Devil's Advocates' HQ

[Hope Mêler]

This time Hope actually let out a scream, the pain was just becoming too much.

"You...evil person you?"

[Rino]

"That's better. I was worried I was going to run out of limbs." Rino grinned, hauling her to her feet and carrying her back inside Devil's Advocates.

He stopped a passing man in a suit, and gestured to the woman he was carrying.
"Mr Gibbs, we have a new member of staff." He explained simply. "Unfortunately, she's taken a bit of a tumble. Prepare the shamans on the top floor to put her back to health."

Mr Gibbs nodded and walked to an intercom as Rino walked into a lift, still carrying Hope.

"Welcome to Devil's Advocates." He smiled as the lift ascended. "Hopefully you'll enjoy your time here." He looked into her eyes for a moment, and smiled again. "Oh, and don't think of escaping as soon as your arms are back, that would be stupid. This time we'll be on the top floor of the building, and I can easily throw you out."

[Hope Mêler]

Hope tried to understand everything that was happening. He first tried to kill her, then she's his employee? Ur. Well, at least now she had a bed to sleep in.

Hopefully.

"You...." Speaking hurt, but she didn't care. "I was wondering...." Hope paused, and continued, much more cheerfully. "Is the view any good from up there?"

[Rino]

"For a mortal realm..." Rino conceeded. "A really good view was the one you used to get from my citadel back in Hell. The view of millions of miles of souls being tortured for all eternity, screaming in constant pain. It was a nice view."

Rino smiled, reminicising for a moment.

"Here we are."

The lift doors flew open, and Rino stepped out into a white room, where white robed figures surrounded Hope.

And in a moment her arms mended.

Rino dropped her carelessly, and walked over to the far wall, dismissing the whiteness with a spell, revealing the view of the entire town, twinkling little lights amongst the darkness.

"This will soon all be destroyed." He began to explain. "Under this town sits the gateway to Hell itself, once opened, this was the first battlefield of the great Demon War. A war that is about to return." Rino walked towards Hope, and helped her to her feet.

"You see, I know that gateway, and I will open it. This entire world will fall under demon control. And I will be their overlord. A new age is upon this world, and I'm offering you a chance to stand with me..."

[Hope Mêler]

"Cool! This means that I'll be a Hell-Queen right?" Hope saw the look that he gave her and smiled nervously. "It was a joke!"

Gosh, uber-Gods don't laugh much at stuff that's actually funny, do they?

She tried to hide her amazement as she looked across the town. The sheer size of the building became much more real when you saw how little everything looked from the top floor. It sure as hell wouldn't be fun to be thrown down from up there.

"Well, I'm in," she said quickly, just to make sure that no one would actually throw her down. "Not that I had much of a choice in the matter, but hey." She shrugged.

"What role do I play in this party, anyway?"

[Rino]

"Soldier." He answered simply. "I'd say cannon-fodder but to be honest, I don't actually want to see you die. Sure, killing henchmen is evil and all that, but it just gets problematic. Soldiers work so much better when they're alive."

Rino paused, considering for a moment.

"Unless they're vampires."

He gestured to a chair for Hope, and took a seat himself.
"But, of course, I want some information too." He casually leant back in his chair. "What do you know of the Circle?"

[Hope Mêler]

"Soldier..." Hope mumbled unhappily to herself. What a fun part to play, she thought ironically.

She sat down in the chair and thought for a moment.

"Not much," she admitted. "I've talked to them once, been trying to give the leader a somewhat good impression of me so that I could get in, and I'm sure I didn't do awful. It's just that..." She shrugged. "Once someone speaks her mind, and what's on her mind is a little bit... urm... rude, they think that she's bad or evil or something! It's ridiculous!"

[Rino]

"Here you are working to bring about the apocalypse and you still have morales in mind. Touching." Rino paused, considering for a moment. "You think you can still get in? After all, I may have to promote you from soldier to 'secret agent'. We could use a spy on the inside."

He paused again, considering something else.
"Where did you meet them? I'd love to stop in and say hello. Kill as many as I can. That sort of thing."

[Hope Mêler]

Hope laughed happily. "A secret agent? Yes!" Her eyes sparkled as she thought of all the things she could do. "I'll get in. They're too naive, believe in the good in people. Especially a slayer, and they probably would think I'd have to stop killing vampires if I worked for you."

She paused.

"I can still dust vampires right?!"

"Never mind. They seem to usually hang out at this bar in the northern quadrant. That's where I met them anyway." She thought if she could come up with anything more useful to say.

"Oh! You'll love this," Hope grinned. "There's this posh new woman in town. Cindy Harker. The Harker is her grandfather. She's completely hopeless, and it's so much fun!"

[Rino]

"A bar you say?" Rino repeated with deep interest. "Perhaps I shall investigate this...bar."

He began to walk closer to the window, overlooking the city.
"For now, you are to join the Circle. I want weekly reports from you on their activities. As we grow more active here, they will most likely try their very hardest to stop us, so I'll be needing information on what they know."

"Or I'll just kill them, but this way is more fun don't you think?" Rino grinned.

"As for this Harker, she may be related to the legend, but she is not it. However, her riches sound interesting. Perhaps there is a way we could, acquire, them." He grinned again, expecting Hope to like that suggestion.

"But as for now, you're duties will be spying and reporting." He explained, before casually asking: "Do you want my mobile number or will you drop off the report in person each week?"

[Hope Mêler]

Hope started laughing. "Your mobile number?"

She paused.

"Urm... it's just that, evil person... mobile.... and I've been watching too many movies. Just pretend those 50 seconds never happened."

"Miss Harker has a very nice mansion," she continued casually and walked over to Rino. "I'll have to come here in person, I don't have a phone." She shrugged.

[Rino]

"You do now." Rino tossed her a white phone out of his pocket. "Devil's Advocates is in the address book. If you can get it to work." He sighed, knowing what mobile phones could be like.

"At least we get a good signal up here." He grinned. "You should see the TV reception!" He added, knowing how strange Hope found it when he talked about domestic things. "Widescreen TVs in every room! Seriously, you watch the Matrix on one of those with surround sound and..."

He stopped for a moment.

"I'm really not inspiring any awe anymore, am I?"

[Hope Mêler]

"Inspiring?" Hope considered this. "Kinda, yeah. You inspired me into wanting to watch The Matrix. But intimidating.... you lost that." She smiled.

"I have a problem though," she paused, not really wanting to ask Rino anything. "Um... I don't have anywhere to live."

[Rino]

Rino walked over to Hope slowly, and smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry. My employees get the best treatement."

Suddenly, his hand began to crush her shoulder, which should still be sore from the previous injury.
"And Hope, never, ever forget how dangerous I am." He warned, before releasing her.

"Now, you can't stay here, they'd know you were working for us. We need somewhere, youish." Rino handed Hope a piece of paper, all the while knowing she'd be thinking about her now aching shoulder. "Go to that address, it's a motel. Tell them Rino sent you. You'll get the room for free. It looks scummy, but trust me, it's perfectly safe. The Circle won't blink an eye. The kinda place they'd expect you to live. But it'll be paid for by us. They'll even give you quality food, instead of the usual crap you'd have to buy from across the street."

He began to walk away from her, just for something to do.
"Once in the Circle, you should have accomidation there. Make sure you learn the layout, the location, and how to get in. The last one less so, I could just break down the door. But it's better if we do this the smooth way."

[Hope Mêler]

"Mhm," Hope just nodded, afraid that she'd scream if she opened her mouth. She looked at the paper and put it in her pocket so she could use her hand to support the hurt arm and shoulder instead. Then she just sat down and bit her teeth together.

After some minutes the pain had lessened; instead of feeling like her whole arm was going to explode she only felt a moderate pain throbbing inside her shoulder. She'd dealt with more than that before. Mostly, half an hour ago.

"I'll go to the bar now, then." She said loudly, so Rino, who had turned his back against her, would hear. "Do my job. They'll let me in, but I don't know how much I have to prove that I'm 'good' before they do so. Depends on how naive they are..."