"Perhaps it was! Testing Nitro's worth! Well then, Phantom. I say that this fight was quite the spectacle. And it looks like more company has arrived down there. Shall we join them?" Alastor asked as a Dark Core vehicle pulled up to Vaggie, Loona, and Millie at the time square area as Phantom looked out at the other tall skyscrapers, his eyes darting from window to window.
"What are you looking at, might I ask?" Alastor asked as he walked to Phantom's side.
"Just... feel like I'm being watched..." he said as he shook his head free in annoyance as Alastor snapped another portal into existence.
ICE CITY TOWN SQUARE.
"So... you beat my bro, hmm?" Ravage asked as he stood in front of the black truck he drove in.
"Hell yeah! We're stronger than you think, right!?" Millie cheered with a smile.
"What's wrong? You wanna go next?" Loona asked with a smirk.
"I'm here to take you back to the tower. Let's go." Ravage said as he got into the driver seat.
"That was fun! Can't wait to see what else this universe has to offer!" Millie cheered once more as she and Loona got into the back seat.
"Whoa, hold on!" Ravage said as Vaggie grabbed the passenger side door handle. "What do you think you're doing, Hermoso?" Ravage asked.
"Getting in the car, you imbécil." Vaggie said annoyed as the door lock clicked. "I don't think so! You did the most damage to my boy! Like hell I'm driving you anywhere..." Ravage said as he drove the vehicle away, abandoning Vaggie in the snow.
"Fuckin Puta..." Vaggie said annoyed as a red portal opened in front of her.
"Such a good and charming man, that Ravage!" Alastor said as he strolled through the portal, cane spinning in hand as Phantom followed behind.
"What do you two want, Al?" Vaggie asked as the two came to a stop. "Oh, nothing! Just getting Phantom down here while I leave for some business! I'll be seeing you all again soon. Till then!" Alastor said as he vanished into red floating symbols.
"What business could you have? You've only been here for a few days..." Phantom and Vaggie thought together in sync as they looked at each other.
"Good job on Nitro. But he ain't gonna stop. You pissed him off. So watch your back." Phantom said as his car pulled up from around a building and parked in front of him.
"I'm going back to the tower." Phantom said as the top of the car opened and he climbed into the driver seat.
"Ahem!" Vaggie said as she crossed her arms. "What?" He asked. "I need a ride..." Vaggie said annoyed. "Hmm. Thanks, Derek..." Phantom sighed in annoyance.
"Get in."
LATER.
"So. Different from the last time we were alone." Vaggie said in a back seat as Phantom continued driving down ice covered roads.
"Last time we were alone, we tried to kill each other." Phantom said. "Yeah. Sorry about that..." Vaggie said, referring to their fight.
"Oh, so she can be nice?" Phantom said mockingly. "I can be nice to people who's nice back! I'm not the one who cut someone's arm off and just left them to bleed in the snow!" Vaggie growled.
"Well, that someone should've kept their guard up." Phantom said with a little laugh. "Whatever. I give up." Vaggie said as she stared out at the iced buildings.
But Phantom saw her face and couldn't help but feel a little bad. To him, he still didn't trust the demons, regardless of the universe of the origin. Just because Knight says that they're not a threat doesn't mean he had to trust them. But maybe he didn't need to be rude. He was letting his frustration of a case he was dealing with influence him.
"Hmmm. Why the hell am I going soft?" Phantom scoffed in his mind.
"Alright. You want us to be nice, we can be nice." Phantom said as Vaggie looked at him confused. "I'm just trying to protect what I have to call family. It's not the best... but it's what I got. You're not the only one with a blonde friend with one too many dreams." Phantom said.
"Yeah. I can relate to that..." Vaggie said. As much as the two disliked each other, it was clear that they were more alike then they thought. And more than they would like to admit.
"Question. You said nobody knew where our challenge was. So how did you and Alastor find us?" Vaggie asked. "Hmm? Oh. There's a GPS tracker in your new eye." Phantom said bluntly.
"WHAT!?" She questioned. "Yeah. That's why I gave it to you. Remember, I didn't trust any of you then." Phantom said with a little laugh as Vaggie rolled her eyes.
"Hate to interrupt. We have a problem at the tower with Charlie." Shade said on the cars communications.
"Blonde? What happened?" Phantom asked as he continued to drive his car through the snow covered roads.
"Miss Morningstar's room exploded. A bomb was hidden in the room vent. Some other locations in the tower was hit too from the explosion, but nothing major." Shade said over comms.
"Is Charlie ok!?" Vaggie demanded.
"She's fine, we just checked her in the medical center." Shade said, Vaggie's anger, worries, and pure pissed off energies flooding her body and mind.
"We're on our way to the the tower." Phantom said as Shade got off the communications.
"Is she sure Charlie's ok?" Vaggie asked. "She'll be fine. Calm down." Phantom said. "Isn't Shade the lead medical personnel there? She'll take care of her, right?" She asked impatiently.
"She said she'll be fine. Now calm down." Phantom said, slightly aggravated by her uneasy mood.
"And who ever the hell did this is dead! The maldita perra de mierda!" Vaggie said as she clenched her fist.
"I said calm down!" Phantom growled.
"I am calm!" Vaggie growled back at him.
"I've only known you for an hour and I can already tell that when your spanish comes out, you're not calm!" He said as Vaggie took a deep breath.
"Alright... ok, ok, I'm calm..." Vaggie said as she took another deep breath. "Thank you. Just breathe. She'll be ok." Phantom said to reassure Vaggie.
"I know, I know. Just get us there quickly. Please..."
DARK TOWER VEHICLE AREA.
"Then the fuckin dog threw me off the roof and I got saved by that Alastor and shit. But, uh, yeah! Survived and all. Probably gonna get a date with that gray skinned Spanish demon with the ass." Nitro said with a little laugh to Dark Core soldiers. Soldiers who were annoyed by who they had to call leader.
"Not happening, Rigg!" Shatter said with a laugh as she got off of her bike and walked to the elevator.
"Spanish girls are a pain... but damn, they worth it!" Nitro said as Phantom drove into the area out of the snow.
"Oh, look! Big Dawg is back!" Nitro said as Phantom and Vaggie climbed out of the cockpit.
"Well, damn... you lookin a little tired after all we did out there..." Nitro said as he inspected her form. Her silver hair draping her shoulders "How about I help you lax a bit? Show you something good?~... You owe me. Gave me some pain. How about pleasure now?~" Nitro said as he reached his hand up to brush her hair, but was quickly smacked away as Vaggie brought a knife up to his neck with anger.
"Listen here, Puta! You touch me or anyone else, I'll kill you! I promise you that!" Vaggie said as Nitro was ready to beat her down.
"Alright." Phantom said with a short laugh. "We need to go." He said as Vaggie ripped herself away from Nitro.
"Fuckin prick." Vaggie seethed in anger. "Relax." Phantom said as the two walked to the elevator. "It's just how he is. Whenever he sees something, beautiful, gorgeous, or sexy, he goes all thug." Phantom said as the elevator doors shut.
"So what? just let him keep acting like that to me and others!?" Vaggie questioned. "No. Beat him however you want. Just don't kill him. It's what we all do. Shatter put him in the medical center for a month once. Knight still has a use for him so he keeps him around. But I got a feeling it might be changing soon." Phantom said as the elevator stopped. "Hmm. Noted." Vaggie said as the doors opened.
"Where are they?" Phantom asked a soldier in the hall. "Commander Knight and Miss Morningstar are in what's left of her room." The soldier said. "Alright, thanks." Phantom said as he and Vaggie went down the hall to what was left of Charlie's room.
"There you are. Look, do me a favor. Go check on Charlie for me. Ask questions, get info for us." Knight asked. "Why me?" Phantom asked annoyed. "Just do it, please. Detective's in your resume, isn't it?" Knight begged.
"Mmmm.... Alright, fine." Phantom growled as he walked in.
"So. You ok?" Phantom asked as Charlie stood at the edge of what was left of her room as she stared out at the snowy city from the destroyed floor.
"Oh, uh, yes, hi! I'm ok!" Charlie said as she saw him in the burnt metal doorway. "Heard it was a bomb. What happened?" Phantom asked. "Oh, well, I was laying on the bed. I heard a beeping sound coming from the ceiling vent. And I ran for the door and then it exploded." She said.
"But... you're ok, right?" Phantom asked, trying to make sure nothing was wrong with her. "Oh, yes, I'm fine! Thanks for the concern." She said with a smile as she took a couple steps closer to him. "Just... following my orders, Blonde." Phantom said as they continued their conversation.
DARK TOWER HALLS.
"Daniel, this is bad. We checked security footage, it was wiped. Got no idea who did this. And the bomb was in her room. HER room. Someone is trying to get her specifically. Charlie isn't safe here anymore. We need to move her." Shade said to knight in the hall outside of Charlie's room.
"Yeah? And where do you go to protect a demon?" Shatter asked as an idea popped in Knight's head. "Alright, hear me out. I got an idea..." Knight said as they looked into the room towards Phantom.
"He's not gonna like that." Shatter said as she crossed her arms.
"Oh, he's gonna be pissed! But it's all we got right now." Knight said.
DARK CITY ROOFTOPS.
As The Dark Core Tower was filled with confusion and chaos, someone far from the tower watched it all.
"Satan screw this!" Growled a voice as they stared down the scope of a sniper rifle on a rooftop near the tower as they aimed right at Charlie's head.
"So a bomb's not good enough for a high rankin blue blood like you, huh, Princess? Alright. Could kill you now, but I ain't. I got some ideas for you, Beautiful." The voice said with a laugh.
"And you..." The voice said as the scope was moved to Phantom's helmeted face.
"I got all of tomorrow night for the reward on your head, Partner..." He said as he put his sniper rifle away and smiled at his targets.