#yes my darling my sweet little angel i wholeheartedly agree baby

[elskiee]

how i imagine alfie holding tommy in all of my fics

[inkribbon796]

Rules of the Game Ch. 2

Chapter 2: Two of a Kind

Summary: The trio track Paddy down and do not like what they find.

Chapters: 1, 2

The three Septics followed Paddy’s trail down to the river and the docks. After almost an hour Chase spotted him first, the young teen slipping between warehouses with a small duffle bag over his shoulder. The same type of t-shirt and ripped up jeans that Chase remembered him wearing.

“The hell is he doing out here?” Jackie demanded quickly as Marvin helped conceal them with an illusion. They watched Paddy walking down the docks and looking at the piers. He finally stopped and walked out a bit until he got towards the edges.

And a slow high pitched echo could be heard as Dark stepped out of the Void, his feet right where concrete met wood.

Chase could have sworn his heart stopped at the sight of Dark so close to his eldest baby.

“Do you have it?” Dark asked in a calm and collected voice.

“Not that hard ta find this stuff,” Paddy didn’t even sound the least bit intimidated by Dark, which Chase didn’t know whether to find more terrifying or feel proud of.

He only knew his feet were moving before his brain could stop himself.

“Get the fook away from my kid,” Chase demanded as Jackie and Marvin rushed out of hiding to join him.

“I thought I saw something,” Dark smiled. “If you boys could wait your turn, I have business to attend to.”

“Damien, how dare yah tell him about them!” Chase roared. “Paddy, the hell are yah doing here?”

“Didn’t know I needed yer permission again fer stuff,” Paddy huffed and Chase felt something in the middle of white hot rage and concerned fear boiling inside of him.

“Yah do if it’s the League!” Chase shouted.

“What did yah do ta him?” Marvin demanded.

Dark stepped aside so that they had a clear line of sight to Paddy, Dark taking the bag and briefly looking through it before passing it back to Paddy, “I’ve never understood how you have any friends, why is hypnotism always the first thing you think to accuse me of? It’s not a good long-term working relationship.”

Then he smiled, and flicked his wrist and a portal opened up behind Paddy. “Besides there are much easier ways to get people to do what you want.”

Jackie moved first but slammed into Dark’s aura, already braced to stop him, suddenly thickening into existence.

“Paddy, stop!” Chase called out, running forward.

Pádraig casually stepped through the portal and Dark immediately closed it.

“Oh don’t be so dramatic,” Dark smiled vindictively. “He’s safe, even if he’s doing something you don’t approve of.”

“Dark, yah bastard!” Marvin shouted at the demon, summoning up some green fireballs.

“I resent that wholeheartedly,” Dark glared at him sharply. “After all, you all did the same thing to me, and now you’re complaining when the tables are turned.”

“Yer children were criminals that have killed an’ stolen,” Chase reminded.

“Well whose fault do you think it is that three out of three of your children are demon pups?” Dark responded. “Their mother is a bit shrill, and catty—”

“Hey, ex-fookin-cuse yeh? Shut yer fookin’ mouth!” Chase defended angrily.

Dark however kept going, “—And I can’t possibly imagine the series of events that would cause the two of you to not only start a relationship but decide to have three children? However she really is trying with those three. Wil had a white sheep in the mix, but I can see why Anti set his sights on you if your blood makes such little monsters.”

“Like yah can talk!” Jackie shouted.

“You’re all so loud,” Dark complained dismissively.

“Where’d yah send him?” Marvin demanded. “What gives yah the right ta target Average’s kids?”

“You messed with mine,” Dark reminded sharply, a growl to his tone. “So I’m returning the favor.”

“They’re criminals,” Marvin defended. “Yer bloodthirsty brat is a murderer, Yan kills men who slight or snub her. An’ that prized adventurer of yers is a thief an’ an international criminal. None of ‘em, not even Host or Kay are innocent angels.”

“I own more of this town than its governments do,” Dark warned. “Maybe you all need a good reminder. Maybe this whole city needs a good reminder why I took over Egoton with an iron fist? Why my section of town controls the city?”

“I thought it was ‘cause yah were a rich psychopath,” Chase spat. “Yah control freak.”

“That is quite hurtful, Chase,” Dark huffed, opening up another portal so that Paddy could step back through to them, this time without his bag, Dark barely giving him a glance. “I thought you knew me better than that.”

“I thought I knew Damien,” Chase reminded. “But he clearly isn’t the person I thought he was if he takes orders from you.”

Dark signed, and turned back into Damien, leaning his weight on his cane, “Now Chase, I’m hurt.”

“Don’t yah dare,” Chase yelled at Damien.

Jackie gave Marvin a quick glance, Marvin shaking his fist down once.

Damien smiled, opening his mouth but Jackie threw down one of Marvin’s smoke bombs and smoke flooded the area. Dark’s aura instinctively pulled in to protect him in time for something to stab into where his chest would be if his aura hadn’t been pulled in at that moment.

Before Dark could push the attacker away, or throw them into the river, Marvin grabbed the modified stake and began muttering a spell, trying to pull Dark off of the body the Entity was inhabiting. The result was Dark’s aura painfully rattling around his stolen body as magic was jolting the body.

Dark screamed as Damien’s form dissipated and turned back his normal appearance before his aura pushed everyone away from him, almost knocking Paddy into the river.

The Entity, once he recovered and pulled the spike out of his aura, one of the buttons on his shirt missing from where the spike had nicked it. Dark angrily throwing the spike to the ground, crushing it under his aura and foot.

“Well you are annoying,” Dark hissed at Marvin.

“How they hell are yah doing that?” Marvin spat. “That should have worked.”

“Now why would I tell you?” Dark hissed. Then he looked back at Paddy who was dusting himself off, before smiling at Marvin. Dark muttered to himself, “Well that’s not a half bad idea.”

Dark opened up another portal, one large enough that the three Septics could see the inside of Paddy’s bedroom. “I think it’s time for you to head on home, young man.”

“I thought you said,” Paddy started.

“Well, I changed my mind,” Dark snapped with a saccharine sweet tone. “I’ll still keep my promise, just try to get some sleep.”

“What deal did you make?” Chase demanded.

The portal snapped closed, Dark’s ringing shrill, “I’m not a crossroads demon, ask your own son.”

Then Dark was stepping through his own portal with the type of smile that no one but Wilford could trust. “Good evening gentlemen, I hope all of you rot alive, and your resident magician dies in a fire.”

“We’re not done with yeh,” Marvin growled.

“Well I am done with you delinquents,” Dark decided, a shadow of a smile on his face. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, boys, I have an empire to run.”

Dark sank into the portal, his aura keeping the three Septics back. Once he was gone, Chase began violently cursing at Damien and Dark, stomping on the ground the Entity had been standing in.

“He’s not gonna get away with this,” Marvin vowed.

“He already is,” Chase felt a rising sense of panic.

“He hasn’t won yet,” Marvin tried to reassure him. “These demon fooks can’t just divide up yer kids like they fookin’ own them.”

“Damien was always interested in my power,” Chase reminded. “Now he’s targetin’ Paddy an’ the other kids.”

“An’ I won’t rest until we stop him,” Marvin promised.

Jackie swore, looking down at his communicator. “We were a distraction.”

“What?” Marvin snapped.

“Did somethin’ happen to Stacy an’ the kids?” Chase demanded.

“No,” Jackie was already moving, leading them towards the Gainesville side of the city. “UFO an’ Bing are already headed over to check on them. I sent out a signal for help but the rest of the Coalition are dealing with an apartment fire.”

“Why are we all going there?” Marvin demanded.

“Because it’s the Dark Side’s apartment, an’ Remus’s magic got loose in the city,” Jackie explained. “They only just got it under control, they just didn’t want Dark ta come over an’ make it worse.”

They headed over, rushing to see the building still on fire, the flames a bright green as Remus was taking to Abe. Wade, Roman, and several of the fire fighters were working to keep it from jumping to other buildings and trying to suppress it.

Remus was on the ground looking annoyed at Abe, “What part of Imagination didn’t you understand?”

“It’s really not that hard!” Roman called from where he was.

“What happened?” Jackie asked Silver. “Is there anyone still inside?”

Silver shook his head, “No the Host called to warn Deceit that an arsonist was going to burn their apartment down, everyone’s already been evacuated. It wasn’t even a serious problem until it reached the Duke’s room.”

All three Septics let out differing sighs of relief as Marvin went to go and help. When the fire was finally sniffed out the building was little more than a husk.

Remus stood next to Janus, “We had such a lovely view, Dee.”

“Yes, it was a nice place,” Janus agreed.

“Last I heard yer apartment was a piece at shite,” Jackie reminded.

Janus took a big, calming breath, “Well unlike you media darlings, better places were hard for us to find. Our landlord was one of the few who would accept Remus as a tenant. Of course I liked her.”

“So, arson, we know who did this?” Marvin asked uncomfortably, looking at Virgil and Roman.

“Dark sent one of his thugs to send a message,” Janus answered for them.

“Why?” Marvin asked. “Aren’t you two part of the League?”

“Dark and I are no longer on speaking terms,” Janus corrected.

“Harsh,” Jackie commented. “Didn’t know he had veto power, so what now?”

“Lo and the Captain already made the final call,” Virgil didn’t sound happy.

Remus grabbed Roman around the neck, “We get to be roommates!”

“Unhand me!” Roman spat, starting to kick and punch at Remus.

“And I hate it already,” Virgil agreed.

“Yikes,” Jackie said, “is that safe?”

“Well be out soon enough,” Janus promised. “I have no desire to be in the same living space as the Captain again.”

Chase was nearby with Abe, looking at some rubble.

“—and then it ricocheted right into the air duct, it was where the fire was started,” Abe explained.

“Paddy did it,” Chase answered, unprompted. “It was him.”

“Come on Average, no one could hit a target like that,” Marvin sounded nervous, catching the accusation.

“I could,” Chase reminded. “Paddy’s got almost the exact same ability as me.”

“Hey, hey,” Marvin tried to calm himself down. “We go ask the kid what’s wrong and figure out what kind of trouble he’s in and then we get Dark off his back.

Abe and Chase didn’t look convinced, Abe continuing to ask questions about their encounter with Dark, and Chase getting more and more pessimistic and stressed about the situation.

On the other side of town, Anti was carefully pulling wires out of a generator. It wouldn’t make it fail yet, but in about an hour it would explode and Anti would be ready to film it.

His good mood died when Dark appeared next to him.

“Don’t think I didn’t catch yeh muscling in on the Brody’s, I thought I told yeh, they’re mine,” Anti hissed.

“I can help get you unlimited access to that little spitfire if you give me the older brother,” Dark bargained. “I’ll even keep my claws out of the other twin if you find a use for him.”

“What makes yeh think I need yer help?” Anti seamed heatedly.

“Because that magical side act has her so thoroughly warded you can’t influence her,” Dark reminded. “But I have an in, and I know you want it too. You’ve had that brat singled out as a future host from the moment you saw her.”

“Even if I made a deal wit’ yeh it wouldn’t do me any good fer another ten years,” Anti reminded with a sharp grin on his face.

“In ten years she could decide she wants to be more like her daddy,” Dark reasoned. “Ten years to get powerful until Marvin’s watch. We work together and then can’t stop us.”

Anti frowned in thought, “I get to call yeh names and make fun ‘a yeh.”

“Not even one,” Dark told him.

“Then yeh give me Bim an’ we call it even,” Anti goaded, already knowing what Dark’s answer would be.”

“Get creative with the names at least,” Dark growled, offering his hand. “Keep your claws away from him.”

The two demons shook on that. “Not my fault yer boring an’ spiteful, shitebag.”

“I already hate this,” Dark glared at Anti, pulling his hand away.

“Ahh, come on, it’s the start of a beautiful frenemy-ship,” Anti smiled. “Or yer spine too old fer some fun?”

Dark glared at him before portaling back to the Manor to get some work done, leaving Anti to his generator sabotage.