Chapter Text
Two weeks had passed since the angels attacked the Hazbin Hotel, an attack that culminated in their defeat and the death of their leader, Adam, the first man. Since then, a period of restoration had begun: the hotel had been rebuilt from top to bottom, in a new area far from the rubble of the old one which now remained on the old hill as nothing more than a pile of wreckage and walls that in some places they were still smoking. Charlie would have liked to rebuild the hotel there, but Lucifer had advised him against it because, although this was unlikely, it was possible that some of the angelic energy released by Adam's attacks and even his own blood had contaminated the ground; this was not a problem in itself, but there was the possibility that such contamination had penetrated into the aquifer, making the water poisonous to demons. So, they simply changed locations and built a new hotel that was much nicer than the first.
Lucifer had helped a lot in the construction, probably just to be able to annoy Alastor since he changed all the things that the radio demon had brought to the old hotel with others with the same use but created with his style (for example the bar). Obviously the radio demon had not stood by and had in turn continually brought new things into the hotel with the excuse of wanting to furnish it better, often replacing what had already been placed there by the king of Hell. Needless to say, within less than a day a real silent war had begun between the two of them, which at least had helped to obtain very beautiful rooms and spaces given that both did nothing but seek every means to improve them.
Charlie had been happy (about the hotel, not about the absolute rivalry between the king of Hell and the radio demon which often led to situations that to define as ridiculous was an understatement), and finally after two weeks of work she could pick up where she left off. Her heart was more sure than ever that she had to do her best to carry the project forward.
Some other hotel residents were a little more pessimistic. One in particular.
"We have to move on tiptoe" Vaggie was telling them. "We don't know how Heaven might react after the beating they've suffered. And I'm willing to bet that Lute is already plotting revenge"
"Oh, come on! We crushed them, I doubt they'll show up anytime soon" Angel protested as he tried out the couch just brought by Alastor, which he said was at least fifteen times more comfortable than the one Lucifer provided.
"Well, we can't let our guard down!" Vaggie exclaimed irritably. "Until Heaven tells us they want a ceasefire or something, we should expect anything! The embassy is still completely silent, have you forgotten?"
Charlie knew she couldn't completely blame her girlfriend. Her father had tried to contact Heaven several times to find out what their next move was, but according to him no one had ever responded. She herself had gone to the embassy at least once a day, hoping to see some changes, but it was always empty and the countdown on its top was still marked at zero. No changes, no variations. It was as if the whole of Heaven had suddenly gone silent.
Charlie knew they couldn't let their guard down. However, she was more optimistic than her girlfriend. True, they had no guarantee that the angels would have left them alone, but that didn't necessarily mean they planned to burn the hotel to the ground again. After being defeated once they would have thought twice before attacking again. At least, that's what she hoped for.
"I agree with the one-eyed angel in perpetual menopause" Husk muttered boredly from the bar. "If there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that shit always ends up hitting a fan"
"Oh, thanks Husk! And fuck you too" Vaggie told him, not knowing whether to be grateful for his support or feel angry at the unkind description of her he had been given. "Niffty, what do you think?"
“I want to stab bad boys!” was the response of the little cyclops demon.
A small bead of sweat formed on Vaggie's forehead. "Yes, but... now there are no bad boys..."
"Then let's get them here! Call them like you did last time!" Niffty answered her.
"But we didn't… urgh, never mind" Vaggie muttered, rubbing her forehead.
"Yes, trust me, it's a losing battle. I've been trying to make her understand for two weeks" Angel told her. "I'm not even sure she understood that the fight is over. We should..."
Just then heavy footsteps were heard and everyone fell silent. Cherri appeared, shuffling her feet as if she had iron balls attached to them, and she sat down at the bar with a yawn. Her dress was quite undone, a sign that she hadn't even changed her clothes since she went to sleep, her hair was a mess, and she seemed to be able to stay up just out of pure divine mercy. "Yawn... hi, guys. You're early risers, I see"
"Cherri, it's eleven in the morning" Angel pointed out.
"Oh, really? Damn, I really lost the track of time" Cherri muttered thickly, and immediately went to sit at the bar where she downed an entire bottle of margarita. Once she had finished doing this she let out a burp, and then she turned back to the others: "Mh. Ok, now I'm ready to hear your complaints. So, what were you arguing about?"
"Of the possibility of being attacked by Heaven again" Angel answered her.
"Oh, yeah. Well, don't worry, we'll kick their ass again if they come back" Cherri answered him, and she seemed to be trying to smile, but her lips moved strangely, as if they refused to do so. "Sorry, my body is getting used to it by now, I need another bottle"
Charlie sighed seeing her like this. Cherri hadn't been sober since the battle with the angels ended; by now it was as if she physiologically needed to have a high blood alcohol level twenty-four hours a day. Whether it was during reconstruction, redecorating, any other job, or even just a conversation between friends, Cherri had always been at least tipsy.
She said she acted like this because she had decided to spice up her life after coming so close to death in the battle.
Everyone knew that in truth she was just trying not to think about Sir Pentious. And destroying her liver with alcohol was the most efficient way she knew to do so.
Cherri had denied it, but her actions betrayed the truth very well. Whenever anyone mentioned Pentious, she changed the subject or left the room, and immediately she drank another bottle. Passing by the painting they had created specifically to commemorate the snake demon seemed to be a categorical prohibition in her brain, to the point that she was willing to walk around the entire hotel or even go out and go through the window to avoid it. Pentious's belongings, or at least the few that had survived, were always far away from her, and touching any of them was out of the question. And as soon as the alcohol level in her body started to drop, she started to get stiff and unmanageable, and immediately rushed to drink again.
Charlie knew that sooner or later Cherri would have had to face the loss, and if she didn't they would have had to force her. Also because the more time passed, the more harmful her behavior became. Cherri initially drank a maximum of ten bottles a day; now she had reached over thirty. She had started to care less and less about herself, letting go of her body and her clothing, to the point that she now didn't change clothes or style her hair unless someone pointed out that she should. Charlie knew that the situation couldn't magically go away but only get worse, and considering they were in Hell where temptations were countless, if they didn't do something soon it was only a matter of time before Cherri started engaging in much more harmful behavior... and she wasn't the only one who felt that way, since Angel had made all his secret stashes of drugs disappear for fear that she would have found them and take a hit.
Vaggie too felt sorry for the cyclops demoness, but still she did not lose her composure. "However, we must always prepare for the worst. I propose to organize lookout shifts, constant patrols and..."
"Vaggie, this is not a military barracks" Charlie reminded her. "Look, I appreciate that you want to protect us, but don't you think you're a little..."
"... out of mind? Paranoid? Delirious?" Angel finished the sentence for her.
"... exaggerated" Charlie said trying to ignore him, or at least focus everyone's attention on what she had just said and not on the spider demon. "I understand the apprehension, but I don't think we should go crazy with fear either"
Vaggie was busy glaring at Angel, but then she let out a sigh. "Look... I know I may sound a little paranoid, but trust me when I say it's better to be paranoid than sorry. We really should..."
Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. Charlie immediately beamed, but she didn't miss the fact that the knock was rather hasty, as if it had been done by someone who had a great desire to come in immediately to escape something, which gave her a bad feeling. She acted like a good host anyway and went to open the door: "Welcome to Hazbin Ho-"
She hadn't even finished her sentence when two quick figures broke down the door and entered, closing it loudly behind them. It was all so fast that it took Charlie a couple of seconds to recognize them: "You two!?"
"Odette!?" Vaggie exclaimed. "Clara!? What are you doing here!?"
Both girls took deep breaths. It actually seemed as if they had been chased by someone all that time. "You have to help us!" Odette exclaimed. “He got her!”
“Wait, what?” Charlie asked not understanding what they meant. "Who was gotten...?"
"Our mother!" Clara answered her. “He took her away!”
"WHAT!?" Vaggie immediately snapped to attention. "Did someone kidnap Carmilla!?"
All the hotel guests were suddenly very interested, even Alastor. "Who did it?" Charlie asked them.
"Who could have been? Him!" Odette replied. "Army of One!"
There was a moment of silence. And then Angel asked: "Who?"
Both Odette and Clara were stunned. "What...? You really don't know who Army of One is?"
"Well... no" Angel admitted. “Is he a cool guy?”
"How do you not know? The news has been talking about nothing else for almost two weeks!" Odette exclaimed. "You know, Army of One? The mysterious sinner who's making overlords disappear one after another? The one who's been on everyone's lips lately? The one who signs himself with ADS?"
"Wait, what? This guy signs himself with the name of a sexually transmitted disease?" Husk asked in a voice somewhere between shocked and disgusted.
"No, that's AIDS" Angel corrected him.
Husk looked at him confused. "What?"
"The sexually transmitted disease is called AIDS. This guy instead signs himself ADS" Angel explained to him.
Husk gave a disdainful grunt. "And what's the difference?"
"Can you just shut up!?" Vaggie blurted out in exasperation. She wasn't in the mood to put up with too much imbecility which unfortunately tended to be quite common in the hotel. "Can you explain to us exactly what you are talking about?"
Despite the obvious concern on their faces, both Odette and Clara had become quite astonished. "You really don't know anything about him?"
"None of us have watched television lately" Charlie explained to them. "We were too busy rebuilding the whole hotel... we didn't exactly have time to watch the news"
The two girls were still quite shocked, but despite this they soon regained their composure. "Okay, then we'll give you a summary" Odette began. "A little less than two weeks ago, a new sinner appeared in Pentagram City. No one knows who he is, we don't even know his face because he always hides in armor. His goal is not known, nor his name, but what is known is that he is facing all the overlords one by one and so far no one has managed to defeat him... and he has already faced at least fifty of them"
Everyone's eyes widened in amazement. Defeating fifty overlords alone was a mission that should have been impossible for a sinner newly arrived in Hell. Well, maybe he hadn't just arrived considering he was hiding, but still it was quite an impressive feat. "Did he kill them?" Charlie asked.
"No, he just kidnapped them. Well, the overlords at least... any witnesses rarely end well due to the effects of the battle" Clara replied. "And here is the strangest part. What all the witnesses say, and what we have also seen, is that this demon seems to... steal the powers of everyone he fights"
"What!?" Angel exclaimed in shock. “This demon… steals powers?”
"What does it mean?" Cherri muttered. "That he absorbs them as if he were a sponge?"
"No, he doesn't steal them in that sense. What I mean is that he adapts so perfectly that he mimics the powers of those he fights against" Clara explained further. "And he does it extremely quickly. And he doesn't just imitate powers or fighting styles, he actually improves them as he uses them, as if he's become familiar with them and is used to finding ways to make the most of their potential"
“So this is how he beats all the overlords?” Vaggie asked. "Mimic their powers and then defeat them with improved versions?"
But Odette and Clara shook their heads. "No, that's exactly the disturbing thing. He already has strength that goes beyond normal standards. He doesn't need powers to defeat anyone. He knocked our mother out with one punch!"
At those words Vaggie opened her mouth, and everyone else had no very different reactions. Even if they didn't know firsthand how strong Carmilla was, taking down one of the most powerful overlords around with a single punch was certainly no small feat. "Wow... our friend sure knows how to work out..." Angel commented.
“When he fought with our mother, he could have knocked her down in a second if he wanted” Odette continued. "Instead he always gave her time to use her powers, even waiting while standing still at times. We believe that these duels only serve him because he wants to take all the fighting abilities of the overlords, and a life-and-death battle is the way better even if he already knows he will win"
“And then he takes her away to do… who knows what with her” Clara concluded. "You must help us find our mother! Who knows what monstrosities he is doing to her!"
"Stay calm. We'll help you" Charlie reassured her. "You helped us, so the least we can do is give you our help too"
Odette and Clara seemed a little more heartened. "Thank you" they whispered almost in unison.
Husk let out a snort through his nostrils. "So... a serial kidnapper of overlords, who possesses extraordinary strength and who is able to perfectly imitate the powers of other demons, even improving them" he commented in a sour voice. "And he's called... Army of One?"
"How do you know that's his name?" Angel asked. "Didn't you say that no one knows him?"
"Army of One is the name the media gave him" Odette explained to him. "They originally just called him the Overlord Kidnapper, but that was too bland a name. When they learned that he could mimic the powers of others, they nicknamed him the Army of One. And since he's so strong that he's practically an army on his own, that name stuck. He also leaves an A among his symbols, so that name was perfect"
"Symbols?" Vaggie asked. "What kind of symbols?"
"As we told you, he always signs himself with ADS. And then, every time he kidnaps an overlord, he also leaves a number" Odette replied.
"Wow... this guy really looks like a serial killer... even though he's technically a serial kidnapper" Charlie commented scratching the back of her neck. “ADS… numbers… what does that mean?”
"We have no idea. Nobody knows what these symbols mean" Clara replied. "Zestial has been investigating this for days, but he hasn't been able to figure anything out. He's convinced that these symbols could be a message, perhaps even a map, but he can't decipher it"
“A map to what, his lair?” Angel asked. "It's absurd. Why would a kidnapper leave a map on how to find him?"
"I would do so" Alastor said aloud, speaking for the first time since Odette and Clara had arrived. The radio demon had a strange expression on his face, and his eyes had narrowed to two slits. "Why commit perfect crimes if you can't take credit for them? Even I would leave crumbs to find myself. I've already done it once, technically"
Charlie swallowed slightly. The radio demon's gaze had become quite frightening. "Alastor...?"
"I'm sure this guy wants to be found" Alastor commented, and although he didn't lose his smile, a slight snort came from his nostrils. "Why... I don't know. But no one leaves so many clues without a reason. Maybe he's playing a wicked game, or maybe he has a deeper reason... but it's obvious that he wants those who search for him to understand something"
"If that's the case, why hasn't anyone figured it out yet?" Odette asked him.
"Maybe because they aren't the right people. Maybe those clues were left on purpose for someone in particular to figure it out. Or maybe such investigators have too little brain matter" Alastor replied. "I will understand better very soon. I intend to investigate about this myself"
"We're all going to investigate" Charlie stopped him. For some reason Alastor seemed much more irritated than usual. It was as if he took the matter quite personally. "Vaggie, come with me and Alastor. You guys stay here and keep tabs on the news. If this... Army of One... really kidnaps overlords on a daily basis, then he might do it again while we're gone"
"Yeah, that makes sense to me" Angel commented. “Well… good luck, girls”
"We'll lead the way" Odette told them, and Clara nodded.
"Okay" Charlie told them. "And as we go, tell us in detail everything that happened. And hopefully we'll find some clues"