Miss Maskelyne glanced at him. “Some of those bone-filled braziers had human skulls burning in them. Child-sized human skulls.”
The rest of the trip was silent.
Finally, we reached the stone head. The room remained empty, but I had a palpable sense of being watched. And judging by the way the others shuddered, they felt it, too.
“Take him a second, will you?” Miss Maskelyne asked Vector, offering him Maestro’s shoulder. “Rumjack got me some charms. I need to keep them ready in case they try something at the last minute.”
We spread out a bit while Lust moved to address the hogboy. It opened stone eyes as she approached.
“Who comes to pass the gate?” It asked.
“Travelers, departing in peace,” Lust intoned.
And Maestro squirmed, jerked, and tore open his shirt with strength I didn’t think he still had, revealing black lettering tattooed on his chest.
“Maestro sucks?” Vector read, then went pale.
Realization crashed in on me, about the point the stone head asked “And where do you go?”
But Lust had heard Vector’s words.
And Lust still had an intact trigger, to those words.
“Go to hell!” She shouted, and went as pale as a sheet. “Maestro’s... great...”
The world started to blur, and I tried to move, started to move, saw Dottie pull Lust and Acertijo back, saw Miss Maskelyne well out of the effect, start to whirl...
And the Maestro laughed as the cavern melted, and bright, merciless light beat down upon us, as we landed in a tumble on black, uneven rock. Maestro laughed, then coughed, then retched blood in the foul smoke of whatever passed for air down here... My suit registered toxin warnings, and switched instantly to internal air supply, but not before I got a whiff of the outside stuff.
Brimstone. Smoky brimstone.
I sat up. Vector stood, uncoughing, looking around with wide eyes. To my side Khalid coughed, retched, and Vector reached inside his labcoat, pulled out his little face sucker symbiote, and slapped it over Khalid’s mouth and nose.
“YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME,” I said, and stood. A headache ripped through me, worse than before, and I rode it out.
“Boss?” Alpha asked, when I could think again. “Where are we?”
I stood up, looked at the warped black spiky stone surrounding us, at the smoking fumaroles breaking the stone here and there like maws full of bubbling ooze. Up at the reddish sky, where things larger than passenger jets whirled and hunted. And at the rusty metal poles in the distance, each festooned with writhing bodies impaled on multiple spikes.
“HELL. WE’RE IN HELL.” I ran a diagnostic. Mildly corrosive atmosphere, definitely toxic.
Maestro gasped and bubbled at our feet, and I watched his lips draw back into one last sneer. “Ot... ooo,” he coughed through his broken jaw. “you... unt...”
I picked him up. “TOLD YOU NOT TO KEEP USING THAT WORD,” I casually remarked, weighing his beaten form, and considering.
He knew some secret, something we hadn't uncovered; a reliable means of creating metahumans. It could change the world, would change the world, if I could get it from him and get back home.
On the other hand, that would mean keeping him alive until we did so. And this guy had just proven that he'd gladly sacrifice himself just to do me malice. I weighed the odds; found them wanting.
Besides, if a two-bit poseur like Maestro could discover the secret, then so could I. It’d just take a little time, that’s all.
Debate done, I threw him into the nearest fumarole. He screamed for a second before falling silent, and the steam that came up with the next geyser of ooze was red.
“No,” I heard Khalid say, voice muffled by his living mask. “No, we cannot be here! We are doomed!”
“DOOMED, YOU SAY?” I said, putting my hands on my hips. GPS was useless, but a quick scan of the surroundings showed possibilities. And a scan downwards showed veins of metal, not all of which I recognized.
One of the big birdlike things swooped downwards, filling my vision as it got closer, all multiple jaws full of spiky teeth and sharp black spines instead of feathers.
An eighty-percent particle beam charge cored it like a bullet through a pinata. It hit the ground three miles away, so hard that the rocky surface beneath our feet shook. I watched it for a minute, while it thrashed, but it eventually fell still. “NO, WE ARE NOT DOOMED.”
“There is no escape from Hell!” Khalid insisted, rising with Beta’s help. “We are doomed and damned!”
“NO,” I corrected, as I watched the other predators in the sky pull back, uncertain of what to make of their kin’s death. “SHE IS DIRE.”
I turned and started walking. “COME ON. SAW A GOOD PLACE FOR A TEMPORARY SHELTER OVER THAT WAY.”
“We are without hope,” Khalid protested, “The demons shall end us. We are where God is not.”
“GOD MAY NOT BE HERE, BUT DIRE IS,” I said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as we walked. “AND THOSE THINGS UP THERE? THEY BLEED. MORE IMPORTANTLY, THEY KNOW FEAR. WE’LL START WITH THAT, AND SEE HOW THAT GOES.”
“Okay, now I think you’re maybe a little nuts,” Vector said, falling into step with us, while my minions brought up the rear. “Sure, you were pretty badass against the fae, but this isn’t anything we prepared for. And there’s only three of us, uh, plus your androids. No offense, guys.”
“None taken,” Alpha said, cheerfully.
“YOU’RE NOT LOOKING AT THIS PROPERLY,” I told him, reaching out and wrapping my other arm around his shoulders. “WHO ARE WE AGAIN?”
“A couple of confused supervillains and one demon hunter? I mean, he might have the edge here, once he gets over his religious angst—”
“NO.” I said, and I squeezed them gently to me, already mapping out the possibilities in my head. “WE ARE A TEAM CONSISTING OF AN IMMORTAL ALCHEMIST WHO KNOWS THE OPPOSITION INTIMATELY, THE WORLD’S BEST BIOLOGIST, AND A SUPERGENIUS ENGINEER WHO FOR ONCE IN HER LIFE DOESN’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT COLLATERAL DAMAGE. ALONG WITH A TEAM OF SELF-REPLICATING MINIONS WHO NEVER TIRE, CAN BUILD DAMN NEAR ANY OF DIRE’S INVENTIONS, AND WORK AT SPEEDS HUMANS CAN ONLY DREAM OF.”
They considered my words.
“WE’RE NOT TRAPPED IN HELL. HELL IS STUCK IN HERE WITH US!”
TO BE CONTINUED...
Doctor Dire shall return, in Book 6 of the Dire Saga, DIRE:HELL.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Harrods is a real store in London, and is a far more superior shopping experience than Dire had the misfortune to encounter. In our own universe it's a very enjoyable place, and lacks hordes of murderous shoppers. It was used in this book because it is a famous London landmark. I have no claim to its trademark nor do I assert one. Please go visit them next time you're around London.
Thank you for reading DIRE:SINS! I am grateful for your patronage. If you’ve got a few seconds, please leave a review. Each review helps Dire accomplish her sinister plans!
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Best wishes,
Andrew Seiple
DIRE:SINS (The Dire Saga Book 5) Page 28