Return from the Dead, Act I: Odyssey of the Underworld

An alarm clock went off. Slowly drifting from the warm embrace of sleep, Chapel groaned from being awoken by his local radio station tuning in Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. Sliding out of bed, the well-built man fell out clumsily in his briefs while fumbling his hands bitterly over the counter next to his bed, trying desperately to end his early morning torment. His feline, Princess, landed on his radio perfectly with her paw on the button to turn it off. He rubbed his eyes clean and looked up at her in gratitude "Good morning to you too. And if my timing is right, Angel should be knocking on our door shortly." His timing was usually right.

Just as Chapel predicted, Angel knocked on the door. "You up yet? C'mon man, put some oomph into it." He snickered at the stupidity of his comment.

Chapel groaned as he got up and began getting dressed, greeting Angel "That's what she said!" As tired as he was, his strange uniform fit like a glove: a black, leather suit with a red trenchcoat, black gloves, and black biker boots.

"Of course that's what she said. Of course, HE must have been ticked to hear that one." Angel said, wondering how far down this rabbit hole they could, and probably would, go. "You are the only person I know who it takes an eon to get out of bed, ya know that? And they made you leader." his voice was laden with sarcasm by the bucketload.

Fitting his gloves on whilst Princess licked her paws and rubbed her head bathingly, he replied "Must be my masculine charm or gorgeous blue eyes."

"Charm, perhaps. Or maybe it just happens to be the fact you're the only one who can, and practically did, outshoot me, who can outshoot many others."

At this, Chapel twirled his twin pistols in his hands and holstered them neatly at his sides. Twin Desert Eagles with extended barrels, two firing sequences for compact shots and armor-piercing for both close and long-range, and almost fifteen different ammo types, ten of such being enchanted. The D.O.W. pays no expense to keep it's agents fully-equipped with the best arms money can buy.

Angel shook his head. "What? You forget to make coffee? What kind of should-be-sleep-deprived-soldier are you? After some of the things we do and see, coffee is our only sanity, along with a heaping help of humor, of course."

Chapel took his large cursed Claymore, Wrath, out of his closet and sheathed it in the back part of his trenchcoat "Coffee? Sick. How can you drink that crap? You can enter, by the way. I'm dressed."

"About time." Angel snarked while opening the door. "And the coffee thing? Meh, you get used to it. My advice, use cane sugar, and don't even try sacrin, stuff makes anything taste bad, or worse really. So, anyway, what horrid song did you get woken up by today?"

Chapel popped his neck casually as Princess jumped onto the bed and strolled over to greet Angel, rubbing her head against his hand "Some pop song the kids listen to nowadays. Something I have no doubt Lucy would listen to."

Angel couldn't help but laugh as Princess started rubbing his hand. "Hello to you too Princess. Chapel my friend, when will you learn, the proper way to be woken up is by something loud and unexpected. Hence, a Metallica cd I bought."

Chapel grimaced "Never took you, a fan of that Linkin Park stuff, a fan of Heavy Metal. Either I'm dreaming or someone's balls have dropped. Or both."

"Chapel! Why would you even mention such things with innocent ears nearby?" Angel motioned to Princess. "And second, why would you be dreaming my balls just dropped?"

Chapel shrugged "She gets around. I'm sure the street cats talk way worse than that. Besides, you need to keep your balls out my dreams, laddie. But let's be off, we've wasted enough time already. You're turn to buy breakfast, by the way."

Another Day, Another Donut
A fresh box of pastries for only $10.99. America was the land of the free. In the lobby of the new office building of the D.O.W., Chapel and Angel enjoyed their morning breakfast of donuts, coffee, and orange juice. Was sort of weird, having this huge office now. Back in the good ol' days, the D.O.W.'s office was nothing more than a big storage shed, or at least cleverly disguised as one. After the whole incident in Al-Khali, big changes were made to how things were run around here. Especially after Apocalypse left...

Out of the blue, a gunshot was heard. "Damn it," Lucy said a bit loudly, "that's the third time this week that I've blown a hole in the ceiling!" Her heart pounded when she heard footsteps outside her office. "Chapel is going to kill me..." Quickly she hid under her desk and furiously began to fiddle with the gun she was building, the one that made the hole in the ceiling in the process of its manufacturing process. Luckily Lucy had never blown a hole through herself. She liked to build weapons in her spare time, and although she was exceptional at increasing their power, was terrible at remembering basic safety, which was odd considering her remarkable talent for worrying about safety.

Chapel huffed at his seat and stood up "Be right back. Have to attend to Lucy-in-the-sky-with-Diamonds." At this, he tromped off to Lucy's office with a stern, punishing look "What was that?"

Lucy paused, attempting to be as quiet as possible. She thought that if only he thought she wasn't there, she could get out of a punishment from him. A blush went across her face when a dirty thought or two ran through her mind of said punishments, but she immediately shook them off and was slightly disgusted with herself. The lack of sleep not only left dark marks under her eyes, but had tainted her thinking, as well.

Chapel grimaced "Don't make me serenade you!" A moment more of silence and he began singing Everything I Do, I Do It For You by Bryan Adams extremely loud so that everyone in the neighboring offices and in the hallway could hear

"Look into my eeeyes and you will seee

what you mean to meee!"

The singing trailed into the lobby where Angel could hear, stopping in mid-bite and looking over a where Chapel had went, hearing his obnoxious singing echoing into the formerly quiet lobby.

"Ya' can't teeell me it's not worth tryin' fooor!

Ya' can't teeell me it's not worth dyin' fooor!"

"Oh, for fu-ow," she exclaimed, hitting her head on the desk as she started to stand up, "Oh, for the love of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, SHUT UP!" Her boot slammed against his arse before she turned away and hid her face in her hand, hiding an even darker blush than before. "Why do you have to be so embarassing?"

Chapel rubbed his rear sorely "Would you really have me any other way?" He smiled innocently at her before glaring up at the bullet hole in the ceiling "What the hell is that?!"

"Err... it's... umm... it's... well..." Lucy bent down and picked up the custom-made hand gun she had been building before Angel and Chapel had arrived, and smiled as she put it in Chapel's hand. "It's got much more power than you'd expect. It can shoot up to hundreds of yards before even moving a hair from the target at which you aimed. It will also penetrate through bulletproof armour, metal depending on thickness and composition, and straight through a demon's skull. All you have to do is aim and squeeze the trigger, although it doesn't carry many bullets so you'll have to load it quite frequently," she smiled at him, a bit excited with her newest creation, when suddenly the bullet that was shot earlier fell back to the ground through the hole in the roof. "See?! Look! Accurate, eh? Won't be bothered by aerodynamics in the slightest," she picked up the bullet and set it on her desk at the end of a row of other bullets she had collected from her experiments.

Chapel examined it and turned to her, saying in a mock-Scottish accent "A little tiny i'dn't it?" As far as he was concerned, the bigger the better.

Angrily, she furrowed her brow and set the gun down on her desk. "Size doesn't always matter, you know," she grumbled, briefly trying not to snicker at the unintentional innuendo, "picture this. You pull out a tiny little gun, the enemy gets overconfident, and then you blow him to smithereens."

Chapel chuckled behind a gloved hand "Lucy... we're killing monsters, bogeymen, ghouls, and goblins. Not robbers. These things don't get overconfident. They get hungry. The only thing that can possibly hope to pass as a threat to them is something of relatively hefty size. Many muscular, terrifying men are frightened of me for the exact same reason. It's all about size." He knew he was sounding a bit biggotish, but he enjoyed teasing her about her ways of thinking, knowing all too well she'd argue his claims.

"Fine," she said rather loudly, "you go walking around with a big clunky gun and get your poor little arms tired carrying it, while I'll be traveling light with something that is just as effective." She stood glaring into his eyes and poked his chest hard. "Now... I smell pastries."

Chapel looked back at the door, then back at Lucy, then quickly ran toward the door to ensure she wouldn't get the last of the donuts.

"NO!" she yelled, then latched herself onto Chapel's back, "THOSE ARE MINE AND YOU KNOW IT! I WORK WITH YOU! Come ooooon, aren't we friends?"

Chapel yelled while struggling with his laughter "Angel! Hide them!" Viewers shook their heads or laughed along with Chapel for his misbehaviour in the workplace.

Angel grabbed the last of the pastries with all due haste, and decided Chapel never said where to hide them. He managed to scarf one of them but the few remaining would need proper hiding, so he slid them into his coat pockets. "All clear now Chapel."

As Chapel piggy-back carried Lucy out of her office, they ran into the director himself of the D.O.W. He stood, staring sternly at them "How proper for a military branch." Chapel grimaced and rolled his eyes "Great... Look who the brass dropped out of their hats... Sergeant Steel-Turd."

Lucy's head and heart pounded as she realized who they had run into, then quickly yet hesitatingly slipped herself off of Chapel's back and bit her lower lip, expecting a lecture.

If the man was pausing because he expected a salute, he wouldn't receive one from Chapel. It wasn't that Chapel didn't respect the man, it's just he viewed him as a "hard-ass" who had no idea what the concept of fun was. War truly bit the remains of what a heart could've been right out of this man's chest. He coughed in his hand "Anyway, Agent Gallowsraven, you are needed in the Research Center by Dr. Barker, he is our expert on, well, everything. And if you don't know what a Singularitarian is, you soon will." Chapel waved like a child in Elementary school trying to get attention "Can I come too?" The director sighed "Fine, whatever. I don't care." Chapel gave an armpump of success and put his thumbs in his ears while making a face and waving his hands around at the director behind his back.

Lucy followed close behind Chapel, rolling her eyes and slapping her palm against her forehead at such a ridiculous form of attention-getting.

Chapel ushered to Angel "Let's go, dude. Time to meet..." he bit his donut like Bugs Bunny eating a carrot "...eeeh... Wassup, doc?"

"You're despicable." Angel said, using Daffy Duck's quote, taking a chunk of doughnut as he finished.

Lucy whispered to the two, "Would you please stop dicking around? There is a time and a place, but not now and not here!" Lucy didn't doubt that the two would ignore the nagging, and didn't bother raising her expectations high enough to expect anything but their usual circus act.

As they entered the research center, the Department defending the free world from threats that would make innocent children boil into liquidic suffering turned into a cliquey highschool scene. This would be the library, nerd central. As they walked by, the "athletes" got some sneers and glances by scientists and researchers. Finally, they entered the deepest pit of the rabbit hole: Dr. Barker's research facility. A large lab filled with experiments being made to combat the threat of supernatural forces. Urgingly, Chapel pushed Lucy forward to greet a busy Dr. Barker, who was studying a sample of Demonic cellular tissue with a microscope.

Lucy cleared her throat and stood straight. "Dr. Barker, you asked for me?"

The strange doctor answered in a quick, laconic fashion "Yes. Wanted to talk. Saw potential in your weapons display at firing range. Wanted quick analysis of theory. Offer advice, evaluation, determination... Could always use another mind in research wing. Dr. Claudius Barker. Call me Clyde." He turned quickly and issued a hand to shake hers. All of this was said and done in a matter of seconds. Chapel had a hard time keeping up with him.

Lucy smirked, a bit smug of her abilities, and shook Clyde's hand. "It's a pleasure, Clyde." Her eyes shifted over the room. Lucy, showing an excellent ability to multi-task, examined the machinery in the process of their invention as she listened to the quick-talking scientest. A thought crossed her mind that made her hesitate, though, and that was the fact that if she had switched departments, she would only be able to see Angel and Chapel away from work, a place she would usually be at for more than a few days at a time before finally going back to her apartment to sleep straight through the next few days. She glanced over at Chapel, gauging his reaction before she made an answer of whether or not she would switch over to the R&D department.

Instead of receiving a concerned look of wanting her to stay, Lucy would witness Chapel burst out "For the love of god, take a breath! What's wrong with you?!" Clyde cleared his throat and spoke slowly "I... am... sorry... I... will... try... to... talk... slower... for... you- No. Doesn't work. Doesn't work. Too inefficient. Apologies. Talk fast, save time, get more work done, enjoy life more." Chapel grimaced at Lucy with an expression saying "This is what you'll have to look forward to if you switch."

Lucy was taken aback by Chapel's grimace, not sure of what he meant or why he didn't want her to join. "Uhh... I think I'll have to ponder this a bit longer. I'm flattered that you find interest in my designs, but I'm a bit more interested in combat than behind-the-scenes work, although if you like, I'll send you some of my drafts. I make quite a few in my spare time."

Clyde nodded "Good. Will study them. Provide notes, reviews, etcetera. If anything else is needed, I am here." Chapel didn't need anything new. His guns never get upgraded because the techies always want to tamper with it to where it isn't so snug in his grip. Lucy made them for him with comfort in mind, and he wasn't about to let this Year-old Captain D's smelling freak mess with his babies.

"Dude, when did D.O.W. end up on the Enterprise? And don't make me explain this one." Angel wispered loud enough for Chapel to hear.

Chapel paused for a moment, looking thoughtful, then turned to Angel with a confused look, having never seen Star Trek enough to know what the Enterprise is. "What's an Enterprise...?"

Angel's face contorted into one of shock and awe. "It's the largest spaceship on Star Trek. My God man! You live in a cave or what? Man, you are deprived. I can't believe a T.V. pun just slid over your head." he fumed, although he found the whole exchange quite funny nontheless.

Clyde couldn't help but chime "...You like Star Trek?" Science Fiction had been a basis for ideas in many projects done in the research center of the D.O.W., Star Trek specifically.

Lucy, understanding the joke but not being a fan of the Star Trek series put her hand on Clyde's shoulder, "Right, well, I'll be off to edit some drafts that you can examine," and strode back to her office, bumping into Chapel on the way. Her mind was pre-occupied with what was to come. Now that she had made the offer, she felt obligated to sketch drafts of her weapon plans for work instead of for fun, although she would still take joy in it.

On her way back, however, the alarm sounded. An anomaly had been detected. Grinning with giddiness, Chapel grabbed Angel like a child on Christmas "FINALLY! IT'S GO TIME! WOOHOO! ROCKIN' IT TONIGHT, BITCHES! YEAH!" Hurrying Angel down the hall, he grabbed Lucy's side and pulled her under his arm carryingly "Vacations over, kids! Let's go kick some out-of-this-universe ass!"

Angel couldn't help smile. Fighting Demons just so happened to be his second favorite hobby, the first being cracking jokes on various subjects. "Aye. Evil ass must be kicked with a steel toed boot," to which he added calmly, "to the head."

Lucy squirmed in Chapel's grip. "Chapel, my legs work! Oh, well, at least things will get a little interesting around here," she mumbled to herself as her hand pressed against the dagger in her belt.

Operation: Rocky Road
A helicopter flew over a wide mass of water. While inside, Chapel was playing Highway to Hell extremely loud while jamming out to it. His massive claymore, Wrath, was sheathed in the back of his trenchcoat neatly while his guns were holstered at his sides. "So, basically... An anomaly has been detected in the Northeastern region of the Great Basin Desert. We're here to investigate. Just punch on in and kick the shit out of anything in sight."

Lucy placed her hand on Chapel's shoulder in acknowledgement and glanced at Angel. She then took the time to pull out her dagger and poison it, injecting a deadly toxin into the hilt. Lucy had modified her dagger to contain these toxins, and upon impact, the toxins would release themselves through microscopic rivulets inside of the blade, causing a demon to choke and collapse within a matter of seconds. She designed the formula of the toxin herself, using a trial-and-error method to see which chemicals affected them the most. She placed her dagger back in its sheath and awaited their landing.

Angel nodded as well. Underneath his coat, he carried the world's largest (Or so he hoped) revolver, capable of shooting rounds far too big for a normal gun of it's type, such as a 12 guage slug. "Lucy, are you sure that those things are fool-proof, cause that poison crap really scares me. I mean, if you trip and cut some innocent person, would the super venom kill them too?"

Lucy shook her head, "Not necessarily. The toxins aren't designed to kill humans. Our bodily composition is different than our targets', so at the very least, a human would probably get sick and dispell those toxins within a matter of days. At most, they die. I haven't tested it out on humans, though," she cackled, "so you better watch out! You're just lucky I'm not that accident-prone," she said, hoping that he would forget the times she blew holes in the ceiling at the office.

Angel decided to be polite and not mention the holes she blew in the ceiling, and merely smiled. "Luck must be a lady then." He pulled out his gun and inspected it again, making sure it was ready to go at a moment's notice. "Let's hope luck stays on our side."

As he said this, however, many beeping noises were heard in the dark interior structure of their destination, a group of ruins. Small clusters of box-shaped light filled a control room made of new, polished steel. A pointy-eared girl with green eyes and fangs spoke aloud "Contact detected. American Stealth Helicopter. Special Forces, possibly... No... The insignia matches that of the D.O.W. There are three occupants, not including the pilot and co-pilot."

"Orders?" asked a sniper with a shaved head a vaguely foreign accent. One of his eyes was replaced by what, from a distance, looked like an eyepatch but had a tiny scope built into it that could feed wind-direction, bullet velocity, and other vital details a sniper would need into his brain.

A deep voice gruffed into the sniper's communicator "Kill the pilots. Leave the three inside alive and let them enter the ruins. I have plans for them."

The sniper nodded acknowledgingly "Very well." Fixing his eye into the scope of his rifle, the sniper fired two rounds. One into the head of the pilot, another into the head of the co-pilot. At that, the alarm in the helicopter beeped rapidly as the red warning light flickered repeatedly. They were going to crash rather hard.

Angel flinched and closed his eyes when he heard a rifle shot. In his mind, he saw the day he almost killed a human with his power, leading to his phobia. "God I hate that sound. I'm not liking this at all. Chapel, Lucy. You two ok?"

Lucy groaned and rubbed her shoulder. She had pulled a muscle and had gotten bruised. "I'm fine... agh... Chapel?"

Chapel had ignored them and was already climbing out of the chopper, checking on the status of the pilots. "...K.I.A. Angel, get their tags. Lucy, scope out the ruins. Use the chopper as cover. I'll salvage our shit out of this ruined piece of crap." At this, he turned and re-entered the helicopter.

Meanwhile, the sniper withdrew the rifle and slung it over his shoulder, returning to the dark depths of the ruins. He updated his superior "The targets are down. Returning to the inner sanctum."

Angel did as he was told, a rather grim expression on his face. "Why did we get shot down out of the blue? Normally, even bad guys gotta go through protocol. You know, the restricted airspace crap and all that. I guess Luck ain't a lady today."

Lucy did as ordered and pulled out a pair of high-tech binoculars from inside her supply bag. It had several different vision options, which she used several to see if a human or Demon was near the ruins' entrances or openings. Unfortunately, their assailant had left. That, or she isn't picking them up.

Chapel brought out many weapons and grenades as well as military equipment for use on a mission such as this. He began strapping some of them to his outfit. "Pack heavy."

Lucy reported in "No signs of life near the entrances or openings."

Chapel turned to her "Good job." He then walked to the front of the helicopter where Angel was with the dead pilots, retrieving their dog tags "While you're in there, see if you can retrieve the bullet. It may tell us who we're dealing with here."

Angel held back his revoltion at the request and found one of the two rounds. He came back with the tags and the shell. "Whoever did it is playing smart. They used just generic rebel bullcrap kinda bullets. Unless, of course, there is more to this than meets the eye. Any leads on your end?"

Chapel shook his head "None. The sniper is either nicely cloaked or gone. Looks like we're making way to that place on foot. Since it seems the sniper isn't capping our asses now, they want us to go inside. You know what that means."

Lucy finished for him "A trap."

Chapel nodded "Be ready for anything guys. Shit's getting heavy." Chapel unholstered his guns and marched forth toward the ruins "Stay close and follow me."

As they neared the ruins, the Demon from before buzzed in the com channel to her master "Lord Barbarus, they are entering the ruins but there's a complication."

A deep voice rung back with an air of annoyance "What kind of complication?"

She replied a little nervously "Another intruder has evaded our defenses and is in the perimeter, near the entrance. They will likely be met by the first intruders. He is a man in black with a sword. He cut down our undead like they were nothing, and the corpses simply turned to ash. I think we're dealing with a Paladin."

A gruff of irritation was heard, followed by a stern order "Let the first intruders meet with the second but only after fighting another wave of stiffs. I want to see their measure. Hopefully, they are who we are looking for. But keep a close eye on the second intruder. Make sure he doesn't leave that perimeter."

She nodded understandingly "Yes, sir. Nyx out."

An Apprentices' Reunion
Chapel gazed around the first courtyard in the ruins. Sand kicked off the ground from the wind blowing in their direction. He comments "Why does this air feel so... cold? It's so chilly all of a sudden."

"I'm gonna withold a pun, but yes it's cold. Very much so." Angel repied. "Could be an elemental Demon, or perhaps one of the traps we should expect."

Lucy checked a small device that made repeated beeping noises as they got closer to the center of the courtyard "I'm detecting large concentrations of necronomic activity directly beneath us..."

Just as she said this, a pale, zombified hand sprung out of the sand and grabbed Lucy's ankle. She dropped the device and quickly unsheathed one of her daggers, slicing the hand by the ankle and separating it from it's owner. The hand seemed to twitch about for a few seconds then go into a Rigor mortis-type state. Several other hands began sprouting out as Zombies began digging their way to the surface. Some were so ancient that their mummified remains were merely rag-wearing sandy skeletons.

Chapel shot one of them through the chest cavity, blowing dust and sand all around. It collapsed, unnable to support itself with the massive loss of bone structure holding it together.

Angel pulled out his gun and held it carefully to avoid touching it with his right hand. He fired twice, taking two zombies with each shot. The large rounds were easily able to break the decomposing dead. "How about finding a way out of here? These things are like fleas. Kill one, find a few more to take it's place."

Lucy slashed the jugular vein of one of the Zombies with her poisoned dagger, causing it to choke and trip over a conveniently-placed rock, causing three other Zombies to trip over it's slowly-dying body. She then proceeded to point to an opening in the ruins placed above a large wall with rocks sticking out of it, providing a way to climb up. "There! We can get in the ruins there!"

Chapel nodded and unsheathed his Armageddon blade, Wrath, to quickly decapitate the knocked over Zombies as they were distracted with the obstacle of getting back on their feet. Almost immediately after being separated from their heads, the Zombies were reduced to ash-filled rags. Chapel provided cover fire for the other two to scale the wall to the entrance, firing at several Zombies' heads while sheathing his sword. More began digging their way out of the ground, choking on sand.

Angel ran over to the wall and holstered his gun. As he started climbing, he yelled over his shoulder, "Anybody with all their flesh on them, let's get going!"

Lucy joined Angel as they climbed up the wall, Chapel backing up slowly toward while firing at the remaining Zombies.

Running out of ammo for his current gun, he exclaimed "Shit!" and quickly sprung out his second, holstering his first to be reloaded when they were safely away from the Zombies. As he climbed the rocks on the wall with one leg and one hand, he used his leg to kick away encroaching Zombies that he missed with his gun. As he neared the top, with no ammo left for the second pistol, his ankle was grabbed by a particularly taller Zombie, which snarled up at him angrily. He raised his steel-toed boot to slam into the creature's salivating jaw, breaking it and sending the undead monster back to it's comrades. Chapel rolled into the entrance safely, unholstering his first gun and reloading both quickly.

Angel looked around, unnerved by the Zombie attack. "Let's hope there isn't another necromantic energy area for a while. Undead still creep me out, even after all we've seen and done. So, you two ok?"

They both nodded, Chapel panting exhaustedly "Nothing I can't handle. Shall we proceed?"

"Dude, relax. We can take a rest if you need it, but if not, lead on." Angel said slightly concerned. "Do you expect to face the Boss of this area with a low health bar, or some other horrid video game joke?"

Lucy huffed annoyedly "Enough with the jokes. Chapel, are you alright?"

Chapel stood up, equally annoyed with the surrounding concern all around him "I'm fine. It grabbed my ankle, that's it. Let's get going. I'm tired of sitting around, waiting for more-" His voice was cutoff from a familiar sight. His old mentor: Apocalypse.

Angel looked at the strange man in front of them. "Who are you and what could you want with us? Not every day someone is able to quiet Chapel's witty retoric, unless it's the commander."

Lucy's eyes lit up "Wait... I know who he is... Former Team Nero Commander Apocalypse!"

Apocalypse, in turn, smiled and bowed politely "A pleasure to make your acquaintances, though I believe Chapel and I already know each other. Don't we?" His head tilted slightly as he gave a childish smile of glee toward Chapel, who was awestruck at his old comrades' sudden appearance.

Chapel asked, at a loss for words "I... You... How did...?"

Apocalypse walked up and clasped Chapel's gloved hand with his own tightly "You never were really bright, Chapel, but has time with newbies really softened your brain to the point where any attempt at reaching out to that sponge for words results in empty hands? Dodge."

Chapel, after all these years, never found the reaction time to quickly maneuver against Apocalypses' advancement. before he knew it, his friend had smashed his skull into his own, knocking him to the ground and causing him to see stars while the assailant looked completely unharmed.

Lucy was speechless. They were acting like old friends, and the man had just nearly cracked her commanding officers' head open like an egg!

At that, Angel drew his gun and held it in his right hand. "I'll give you five seconds to explain who you are, and what you want. Or you can use that time as a head start. Take your pick."

Seeing a gun pointed at him like that didn't really amuse Apocalypse. He stared Angel down and warned "Put that thing away before you find yourself picking bits and pieces of it out of your own ass, boy."

Chapel stood between them, still a bit dazed "Calm... Calm down, Angel! He's a friend."

"Fine." Angel muttered, hoslering the gun once more. "Next time, no warnings. Only reason I'm doing this is 'cause my friend and commander asked. Now, what the Hell just happened?"

Apocalypse kept his gaze fixed on Angel, eyeing him up and down with a look of unimpressment "Friendly, aren't we? I was engaging in friendly banter with a former protege' of mine. Chapel, I would advise you to put a muzzle on your dog before I permanently introduce it's face to it's colon." As he uttered the last word, he suddenly had his sword drawn with blood covering the blade. All of them heard the sounds of bodies hitting the ground.

Chapel checked over the edge of the wall to see a massive rope of Zombies, each one's head perfectly fixed into another's anus. The one at the end without a head in it's arse had a pain-filled expression on it's face.

Apocalypse grinned sadistically while slicing the blade in the air, letting the blood spatter off of it and onto the nearby wall.

"Holy crap. You're good. Then again, Chapel apparently learned from the best. A bit sadistic though." Angel admitted. "Oh, call me a dog ever again, you'll be dropping teeth along with your undigested dinner. Teacher of my best friend or not. I don't even care if it's joking or referring to something as epic as what you just pulled."

Apocalypse sheathed his sword, yawning "Noted." He turned to Chapel and asked "So... the Department sent you here to investigate the hurricane of fucked-up around here? Not surprising. Always have to stick their noses somewhere if it smells nasty. Still, I'm glad they sent someone competent."

Chapel smiled "What are you doing here anyway, Nathan? I thought you left the Department."

His mentor smirked at him chidingly "What are you going to do? Arrest me?"

Chapel shook his head "I can turn a blind eye when it comes to old friends. But please tell me you're not buried too deep into what you can't handle."

Apocalypse chuckled at this "Please... There is nothing I cannot handle, Chapel. I am here on business. Don't worry, it's not with these roaches. There's a certain treasure hidden here called Aji. I am here to recover it. If it means cutting down these roaches, then so be it."

Chapel nodded "Enemy of my enemy." At this, he shook Apocalypse's gloved hand, signifying their temporary partnership.

"So...This means we get the really crazy guy on our team? Fine by me. What does this Aji thing do?" Angel asked slightly confused. "If that's what we got shot down for, I really want to know if it was worth it."

Apocalypse turned to an entrance into the inner sanctum of the ruins with his sword sheathed at his side "Don't really know, and I don't much care. My superiors need it. That's all that matters."

Chapel raised a brow at him "So compliant. Besides, who are you working for exactly?"

Apocalypse jumped down into the dark inner sanctum "I serve a higher purpose, Chapel. That is all you need to know. And as a friend and comrade in arms, let's just keep my little appearance here a secret between all of us, shall we?"

"Uh-huh. Sure, lest my ass meet my face as punishment, I will remain quiet on your being here." Angel sighed. "Ya' know, if I didn't know any better, I'd think this was a confusing Tomb Raider fanfic, only with a crazy super speed male Laura Croft on steroids."

Apocalypse smirked back at Chapel "Your boy catches on quick, doesn't he Chapel?"

Chapel grimaced and defended his friend "Ease up, Nate, the guy does his job well and knows what he's doing."

Apocalypse laughed at this "Does he now? Well then, I'll be eager to see what he can do against Class-D Demons."

Chapel was surprised to hear this. He, only a few times, ever did Class-D missions. The first six letter missions were reserved for the elite simply due to pure difficulty, and the ranking system was shared with Demons and other phenomenon. But ever time Chapel did a D-class mission, it nearly resulted in his rather gratuitous death. Each one, Apocalypse had to save his hide. He was thankful for his company, otherwise this would certainly be a one-way trip. Regardless, the government should have been aware of the difficulty of this mission. Why would they send them on it if they weren't aware?

Lucy vouched for her friend "Angel and I are fully-qualified for this mission. We'll do fine."

Apocalypse smirked back at them, his eerie glowing red eyes piercing her like the vision of death "Qualification and experience are different things, girl. But you both will soon learn that first-hand."

"Lucy, it's ok. We'll just show this guy what we can do. Class-D may be bad, but we're members of DOW for a reason. We're not human by technical standards. We can deal. And thanks for sticking up for me. Both of you." Angel said with gratitude.

Lucy checked her handheld scanner once again "Heads up, guys. I'm picking up more humanoids heading our way and fast!"

At that moment, the sounds of helicopter blades could be heard whirring closer and closer to them. If one looked up, they would see a Black Hawk helicopter making its way towards the area. However, a more horrifying sound could be heard from it: the spinning of the miniguns mounted on its underbelly. Once it stopped at a certain angle, it began to hover sideways, the spinning of the miniguns still heard.

Then, all hell cut loose.

The helicopter unleashed hell upon the area, the enemy's defenses being shattered with a power displayed only by the mechanical god in the sky. The creatures that were near them were rendered defenseless and torn apart by the high-caliber bullet concentrations. Within seconds, the immediate assault was decimated, and the team on the ground was relieved for the moment. As the helicopter hovered in the area, it stopped to remain stationary above them. Two black ropes came out from the sides, and two figures slid quickly down the ropes.

Most likely, the team would recognize them.

It was none other than Omega and Epsilon - two members of Team 600.

Chapel was astonished to see reinforcements had arrived. He rushed over to the newly arrived agents to greet them, Apocalypse looking more than offended by their mere presence, displaying it visually with a sneer of disgust and glare that meant he longed to purge himself of their presence.

Lucy smiled at their arrival as Chapel greeted "Omega, Eps! What are you two doing here?"

As he turned towards them, Epsilon gave a rather skeptical frown followed by the raise of an eyebrow. Omega turned her head towards him with a somewhat bored expression, each hand carrying what appeared to be two AMT Hardballer Longslide pistols. "That depends on the situation you're in, sir." He answered calmly, a clear Australian tone able to be heard. "But in any case, we're here to serve as backup. HQ finally allowed themselves to get cautious and decided to send us." He turned temporarily towards Omega and raised his hands out.

Omega rolled her grey eyes, raising up the two pistols. "I don' see why I even botha hangin' on t' these at all." She said with slight irritation, but simply swung her hands and tossed them to his waiting palms. He caught them expertly. "You really need t' start lookin' afta' y' own shit, Lamb."

"Gee, thanks...." Abel curled his lip a little in a scoffing motion, lowering the pistols and turning back to face his commander. "So, what exactly is the situation?"

Chapel gestured to Apocalypse, who was displeased that Chapel had dragged him into the conversation, and answered "This is Apocalypse, a former agent in the D.O.W. He is assisting us with this mission. Because of that, I see no reason to turn him in. Currently, our chopper and pilot have both been sent to hell via sniper rounds. Thus far, we've only encountered ghoulish undead but we're expecting heavy resistance due, in part, to your rather loud arrival."

Abel curled his lip again, averting his eyes away out of slight irritation. "Hey, if it wasn't for our loud arrival, you all would've still been where you were." He answered, raising his pistols up to the air in a holstering position. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Omega reach behind her back and pull out one of her weapons: an unscoped L96A1. "But bloody hell, we've got the chopper for a while and a bit of time on our hands. If anything, I think that's good odds for us."

"Two people don't mean anything if we surrounded, which we are...." Omega piped up, lowering her own weapon in a holstering position. "We gotta find a way out, and quick."

A deep, gruffy voice spat out "Too late." The voice was trailed back to a spikey, fanged Demon standing atop an elevated platform, the only article of clothing of his is a dirty towel worn around his waiste.

Chapel twirled around quickly and unholstered his twin pistols, firing them repeatedly at the new assailant, who disappeared into the shadows behind him. One of his spikes shot out from a nearby area toward Chapel, but he was too busy reloading his guns to notice it.

"Chapel! Duck!" Angel yelled while drawing his gun. ''Looks like I'm gonna have to do THAT trick. ''He placed the gun in his right hand and took care to to think of the possible angles it could fly. ''200 or more degrees of luck. I hate those odds. ''He squeezed the trigger, letting his Phantom round do what he hoped it would. The spike and the fake bullet collided, while the real one burried itself into the rock face. "Jackpot"

It seemed as they were good enough to react reflexively, Epsilon supposed.

However, he didn't allow himself to divulge on his thoughts. Eyes narrowing and pupil shrinking, he immediately jumped into a state of mental alertness, raising his pistols to search for the assailant that had made the move against them. On cue, Omega immediately backed up until their backs were directly facing each other, the two visually covering one sector the other could not on his or her own. Such was a display of excellent teamwork effiency - one of the main traits that were displayed out of Team 600.

Chapel ordered "Light flares the in the shadows! Don't let them use the darkness!"

Nodding, Lucy lit a red flare and tossed it into the shadows where the spike had been sent near Chapel, revealing the Demon trying to escape into another corner. She tossed another flare into each corner until the entire area near them was lit. They had a few minutes to beat the creature before the flares went out, and the pressure was intensified due to Team Nero having no more flares to spare.

Chapel shot the cover-less Demon in the chest three times, each hit rocking it back but not piercing it's spikey armoured flesh. It chuckled sadistically and commented "You're running out of your puny man-made bullets blessed with the power of your puny God. Besides, I've got backup." He ushered to the cieling, where a red, armoured Demon with a pair of swords and curved horns adorning it's head flapped like a bat with it's double-pairs of wings, circling around the cieling and preparing to dive for the U.S. soldiers. It let out a blood-curdling shriek as it dove, readying it's blades to slice through the defenses of Team 600 whilst the spike-covered Demon sent more spikes flying toward Angel and Chapel.

Chapel managed to shoot the spikes coming at them out of the air but took cover behind Angel to reload "Cover me! Reloading!"

"Omega!! The wings!!!" Abel yelled, quickly aiming his pistols at the creature as it started its dive.

A smirk crossed Omega's face, and she closed her eyes for a moment. Even as the creature dived towards them, screaming at the top of its lungs, she didn't move a muscle. Quickly raising her rifle upward, she used the ironsight to aim at the creature, lead the target, and fire a shot at the seam connecting one of its wings to the main body. In conjunction, Abel leveled his pistols at the other wing and opened fire, both fingers pulling the triggers at a rapid rate.

Angel started shooting the spike covered Demon, using his power to keep it on the defensive. Then, because of all the clamor, he didn't notice the sound of Omega's rifle. "Reloading is for wimps- Ah crap. Should not have said anything. Hurry up, I gotta reload now." he fumbled around with the reloading mechanism, trying to open it. "Crap! It's stuck!"

The flying Demon's wings were quickly shot off, sending it hurtling toward the ground, skidding across the sandy stone floor. As it regained it's balance, it readied it's blades to charge toward the group.

Lucy prepared her daggers and charged forth toward the wingless Demon. As it swung toward her, she managed to jump over it and, while in midair, swing one of her daggers down on the back of it's shoulder, only to have the blade graze against a metallic sheet of armoured flesh. it whirled around to slice her in half but was shot away by Chapel before the blade could reach her.

Apocalypse watched on as another Demon joined the fray, the one who alerted the entire complex to Team Nero's arrival. She dove in and snatched Angel's rifle right out of his hands with her talon-like feet, soaring off with it as the lights dimmed, giving the Demons the element of darkness once again.

Chapel called out "Everyone stick close! Apocalypse, where are you?!"

Apocalypse returned "Don't worry, I can see in the dark! I'll find and dispatch these cronies where I see them!" As he said this, he began slashing wildly at the spikey Demon, who used it's armoured hands to guard each strike.

Angel jumped a little upon seeing the Demon take his oversized gun, thankful it didn't tear anything vital. He kept an eye on it until the darkness was total once more. "Great. My best Demon slaying gun just got ganked. Thank whatever deity there is that I never travel without," he reached into his pockets and pulled out a pistol, florishing it dramatically, "a spare or three."

Nodding to each other briefly, Omega and Epsilon broke off from each other, their guns aimed at the demon. It was a maneuver designed to keep the thing at bay. As Omega pulled back the hammer on her gun in order to load another shot, Epsilon kept firing the eight remaining shots at the beast before his gun went click. Swearing underneath his breath, he stopped to reload, while Omega lifted her own rifle. The barrel was leveled straight at its head. Her teeth was showing within her grin.

"Boom, headshot, nigga...."

BANG!

At that range, nothing could survive. The Demon's brains painted the floor as it's headless body clammered to the ground, flailing about as it was still alive briefly. It flung like a fish on land until finally settling into death.

Growing tired of the spike-covered Demon guarding his attacks, Apocalypse imbued his weapon with a Demonic aura that made it glow red and resonate a whirring buzz, like a saw. With a quick swing, the guarding Demon's hand was sliced clean off with blood trailing behind it. It let out a deep scream of agony as it backed away and began running for it's life. Apocalypse was far too classy to go chasing after it. Since the Demonic aura disintegrated whatever it touched on impact, it wasn't covered in blood. He turned the ability off and sheathed it casually and began to turn around to regroup with the others as a presence made itself known directly behind him.

Lights glittered the entire room, illuminating it. The cowering Demon who had it's hand sliced off was hiding behind a pillar so as not to be seen. Clutching Apocalypse by his neck and holding him suspended in the air was a massive, eight-foot-tall giant with beady, red eyes, a mussley underbite, short jet black hair that wildly stuck up on several ends, and wearing a fur-pelt on his back with a medieval-styled waraxe and saw sheathed at his sides. He grinned and echoed out in a deep, intimidating voice "White-haired warrior. I've been waiting."

Chapel raised a brow at him "Let go of Apocalypse." he commanded, ignoring the greeting.

The new Demon threw Apocalypse to them, who choked for breath, his windpipe having been gagged for a few seconds. The Demon went on "I was sincerely hoping my minions would dispatch of your allies before we fought, but I suppose I will have to make do. I'd rather wait no longer." He folded his muscular arms and smirked at Chapel, his red eyes fixed on him eerily.

"Oh, damn it..."

"God damn..."

The statements of complaint and irritation came from Omega and Epsilon respectively. However, their weapons were directed at their new enemy. As Omega reloaded another shot into her gun, she kept the barrel aimed at the creature. "Oh, sure, j-just stand there n' hope we don' put a bullet thu yo skull. Real smart thing t'do, ugly." She muttered dryly.

"Don't give the beast ideas!" Epsilon said irritantly, although keeping his eye and guns trained on the creature.

Angel stared at the new Demon, who was easily able to overcome the man who just a few minutes prior was able to destory an army of living undead in less than a second, with less effort still. "Gee, Eps, ya think her insults are helping matters? He can split us like toothpicks, and you think he's gonna go down from a shot or two to anything less than the head? I'm a gambling man, but I'm not liking the odds at the moment."

A small, white creature resembling a cross between a cat and a rabbit revealed itself on the new Demon's shoulder, speaking in a cutesy, telepathic voice "Yoo want mai suggestion? Aim for his big hairy butt."

Chapel squinted his eyes with a comical face toward the new addition to the theatrical display that was this mission. Things were taking a comical turn for the worste "What... the hell...?"

The creature replied while hopping off of the brute's shoulder and onto the floor in front of Chapel "Nice to meet you too~ I'm Ajina. Call me Aji. And you are?"

Apocalypse, with his newly regained ability to breathe, choked out "You mean... that's...?"

Aji insisted "Your name please, snow white."

Chapel coughed into his gloved fist awkwardly and answered "Chapel."

Aji shook her head in disbelief "Bull-doodoo. Your real name."

Chapel put his gloved hands at his hips and exclaimed "Why should I tell you my real name?"

Aji turned to walk away "Fine then. I guess you guys won't need my help. Would sure be a shame if all your friends died simply because you were too shy to tell me your name."

Angel decided to cover for his friend. "Aji, please listen to me. His real name is Johnny Bravo. Not flipping kidding either. Now please save us. We're desperate here."

Had the situation not had gone quickly as it did, Omega and Epsilon would've stopped to stare in bewilderment at this "Aji" creature suddenly appearing. However, as it was....

"....you know, even I wouldn't fall for that." Epsilon muttered, lowering his pistols for the time being. If anything wanted to happen, it would have already. So, at least for the moment, he wouldn't have to keep his guns held up forever.

Aji gave a scoffing sound "I'll hear it from him. I can tell when he's lying."

Chapel grimaced "John."

Aji stared at him eerily for a while then nodded "Very well... Jon-Jon~"

Chapel stared at her with a comically twitching eye "W-What?"

Aji continued "Jon-Jon~ Your new name."

Chapel stared at her for a while then went into a comical rage "All this was just so you could give me a nickname?!"

Aji corrected "Title. It's an honourable thing, to be given a title by Aji. But anyway, Jon-Jon~ You've got a fight to, well... fight."

At this, the towering Demon unsheathed his axe and saw and lumbered over toward the comparable miniscule warrior and acknowledged "Call me Barbarus. For generations, I have slain many warriors searching for a good rival. I hope you prove better then them." At this, he removed a skull from his pocket and, with ease, crushed it in his hand. Unclenching it, the sandy remains of the once decrepit bone fell to the ground.

Chapel's knees shook uncontrollably and his eyes went comically tiny as he squeaked out in fear "...Meep."

"C'mon. Do what the furry thing said and fight. If this thing's telling the truth, it has to be you." Angel was a bit ticked at Aji's little stunt but was thankful for the brief moment of humor.

"What the hell is everyone doing?!"

Both Omega and Epsilon were thinking the exact same thing, and they were staring at the whole situation with clear disbelief. Was the thing actually trying to fight their commander one on one, especially when he was outnumbered? Why didn't they just shoot Barbarus and get it over with? They had more important things to worry about! Sharing a look towards each other, both members of Team 600 raised their weapons once again at Barbarus.

"Yeah, let's jus kill this fuckin' thing n' run...." said Omega, raising the barrel of the weapon towards the thing's head and tightening her finger on the trigger.

Barbarus overheard Omega and, with a light shove, knocked Chapel out of the way, clambering across the ground. He marched toward her, lumbering over the lady and creating a massive shadow over her. He kneeled down so that his face was touching the barrel of her gun and smirked "Do you really take me for the kind of man who is afraid of a puny little shit like you?"

"..."

Omega could only look on with widened, shocked eyes as Barbarus looked her in the face. With the monstrous size that he held over her, it sent a ferocious chill down her spine and her heart to almost break the ribcage with its rapid beating. For a moment, fear had swept over her person. This guy had taken out one of their strongest quite easily... so how was she going to fare?!

She wouldn't.

....

But that didn't mean she would be forced on her knees at the amusement of her enemy.

A snarl decorated her face, and she responded the only way she did to otherworldly creatures that got in her face.

BANG!

Barbarus' head flew back from the burst of it, blood spraying Omega's face and gun as he doubled back in pain, bellowing in furious agony "BITCH! I'LL RIP HER APART! THIS CUNT WILL DIE!"

Aji shook her head in shame "Now you've done it, lady."

Barbarus went into a rage, ripping a chunk of stone pillar out and throwing it at Omega, only to have it quickly sliced in half by Apocalypse, who was glaring at the large Demon with the bleeding hole in his face.

He exclaimed "Hey fugly! Why don't you pick on someone your own size!"

Barbarus quickly silenced the offender by grabbing hold of both of his arms with one hand and holding him up to his face "My own size?! Look at you! You're nothing but some punk in a faggy outfit with a tiny little sword! You're nothing compared to Barbarus!"

Omega was immediately retreating backwards to her teammates' side, a mixture of excitement and apprehension on her face at the giant's screams. Epsilon was looking at her with a combination of disapproval and surprise at what she did. "Woman, you definitely have a habit of making it seem like you want to die sometimes..." He muttered, before leveling both pistols at the angry beast.

"You shu' realize, Lamb...." She answered dismissively, more confidence in her tone as she raised the barrel of the rifle at Barbarus's fingers that clutched Apocalypse. She cocked her final shot into the magazine. "People like these big guys ten' to let they size talk for 'em. Jus' love to talk shit 'bout people smaller n' them. Not t' mention, no one can stand a sniper bullet to they head up close."

Barbarus flung Apocalypse at Omega and Epsilon, then turned to Angel with his weapons ready.

Angel took aim with the pistol, making sure that his right hand was at least minorly in contact. "Come get me you over-grown ape! While you're at it, eat lead!" He fired as fast as he could, a vernible wall of firepower aiming directly for Barbarus, doubled because of his gift. Once the clip was empty, he took cover to reload.

Each round hit his padded vest, luckily for him, and he hammered through, breaking through Angel's cover and preparing to smash his axe down on his head, only to have Chapel barely manage to guard with his sword. The raw strength of his enemy brought Chapel down to his knees. Aji observed with interest as she had been looking forward to Barbarus facing Chapel.

"Damn it!"

Omega moved herself out of the way, and Epsilon immediately dived in order to break the fall with his own person. They were both sent sprawling onto the ground because of it. The Australian let out a loud grunt as he was thrown onto his back, shutting his eyes instinctively. However, he recovered immediately to push himself up to as much of a sitting position as he could.

Apocalypse got up immediately and watched on as Chapel narrowly managed to pull out his white gun and shoot Barbarus in the kneecap. He roared in pain and doubled back, blood bursting from his leg. Chapel panted out "That's what you get for fucking with humans, dirtbag!"

Immediately lunging back up, Epsilon took this chance to move in, rushing forward. Lifting his guns forward, he unleashed a steady steam of bullets into Barbaru's wounded leg. Omega lifted up her rifle once again, grinning in what would've appeared to be a sadistic manner as she pulled the trigger and unleashed the final, powerful shot to add insult to injury.

Barbarus fell to the ground, blood pouring all over the stone. He reached out to Aji while panting "Spirit... help me!"

Aji shook her head "Sorry, big boi. Mai new Candy-Saddle is Jon-Jon~ Have fun in Hell, though."

Chapel holstered both his gun and his sword, at last realizing now that the chaos had ended, that Lucy was missing. "Angel, where's Lucy?!"

Aji answered for him "She's currently fighting the flying Harpie. Gettin' pretty banged up, too. Any more stalling and I'd say she's a goner."

Chapel grimaced "Tch. Figures." He turned to Barbarus "You stay put. Aji, lead us to Lucy."

Aji nodded "Roger, roger!"

Luci was overpowered by her winged foe, violently coughing up blood from her own injuries. "Goddammit, I...have to get up..." She desperately struggled to stand on both legs, which were notably clawed by the harpies talons. Even more of a challenge with the severe wound on the side of her torso. If the enemy didn't kill her first, bleeding out her guts would probably do the trick. Suddenly, the harpie released a nightmarish shriek that was strong enough to paralyze Luci with intimadation. "I have to move...!" With little to no time left, she desperately threw her poisoned dagger towards the vile creature before falling to the floor. Confident, she was convinced it should injure the monster, until it deviously captured the blade with it's own teeth. "No!"

Blood trickled down the sides of the Harpies' mouth as she slammed her clawed hand against Luci, knocking her away and disarming her in one hand "Nice dagger you've got here..." She retrieved it from her mouth and wiped the blood away from her mouth with the back of her clawed hand.

As she prepared to throw the dagger at Luci's head, Chapel bellowed "FUCK-" She turned to see him raising his gloved fist to punch her "-YOUR-" She raised her dagger to slice off his hand but her reaction time wasn't quick enough and she soon had a balled fist slamming into her face, sending her reeling back "-COUCH!"

"Don't mind me...just bleeding out..." Luci jokingly remarked as she layed on the floor.