Chapter Text
Pentagram city, circa 1959
Vox breathed in a long inhale through his nose and let it out through his mouth. A new day. That means a new beginning. That means new opportunities. Opportunities that Alastor didn’t want to give him. But, that’s fine. Vox can adapt. He can make it without Alastor by his side, he’ll just find a different partner to rule Hell with.
He makes his way down the crowding street, thoughts of his growing empire on his mind to keep his mood up. He was actually on his way to the arena where some sinner scientists showcased their experiments to Overlords. Vox was hoping to scout new employees and souls to own for his expanding business. His tower was about to be built and he was getting more offers as each day passed, people were actually beginning to notice him as an up and coming overlord. Not being known as just “Alastors new friend” anymore felt pretty good to Vox if he was being completely honest. Even though he missed Alastors company..
He turned the corner to the stadium grounds where the event was held. As he made his way to the entrance, some sinners by the side greeted him with bowed heads and hushed words. Vox smiled to himself as he entered further and looked for somewhere to sit while the event carried on.
——————
To be honest, there was a lot of sinners Vox was interested in. However, one particular person caught his eye, Baxton? Baxtil? He couldn’t quite catch the name the commentator said but boy was he impressed. From what he knew, the man created some sort of animal that could withstand anything. Blades, knives, bullets- whatever you threw at the creature, it just regenerated. Having someone with this kind of ability (to make creatures practically indestructible) on his team could be extremely useful. Well- here goes nothing.
Vox made his way down to the man who was surrounded by quite a few of the other participants, they were throwing a mix of cheers and compliments at him. As he walked closer, he made brief eye contact with Zestial who nodded his head towards Vox. Wow. Okay. So a super powerful and famous overlord just acknowledged you, no need to panic. Holy shit okay. Finally he reached the arena and tapped the short man’s right shoulder.
“Hi! I’m Vox, nice to meet you”
The short man turned his head around. And now that he was close enough, Vox could really make out his features. One of the most prominent features that stood out to Vox was his giant light hanging from his head, almost like an angler fish? The man fully turned to Vox’s direction and a small smile appeared on his face, hand extended.
“I’m Baxter, it’s a pleasure to meet you as well. I must say, I think I’ve seen you on the television before if I’m not mistaken?”
Vox accepted his hand, smiling himself before replying.
“Yes! I run the news segment across all of Hell. I’ve come here to offer you a proposition!”
The pair finished the handshake and Baxter raised an eye brow.
“A proposition? Please then, carry on.”
Vox straightened his back and clasped his hands behind himself feigning confidence, even though he was nervous as fuck. Okay. Cmon Vincent, just like you practiced in the mirror.
“I’m currently in the process of building an.. empi- no! Business! And I would really like to offer you a job to work for me and future partners! What do you say? Your ability to do this-“ Vox gestured to his animal “all of this wouldn’t go to waste. Trust me.”
He extended his hand once more. One second. Then another. Then another-
“Okay. I accept your offer Mr. Vox! I look forward to working with you.”
Vox’s smile widened as they shook on the offer he gave.
Vox went home that day with immense pride within himself. He walked into his room, but just before he was about to reside for the night, something caught his eye. Oh. It was his picture with Alastor. He picked up the photograph and stared at it. Then he ripped it.
Fuck Alastor. He didn’t need him. He’ll do just fine- no even better than fine without him. He’ll see. He crept into bed with only one thing on his mind. Remember, new days meant new beginnings. New beginnings without Alastor.
——————
Voxtech, circa 1968
Vox walked through the large lab at VeeTower. Safe to say that it’d been worth it, the tower was relatively large- I mean, if Vox did end up getting partners then he could expand it even more! He walked through a set of automatic doors, in the center of the room stood Baxter, vials in one hand and pen in another. Vox crept up closer and knocked on a nearby table.
“Hello Baxter! Just uh.. wanted to see how you were doing on this hellish afternoon? Any new.. I don’t know, creations?”
Baxter- without even acknowledging Vox replied.
“Good afternoon Mr. Vox. I, as a matter fact do have this new creation.”
Whatever it was that Baxter was experimenting with, was soon discarded and the smaller man walked towards a… fish tank? He urged Vox to come closer and closer did Vox walk.
“I’ve been working on a sort of shark robot prototype.”
Voxs eyes widened and his mouth became slightly slacked. Shark? Holy shit go on!
“Yes, the creature can be in water, land and even air! I’ve created it to be practically indestructible.”
Holy shit! This was so fucking cool! Vox peered into the small fish tank and immediately his heartstrings were pulled- no, they were gripped then pulled, then yanked off. The shark was so small, maybe the size of Vox’s hand. It swam around in circles but stopped once it saw Vox himself. The pair stared at each other and Vox was like, 60% sure that Baxter asked him something but whatever it was didn’t matter in the moment. Instead, Vox rolled up his sleeve and put his hand in the tank to pet the super adowable wittle bwaby-
“Sir? Did you hear me?”
Vox was jolted out of his mind and whipped his head towards Baxter who was staring at him with a raised eyebrow. Vox smiled sheepishly while retracting his hand from the tank and wiping off the water on his slacks while he chuckled slightly.
“Haha.. sorry I- yes could you repeat what you said?”
Baxter paused a bit before looking at the tank and Vox repeatedly before replying with a very slight, amused smirk on his face.
“Sir, would you like to.. keep? The uhm.. creature?”
Vox stared. Mouth agape and eye practically shining before he composed himself slightly. He straightened his back and coughed to the side before replying.
“I ehem.. yes! I uhm.. I would really appreciate having him as my personal… companion..”
Vox mumbled the last part while looking at the cute little animal swimming in the tank.
“Well, of course you’re more than welcome to. However, what you’re not welcome to do is continue to distract me from my work.”
Baxter turned around again and proceeded to work on what he was doing before Vox interrupted him. Without a second word, using both his arms, Vox grabbed the fish tank and walked out of the room making a beeline to the closest elevator. Pressing his floor number, he stood there with a cheesy smile on his face. Finally, he made it to his room.
“Okay! So! This is where I sleep and y’know sort out all the things for my business- that you get to be part of now too!”
Vox stood in the center as he explained with an animated expression on his face and in his voice. The shark itself seemed to understand as it was swimming in circles even faster than before! Huh. “The Shark” definitely wasn’t a good name. Hm. Vox walked over to his desk in the corner of his room and placed the tank down. He crossed his arms and stared at the cute little animal before asking out loud.
“What do you want your name to be? I mean- I can’t just call you “shark” for like- forever? Can I?”
The shark stopped swimming and stared intently at Vox as he pondered. Obviously he needed a strong name.. murder lord? No, too harsh. Maybe king of souls? Hm. Maybe. Vox brought his hand to his chin and thought even harder. Then it hit him.
“Shockwave! Do you like shockwave? But think of it spelt as.. Shok.wav! So that your name is extra special! What do you say?”
The little shark swam fast in circles as if saying “yes I do like that name!” Vox smiled widely before coming back closer to Shok.wav. He stared contently at his new companion.
“Okay Shok.wav. Im your daddy! And I will always be here for you my wittle bwaby”
Vox inches his face closer to the tanks glass while cooing at his baby companion. He leaned back smiling warmly before an uneasy feeling washed over him. He grimaced while staring at the floor. As if on cue, his little Shok.wav made a.. purring sound? Vox whipped his head staring back at his new friend. Shok.wav was close to the glass staring up at Vox, as if saying “it’s okay, I’m here for you now!”
Vox smiled softly while sighing.
“Thanks Shoky. I know you’ll always be here for me.”
Vox reached back into the tank while petting Shok.wav. They’ll see. They’ll all see how powerful Vox will be and they’ll all regret looking down on him.
——————
VeeTower, circa 2023
Vox jolted out of his sleep. Fuck. He rubbed his screen as his eyes burned behind his hands. Another stupid fucking nightmare. Pathetic. Only children get scared of something as stupid as this. Vox dropped his hands and looked around his large room. His eyes landed in his digital calendar on top of his tv. March 15th 2023. 5 years. Today marked 5 years since Alastor disappeared. Vox didn’t care. Nope. Not at all. He definitely wasn’t worried. Definitely wasn’t worried, thinking that Alastor died in the first extermination. Not at all.
His eyes dropped to his hands, placed in his lap. His eyes burnt more, vision blurring. Vox cursed as he wiped them dry. Subconsciously, he stood up and started walking.
As he paced the long, quiet hallways his mind went blank. He shuffled into the elevator box and pressed the floor number he needed to get to. As the elevator passed Val’s floor and Velvettes floor, Vox remained quiet through it all. Finally, the doors opened and Vox walked in the room.
Soon, he was engulfed with a variety of blue hues, rocks, seaweed, shells and a vast area of pure waters above his head. He moved his screen, looking left and right- searching for something- someone.
“Shoky? You awake?”
Vox whispered to the aquarium surrounding him. As if on cue, Shok.wav swam into view purring as he did so. Vox immediately relaxed and placed his hand to the glass.
“Hey baby boy. Daddy can’t really sleep right now, can I stay with you for a while?”
As if understanding him, the shark purred happily, swimming in circles as he did so. Vox chuckled softly as he sat down, legs crossed watching his baby swim around. He hadn’t noticed he blanked out until Shok.wav appeared in front of him again, wearing a worried expression and whining loudly. Vox’s eyebrows creased in worry as he stared back at his baby.
“What’s wrong Shoky? You want me to pet you? Yeah?”
With that, the shark was swimming in circles again, however this time he was making his way up the aquarium. Vox smiled in amusement and shook his head before standing up and heading into the elevator inside the room. He went inside and the box moved upwards. After the door opened, Vox stepped out onto the metal platform before folding his pajama pants up to his knees. He sat down on the edge, legs dangling into the water as Shoky swam up to him.
He reached his arm out and touched the kind beast. As he was giving Shok.wav his physical attention, his mind wandered yet again. It wandered.. to Alastor of all things. Fucking hell. How many years had it been? And Vox still wasn’t over him? Wasn’t over how he was let down by him? What was he, a 13 year old girl? How pathetic could he get?
Suddenly, Vox felt something wet land on his pants, he looked down and noticed two droplets on his thighs. Then he noticed how wet his screen was. Furthermore, Shok.wav was swimming in distressed circles, Vox hadn’t even realized he wasn’t petting him anymore. Hurriedly, Vox wiped his tears away and urged Shok.wav to come back.
“It’s okay baby! Daddy’s okay! He’s just.. uhm..”
Vox dropped his hands back into his lap. Nibbling at his bottom lip. Despite his demeanour, Shok.wav swam back to him, purring contently as he did as if trying to comfort Vox. The whole thing made it worse. Vox’s eyes teared up yet again, lips trembling as he talked back in a shaky voice.
“Thanks Shoky.. I know you’ll always be here. Always in my corner huh?”
Listening to him, Shok.wav made a noise of happiness and contentment. Vox laughed wetly as he continued to let Shok.wav.
Maybe Alastor could be right. Maybe there are no friends in Hell. But as long as Vox has his Shoky woky? Then he’ll- no. They’ll be fine.