08 - For Whom The Bell Tolls
| << Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap | Protected By The Damned |
| The old ways of fighting on Earth are rapidly coming to a close.
Have the backstabbing ways of demons changed the future of hell on Earth? Or did Katie have something to do with it? Pandora reveals more than just a little to Katie. And together both of them have a huge decision to make. Sometimes, evil does something so raw, even those scared to step up shoulder the responsibility of revenge. This time, T'Chezz is sending hundreds of demons and the Enlightened to take Katie and Pandora down to Hell, so he can stay up on Earth. |
 |
Lots of new things happening in this episode- T'Chezz and Moloch make their move on Earth, Katie and Pandora work out a trusting relationship, and changed are made with Korbin's Killers. Joshua's weapons become of increasing value, and Earth is apprised of the Demon Dangers, readying readers for the next Arc, War of the Damned.
PBTD 08/1, 2, 3 Introduction
Katie and Damian debrief with Brushwood, good fight be all, few casualties, confirm portal and Moloch’s presence. Will take the Enlightened awhile to re-group. Back at Korbin’s, Timothy confirms that portals are traceable, and even anticipated to some degree (energy build-up). Good to know, as fighters can then anticipate and project new tactics. Timothy and his demon talk. Timothy likes working with the team. Timothy goes to Stephanie Lee for a makeover- hair, clothes, new look.
Katie and Damian come home, clean up, and all go to Torn Asunder for nachos and “family” time. Katie gives tribute to human military for fighting at levels above their abilities and training, Timothy’s plate does NOT end up n the floor (he’d been watching!), and a good time was had by all.Moloch meets with his remaining troops, all set upon revenge. Moloch returns them to earth, to train better, and not tell ANYONE of their defeat. Trenton knows Moloch is his only ticket to revenge, so he will obey. Katie and Pandora have donuts, go out to train with the Q-staff.
Katie goes to the cliff, where Jeremy is scattered, to practice, and has a talk with Pandora. Katie asks to know about Pandora’s past, and Pandora obliges. (See Character, - Pandora)
PBTD 08/4 Pandora's Role
Meeting with Korbin, Katie, Calvin and Damian. Korbin needs to know the reality between Katie and Pandora. Can Pandora be trusted? Damian thinks it’s time to tell them about Pandora, so Katie does. She doesn’t remember what went on because Pandora did it all. And she allows Pandora to take over her body in the meeting, and talk to the three others. They are amazed, and talk about trust. How can we know that you are being truthful?” Korbin wasn’t holding back.
“Good question, and the answer is...you can’t. I’m a demon, after all. But if I wanted to take Katie, I wouldn’t wait for her permission. I am in here for the long haul, so I’m not going to get her killed—which means I have to keep her friends as safe as I can too.” Korbin nodded and blew out a breath. “Fair answer.” Now they understand Katie better.
Korbin and Stephanie dream about a life that might have been, if … and Stephanie promises him that if anything happens to him, she will not stay to get revenge, she WILL have that life, including the dog at her feet.
PBTD 08/5 Brock, Special Weapons
Brock is home, helping Mom with the chores, when Erin comes by, and offers a hand as well. Brock is attracted to him, and is upset that his demon might want to try it out. Brock loved women only. Never a man! He liked women, period fucking dot. In fact, lots and lots of fucking and dots. And this damned demon was trying to change him.
Joshua Charles and Travis loading weapons for dispersal, as the team hadn’t come into the factory much since they had started using chemicals that had the ability to cause them excruciating pain. The schedule had shifted to twenty-four-hour days for the military guys. One day on, twelve hours off, six days a week. A new area, a new weapon, was completely off limits to any of the Damned, since it was highly dangerous to them.
PBTD 08/6 Team Knows about Pandora
General Brushwood, in reviewing the videos of the battle, realizes that Katie isn’t Katie, but - ??? Will contact Korbin about it.
Katie, Calvin, Eric and Stephanie (Pilot), go to Vegas on a call. Few details. The team all now know and accept that they are talking to both Pandora and Katie now.
PBTD 08/7, 8 The Enlightened, Brock
Brock does the locals a favor, and plays at a local bar, his demon harassing him the whole time. Brock has had enough of it, as she won’t let up on him. Brock promises one meeting with a guy if she’ll shut up. He does, and she does. He will meet with Eric in Friday.
The group go to site of infraction, almost 20 demons, two floors. Katie will take top floor, Eric, Calvin and Stephanie Lee will take first floor. Las Vegas Police will kill anyone who comes outside (not including hostages).
Katie goes to top floor, opens Ballroom door, sees tied hostages. Is warned by eye movement, and shoots a demon (special bullets) who tried to jump her. Katie eliminated them all, leaving the hostages in the Ballroom, and goes down to help them there. They eliminate them all.
PBTD 9 - 24 Hell on Earth - The forces of the Underworld move to conquer Earth and Humanity, led by TChezz and Moloch. Earth resonds with tactics and weaponry, the thrust of the rest of the book:
PBTD 08/9
Moloch and T’Chezz meet, Moloch reviews troops T’Chezz has gathered. About 1,000. Moloch approved, and T’Chezz left the office. Baal came in, carrying a basket of puppies, and snacking on them as he entered. They agree that T’Chezz was getting too arrogant.
The General has come to the base to speak to Katie, if possible. Katie in cliffs, practicing. Joshua will drive General out to her. Korbin to show Jehovivich around facility. Korbin takes her to Stephanie Lee. Joshua and Katie agree that no matter what happens, they will not be put into R & D.
PBTD 08/10
Special Group training, nine-mile run, etc. Getting ready for assignment from Brushwood (See Groups, Brushwood’s Special Four - D-RRF)
Katie and team enjoy an evening of Soaps and popcorn. The calm before the storm.
Brock, in his small town, hear Trenton and group terrorizing inhabitants. Brock goes to stop them, and is almost killed, but his succubus heals him, and now knows that whoever these guys were, they had been sent by someone powerful—and the succubus needed Brock alive to figure out who it was. There was no reason to attack that town, not unless there were bigger plots afoot. She had a sinking feeling this was just the beginning.
PBTD 08/11
General Brushwood goes to Fort Bragg, with his Special Four, and meets with a new force, created to wage the new war on demons, creatures not of this world. After the pep talk, as he and Jehovivich leave the meeting, he whispers to her, “This will be the last time we see all of them alive.”
Moloch, and T’Chezz, stand in front of their group of 1000 demons, giving them a pep talk on going to war, knowing that these thousand would be able to kill off at least some of the fighters Earth was preparing, and that maybe he’d get lucky and have T’Chezz destroyed.
Timothy had been tracking the energy spike indicating Trenton’s incursion into the small town, and had, in fact, the child’s 911 call. Timothy told Korbin, who called a meeting and related that the demon mercs have taken over a small town and they are killing everyone—man, woman, and child. Timothy caught the incursion as soon as it began, picking up the spark of a portal in one of the town’s blind alleys.” The team packs and (special weapons) and leaves, including Timothy. Charles Butler also heard the call, and was enraged. You can kill American men and women and they might seem ambivalent about fighting back. But you kill a child? You will get an American-sized boot up your ass no matter what race, color, or creed you are.
PBTD 08/12
General Brushwood is instructing his troops on how to recognize a demon. “You’ll see here that the eyes glow red. At this point typically there isn’t much left of whatever human the demon took over. Some demons will look like this and others will look like you or me, only with a red ring in their eyes and a shitty attitude.” Talks of special ammo, and special metal, and that it takes either a -or decapitation to kill them. When you kill one of these sonsabitches, they will either leave the corpse of the human they took, or turn to dust. Intel has told us that the demon itself ends up back in hell to either be sent back here or banished to the depths where it won’t see the light of day for centuries.” One of the soldiers raised their hand. “So you’re saying that we may, in theory, fight the same demon more than once in different battles?”
The General tells them about Katie, and the private mercenary groups. “The woman you see is Damned. She is a member of a civilian mercenary group that, after decades of miscommunication, we are now working closely with to win this war. They have demons in them, but they are able to harness that power and use it to fight back. They are the greatest hope we have to win this. They are experienced professionals, and working with them both minimizes our casualties and maximizes the kill count.
“You will even find that on occasion you are running back up for a team of no more than four mercenaries. Those four will take down every demon they find. This particular mercenary is named Katie, and she is the reason you now have the special bullets to use. She and her team have cooperated with the Army at every step, and you are hereby ordered never to cause one of them harm under threat of dire consequences. (See Creatures – Demons)
The General hears of the incursion in Brock’s town of Archfiend, and calls out ALL of the private Merc groups to help.
Korbin gets the call, had gotten it from Timothy long before, so was almost there by the time the general got to him. Also, additional info – a giant portal had opened up, called “The Gate to Hell”, through which over 1000 demons were coming to inundate the town, and start towards the cities.
Pandora talks to Katie - I am your big gun, and you need to hold me back for when it’s really needed. Remember what it does to both of us. We can’t go expending that kind of energy right off the bat. I’m taking down my blocks and letting any demon who gets close know exactly who I am. That will distract them enough for you to get the upper hand. get your mind right, bitch, because we are about to have some fun.
PBTD 08/13
Colonel Jehovivich expedites loading, telling the Special Team to help, then they will be fighting alongside her in the field. She reports to Brushwood, reviews the lack of organization between civilian and military forces/red tape involved.
Korbin’s Killers arrive, watch Katie drop 200 feet from the chopper. The rest of then can’t do that. Demons start to throw rocks at Korbin’s copter as it looks for a landing spot. Chopper had rough landing, essentially a piece of junk now, but all of team OK, ready to fight. Pandora and Katie come to Trenton’s group of mercs, whose souls are intertwined with their demons, so that when the demon is pulled or sent from the body the human soul goes with it too. The soul and the demon agree, so none of them are redeemable.
PBTD 08/14
All of the local police who first attacked the demons were killed. National Guard who followed, likewise. Most of the State Troopers who followed were killed. Then, Katie came, Korbin’s came, and government troops came, all of whom seemed better prepared. The General and National troops come in, Jehovivich to get all organized. Charlotte Guthrie had a tip from a hacker about the events, and was there, as a reporter. Called a friend at a station, and the event got on the sir ASAP, live. Literally, an attack from Hell. The soldiers were ready.
Trenton knows Katie and her team are there, so will go for them individually, personally, for revenge for the hotel massacre
PBTD 08/15
The Event goes National, showing blurred pictures of fire and destruction, but no one is saying if it is Terrorists or others. All on hold, including a News helicopter at the scene. Charlotte continues sending pictures and posts to her Facebook, most of which is picked up by the News stations, but still no specific group mentioned. Some news stations saying they aren’t human, but still no confirmation. The Special Four have killed 47 so far, and are going strong.
Eric and Calvin find a group of demons inside a building, go in to take them. They are what remained of the original enlightened, and are also killed. PBTD 08/16
The Event goes National, showing blurred pictures of fire and destruction, but no one is saying if it is Terrorists or others. All on hold, including a News helicopter at the scene. Charlotte continues sending pictures and posts to her Facebook, most of which is picked up by the News stations, but still no specific group mentioned. Some news stations saying they aren’t human, but still no confirmation. The Special Four have killed 47 so far, and are going strong.
Eric and Calvin find a group of demons inside a building, go in to take them. They are what remained of the original enlightened, and are also killed.
PBTD 08/17
Korbin, Stephanie, Timothy, Joshua and Damian are surrounded by eighty or so demons. They have no plan at the moment, so Stephanie fires, killing three of the demons. Not enough at one time! So they devised moves to kill five at one time! Eventually the rows of demons slowed, learning their lesson, but keep attacking. Eric and Calvin go to help, and do so, except that Eric has a claw through his chest, and needs help fast. Katie to the rescue! She fights her way into the team, gets Eric, and using Pandora’s strength, carries him to the town perimeter for help. Ella sees her and Pandora, and admires their teamwork.
PBTD 08/18
Charlotte sees Katie bringing Eric in for help, and then the General carrying a terrified child, Jehovivich just having shot the child’s demon-ridden mother. Took pics of both instances. It looked like the General wasn’t going to make it, until his special Four came around and finished off the demons chasing him, the Colonel taking the last one.
Charlotte approached the General, getting him on camera, and requesting, “Sir, if you wouldn’t mind, I want to go in and stream the video from the inside. The people of Earth know something is going on, and this is the perfect time to introduce them to the idea that the demons are here, and they aren’t backing down.” “This shit can’t stay hidden forever, can it? Those demons are going to find out we humans don’t scare so fucking easily! Go. Take a weapon and film whatever you want, but don’t get in the way.” “Thank you, sir,” Charlotte exclaimed excitedly. “I won’t get in the way, and I’ll make sure that what I am filming is exactly what the public needs to see.” Charlotte gets a gun and goes toward the battles, to kill some demons herself. Meets with Katie, wants to go with her, but Katie in too much of a hurry to get back to team.
PBTD 08/19
The team takes just a second to regroup, drink the water Katie had brought (Charlotte gave it to her) before they cleared the remaining demons from the nearly-vacant streets. Katie shook her head, knowing the rest of them, including the Enlightened, were hiding in the town, just waiting for their moment to strike.
As the team rests for a moment, Pandora realizes the team had started to treat her like a person, not some slimy demon. They talked to her the same way they talked to Katie, and they appreciated what she did to help the team. There was a swelling inside her that she hadn’t felt before, like she was the Grinch at the end of the movie.
Maybe I won’t be the scary bitch forever, Pandora thought to herself. But then again, it’s so much damn fun.
Moloch and T’Chezz talking about the disaster below. What you did was send a bunch of idiots into a buffet with no leader to wrangle them. My mercs did their job and secured the town for you. They were not tasked to lead your army. You may not have gotten the outcome you were hoping for, but you didn’t look hard enough here. You wanted to foment fear, so I would call this a success.”
T’Chezz snarled, feeling the irritation building again. He was getting screwed out of everything that he had worked so hard to achieve. Moloch, on the other hand, rather enjoyed watching T’Chezz so angry, drowning in his own idiotic failure. The time was growing closer; the time to get rid of him once and for all. He could feel it in the pit of his stomach, and when he finally had his way he could go to Lucifer and pin all the chaos on T’Chezz, coming out the hero for destroying him. It was the perfect plan, and he only hoped he could bring Lilith in as the icing on the cake.
The General saves Charlotte from being attacked by a knife-wielding demon, live, on camera. The New York team was kicking major ass, having stumbled on a huge nest of demons using the skating rink as a hideout. The demons had been listening to bad nineties music as they devoured the employees. The colonel nodded at the Band and they ran in, guns at the ready.
“These are good guys—New York mercenaries. Protect them and they will have your back,” the colonel yelled to the Brothers as they jumped the half-wall. They nodded and laid into the demons, blowing their brains to dust all over the floor. The New York team nodded in thanks as they broke necks. It was a fucking furball of destruction and mayhem —and Charlotte filmed everything. “The battle continues to rage, and I don’t know how much battery I have left on this thing, but keep watching. I will keep filming until the phone dies...or I do.”
PBTD 08/20
Brock final awakens, his succubus having healed him, wondering what might have happened to his mother. Brock and his demon go off to try to find the one who had almost killed him. His succubus was not a good demon, and had decided to blackmail Brock into anything she wanted, then go back to Hell for a good time.
Brock finds a bar with three Enlightened in it, and a group of hostages in the back, H attacks them, killing two, and was almost killed himself when his mom shot the demon and saved him.
Korbin comes in, sees the situation, and releases all of the hostages to go to the Army perimeter for help. But he advises Brock (possessed), that he will have to stay with them, as those are the rules. Brock agrees.
PBTD 08/21
The General and the Colonel lift the media blackout, so that the world can see the successes, before they and the D-RRf head back out to continue the cleanup. Jehovivich has changed her mind about the demon-possessed mercs helping.
Brushwood goes to his main post to find out the general news, and finds that there is about a 70% kill rate on the demons. However, the 30% are trying to escape, and will be looking for fresh meat soon. Brushwood decides to use the poisoned tear gas on those demons trying to escape (When the demons start coming out of the woodwork—and they will—I want you to blow them to shit. I don’t want there to be enough of a demon soul to go back to hell), but be SURE there are no private mercs there! They do so, and have some success, but the General feels that “Something is coming. I can feel it.”
PBTD 08/22
Moloch is disgusted with T’Chezz, opens a portal and pushes him to Earth, to find his sister, the one he tricked, and who wanted to kill him. T’Chezz arrived on Earth enraged! Moloch had tricked him; set him up only to push him through a portal to Earth, just like T’Chezz had done to Lilith when he had wanted her out of the picture. He kills any of the soldiers who attempt to attack him (skin too tough for bullets to penetrate), and the General discovers him – ordering the C-17s to unload the Stryker. Katie and Pandora realize T’Chezz is in town (pain in Katie’s chest), and Pandora takes over Katie’s body, to better fight him. “I’ve got this,” Pandora announced aloud. “It’s time Earth realizes Mother is here to protect it.”
PBTD 08/23
Pandora and T’Chezz fight, Pandora seeming to be the stronger. Then the Army showed up, and blasted him to pieces with the Stryker. T’Chezz was dead, and Pandora returned Katie’s body to her.
The Army cleaned up the town. . After T’Chezz was killed the soldiers had gotten their mojo back. Morale boosted, they found the strength to push through and take out every last demon in the entire town. The demons didn’t know which way to turn, and left with no option, they went to ground—which for them meant straight back to hell. . The soldiers meant business. Strykers rumbled through the streets as helicopters decimated buildings from the sky, taking out droves of demons with a single strike. The mercs sat watching from the hill above, their end of things done. The town might not have been saved, but some of the people had—which made it all worthwhile to them.
Then there was silence.
No birds chirped, no demons or humans screamed. The guns were at rest in the soldier’s hands. All of the humans silently processed their losses, and the teams bowed their heads, thinking of the innocents who lost their lives. But now the demons know that fucking with us can only end one way.”
PBTD 08/24
The destruction of the town is described, and its affect on the world noted. On the screen were pictures of the vacant town. The newscaster looked sorrowful as she asked viewers where they would hide when the horror finally made it to their town. The ticker running along at the bottom of the screen read, “Incursion day: the start of the War of the Damned.”
Calvin talks to Brock about his options as a Damned. He choses to join the team. Katie and the team see Stephanie and Korbin together on the hill, and Katie decides to make it permanent, Pandora pulling their demons out of them, leaving them with no memories of it, and a life to look forward to. The team approved.
PBTD 08/25 The Results
The General approved of what Katie had done for Stephanie Lee and Korbin, and would make sure that they would want for nothing.
“As far as the rest of it, I wish I could tell you what to expect. We are now at war—not that we haven’t been for a long time, but now it’s official. This war will change the rules. It will push humanity to its limits, and force us to make decisions that would otherwise seem completely out of the question. In reality I have no idea what it will all mean for us, but we are working hard to avoid any more major surprises.”
“I suspect the demons will wait a bit before opening a portal of that size again, but the politics of it all are going to start heating up. I don’t even know what to expect here from my position. What I do know is that you are not in the safest position. None of the Damned mercenaries are. I want you and your team, and the other teams for that matter, to stay as hidden as you can for now. I want there to be a long and prosperous future between us, and I promise that includes your business.” The general stood up. Katie followed suit and accepted his outstretched hand. They were parting as friends, not just business associates or war partners, but actual friends.
Back at the Base, everyone is concerned about Eric, as Katie had pulled his demon from him as well, as it was too weak to really help him with anything. They all missed Korbin and Stephanie. None of them felt at home without them there. But by the next day, the team was ready to sit down and talk about the future. Everyone looked at Calvin. He had been the number two, which automatically made Korbin’s seat his. No one had any qualms about that—no one but Calvin. Calvin really doesn’t want to lead, so agrees to second. Team changes name to Katie’s Killers. And Katie made a vow, which Pandora seconded.
Katie pulled her hood over her head, sending her love to Korbin and Stephanie one last time even if they didn’t know who she was anymore. “I promise I will fucking kill every last demon in hell if it’s what I have to do to keep you two together.”
Pandora voice rumbled from Katie’s throat. “So it is spoken, so shall it be...”
