16th April
13:36 GMT -5
My round strikes it near the centre of mass -just missing where its spine would be if it were Human- and punches clean through. I experience a split second of fear that the
overpenetrating round might hit someone before I see that the larger armoured Demon was in the way. Artemis' arrow hits it directly in the upper right shoulder, the head burying itself in the joint.
"Grahhhgahggahhhh!"
The transferred kinetic force from my railgun round slamming into it causes the Demon's torso to jerk away and Artemis' arrow causes it to lose hold of whatever it was gripping onto with the hand on that arm. It staggers back and Wallace uses the opportunity to dash out into the reception area.
"
Lord Satanus, bless my claws!"
My second shot blasts through the blue Demon's left leg, severing it entirely. Artemis' second arrow was a quick hardening foam which erupts within the hole that appears to serve as the Demon's throat, covering its visible insides and thoroughly clogging up its pseudo organs.
It collapses to the floor, deep blue ichor leaking from its wounds. Must be a weak one. Artemis and I advance past it. That should hold it for now, I can get Zatanna or John to interrogate it later.
"Blmvrl."
Wallace is running circles around the large Demon as it slams its huge three-fingered claws into the ground in an attempt to strike him. Were he less experienced in using super speed the vibrations passing through the floor might be enough to cause him to trip. As it is, he jumps, runs along the wall and then rushes back down towards his target. The Demon swings its right arm -another area effect attack, must be one of the intelligent ones- only for Wallace to handplant on the top of its forearm, bounce from there onto its left arm and then dash up onto its shoulder and smash something in its face.
For a moment the Demon just looks confused.
"
GRAAAAAAGHHH!"
I can hear
hissing as whatever Wallace just hit it with begins to eat away at its head, armoured plates and horn visibly abrading as we watch. The Demon collapses to its knees, clawing at its face. The only obvious result of that is that its upper left horn snaps off.
Wallace precipitates out of the air just behind us. "
Essence of
Vitriol. Just what a budding alchemist needs when fighting Demons."
The Tar-Covered Corpse flows away from us slightly, careful to keep its face towards us.
"Alright, you.
" I load a Mage Slayer.
"Answer our questions and I send you back to hell not
much worse for wear. Refuse, and… Well. Chubbs!
"
The 15-rated
Slimer wannabe descends from its hiding place near the ceiling, waving its chubby right arm.
"Haa-iiy."
The Corpse turns its head to look at Chubbs for a moment, then turns back to us. Can it not rotate its eyes? Does it actually have eyes, or are the black holes
it? Face fixed on us, it makes a strange sort of
yawny-hiss noise which the ring's translator can't make sense of. The black gunk appears to stop dripping, instead choosing to defy gravity and pool on the vertical surfaces of its body.
"Was that hiss-yes or hiss-no?
"
"Orange Lantern?"
Without taking my eyes off the Demon I tap my communicator to respond.
"Not a great time, Zatanna.
"
"Are you
certain they're Demons?"
I take a second to review the camera footage of their arrival.
"Walked in Human shaped, turned into inhuman monsters with non-functioning physiology. Possession doesn't work like that… Pretty confident. Why?
"
"They didn't set off my ward. Anything as magically powerful as a Demon should have done so."
Hm. She's right.
"Maybe someone in Hell's been a bit cleverer than usu-?
"
The Tar-Covered Corpse opens its mouth and zooms towards us, black filth spraying from its mouth! The creature just sort of leans forwards and
flows across the ground, no leg movement required. Artemis instinctively jerks back as the first few droplets splatter against our construct armour and begin eating through it! I erect a construct barrier but that dissolves too as the Demon reaches us. Fine then. I step up as Artemis' anti-magic arrow strikes it high in the chest and appears to be engulfed in black goo, battering ram construct swinging for its abdomen.
"Orange Lantern! More Demons assail us!"
"Finally!"
The goo almost completely absorbs the energy of the strike and begins eating away at the construct. The Demon takes the time to hiss again.
"Have fun, Canis. Keep them away-
" I turn the battering ram into a railgun and fire a Mage Slayer round.
"-from the lorry.
"
"Pwaghhuhuhh!" The Demon recoils, thick globs of Tar sloughing away from its body as it tries to cope with the sudden power drain. The noise cuts out as Artemis puts an arrow in its throat, though the Demon still isn't going down.
"Zatanna, if reasonably practical try to capture one. Otherwise, stay back. Robin, make sure the civilians are out of the way.
"
"Already done, Oh El."
The Tar-Covered Corpse flicks its arms at us, inky droplets spraying off the skeletal fingers. I generate another construct barrier as Wallace darts away, the large Demon lying still on the floor groaning piteously in pain as he kicks its exposed flesh on his way past. This time the droplets don't melt, but rather begin to mix in with the orange, darkening it. I abandon construct. Don't know what that was but it didn't look good.
"Okay, fine, you want to be difficult?
" I open both palms to face it.
"Brand.
" Thick bars of orange energy slam into the Demon, battering its personal oil slick and exposing more of its ruined flesh.
"Artemis, I've got this one. Make sure the other two stay down.
"
"Right."
"Laaaanteeeeern."
"Oh good, you can talk. Let's start with your name.
"
"Laaaanteeeeern."
Oh, for goodness sake. The oil is almost all gone now. If I were a better thaumaturgist I'd probably find the way it behaved utterly fascinating. As it is… I'd guess that the oil isn't inherently magical but the control mechanism is? Oh, that's interesting, there's some sort of design scrawled on the Demon's flesh.
Orange sigils form in its eyes.
"You overreach, Laaaanteeeeern."
"Critical power drain detected."
The runes cut into its flesh light up orange in a design that reminds me a little of the ones Dark Druid used in Liverpool.
"M
y power naow!"
Cut the connection cut the connection!
"
Heeyhaaaaagh!"
Not cutting. With two quick hand motions I pull the rings from my fingers and back the heck up. The beams cut off and the Demon takes the opportunity to pose as dull orange oil covers its flesh, sigils shining through the murk from underneath. It exhales and a cloud of orange wafts from its mouth.
I put the rings back on. Rings, what's the damage?
Thirteen percent remaining.
Ooooh poop.
