroyed the ones that were pursuing them as a bonus! I know, I’m too kind.”

I noticed that my company were less than impressed at my joke so I cleared my throat and continued, “Naturally they sought to govern and defend their new home in case the humans, or anything else really, decided to attack again. After all, I only offered my help in dealing with their pursuers the first time around. I allowed them to form their own laws and to govern themselves, ’cause I sure as heck wasn’t planning to stay cooped up in that place, and in exchange, I was to be given full power and authority while I was within its zones. I specifically kept this part of the agreement vague, but it basically means that that they would provide for me and any ally I may have with anything that we might require, and defend me and my company if it is so required. They naturally agreed, since they knew that I didn’t plan on staying, and I really wasn’t asking for much given their situation. We signed the contract and hopefully they’ve improved their defence systems since then ‘cause a whole lot of trouble’s going to be headed that way.”

“But if what you say is to be believed, that was centuries ago, Mr. Bastion.” Sara said, “Surely it ought to have been long enough for this Sprawl community to have completely forgotten the original agreement in the first place. And even if they do remember, could they not simply opt out of it?”

I smiled wickedly and said, “It’s not easy to get out of an Contract with me.”

“But even if we are safe for the time being, what do you plan to do afterwards?”

“Right… about that…” Well, she sure knows how to stomp out my fire.

“With all due respect, Mr. Bastion,” Sara continued, not allowing any time for me to continue, “I do not plan to remain in an unknown location that is - if I believe that what you are saying is true - filled with deadly, mythological creatures.”

Man, I was seriously being scolded by my hostage. Guess that makes me a really shitty captor then. Maybe Lilith was right in saying that my brain has rotted into nothing over the years. She’s probably laughing at the whole situation right now.

“Don’t worry, Sara, I don’t plan to stay there for too long either.” …And I doubt that we could have even if we wanted to, because no amount of Earthly defences could keep out the armies of Heaven and Hell, but I chose to leave that detail out.

“I’ll figure something out when we‘re safe... but first we have to find a new way of getting in. I lost the pass to get in a while back. The World Wars do horrors to a person's organization.”

“Oh my God, Mr. Bastion!” Sara said, “Are you kidding me? Not only do you not have a plan for all this, but you're telling me that you don't even have the keys to your own safe-haven? I'm screwed...”

“Hey, I didn't say I don't have it! I said I lost the pass, and I can get my spare from an acquaintance of mine.”

“Yeah, Blondie!” Becca answered, rather rudely, “The boss got things covered. You should just be fucking thankful we're even bothering to help you!”

“By the way, why are you helping me?”

“Your mother asked,” I answered, “she's an... old college of mine.”

Sara nodded, not asking for more. I think she understood what that really means.

“So... boss.” Becca said, breaking the awkward silence, “where are we going to get that spare key, or pass, or whatever?”

“From this guy I lent it to, a few hundred years back. I've been dealing with him for a while now – a real piece of work – but he's reliable, as long as there's money involved.”

“And what about those ghost, thrall, whatever the fuck they were things? You sure we'll be fine? Won't they like, come after us?”

“Don't worry, Becca, I got rid of all the ones in this area, and like I said, Heaven and Hell won't mobilize for a while longer. We have at least a few weeks before we really have to worry.”

Or at least I hoped we did. Of course I didn't bother telling the two girls that those thralls have never manifested that quickly before.

* * *

I drove the car a out of the business district to the less-than-stellar part of town; the part where the government likes to ignore and pretend that it never existed. If my “friend” is still working, then it'll be around here, unless he has moved up in life, which I highly doubt.

Since I really didn't know where my old buddy operates any more, I had to ask around the nice townsfolk. Since the particular store he owns doesn't exactly deal with the upstanding citizens – not that this particular area has any, my questions were met with rather... opposed responses.

“The fuck do you want?” A rather large and imposing gang member asked, upon hearing my greeting, “I aint seen you around here. Get lost if you know what's good for ya, but the girls can stay.”

The group of about 5 were all checking out Becca and Sara.

“Yeah, ladies.” another thug said, not even bothering covering up his intentions, “Want to have a good time with us? You can do a lot better than that fucking white boy over there. If it's money you're after we're fucking loaded!”

Becca gave a rather disgusted look, and straight up told the poor sap that she wasn't interested, although she didn't phrase quite that way. Sara was equally uninterested, but she didn't bother saying anything, instead just giving a look of utter contempt. The nice gentlemen did not take the rejection very well.

The first thug shoved his buddies aside, and half ran up close to Becca, “You got quite a mouth, you little bitch! We'll see what else that mouth is good for!”

“Are you so fucking stupid that you don't understand what fuck off means?” replied Becca.

“You asked for it, you bitch!”

The man was about to strike Becca, but I got in the way. Normally I would have slaughtered everyone there, but considering the fact that Sara was with us, and that I would rather stay out of trouble with everything already going to shit, I just broke his arm. Both of them. I don't like it when people try to use violence on my co-workers.

The action was so quick that I don't think the guy understood what happened. He just stared at me with eyes of disbelief, because in his mind, I literally came out of nowhere. One moment he was facing Becca, and the next he had two broken limbs and my boot in his guts.

His buddies were faster than he was to take note of the new situation. One of them took out a pistol, aimed at me and shot. That was a bad move. It's one thing to attack one of my co-workers, it's quite another to try to kill me. I probably could have stopped him, but I really didn't see the point.

The 9mm bullet glanced off my shoulder, and bounced harmlessly off me. The poor sap was about to shoot a few more times, but I didn't allow him any further harm to my shirt. I rushed in front of the attacker, grabbed the pistol still in his hand, and with a little bit of Hellfire, I was able to melt the gun, and a part of his hand along with it. He was about to scream, but with my free hand I gripped his throat, chocking out his air flow.

“Becca,” I said calmly, “take Sara back to the car for now. I need to have a few words with these gentlemen.”

“Mr. Bastion...” Sara said, with a hint of hear in her eyes, “don't do anything...”

“You heard the man, Blondie,” Becca intercepted, smiling, “he just needs to 'talk' to them. Boss, do you mind if you give the fucker eyeing me up a good, uh, speech.”

I smiled back and nodded. Becca seemed to be loving what's going on, but Sara seemed to be a little more distraught. I guess I won't be doing too much damage, for her sake.

“Thanks boss,” Becca smiled sheepishly, “this is why I love working for ya!”

When I was sure that the two girls were sufficiently away from me, I turned back to the gangsters. Two of them, probably the smarter ones, booked it out of the place during my conversation with Becca, and the only ones left were the one on the ground with the broken arms, the dude slowly turning blue, and another man cowering in a corner.

“As I was saying,” I continued, strengthening my grip, “I wanted to ask a few questions. It's best if you answer.”

With a quick motion, I crushed the throat of the man that shot me, and watched as his lifeless body hit the floor. After him, I finished off the man who was giving Becca trouble, as per her request. Finished with wiped the blood off my hands with the dead man' s shirt, I walked up to the uninjured man in the corner.

“I don't know man, I don't fucking know!” the cornered man said, clearly panicking.

“Well, if you really don't know, then I guess you're no use to me.”

“Wait, please. Fuck man, don't! I didn't do nothing! A-a-and, we work for powerful people! They'll fuck you up, no matter who you are. So please, don't do nothing! If you let me live, I'll put a good word for you! I promise they won't do nothing to you, I'm important! I have that power, man, please!”

I raised an eyebrow; I knew that these guys didn't know what I was after, but if what this man said is true, then maybe their boss will know.

“Who do you work for?”

“H-he's called the Cardinal. Runs the whole place, I'm sure that you've heard of him.”

“Cardinal? Nope, never heard the name. And even if I did, why should he worry about some common thugs dying? It should be a common occurrence.”

“I said man, I ain't a common thug! I run this community! I swear man!”

“You're the one in charge? You don't look like it.”

“I don't like to fucking stand out!”

“And yet you don't know where my buddy is.”

“Fuck man, please! I don't know what I don't know!”

I was about to interrogate the man further, but I noticed an intense, dangerous aura behind me. Looks like the two that got away reported it up to someone who actually matters.

“Haha, you're fucked! I told you I was important! That's the fucking Cardinal! You're going to god damn regret messing with us!”

I ignored the man on the ground, and willed a massive amount of Hellfire to appear, I turned to face the new force.