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April 1, 2019; Tartarus

The wind knocked them off their feet.

Ben slammed his fist down into the ground, latching on with all his might. Ava lunged forwards to grab his tail, while the others went flying through the arena. Gwen put up a pink bubble to encase some of her friends in, but it did little more than turn them into a hamster ball.

“Got any plans?” Ava shouted.

“Hold on!” Ben said.

“Already working on that.”

Ben tried to march forwards, straining against the push of the wind. Lucifer smiled and laughed as he watched his foes struggling to even reach him. Ben's feet slipped, carving out chunks in the ground from the force. Ava tried to climb up his back meanwhile, wanting to see if she had any form of opening.

“I don't think it's gonna be enough!” Ava said.

“Then maybe it's time to show you those watch improvements I told you about…”

Ben brought his hand up against the wind, and pressed it down on the hourglass symbol on his chest. But instead of the normal flash of light that Ava was used to seeing, it suddenly sprung 4 little prongs out of the quarters of the dial. A little wave of pulsing green light started sliding over Humungousaur, and Ava could feel his form shifting beneath her. His scales turned green, and his back hardened into a big armor shell, with spikes protruding out of the rim. His build grew larger, and his tail sprouted a thick spiked club. The green light stopped, and Ben slammed his feet into the ground to anchor him. He stared down at Lucifer, who seemed slightly less amused now.

“Ultimate Humungousaur!” Ben roared.

“I need to get the kind of stuff you guys have in your dimension, like jeez,” Ava said.

Ben held up his hand, aiming it towards Lucifer. His finger flesh started morphing around, meshing into a single cylinder. In the most literal sense too, as the metal plating around his knuckles sprouted holes that whirred and clicked like the sound of a machine gun, and missile-like projectiles suddenly launched out from them. They shrieked through the wind, twirling straight towards Lucifer. There was the briefest moment where the Devil’s face shifted to worry, but it was quickly replaced by that snarky grin. He held up his sword, and swung fast as the missiles were just about to hit him. One swing, two, three, four. The metal clanged as the projectiles richocted off of it and flipped around in the opposite direction.

Ben and Ava gasped, and Ben tried to shield himself with his arms. But the missiles struck true, and both of them went flying backwards, screaming. Ben erupted into a flash of the green light, returning to human form. The two of them yelped as the wind flung them backwards, and again when they suddenly felt another pull yank them down behind a large stone.

“You okay?” Ruby asked Ava when they were safe behind their windshield.

“Yeah I'm fine,” Ava nodded.

“Some improvements,” Chelsea scoffed to Ben as she let go of his arm.

“I never said it was flawless,” Ben nervously shrugged.

“Get a manual for that thing already, Tennyson!” Kevin called from the bubble in the sky.

“You don't think I've asked Azmuth for one a thousand times?”

“Guys!” Ava said. “I appreciate the banter but the Devil is literally trying to kill us!”

“We need a plan…” Chelsea said. “We can't just charge him directly so…”

“What's wrong kids?” Lucifer laughed from afar. “To afraid to come get me now that my baby brother isn't here?”

Then suddenly, a noise broke through the wind. Different from their yells of effort or Lucifer’s laughter. It almost sounded like an engine revving. Followed immediately by General Lee’s dixie horn. The gang looked up as an armored humvee bounced into the circle, hurling itself forward towards Lucifer. His eyes widened.

“You’ve got to be-”

He was cut off as the vehicle launched itself into the air, smacking right into the demented isu. A form crashed through the windshield, a figure covered in brown, wrapping itself around Lucifer and holding on against the wind.

“A little blustery, don’t you think so, Lucy?” Dusk cried out, a wicked smile on his face.

“How when why and how?!” Chelsea fumed.

He laughed, hitting the button on his staff, the ends extending right into Lucifer’s face, hitting him like a ton of bricks.

Lucifer winced and snarled. “There are a lot of things I'm willing to put up with today,” he said, knocking the staff to the left and activating his face mask. He held up his sword and a surge of purple jolted out of the Hands of Armageddon. The energy engulfed him, and he let it out in a huge burst, sending the newest addition to the fight onto level playing ground with the others.

Dusk hit the ground rolling, tingling from the shock. He tried standing up once or twice, catching himself on a rock. “I honestly thought that would have done a little more!” he said as he turned to the gang and waved. “Sorry about the wait, guys! I’m here now, though!”

“How do you put up with this on a daily basis?” Chelsea asked Gwen, who simply shrugged.

“Wait!” Ben said. “That actually gave me an idea!”

“I hate you.”

“MY MAN!” Dusk yelled into the wind.

Ben fiddled with his watch, selecting another shape and slamming down. When the light flashed and dissipated, his friends looked to see him in the form of a large blob of an alien, with giant bulbous yellow shells up his back and arms. “Cannonbolt!” he yelled.

“You really need to stop that,” Chelsea said.

“Just get on with the plan please,” Catherine suggested from the bubble.

“You four try to get onto those platforms,” Ben directed to the ground team. When Lucy starts heading your way, be ready to send him towards Ava.”

The others nodded, hurling themselves back into the winds and shuffling their way to covers. As they stood behind their rocks and attempted to make their climbs, Ben stumbled up to face Lucifer. He made a move as if he was about to attack, and Lucifer simply smirked. He held up his sword, and swung it hard. A jolt of energy surged from his weapon and shrieked towards Ben. Just as it was about to hit, Ben jumped up and curled himself into a tight ball, shielded by his shells. The blasts hit him square, and he went soaring backwards, rolling and bouncing around the circle like a mad bowling ball. He ping-ponged around the platforms, circling all the way back around. Lucifer barely had time to react before he suddenly found Tennyson slamming into him at full force.

Lucy yelped, and got caught in the winds. His crash course aimed him right at one of the platforms, where Ruby was waiting with her blade. She held it like a baseball bat, and swung as was hard as she could. Lucifer oofed as it made impact and he pinged in another direction, towards Jacob.

“Just like old times, eh Lucy?” he quipped, twirling his staff around, batting Lucifer away as well. As he flew, though, Dusk pulled a rifle from inside his Duster and fired after him.

The blast sent him flying farther, towards Chelsea, who wrapped her fingers in her electric brass knuckles and cracked him. She wound up her punch, and thrust her fist upwards just as Lucy came in range. It hit him square in the jaw, and Chelsea did a swift flip kick to send him crashing towards Ava.

Ava ejected her blades, jumping up and slamming down on Lucifer just as he reached her. The two of them crashed through the platform, and Ava yanked him around for a few quick slices that shattered his face mask. And then she leapt off and let him slam into the ground.

“That all you got after all this?” Ava quipped, holding onto a rock.

The winds suddenly started shifting, spasming and sputtering in bizarre patterns. Lucifer picked himself off the ground, hovering as the Hand engulfed him in more energy. The world started shattering apart and reforming again. The ground became muddier, and while the winds slowed to a manageable pace, they started to carry something to compensate. The arena was engulfed in dark clouds that spat lightning, and a torrent of rain started rushing out from them. Ice cold drops that bit at their skin.

“Please, we’re only on level three!” Lucifer laughed as he unleashed another energy blast. It was enough to shatter Gwen's bubble, and the members of the team inside went falling to the ground. Ava held up her arm, trying desperately to shield herself from the rains.

“Ben!” Ava called, looking over her shoulder.

“I'm uh… a little stuck…” Ben said as he tried to pull his bulky arms out of the thick thick mud.

Gwen created a platform below her, and a windshield to match, and she hovered herself over the mud. “I've got your back on this one,” she said, lifting Ava up with her.

Lucifer raised his sword again, summoning one of the lightning bolts from the clouds and sending it towards the girls. Gwen shoved them out of the way, and hurled a mana blast at him. But he simply blocked with his sword, and the lightning he drew. Ava and Gwen frowned, each trying to think of a plan, when suddenly they saw Jess running across the battlefield, trudging through the mud as fast as she could.

“Hit him, I've got this!” she ordered.

Gwen nodded. Lucifer launched another bolt at them, and they dodged, giving them the opportunity to strike back. Gwen let her windshield drop for a moment to thrust a couple of mana blasts at the Devil. He smiled, raising his sword again to draw in more electricity. But just as the bolt came surging from the clouds, it suddenly made a u-turn.

“What?” Lucifer snarled. He turned around, and saw Jess standing near her baton, which she planted firmly in the ground to use as a lightning rod. She smiled at Lucy, and waved innocently. Lucifer growled in response, and raised his sword to fire at her, but turning around proved to be a mistake, as two mana blasts smacked him in the back of his head, and a beam of pink engulfed him. Gwen grunted as she flung him up, and slammed him down.

“Ava go!” she said.

Ava didn't hesitate. She jumped forwards. Gwen spawned a few platforms for her to run on and launch off of to land on Lucifer. Ava grabbed him by the collar of his armor and kicked him up. She spin kicked him in the air, flicked out her blades when she landed, and stabbed forward into his armor, causing a few more chunks to fall off.

“I'm not going to play your games anymore!” Lucifer roared, getting himself another pick-me-up from the Hands of Armageddon and blasting his foes backwards.

The world started shifting again, shattering as he pulled them into another circle of Hell. The rains stopped, and the clouds disappeared. Lucifer suddenly launched himself up very high, and the group tensed as they stood ready for what he was about to throw at them.

And as it turned out, he was about to throw boulders at them.

Forms of giant rocks shattered into existence in the sky around Lucifer, and he thrust his arms down to send them raining on his foes. The friends scattered as the rocks slammed into the ground around them. Kevin scowled up at Lucifer, and turned towards Dusk. He reached out and wrapped his fist around his staff. The metal started leeching over his skin.

“Mind if I borrow this?” he asked.

“Nah man, do what you gotta do,” he said. “I need practice with this baby, anyways.” He propped the rifle up and took aim.

“Much appreciated,” Kevin smiled. His metal armor covered the last patch of his body, and he rushed forward with the staff in hand. With a battle cry, he lunged upwards, hopping onto the rocks and splitting them into chunks with his blows. Ava looked to Catherine and motioned for her to follow suit, and so the two Assassins clambered up the falling stones, trying to go up faster than they were coming down. Lucifer scowled as they approached him, and he tried summoning more and more rocks to crush them.

Kevin quickly dodged or kicked his way through the storm though, and soon he was upon the Devil. He jumped forward, shouting with the staff in hand. He swung the weapon forward, hitting Lucy in the head. Lucifer grunted and tried to send a punch back in return. Kevin ducked though, and morphed his fist into an iron mace to thwack him in the head. Lucifer went falling, his aim first sending him towards Catherine.

“God I forgot how exhilarating this was!” she laughed as she jumped up, putting Lucifer in a leg hold and swinging him down further.

Ava flicked out her blades, ready as Lucifer came hurtling down. She jumped up, sliced at his armor to break further through, and then drop kicked him back down into the ground. The friends climbed back down as the rocks stopped coming, and Kevin handed the staff back to Dusk.

“Come on, Lucy,” Ava said, letting herself smirk. “I remember you being tougher. Eon forget to restore some of your best game when he brought you back to life?”

“Just you wait,” Lucifer threatened. “It only gets worse further down. Abandon all hope ye who enter and all that crap.”

“That's what was said at the first circle of Hell though,” Gwen quipped. “We're coming up on the fifth.”

“And it will drown your stupid quips right out of your lungs.”

He thrust himself back into the air, and absorbed another surge from the Hands to re-level the playing field once more. The boulder remains shattered into void pieces, and the world started rearranging itself again. The ground started becoming soggier, as water started seeping up through the mud.

“Aw come on I just got unstuck!” Ben whined, turning human as he yanked his last leg out of the mud from earlier.

“I think that's gonna be the least of our worries,” Chelsea said.

The waters rose and rose, and started violently sloshing back and forth. The team shouted as they tried to get their bearings in the relentless waves.

“Ben!” Ruby called.

“On it! Woah!” Ben panicked back. He struggled to reach for his watch and turn the dial. He slammed his hand down, and a green flash shined from the water. A new form suddenly flew into the air, and rushed over to sweep Ava out of the waves just as a nasty one was about to yank her under.

“Ampfibian!” he declared in his raspy electrical voice.

“Why do you do that anyway? The shouting names thing?” Ava asked between coughs.

“It strikes fear into the hearts of my enemies,” Ben assured.

“It does not,” Chelsea and Kevin moaned in unison.

“Gwen! Catch!” Ben said.

“Wait no-!” Ava tried to protest before being hurled back over the waves. She found herself hitting a forcefield instead of the water though, and when she looked up, she saw Gwen hovering and holding her up. Ava stood and nodded in thanks, and then Gwen said you're welcome by spawning a circle of other platforms around the arena. Lucifer looked around at them in amusement, and he beckoned Ava forward. Ava frowned, and grabbed her karambit. She ran forward at her foe, hacking and slashing. Lucifer swung his sword to counter, and Ava very nearly got her neck sliced off a few times as their blades danced against one another. Ava shouted and swung hard, and their blades locked tight. They glared down at one another, inches from each others faces.

“Miss these old duels?” Lucy grinned.

“To be entirely honest, no not really. I like it when the world isn't in mortal peril.”

“Do you ever get a chance to see it when it isn't?”

Ava frowned, and Lucifer grinned. But suddenly that grin was wiped clean off his face as a jolt of electricity suddenly surged into it. He yelled and stumbled backwards, giving Ava the chance to take a look over at Ben. His gelatinous tentacles were aimed at Lucy, each of them sparkling with kinetic shocks. Ava's eyes widened as an idea sprung into her brain.

“Gwen grab the others!” she said, earning a nod from the red head. Gwen concentrated hard, and pulled her friends from the waves, encasing them in the safety of another bubble. Ava rushed forwards, taking another few swings at Lucy. He tried to swing back, but she dodged and kicked him downwards into the water. As he splashed down into the waves, she lunged back onto one of the platforms and turned to Ben.

“Shower toaster him, now!” she called.

Ben nodded, and sent a massive surge of electric energy down into the water. The waves pulsed and spasmed as the current sparked through it. Lucifer screamed in pain as the sparks latched onto and engulfed him, and something on his armor smoked and cracked again.

He roared in irritation, and used the Hands as a hard reset yet again. The team found themselves on solid ground once more as the water vanished into the void, but that cause for celebration was quickly dashed. More specifically, scorched, as fountains of flames erupted from the dirt, encircling the arena with a vicious roar.

“It's about time we got to the fire and brimstone!” Ruby laughed. “Was wondering when we'd get to the actual hellish part of Hell.”

“Glad I could be of service,” Lucifer quipped. “Now burn!”

His sword blade erupted into fire, and he surged it down upon them. The team scattered again. The Assassins dipped and dodged around the plumes of flame, attempting to fire their guns at the weak points in Lucy's armor.

“Anyone got a fire extinguisher?” Jess nervously called out.

“Surprisingly short on foam aliens,” Ben said.

“Just go Heatblast and fry him back!” Kevin suggested.

“Do you really want to add more fire to this situation?” Ruby asked.

“I can appreciate a hot-headed solution,” Chelsea said.

Everyone suddenly stopped, even Lucifer. They all turned to her, giving her a look.

“You sure this is hell? Cause that was a miracle,” Dusk blinked.

“I can make funnies too,” Chelsea grumbled.

“Can you though?” Catherine asked, earning her an electric deck in the face.

“Well what we need are more technical solutions!” Dusk said. Then, in the brief moment of confusion, he had pulled a device from the pack on his back, throwing it towards Lucifer. Just as it was about to hit, the grenade exploded, white foam settling over Lucifer and his flames.

“I refuse to believe Berg gave you that,” Chelsea said to Dusk.

“Nope!” he said. “Made it myself! Just incase I happen to burn down a building or two.” He started wailing on Lucifer’s armor, making a point of hitting any dents that had already formed. Enough of a beating would take anything down, and his was already weakened.

“I'm open, coach!” Ava called to Dusk, making motions like a baseball player. He answered in kind, using his staff as a lever and kicking Lucifer in Ava’s direction. Ava leapt up, karambit in hand. She flipped in the air, her hair getting a slight singe against a flame jet, and she thrust her foot firmly into Lucifer's face before spinning around and driving her blade into the cracks of his suit.

Lucifer went sputtering back, getting close to that weakened state that Ava remembered from their first fight. She smiled. He frowned. The flames evaporated into the void, and he hovered weakly in the center with his two artifacts orbiting around him.

“If you don't want to play fair, then I see no reason to either,” he declared.

“You’re literally Satan, bro!” Dusk said, appalled. “You’ve got a magic suit and alien artifacts! We’re in Hell!”

“Yeah, since when do you ever play fair to begin with?” Catherine added.

“Ask my friends,” Lucifer smirked. He hovered himself into the air, and suddenly a crack opened up in the ground around the circumference of the arena. A viscous bubbling sound snarled from its depths, getting closer and closer to the top until the team could see exactly what this most was filling with: boiling blood.

“Oh that's… that's excellent decor,” Ruby said, giving a disgusted okay sign.

The red fluid started sloshing at the surface, and something suddenly broke through. Then many somethings. Hands. Big hands. They gripped onto the land, and lugged out the bodies attached to them. Giant armored warriors emerged from the steaming depths, eyes bloodshot and swords stained. They glared down at the team, and then they let out vicious battle cries in unison. The team gripped their weapons, and prepared for the first wave.

Ben hit his dial and turned back into Four Arms to wrestle the hulk of a man who came at him. Gwen meanwhile stuck to her mana blasts, with Kevin watching her back with a formed mace.

Ava and Ruby teamed up together, dancing around each other and the blades of their attackers. They kicked them around and sliced at their throats, and Ruby got a few impalings in for good measure. On the other end of things, Chelsea had her fists up threateningly. She had Dusk at her back.

“Gotten any better since the last lesson I gave you?” she asked him as she boxed.

He barked out a laugh, blocking a blade with his staff. “I’m sorry, I seem to remember doing the work. You just talked me into it. Had to wonder afterwards if you’re getting too old for this work.” He shoved the brute back.

“Well maybe one day you'll actually be able to kick my ass without me letting you win,” Chelsea smirked as she decked one of her opponents straight to the ground.

“Next time Gabriel won’t be there to stop me.” He laid down some fire on the creature, then collapsed his staff, exchanged it for his daggers, and let out a yell, stabbing them into the thing’s eyes. “I’ll make sure to go easy on you.” He turned to her, unable to keep from grinning.

“Looking forward to that,” she grinned right back.

“Is this really a good time to be sizing each other up?” Catherine asked as she swung her knife around to hack up the warriors’ tendons.

“It does get kinda old after awhile,” Jess admitted.

“It keeps us on our toes,” Chelsea shrugged.

“Jess, you and I are so going clothes shopping after this,” Catherine said.

“Agreed,” Jess nodded, driving her baton into the bloodied chest of one of the behemoths.

It wasn't long before the last of the warriors fell, his head smashed into the head of one of his companions by Ben. Ben dropped the two of them to the ground, and he looked up at Lucifer.

“Got anymore you wanna throw at us or are you done licking your wounds?” he taunted.

But surprisingly, Lucifer grinned even wider. The artifacts hovered around him. Was it them, or did they seem to be spinning just a little faster?

“After much consideration,” he said. “I've decided that holding back isn't fun anymore. Figured it's high time to show you the big guns.”

“Goddamnit! He was stalling,” Dusk said as he hung his head, then looked to Catherine. “Come on, man.”

“What?” Catherine said flatly.

“It’s movie logic! You never let the villain distract you with minions, that’s when they transform.”

“What was I supposed to do about it?”

“Um… guys,” Ruby gulped.

They looked to where she was pointing. The blood pools had started shattering away into the void, but so did the ground in front of it. The team heard Lucifer laughing above, as they found themselves cornered in more and more, with nothing but a black pit beneath them when they looked down. The ground got smaller, and smaller, and smaller.

And soon there was nothing left to stand on. Their screams echoed into the pit as they fell. The tumbled over one another trying go get some sort of bearings. Figures started to emerge from the shadows, winged figures with fangs and claws, and mad smiles that wreaked of bloodlust. The creatures descended upon them as they fell. Ava tried to swing as best she could, but the dark made it difficult to land a good blow. She could hear the others having the same difficulty though. The void filled with sounds of squawks and kicks and grunts and stabs, until Ava finally managed to drive her blade into her attacker's neck and it fell away from her with dying screeches.

The falling continued, but the darkness started letting up. The temperature started dropping at an alarming rate, and they started seeing ice line the walls of the hole they were falling through. The bottom eventually came, and it hit them hard. The nine of them smacked into the ice below, and they groaned in pain.

“I hate these rides…” Kevin moaned.

Ava painfully struggled to her feet, and got a look around. They were still in what was obviously an arena, but it was different. Everything was laced with ice, even the floating platforms everywhere. The room was massive, and nothing served as its centerpiece. Literally. Another massive bottomless hole was dug out of the ice in the center, and it didn't bode any good omens.

There was a crackle from above. The team looked up, and saw the Hands and Apple descending down above the hole, popping and spinning with malicious energy. They watched the artifacts descend down into the darkness, and for a moment there was silence. Terrifying, gut twisting silence.

Then the world shook. Everyone watched in horror as something started to emerge out from the hole. Something climbing out of the hole. First came the hands, massive armored clawed hands, then the next thing that appeared was a set of boney ram horns, sitting on top of a withered and disfigured head with glowing red eyes laced with isu glyphs. Bulking arms pulled a torso the size of a house out from the pit, decked out with thick jagged armor. And at the center of the chestplate, the Hands and Apple were embedded.

The beast looked down at the team below, and he spread his torn lips into a wormy smile. He clenched his fists, energy surged out from the cracks in his demonic form, and he unleashed a hellish roar into the air.

And Ava's stomach dropped.

Description
April 1, 2019; Tartarus

The wind knocked them off their feet.

Ben slammed his fist down into the ground, latching on with all his might. Ava lunged forwards to grab his tail, while the others went flying through the arena. Gwen put up a pink bubble to encase some of her friends in, but it did little more than turn them into a hamster ball.

“Got any plans?” Ava shouted.

“Hold on!” Ben said.

“Already working on that.”

Ben tried to march forwards, straining against the push of the wind. Lucifer smiled and laughed as he watched his foes struggling to even reach him. Ben's feet slipped, carving out chunks in the ground from the force. Ava tried to climb up his back meanwhile, wanting to see if she had any form of opening.

“I don't think it's gonna be enough!” Ava said.

“Then maybe it's time to show you those watch improvements I told you about…”

Ben brought his hand up against the wind, and pressed it down on the hourglass symbol on his chest. But instead of the normal flash of light that Ava was used to seeing, it suddenly sprung 4 little prongs out of the quarters of the dial. A little wave of pulsing green light started sliding over Humungousaur, and Ava could feel his form shifting beneath her. His scales turned green, and his back hardened into a big armor shell, with spikes protruding out of the rim. His build grew larger, and his tail sprouted a thick spiked club. The green light stopped, and Ben slammed his feet into the ground to anchor him. He stared down at Lucifer, who seemed slightly less amused now.

“Ultimate Humungousaur!” Ben roared.

“I need to get the kind of stuff you guys have in your dimension, like jeez,” Ava said.

Ben held up his hand, aiming it towards Lucifer. His finger flesh started morphing around, meshing into a single cylinder. In the most literal sense too, as the metal plating around his knuckles sprouted holes that whirred and clicked like the sound of a machine gun, and missile-like projectiles suddenly launched out from them. They shrieked through the wind, twirling straight towards Lucifer. There was the briefest moment where the Devil’s face shifted to worry, but it was quickly replaced by that snarky grin. He held up his sword, and swung fast as the missiles were just about to hit him. One swing, two, three, four. The metal clanged as the projectiles richocted off of it and flipped around in the opposite direction.

Ben and Ava gasped, and Ben tried to shield himself with his arms. But the missiles struck true, and both of them went flying backwards, screaming. Ben erupted into a flash of the green light, returning to human form. The two of them yelped as the wind flung them backwards, and again when they suddenly felt another pull yank them down behind a large stone.

“You okay?” Ruby asked Ava when they were safe behind their windshield.

“Yeah I'm fine,” Ava nodded.

“Some improvements,” Chelsea scoffed to Ben as she let go of his arm.

“I never said it was flawless,” Ben nervously shrugged.

“Get a manual for that thing already, Tennyson!” Kevin called from the bubble in the sky.

“You don't think I've asked Azmuth for one a thousand times?”

“Guys!” Ava said. “I appreciate the banter but the Devil is literally trying to kill us!”

“We need a plan…” Chelsea said. “We can't just charge him directly so…”

“What's wrong kids?” Lucifer laughed from afar. “To afraid to come get me now that my baby brother isn't here?”

Then suddenly, a noise broke through the wind. Different from their yells of effort or Lucifer’s laughter. It almost sounded like an engine revving. Followed immediately by General Lee’s dixie horn. The gang looked up as an armored humvee bounced into the circle, hurling itself forward towards Lucifer. His eyes widened.

“You’ve got to be-”

He was cut off as the vehicle launched itself into the air, smacking right into the demented isu. A form crashed through the windshield, a figure covered in brown, wrapping itself around Lucifer and holding on against the wind.

“A little blustery, don’t you think so, Lucy?” Dusk cried out, a wicked smile on his face.

“How when why and how?!” Chelsea fumed.

He laughed, hitting the button on his staff, the ends extending right into Lucifer’s face, hitting him like a ton of bricks.

Lucifer winced and snarled. “There are a lot of things I'm willing to put up with today,” he said, knocking the staff to the left and activating his face mask. He held up his sword and a surge of purple jolted out of the Hands of Armageddon. The energy engulfed him, and he let it out in a huge burst, sending the newest addition to the fight onto level playing ground with the others.

Dusk hit the ground rolling, tingling from the shock. He tried standing up once or twice, catching himself on a rock. “I honestly thought that would have done a little more!” he said as he turned to the gang and waved. “Sorry about the wait, guys! I’m here now, though!”

“How do you put up with this on a daily basis?” Chelsea asked Gwen, who simply shrugged.

“Wait!” Ben said. “That actually gave me an idea!”

“I hate you.”

“MY MAN!” Dusk yelled into the wind.

Ben fiddled with his watch, selecting another shape and slamming down. When the light flashed and dissipated, his friends looked to see him in the form of a large blob of an alien, with giant bulbous yellow shells up his back and arms. “Cannonbolt!” he yelled.

“You really need to stop that,” Chelsea said.

“Just get on with the plan please,” Catherine suggested from the bubble.

“You four try to get onto those platforms,” Ben directed to the ground team. When Lucy starts heading your way, be ready to send him towards Ava.”

The others nodded, hurling themselves back into the winds and shuffling their way to covers. As they stood behind their rocks and attempted to make their climbs, Ben stumbled up to face Lucifer. He made a move as if he was about to attack, and Lucifer simply smirked. He held up his sword, and swung it hard. A jolt of energy surged from his weapon and shrieked towards Ben. Just as it was about to hit, Ben jumped up and curled himself into a tight ball, shielded by his shells. The blasts hit him square, and he went soaring backwards, rolling and bouncing around the circle like a mad bowling ball. He ping-ponged around the platforms, circling all the way back around. Lucifer barely had time to react before he suddenly found Tennyson slamming into him at full force.

Lucy yelped, and got caught in the winds. His crash course aimed him right at one of the platforms, where Ruby was waiting with her blade. She held it like a baseball bat, and swung as was hard as she could. Lucifer oofed as it made impact and he pinged in another direction, towards Jacob.

“Just like old times, eh Lucy?” he quipped, twirling his staff around, batting Lucifer away as well. As he flew, though, Dusk pulled a rifle from inside his Duster and fired after him.

The blast sent him flying farther, towards Chelsea, who wrapped her fingers in her electric brass knuckles and cracked him. She wound up her punch, and thrust her fist upwards just as Lucy came in range. It hit him square in the jaw, and Chelsea did a swift flip kick to send him crashing towards Ava.

Ava ejected her blades, jumping up and slamming down on Lucifer just as he reached her. The two of them crashed through the platform, and Ava yanked him around for a few quick slices that shattered his face mask. And then she leapt off and let him slam into the ground.

“That all you got after all this?” Ava quipped, holding onto a rock.

The winds suddenly started shifting, spasming and sputtering in bizarre patterns. Lucifer picked himself off the ground, hovering as the Hand engulfed him in more energy. The world started shattering apart and reforming again. The ground became muddier, and while the winds slowed to a manageable pace, they started to carry something to compensate. The arena was engulfed in dark clouds that spat lightning, and a torrent of rain started rushing out from them. Ice cold drops that bit at their skin.

“Please, we’re only on level three!” Lucifer laughed as he unleashed another energy blast. It was enough to shatter Gwen's bubble, and the members of the team inside went falling to the ground. Ava held up her arm, trying desperately to shield herself from the rains.

“Ben!” Ava called, looking over her shoulder.

“I'm uh… a little stuck…” Ben said as he tried to pull his bulky arms out of the thick thick mud.

Gwen created a platform below her, and a windshield to match, and she hovered herself over the mud. “I've got your back on this one,” she said, lifting Ava up with her.

Lucifer raised his sword again, summoning one of the lightning bolts from the clouds and sending it towards the girls. Gwen shoved them out of the way, and hurled a mana blast at him. But he simply blocked with his sword, and the lightning he drew. Ava and Gwen frowned, each trying to think of a plan, when suddenly they saw Jess running across the battlefield, trudging through the mud as fast as she could.

“Hit him, I've got this!” she ordered.

Gwen nodded. Lucifer launched another bolt at them, and they dodged, giving them the opportunity to strike back. Gwen let her windshield drop for a moment to thrust a couple of mana blasts at the Devil. He smiled, raising his sword again to draw in more electricity. But just as the bolt came surging from the clouds, it suddenly made a u-turn.

“What?” Lucifer snarled. He turned around, and saw Jess standing near her baton, which she planted firmly in the ground to use as a lightning rod. She smiled at Lucy, and waved innocently. Lucifer growled in response, and raised his sword to fire at her, but turning around proved to be a mistake, as two mana blasts smacked him in the back of his head, and a beam of pink engulfed him. Gwen grunted as she flung him up, and slammed him down.

“Ava go!” she said.

Ava didn't hesitate. She jumped forwards. Gwen spawned a few platforms for her to run on and launch off of to land on Lucifer. Ava grabbed him by the collar of his armor and kicked him up. She spin kicked him in the air, flicked out her blades when she landed, and stabbed forward into his armor, causing a few more chunks to fall off.

“I'm not going to play your games anymore!” Lucifer roared, getting himself another pick-me-up from the Hands of Armageddon and blasting his foes backwards.

The world started shifting again, shattering as he pulled them into another circle of Hell. The rains stopped, and the clouds disappeared. Lucifer suddenly launched himself up very high, and the group tensed as they stood ready for what he was about to throw at them.

And as it turned out, he was about to throw boulders at them.

Forms of giant rocks shattered into existence in the sky around Lucifer, and he thrust his arms down to send them raining on his foes. The friends scattered as the rocks slammed into the ground around them. Kevin scowled up at Lucifer, and turned towards Dusk. He reached out and wrapped his fist around his staff. The metal started leeching over his skin.

“Mind if I borrow this?” he asked.

“Nah man, do what you gotta do,” he said. “I need practice with this baby, anyways.” He propped the rifle up and took aim.

“Much appreciated,” Kevin smiled. His metal armor covered the last patch of his body, and he rushed forward with the staff in hand. With a battle cry, he lunged upwards, hopping onto the rocks and splitting them into chunks with his blows. Ava looked to Catherine and motioned for her to follow suit, and so the two Assassins clambered up the falling stones, trying to go up faster than they were coming down. Lucifer scowled as they approached him, and he tried summoning more and more rocks to crush them.

Kevin quickly dodged or kicked his way through the storm though, and soon he was upon the Devil. He jumped forward, shouting with the staff in hand. He swung the weapon forward, hitting Lucy in the head. Lucifer grunted and tried to send a punch back in return. Kevin ducked though, and morphed his fist into an iron mace to thwack him in the head. Lucifer went falling, his aim first sending him towards Catherine.

“God I forgot how exhilarating this was!” she laughed as she jumped up, putting Lucifer in a leg hold and swinging him down further.

Ava flicked out her blades, ready as Lucifer came hurtling down. She jumped up, sliced at his armor to break further through, and then drop kicked him back down into the ground. The friends climbed back down as the rocks stopped coming, and Kevin handed the staff back to Dusk.

“Come on, Lucy,” Ava said, letting herself smirk. “I remember you being tougher. Eon forget to restore some of your best game when he brought you back to life?”

“Just you wait,” Lucifer threatened. “It only gets worse further down. Abandon all hope ye who enter and all that crap.”

“That's what was said at the first circle of Hell though,” Gwen quipped. “We're coming up on the fifth.”

“And it will drown your stupid quips right out of your lungs.”

He thrust himself back into the air, and absorbed another surge from the Hands to re-level the playing field once more. The boulder remains shattered into void pieces, and the world started rearranging itself again. The ground started becoming soggier, as water started seeping up through the mud.

“Aw come on I just got unstuck!” Ben whined, turning human as he yanked his last leg out of the mud from earlier.

“I think that's gonna be the least of our worries,” Chelsea said.

The waters rose and rose, and started violently sloshing back and forth. The team shouted as they tried to get their bearings in the relentless waves.

“Ben!” Ruby called.

“On it! Woah!” Ben panicked back. He struggled to reach for his watch and turn the dial. He slammed his hand down, and a green flash shined from the water. A new form suddenly flew into the air, and rushed over to sweep Ava out of the waves just as a nasty one was about to yank her under.

“Ampfibian!” he declared in his raspy electrical voice.

“Why do you do that anyway? The shouting names thing?” Ava asked between coughs.

“It strikes fear into the hearts of my enemies,” Ben assured.

“It does not,” Chelsea and Kevin moaned in unison.

“Gwen! Catch!” Ben said.

“Wait no-!” Ava tried to protest before being hurled back over the waves. She found herself hitting a forcefield instead of the water though, and when she looked up, she saw Gwen hovering and holding her up. Ava stood and nodded in thanks, and then Gwen said you're welcome by spawning a circle of other platforms around the arena. Lucifer looked around at them in amusement, and he beckoned Ava forward. Ava frowned, and grabbed her karambit. She ran forward at her foe, hacking and slashing. Lucifer swung his sword to counter, and Ava very nearly got her neck sliced off a few times as their blades danced against one another. Ava shouted and swung hard, and their blades locked tight. They glared down at one another, inches from each others faces.

“Miss these old duels?” Lucy grinned.

“To be entirely honest, no not really. I like it when the world isn't in mortal peril.”

“Do you ever get a chance to see it when it isn't?”

Ava frowned, and Lucifer grinned. But suddenly that grin was wiped clean off his face as a jolt of electricity suddenly surged into it. He yelled and stumbled backwards, giving Ava the chance to take a look over at Ben. His gelatinous tentacles were aimed at Lucy, each of them sparkling with kinetic shocks. Ava's eyes widened as an idea sprung into her brain.

“Gwen grab the others!” she said, earning a nod from the red head. Gwen concentrated hard, and pulled her friends from the waves, encasing them in the safety of another bubble. Ava rushed forwards, taking another few swings at Lucy. He tried to swing back, but she dodged and kicked him downwards into the water. As he splashed down into the waves, she lunged back onto one of the platforms and turned to Ben.

“Shower toaster him, now!” she called.

Ben nodded, and sent a massive surge of electric energy down into the water. The waves pulsed and spasmed as the current sparked through it. Lucifer screamed in pain as the sparks latched onto and engulfed him, and something on his armor smoked and cracked again.

He roared in irritation, and used the Hands as a hard reset yet again. The team found themselves on solid ground once more as the water vanished into the void, but that cause for celebration was quickly dashed. More specifically, scorched, as fountains of flames erupted from the dirt, encircling the arena with a vicious roar.

“It's about time we got to the fire and brimstone!” Ruby laughed. “Was wondering when we'd get to the actual hellish part of Hell.”

“Glad I could be of service,” Lucifer quipped. “Now burn!”

His sword blade erupted into fire, and he surged it down upon them. The team scattered again. The Assassins dipped and dodged around the plumes of flame, attempting to fire their guns at the weak points in Lucy's armor.

“Anyone got a fire extinguisher?” Jess nervously called out.

“Surprisingly short on foam aliens,” Ben said.

“Just go Heatblast and fry him back!” Kevin suggested.

“Do you really want to add more fire to this situation?” Ruby asked.

“I can appreciate a hot-headed solution,” Chelsea said.

Everyone suddenly stopped, even Lucifer. They all turned to her, giving her a look.

“You sure this is hell? Cause that was a miracle,” Dusk blinked.

“I can make funnies too,” Chelsea grumbled.

“Can you though?” Catherine asked, earning her an electric deck in the face.

“Well what we need are more technical solutions!” Dusk said. Then, in the brief moment of confusion, he had pulled a device from the pack on his back, throwing it towards Lucifer. Just as it was about to hit, the grenade exploded, white foam settling over Lucifer and his flames.

“I refuse to believe Berg gave you that,” Chelsea said to Dusk.

“Nope!” he said. “Made it myself! Just incase I happen to burn down a building or two.” He started wailing on Lucifer’s armor, making a point of hitting any dents that had already formed. Enough of a beating would take anything down, and his was already weakened.

“I'm open, coach!” Ava called to Dusk, making motions like a baseball player. He answered in kind, using his staff as a lever and kicking Lucifer in Ava’s direction. Ava leapt up, karambit in hand. She flipped in the air, her hair getting a slight singe against a flame jet, and she thrust her foot firmly into Lucifer's face before spinning around and driving her blade into the cracks of his suit.

Lucifer went sputtering back, getting close to that weakened state that Ava remembered from their first fight. She smiled. He frowned. The flames evaporated into the void, and he hovered weakly in the center with his two artifacts orbiting around him.

“If you don't want to play fair, then I see no reason to either,” he declared.

“You’re literally Satan, bro!” Dusk said, appalled. “You’ve got a magic suit and alien artifacts! We’re in Hell!”

“Yeah, since when do you ever play fair to begin with?” Catherine added.

“Ask my friends,” Lucifer smirked. He hovered himself into the air, and suddenly a crack opened up in the ground around the circumference of the arena. A viscous bubbling sound snarled from its depths, getting closer and closer to the top until the team could see exactly what this most was filling with: boiling blood.

“Oh that's… that's excellent decor,” Ruby said, giving a disgusted okay sign.

The red fluid started sloshing at the surface, and something suddenly broke through. Then many somethings. Hands. Big hands. They gripped onto the land, and lugged out the bodies attached to them. Giant armored warriors emerged from the steaming depths, eyes bloodshot and swords stained. They glared down at the team, and then they let out vicious battle cries in unison. The team gripped their weapons, and prepared for the first wave.

Ben hit his dial and turned back into Four Arms to wrestle the hulk of a man who came at him. Gwen meanwhile stuck to her mana blasts, with Kevin watching her back with a formed mace.

Ava and Ruby teamed up together, dancing around each other and the blades of their attackers. They kicked them around and sliced at their throats, and Ruby got a few impalings in for good measure. On the other end of things, Chelsea had her fists up threateningly. She had Dusk at her back.

“Gotten any better since the last lesson I gave you?” she asked him as she boxed.

He barked out a laugh, blocking a blade with his staff. “I’m sorry, I seem to remember doing the work. You just talked me into it. Had to wonder afterwards if you’re getting too old for this work.” He shoved the brute back.

“Well maybe one day you'll actually be able to kick my ass without me letting you win,” Chelsea smirked as she decked one of her opponents straight to the ground.

“Next time Gabriel won’t be there to stop me.” He laid down some fire on the creature, then collapsed his staff, exchanged it for his daggers, and let out a yell, stabbing them into the thing’s eyes. “I’ll make sure to go easy on you.” He turned to her, unable to keep from grinning.

“Looking forward to that,” she grinned right back.

“Is this really a good time to be sizing each other up?” Catherine asked as she swung her knife around to hack up the warriors’ tendons.

“It does get kinda old after awhile,” Jess admitted.

“It keeps us on our toes,” Chelsea shrugged.

“Jess, you and I are so going clothes shopping after this,” Catherine said.

“Agreed,” Jess nodded, driving her baton into the bloodied chest of one of the behemoths.

It wasn't long before the last of the warriors fell, his head smashed into the head of one of his companions by Ben. Ben dropped the two of them to the ground, and he looked up at Lucifer.

“Got anymore you wanna throw at us or are you done licking your wounds?” he taunted.

But surprisingly, Lucifer grinned even wider. The artifacts hovered around him. Was it them, or did they seem to be spinning just a little faster?

“After much consideration,” he said. “I've decided that holding back isn't fun anymore. Figured it's high time to show you the big guns.”

“Goddamnit! He was stalling,” Dusk said as he hung his head, then looked to Catherine. “Come on, man.”

“What?” Catherine said flatly.

“It’s movie logic! You never let the villain distract you with minions, that’s when they transform.”

“What was I supposed to do about it?”

“Um… guys,” Ruby gulped.

They looked to where she was pointing. The blood pools had started shattering away into the void, but so did the ground in front of it. The team heard Lucifer laughing above, as they found themselves cornered in more and more, with nothing but a black pit beneath them when they looked down. The ground got smaller, and smaller, and smaller.

And soon there was nothing left to stand on. Their screams echoed into the pit as they fell. The tumbled over one another trying go get some sort of bearings. Figures started to emerge from the shadows, winged figures with fangs and claws, and mad smiles that wreaked of bloodlust. The creatures descended upon them as they fell. Ava tried to swing as best she could, but the dark made it difficult to land a good blow. She could hear the others having the same difficulty though. The void filled with sounds of squawks and kicks and grunts and stabs, until Ava finally managed to drive her blade into her attacker's neck and it fell away from her with dying screeches.

The falling continued, but the darkness started letting up. The temperature started dropping at an alarming rate, and they started seeing ice line the walls of the hole they were falling through. The bottom eventually came, and it hit them hard. The nine of them smacked into the ice below, and they groaned in pain.

“I hate these rides…” Kevin moaned.

Ava painfully struggled to her feet, and got a look around. They were still in what was obviously an arena, but it was different. Everything was laced with ice, even the floating platforms everywhere. The room was massive, and nothing served as its centerpiece. Literally. Another massive bottomless hole was dug out of the ice in the center, and it didn't bode any good omens.

There was a crackle from above. The team looked up, and saw the Hands and Apple descending down above the hole, popping and spinning with malicious energy. They watched the artifacts descend down into the darkness, and for a moment there was silence. Terrifying, gut twisting silence.

Then the world shook. Everyone watched in horror as something started to emerge out from the hole. Something climbing out of the hole. First came the hands, massive armored clawed hands, then the next thing that appeared was a set of boney ram horns, sitting on top of a withered and disfigured head with glowing red eyes laced with isu glyphs. Bulking arms pulled a torso the size of a house out from the pit, decked out with thick jagged armor. And at the center of the chestplate, the Hands and Apple were embedded.

The beast looked down at the team below, and he spread his torn lips into a wormy smile. He clenched his fists, energy surged out from the cracks in his demonic form, and he unleashed a hellish roar into the air.

And Ava's stomach dropped.