Rector's Castle
WOTD 07/22 Rector's Castle, the area which Pandora chose as the first defensive position for their incursion into Hell.
This is closer to the inner ring than we’ve ever been before, but it is very defensible. A demon by the name of Rector owned this castle two hundred years ago, but he was thrown into the abyss by Lucifer. It was an ugly scene. Rector disagreed with Lucifer about something, words were said, and poof—he was gone. Anyway, he is still climbing out of the pits to this day, but his castle still stands there. It is a ruin, Lucifer’s minions saw to that, but it stands. It will be the perfect place for us to start our incursion.” The drones had already given them pictures of the area, so they all looked at the view on the screen.
The Captain nodded. “I see what you are saying now. That is very nice. They can set up weapons all along this outer wall, and they’ll have good visibility. Very nice. Very nice. Uh, thank you, Pandora.” Pandora gave him a mock salute. “Thanks. On top of that, Moloch won’t be able to turn his head after we’ve invaded his territory. I know him too well. He’ll have to don his ridiculous armor and come out to fight. It is exactly what we need.”
Katie was back. “Does anyone have any questions? The new suits should protect you while we are down there.” Katie speaks of their approach.
Getting there is relatively routine for most of us. With Pandora’s help, I will open a portal that will lead right into the castle. Our force will don their suits and simply step through. We’ll have teams pushing carts of our equipment while others will be carrying armor and weapons. Once in, we need to clear any and all demons from the area. We can expect to walk in and make immediate contact. They won’t know we are coming, but our entry point is so close to the inner ring that we won’t be able to avoid them. They will come from all directions. The last few times we went, we had some advanced warning, but that’s an advantage we won’t have this time. We basically won’t see them coming.” Pandora chimed in over Katie. “They will be of all shapes and sizes, too. It’s possible a few might slip through, so you have to be prepared. It’s going to get hot in this tin can.”
Katie cleared her throat. “Exactly. Now, once the demons are cleared from the castle, we will immediately move to set up the defenses and traps. We want to keep the demons as far away from the castle as we can. We don’t want them to see what we are doing. We don’t want them accidentally setting off any of these traps while any of us are still in there. You would be sitting ducks.“We will be under extreme pressure. There will be no perfect time to evacuate. We will be under heavy attack. You can expect wounded, and possibly casualties. We will have to work under those circumstances to get everyone out. We are the A team, people. We are responsible for getting every last human and Leviathan life out of there. We leave no man behind.”
Everyone nodded, but Juntto put up his hand. “What if that is impossible?” Katie looked at him for a moment, not having thought about it. “We go in with a full team, and we come out with a full team. Dead or alive, nobody is left behind. This will be hard on a lot of the men, but this is our chance. We go in today, and we let those demons know exactly where we stand. Failure is not an option. Our world depends on it.”
Pandora gave them the final speech, to inspire them. Pandora took front and center and put her arms high in the air. “Today, we march. This reminds me of a speech given by Hannibal when he addressed his soldiers after crossing the Alps in 218 BCE. ‘On the right and left two seas enclose you, without your possessing even a single ship for escape. The river Po around you, the Alps behind, hem you in. Here, soldiers, where you have first met the enemy, you must conquer or die; and the same fortune which has imposed the necessity of fighting holds out to you, if victorious, rewards than which men are not wont to desire greater, even from the immortal gods.’ That is some serious shit.” Pandora put Katie’s hands together and paced back and forth. “You will not find riches like gold and gems, but you will find something even greater. Today, we send a message to these disastrous pricks that we won’t stand by and let them wage war on our soil. We won’t bury our children and stand back in fear. We won’t be bullied by a half-cocked imbecile from hell. We will bring demise and destruction to their door and see what they make of it. Hell needs to be taught a lesson. What better soldiers to teach him than those created by the hand of God himself, led by an angel, backed up by the Damned. Together, we’re going to take that red-hot poker Lucifer holds between his claws and ram it right up their asses! Dispel your fear, boys; you won’t need it in here. It’s hot and it’s sweaty, but when those demons fall, they fall to the pits of hell. When Moloch falls, he will fall right into the hands of Lucifer. I can tell you now, that is not a comfortable place to be. Put one boot forward and take it home for all humanity!” The whole place went up in cheers.
Every single one of the guys knew that it hadn’t been Katie talking then. They knew it was Pandora, but they all loved it. She had become a leader amongst the men.She was a demon turned, a lost soul on the right side for the first time in history. She was the dark to Katie’s light, like a perfect yin and yang.
