Chapter Text
"He's here"
Charlie followed Vox down the stairs, which went so deep that, ironically, they seemed to lead directly to Hell... even though they were already in Hell. Finally they came to the entrance to a long white corridor, lit by a single very long lamp on the ceiling. At the end of such corridor there was an armored door similar to that of a vault, sealed multiple times by every type of security system, even the strangest ones.
Charlie swallowed. That corridor wasn't dark and cold like the one in a horror movie, and yet... those walls so white, those neon lights on the ceiling so pale, that still and stale air... everything gave her a terrible feeling of claustrophic. Even though the temperature was at least twenty degrees, she realized that her skin was crawling. Vox noticed this and asked her: "Do you feel unwell, Your Highness?"
Charlie shook her head. "No... I'm fine. Let's move on"
Vox let out a grunt. “I understand that you're interested in buying him, but is it really necessary for you to talk to him first? I'd rather not have to open that door. I don't think it's necessary to explain to you how dangerous that guy is"
Charlie snorted. "I told you that we will only talk about money after I talk to him, and so it will be"
"As you wish, Your Highness. But can I at least know your motives?" Vox asked her. "Why talk to a person you want to buy, before purchasing? What do you want to do, hear his opinion? Ask him if he wants you to buy him and free him?"
"I just want to have a chat with him" Charlie replied. "Open the door"
Vox narrowed his eyes slightly, but then he moved towards a panel placed in front of the armored door; his finger turned into an electric cable and attached himself to it. Suddenly, a sound like lightning was heard, and a bluish light came from behind the door. Charlie's eyes widened: "What are you doing!?"
"I comply with the precautionary measures. Before opening this door it is always better to do this" Vox replied to her. "Right now the entire room inside is being shot through with a ten thousand volt electric current. The only place where you can't get electrocuted is where he's supposed to be. That way, if he managed to free himself, he'll be electrocuted before he can ambush us behind the door"
"Ten thousand volts!?" Charlie exclaimed. "Are you crazy!? That amount of electricity would kill an elephant!"
"And yet it can barely stun him for about ten minutes. That man's stamina is extraordinary" Vox replied. "Trust me, we tested it"
Charlie gritted her teeth at what was in effect an admission of torture. "Can't you just use cameras to check...?"
"Unfortunately not" Vox replied with a strange tone of voice. "Initially we watched him that way. But then, he got free and smashed the camera, and I found myself with the screen half broken"
Charlie almost jumped. "What...?"
"You heard me right. I still don't know how, but he understood that I was connected to the camera at that moment and was looking at him. And somehow, the force of his punch traveled from the camera to me, and it broke my screen” Vox said, and his shoulders trembled slightly with tension. “It wasn't an escape attempt. He did it out of contempt. We quickly realized that any means of monitoring him inside the cage were useless, so we implemented other methods to ensure he doesn't try to escape"
Charlie swallowed audibly. Even though Vox was trying not to show it, it was clear that he was afraid. "Well... at least you could have used a gas or something to put him to sleep..."
"It's no use, we tried. Nothing works against that bastard. He even resisted fentanyl" Vox replied to her. "Valentino tried to use the drug on him only once, thinking it would work. You know well what the results were"
The image of the moth demon lying on a hospital bed, with his eyes gouged out, all his arms broken, his wings torn off in multiple places and practically no bones still intact returned to Charlie's mind, sending a shiver down her spine. She knew that Valentino had fully deserved it since, according to Angel, he had tried to abuse the prisoner, believing him to be sedated, but she still felt a pang in her stomach at the mere memory. Those wounds were a demonstration of uncommon violence and brutality.
Vox continued to emit electricity for another couple of minutes, and then he stopped; the static sound from inside died away as quickly as it had arrived. The media overlord began typing a code on the panel, or rather, a long series of codes. At the end an orange light appeared up the door. Vox paused for a moment, and then he murmured: "Your Highness... after what happened to Val, I just want to get rid of this bastard, and I'll be happy to sell him to you. But I don't want to get in trouble with your father, so I warn you: while you're in here, don't go near the glass, don't let your guard down, and don't accept anything he offers you from the lunchbox. If you notice any suspicious movement, press the emergency button to the left of the door. Remember, this is a dangerous man, and if he will have you in his hands, he will not hesitate to kill you. I have already lost many employees this way, and if your head is blown off, your father will blow mine off"
Charlie felt anxiety grip her heart like a vice, but she nodded nonetheless. "Okay. Open up"
Vox still looked undecided, but he entered the last code anyway. A green light came on and there was a metallic click, and the entire security door slid aside; a small cloud of condensed air emerged from inside. Charlie took a deep breath and entered; behind her, the door immediately closed, sealing itself again.
She found herself in a room whose walls were composed of layers and layers of angelic steel; everywhere, on the floor, on the walls and on the ceiling, there were dozens of cables that probably carried the current that had electrocuted everything in there an instant before; some of them were still emitting sparks. And in front of her, cutting the room in half, was thick armored glass, with only a few peepholes so she could communicate with the other person inside or pass them food; behind the glass there were bars, also made of angelic steel, and beyond the bars there was a tiny cell. And there, sitting on the floor with his wrists bound by heavy chains, was the person she was looking for.
His appearance had changed a lot since she had last seen him. He still wore a floor-length tunic with the letter A embroidered on it, but now it was red and black instead of white and gold; a serpent-like tail ending in a hook, similar to hers in her demonic form, emerged from beneath it. His wings, from golden, bright and full of feathers, had become membranous, filthy and naked like those of a hideous bat. Now he no longer had any mask, but there wasn't much difference anyway: his face had become a sort of fusion between his real face and his old helmet. His skin had become darker, his eyes and teeth had taken on a yellowish hue, and two curved horns emerged from the middle of his hair, identical to those on his helmet, although not ending in golden tips. He just looked up, and when he saw her his eyes narrowed: "You fucking…!"
The sequence of insults that followed was something quite memorable. Charlie found herself thinking that okay, maybe he really considered her responsible for his misery and his current stay in Hell, but all those 'fuck you' were slightly exaggerated anyway. It certainly wasn't the first time she'd heard him curse, but this was definitely on another level; it was one of the most epic rants Charlie could remember ever hearing, which was a cause for respect given that they were in Hell. However, although anyone else would have been enraged, speechless, or disgusted by this string of insults, or at least opened their mouths in indignation, she remained unmoved. She waited for him to finally calm down (or rather, for him to stop to catch his breath), and then she said to him: "It's good to see you again, Adam"
He finally shut up and let out a grunt. "Mh. I'm almost surprised you didn't show up sooner" he told her disdainfully. "Did you come to laugh at me? Well done, you didn't have a fucking wasted trip. Please, go ahead and vent: after all, you managed to ruin the first man, shouldn't you be bursting with pride?"
Charlie narrowed her eyes at the sight: Adam, the first man, the father of humanity, the self-proclaimed dickmaster, reduced to nothing more than an ordinary sinner demon. Well, not exactly ordinary, considering what he had done in less than a month after he had fallen into Hell.
After the battle at the hotel, everything had initially seemed to go well: she and her friends had rebuilt it, Emily had arrived as an ambassador from Heaven bringing the news that the Extermination had been abolished (or rather, temporarily suspended) and that Sir Pentious had become a winner, effectively proving that redemption was possible, and many other good things happened. Yet, after less than a week, something absurd had started to happen: one after the other, entire territories were being literally massacred. It wasn't just the overlords: every demon in that specific territory was killed. The few survivors spoke of a terrifying new demon, a newly arrived fellow whose fury was uncontainable. The videos and photos had started making the rounds, and it didn't take long before people realized who it was and the news went viral: Adam, the leader of the angelic army, had been reincarnated as a sinner and was now on foot free for Hell.
At the Hazbin Hotel they had mixed reactions: Vaggie was obviously pissed off, followed by Cherri who immediately proposed starting a manhunt with her, dragging Niffty with them... and fortunately Angel and Husk had succeeded to stop them before they did it, because otherwise they probably wouldn't have ended up too different from all the demons who had dared to cross Adam's path in the following days. Alastor, for his part, remained impassive as usual. Charlie had initially been happy that he had received the right punishment for his actions, since she knew for a fact that for him to become one of the demons he hated so much was the greatest humiliation. However, the more time passed, the more she realized that she couldn't just stand by and watch.
All of Hell had begun searching for Adam: some for revenge, but most simply to display him as a trophy. For any overlord, capturing Adam was the greatest victory. And indeed many had succeeded... but none of them had survived long enough to enjoy the victory. The scene was always the same: Adam was tracked, hunted down and imprisoned by someone, who then announced it publicly; the demons flocked to see him, and they could admire the first man in chains... but then, one way or another, no matter how many precautions were taken, he broke free and start a carnage. None of those demons who came to taunt him left alive, and the head of the overlord who had captured him hung on a pole in the public square. And often there wasn't even just one head: in the early days, in fact, as soon as an overlord announced that he had taken it, many other overlords rushed to see him, and found death at his hands. Once his work was done, Adam left the scene of the massacre and ran away again, and then he was captured again, and so on.
A continuous cycle of escape, capture and escape again. A cycle that in less than a month had decreased the population of overlords by a third and the entire population of sinners in Hell by over a seventh. Ironically, Adam was killing more than he ever had in any Extermination, and the funny thing was that it was the demons themselves who were seeking him out and dooming themselves.
That was the moment Alastor had finally started to show interest. Not because of the broken lives, of course, but because Adam, from his point of view, was usurping his throne. His absolute supremacy was at risk. He was Hell's number one killer, certainly not some guy who just arrived. And so one day he left the hotel without telling anyone and went to look for him.
It didn't end well.
Alastor had prepared better than last time, but once again the battle had ended with his defeat. The radio demon realized that Adam hadn't been even slightly serious with him when he fought him at the hotel. The first man's strength was overwhelming and had torn him to pieces once again. Alastor had tried to escape again, but this time Adam, mindful of his trick of moving between the shadows, had prevented him to do so. For the first time ever, the radio demon had truly been one step away from death.
But then, Adam hadn't killed him. For some reason, he had stopped halfway through the job. He had whispered to Alastor: "Not yet", and then he had dragged him into the middle of a crowd and showed everyone the state he had reduced him to. He had forced their viewers to take photos and share them on social media, and then again he had killed everyone... except for Alastor who was left there alive instead. The radio demon had trudged back to the hotel, and was there rescued by Charlie. And when he recovered, he was more furious than ever.
"I have never felt so humiliated! He defeated me, beat me, disfigured me... and in the end, I wasn't even important enough to be eliminated!"
For Alastor, being spared by his enemy was the greatest humiliation. He had escaped from Adam the last time, and so he had at least been able to console himself with the idea that he had been smarter than him. But now, he had no illusions to hold on to. Adam had massacred him and then humiliated him in front of all of Hell. His reputation was forever tarnished. Now, when he walked out of the hotel and people looked at him, Alastor knew that even if they didn't do it in front of him, everyone was laughing at him. He was so humiliated that he ended up locking himself in his radio tower to plot revenge, never coming out again.
Charlie, however, had a different opinion. She was glad that Adam spared Alastor instead of killing him, because she didn't want to lose the radio demon. She knew how slimy and bastard Alastor could be, but she didn't want him to die after he had become, at least in her (absolutely not universally shared) point of view, a member of the family. And the fact that Adam had spared him had rekindled a little spark of hope in her, the hope that maybe he wasn't totally beyond redemption, that there was something good in him. Despite Vaggie's contrary opinion, she too had started looking for him; after all, given the series of deaths he left behind, it was appropriate to stop him immediately in some way. Charlie was sure that if Adam was finally given a safe place to live, the trail of bodies would have stopped.
By then, however, the overlords had become more wary. Alastor's defeat had demonstrated how dangerous Adam was. Although there were still some who wanted the trophy, most of them had given up trying to get him. However, that wasn't enough. Adam certainly didn't stay in the territories he had already devastated: he too needed food, water and places to sleep, and so he ended up returning to the populated areas. He hid himself differently each time, but it was inevitable that someone would recognize him. When this happened, there was always some idiot who started the fight, and the overlord who presided over those territories intervened, and initially seemed to get the upper hand and imprisoned him... but then again, it was only a matter of time before Adam broke free and razed everything to the ground.
Luckily, Charlie had finally found a lead... or rather, Angel had found it. Even though the spider demon wasn't at all convinced that it was a good idea to look for Adam, he finally confessed to her why he hadn't been to the studio for days: Valentino, his horrible boss, was hospitalized. And he was hospitalized because the Vees had managed to capture Adam and had tried to experiment on him to control him and turn him into a weapon, and when Valentino had tried to hypnotize him with his poisons and, convinced that he had succeeded, he had tried to abuse of him, Adam had grabbed him and dragged him into the cell, and before anyone could stop him he had ripped a piece of angelic steel from the walls and used it to tear the moth demon to pieces in several places. Valentino was now reduced to nothing more than a blind paralyzed being on a hospital bed, and he would never recover; his business empire hadn't taken long to fall apart with him reduced like that, and his soul contracts, almost all of which were based on him having to give certain jobs to those who signed, had also been broken. Valentino was no longer worth anything, and the only ones who hadn't abandoned him yet were Vox and Velvette because of the affection that bound them. Needless to say, when Charlie had proposed to Vox to take Adam away, he had agreed to sell him to her immediately; even though he still wanted to negotiate the price, it was clear that he just wanted to get rid of him.
And so they had arrived at that moment. She, outside a maximum security cell, looking at what had once been an angel of extraordinary grace, and who was now nothing more than a demon sitting on a dirty floor who looked at her with hatred and resentment. "I didn't come to laugh at you, Adam" she told him. “I came to get you out of here"
Adam was silent for a moment, and he looked at her as if he was wondering if she was playing a trick on him; but seeing that she was serious, a grin appeared on his face. "I could laugh right now, but... no. Let's hear what you have to say first. I'm fucking curious"
Charlie took the lack of immediate mocking as a good sign. "You know that even if you escape again, you will still be on the run. I want to offer you a safe place. Come to the Hazbin Hotel, and you will have your own room, meals every day, and all the comforts you wish to have. You don't have to continue to hide and leave this carnage behind you"
“Would you like me to come to your hotel?” Adam commented in a sarcastic voice. "What's the price? You definitely have conditions, so spit them out"
Charlie narrowed her eyes slightly. "My condition is that you make a deal with me"
"Do you want my soul?" Adam asked her.
"I'm not that kind of person" Charlie replied. “I want you to promise me that you will never hurt anyone again unless someone else attacks you first or puts people you care about at risk. Make me this promise with a demonic pact, so I will have security that I can get you out of here without risking you killing anyone at the hotel. Do it, and you'll have all my help"
Adam was silent for a moment, and then he chuckled. "Seriously? You have nothing else to say?"
Charlie sighed. "Adam..."
"I thought I would laugh, but your joke isn't even funny" Adam told her, standing up to his full height. "Go away. The wall is a more brilliant conversationalist than you"
Charlie gritted her teeth and ignoring Vox's warnings she walked quickly towards the glass and slammed her fist on it. "Why!? Why are you so stubborn!? Don't you realize that I'm offering you a chance and you're throwing it away!?"
But Adam only made a sound of disgust at those words. "Incredible... you're such a ridiculous little girl" he said walking towards her and stopping in front of the bars. "Who tells you I want a chance?"
"So you prefer to stay here!?" Charlie asked him angrily. "You'd rather stay locked in a cage than accept my kindness!? You are…!"
Suddenly Adam grabbed the cell bars and bent them as if they were made of butter. Charlie's voice cracked and the princess of Hell instinctively stepped back as she watched the first man open a person-sized passageway. As he touched the angelic steel his hands smoked as if they were burning, but he didn't even seem to feel the pain. In the end only the glass remained between them, glass that he could undoubtedly have smashed with a punch. “Does it look like I'm locked in a cage, princess?” Adam asked her.
Charlie was amazed, and she felt fear grip her heart. She knew that if she wanted, Adam could go out and get her. And as she had learned last time, he could destroy her if he wanted. "But... Vox said..."
"That the security measures were suitable for me? That he had... experimented?" Adam said with a laugh. "Yes... that's what he believes. That's what everyone believes. They stupidly think that if I close my eyes and bend over, it means I'm being harmed. It doesn't even cross their minds that I'm actually laughing at their pathetic attempts without them noticing"
A few drops of sweat formed on Charlie's forehead. "You have always been able to get out of this prison..."
"They wouldn't have even thrown me in this prison if I didn't want it" Adam replied.
Charlie didn't understand. "But... why?"
"Why?" Adam laughed. "Ah, silly princess... can't you really see it? This fully demonstrates how little you know about your so-called people. You've been down here for... what? One hundred, two hundred years? And yet, you still haven't figured out which one is the greatest weakness of the sinners... themselves"
Adam placed a hand on the glass. His gaze had become cold and murderous, and Charlie's heart leapt into her throat. "Their pathetic pride, their illusion of omnipotence, their desire to have more than they have... this is what spells their downfall. They see that the first man has fallen into Hell, and instead of staying away from him, as fools run to try to capture him, to display him as a trophy. And when someone finally believes they have caught him... everyone rushes to see him. Everyone wants to make sure that this specific demon has really put the monster in chains. Everyone wants to being able to throw tomatoes in his face. Thousands of demons who flock together like flies on honey... and who don't even think that the monster they want to see and mock could break those chains at any moment"
The pieces fell into place in Charlie's head. "All this time... you never really tried to hide. You were pretending to... but you let yourself be recognized on purpose" she muttered in a broken voice. "You let yourself be recognized and captured on purpose... so as to gather as many demons as possible in one place and kill them all together..."
"You're finally getting there" Adam confirmed. "The greatest flaw of the Extermination has always been the limited time, the timely warning to sinners who knew exactly when we would strike, and above all the fact that by doing so we gave the demons time to prepare. Before we attacked a lot of sinners took refuge in cellars, bunkers, or protected their homes with shutters and armored doors. Many of them didn't die. But now... things are different. They come to me of their own volition. If I started killing people in the streets, I wouldn't be able to kill even a hundred of them before the whole city knew about me and took refuge in safety like they did when I came down from Heaven. But if I'm in chains, locked in a cage, inside a room with very few exits and thousands of demons watching me... there is nothing that can save them. An effective extermination that almost never leaves survivors, and ironically it is the sinners themselves with their stupid and blind arrogance that allow me to kill them"
Charlie began to breathe harder than before. She couldn't tear her gaze away from Adam's empty, frozen eyes, which held all his lust for demonic blood. “This… is not your prison” she whispered. "It's your genocide"
Adam let out a bull-like snort. "You've finally understood" he said, moving away from the glass and sitting back down. "Now that you know the truth, leave. I have no interest in a safe haven... much less the benevolence of a Morningstar"
Charlie trembled slightly. Her vocal cords seemed to have become paralyzed. The first man seemed to have the power to freeze her with just his gaze. "Adam... it doesn't have to be this way" she said. "You don't have to kill..."
"Why shouldn't I?" Adam interrupted her. "It's what I want. What I've always done for thousands of years. Except now I can do it better"
Charlie let out a sob. "Adam, you can be better! Listen, please... redemption is possible, Sir Pentious went to..."
"I know full well that he went to Heaven. You announced it to all of Hell, and I watch the news" Adam told her. "But this changes nothing"
"Yes, it does! It changes everything!" Charlie screamed. "Adam, why are you so stubborn? You had proof that a sinner can change, that what you did was wrong! It's because you kill people that you ended up here! Look at you, you're a sinner! How much more proof do you want to understand that what you are doing isn't right? If you come with me, you too could redeem yourself and return to Heaven...!"
"Same mistake again" Adam interrupted her again. "Still the same presumption of knowing what's in other people's heads. Why do you think I want to return to Heaven? What's so interesting there that convinces me to return?"
Charlie fell silent. "But... you loved Heaven...!"
"No, I loved what Heaven gave me: the chance to kill these wretches" Adam replied to her. “But now there is a ceasefire, so why should I return? Why should I stay in a world that doesn't reflect my desires? As it stands, I like it much better here”
Charlie trembled. "Can I know what the sinners did to you that was so serious!? Why do you want to exterminate them...!?"
"WHY!?"
Adam's voice rang out like a boom in the room, causing even the bulletproof glass to shake. The first man stood up and advanced toward the glass again, and Charlie paled under his gaze. “Why should I NOT want to exterminate them, that should be the question, you whiny little bitch!” he roared like a bear. "A bunch of mistakes, that's what they are. Murderers who took the lives of countless people, often not with a blow to the head but making them agonize for what for their victims was an eternity. Rapists who violated men, women and children, marking them for life with a mark from which they will never be able to free themselves. Torturers who tore off the fingers, teeth, nails, eyes, skin and who knows what else from their victims during their cruel interrogations. Serial killers who stooped to the cruelest perversions exclusively for their own pleasure. Criminals, thieves and mafiosi who terrorized cities all over the world. Rich bastards who used their dirty money and their friends in politics to freely perpetuate the most great cruelties going unpunished. Shall I continue with the list, or is it already too much for your fucking pathetic optimistic ears?”
Charlie's legs trembled: Adam looked like he was about to hit the glass and break it, grab her and tear her apart on the spot. He had lost his smile and his gaze was stripped of any mirth; only pure murderous fury remained in his eyes, such fury that would have made a tiger… or even a t-rex recoil. "This rabble of monsters are nothing but failures. They belong to a dying species continually struggling to survive. The number of people they have made suffer is so incalculable that I could not even begin to conceive of it. They don't deserve to start again, and I won't let them" Adam growled. "I will continue to kill demons as long as there are any. I will kill and kill until every single evil person in this universe is gone forever. None of them will stand a chance as long as I am alive"
Charlie gasped. "But by doing this... the only evil person left will be you"
"Is an evil person who kills other evil people an evil person?" Adam asked her rhetorically.
"I guess the fact that you're a sinner now answers the question" Charlie replied. “God practically told you to your face that this is wrong…”
"Really?" Adam said raising an eyebrow. "So why did God allow me to be reincarnated with all my powers still intact? Why not let me be reincarnated as an ordinary demon? Why let me be reborn as... this, knowing full well what I would have done with this strength? Why give me all the tools to accomplish my genocide, if He doesn't want it?"
Charlie opened her mouth, but she realized she didn't have an answer. "Maybe... maybe it's His way of testing you..."
"And by testing me He allows millions of people, who you say are worthy of saving themselves, to be exterminated?" Adam asked rhetorically. "Is one soul worth a billion? I know I'm wonderful, but I doubt God would go that far just for me"
Charlie bit her lip. "But..."
“And even if you were right…” Adam interrupted her again. "... it matters little. If it is my destiny to be the last sinner, I accept it. If it has to be so, when the time comes I will end my life with my own hands. But as long as there is the possibility that even only one human soul reaches Hell, I will be here ready to exterminate them. I will not stop this genocide until evil has been completely eradicated. And I don't give a shit that redemption is possible, if Heaven is favorable now, or anything else. What I know is that these people cannot be left unpunished. They cannot be allowed to aspire to eternal bliss. Even if God Himself orders me to stop, I will not. I will never stop"
Charlie closed her mouth, feeling a bitter taste on her tongue. Her heart was beating wildly, but still she found the courage to say: "I don't think you can't stop, Adam. You spared Alastor, and Valentino too. You could have killed them, but you didn't. Maybe this small gesture means nothing to you, but... it's something. It's proof that you can be different... that you can be better...!"
"More arrogance, more stupid optimism. Will you ever stop talking without first understanding?" Adam growled. “Do you really think I spared them out of pity?”
Charlie paled a little. "Isn't... isn't it?"
"Of course not" Adam replied disgustedly. "Those two didn't deserve such a quick death. I chose to punish them more slowly. Your dear deer demon with a microphone stuck in his throat is now living in humiliation and shame, he who has always been accustomed to respect and fear that others reserved for him. And that moth demon... a boaster who always had every person in his hands and could use them as a toy, abusing them as he wanted, now reduced to nothing more than an amoeba. In your opinion, are those two dickheads grateful to me because I spared their lives?". Adam let out a cruel laugh. "Spare their life wasn't an act of mercy... it was the worst punishment I could give them"
Charlie had become as stiff as a stone statue; as he spoke, Adam's voice had become more sibilant and sinister, so much so that it made her skin crawl. Her legs were shaking so much that she struggled to stand. “Adam… please, listen to me seriously just for a moment…”
But suddenly the glass shattered: Adam's fist landed on the smooth surface and reduced it into crumbs, sending a cascade of glass falling onto Charlie. The chains that held the first man imprisoned broke like snacks and he emerged from his cell. The alarm rang in the room, but Adam paid it no mind and grabbed Charlie by the collar, bringing their faces so close that their noses almost touched. "I won't stop" he repeated to her. "Not today, not tomorrow, not in a thousand years, not in a million years! I will exterminate demons day and night until I have completely cleansed the universe of every trace of the evil that through your disgusting family has infected humanity as a cancer! I let go of your radio-throated friend, but do you know what I'll do soon? Piece by piece, I'll humiliate him again and again, until he doesn't even have the courage to show himself to you without feeling ashamed, and only in the end I'll take his head off! And he will be just the first of many. After him there will be the crazy dwarf, and then the pyromaniac cyclops, and then the drunken cat. Then it will be the turn of your precious perverted spider, and finally your girlfriend. You will be the last. I will make sure you never die, not before you have seen every single sinner in this treacherous realm disappear in front of your eyes, and I will lay the corpses of all those you tried to protect before your feet, and when you'll scream I will crush your skull!". The last sentence was uttered with such intensity that it sounded like a dragon's roar: "This is the only deal I'm willing to make with you, you moaning vulve!"
Charlie let out a small moan of fear, and her eyes trembled as they mirrored the first man's murderous ones; he wasn't talking nonsense, he really would have done it. But before she could say anything the electrical wires began to sizzle. Charlie looked up at them in fear, but Adam smiled evilly at her: "Not so fast, princess. Like I told you, you're the last on my list"
And having said this he threw her into his cell, where there wasn't even an electric cable; Charlie barely looked up to see a bolt of electricity explode in front of her, frying the first man's body. Yet, even though Adam was shaking, he didn't lose his smile, and actually laughed out loud as the electricity burned his face. He continued until the wires went out again, and then he gave her one last defiant look and put a smoking finger to his mouth, whispering: "Ssssh". And having done this, he threw himself on the ground and closed his eyes, as if he had fainted.
The armored door opened with a click and several guards armed with angelic weapons burst in. "He passed out!" one of them screamed. "Get the princess out of here, now!"
"N-No... wait...!" Charlie tried to protest, but no one listened to her: the demons grabbed her by the arms and hurriedly dragged her outside, where Vox was already waiting for her, and then they immediately closed the armored door.
Left alone, Adam reopened his eyes and stood up, although he did so with a few more jerks from the massive amount of electricity that had just hit him. He gave a couple of coughs, and then he said: "You can show yourself. She can't see you now"
The air beside him seemed to tremble, and a short person dressed in white and wearing a large hat appeared. “Did you know I was here?” Lucifer asked him.
"I felt your fingers on my neck while I was explaining my... ideals to your daughter" Adam replied. “I'm surprised you didn't intervene. What, were you afraid that she'd think you didn't trust her enough to let her talk to me alone?”
Lucifer let out a growl and pointed his scepter at his chest. "If you knew I was here, then you also knew what awaits you now"
"Do you want to kill me?" Adam asked him fearlessly.
"I could" Lucifer replied as his eyes grew redder and redder.
"So what are you waiting for?" Adam told him with a lot of challenge in his voice. "Come on. I'm here in front of you, I can't defend myself, and we're alone. Your daughter will never know. Do it. Kill me. That's what you want, right?". He snorted through his nostrils. "Come on. Kill me, and then get out of here, and forget me. Do what you've always done: ruin someone's life, and then wash your hands of it"
Lucifer's face tightened into a murderous grimace, but when he spoke his voice was calm: "Lute cried for you"
Such words caught Adam off guard. "Huh? What does she have to do with it now?"
"You asked Charlie why should you want to return to Heaven. I just gave you a reason" Lucifer replied. "You care about her, right?"
Adam gritted his teeth. "It doesn't matter. Lute is strong. She doesn't need someone to protect her, unlike a certain slut who always had her ass covered by her lover. She'll carry on without me... in fact, I know for sure she will do things even better than me"
"I'm afraid that she needs you much more than you imagine" Lucifer replied, and then he took off one of his gloves. “Anyway, after what you just said, I have to do at least this"
And with that he punched Adam right in the face; the first man was thrown away by the force of the blow and hit the wall. Lucifer came over and grabbed him by the collar, and he forced him to stare into his eyes. "When you decide to escape from here, do it in the way you deem most appropriate; but as soon as you are out, don't commit any more massacres. You only have two choices, give up and go hide in some hole, and spend eternity sad and alone, or go to my daughter's hotel and try to get back to the woman who loves you. Do anything else, and I will kill you; this thing you have become... vigilante, avenger, murderer, whatever you want to call it... is dead. It ends today. Consider this mercy"
And having said this he let him go; Adam slumped against the wall, unable to stand any longer. Lucifer let out a soft grunt, and then he turned and opened a portal. But before he could cross it he heard the faint voice of the first man behind him. "Tell me" Adam murmured. "Do you bleed?"
Lucifer turned slightly and looked the first man in the eyes, who returned him a challenging expression. That eye contact seemed to last forever, and then the king of Hell made an angry noise and stepped through the portal. Once on the other side he turned completely, almost as if he wanted to give a final warning with his gaze, and then he closed the portal.
Adam's eyes narrowed to slits. "You will"