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Post by Sykes on Oct 15, 2019 4:04:19 GMT
Sykes car pulled into a roomie garage. As if by magic, he intuitively navigated the castle, and followed his gut to what was to be his quarters. He gently stepped the brakes of his car before opening the door.
"How...homie." Sykes smiled. It reminded him of his office on the docks by the Hudson. Concrete and dank with dim lighting, but that was how he operated best. This was a place for business, not slumber parties. Roscoe and Desoto followed him out of the car, their long clawed nails clacking against the floor.
"I wonder..." Sykes opened the drawer on his desk at the end of the office. Just where he expected them, a box of gourmet dog biscuits. He pulled out the bone shaped cookies and threw them to his dogs, who each caught one out of the air and chewed it avariciously. "Good boys! Way to make an impression today."
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Post by Hades on Oct 15, 2019 17:40:09 GMT
Pain and Panic scurried through the halls, searching for their master, Hades. Yet, as unfortunate luck would have it, they'd gotten themselves quite lost in the process.
"Did we take a left turn at the torture chamber or the kitchen?" Panic asked.
"I thought it was a Cyber Café, actually," Pain pointed. "I hear they're big with the mortals three thousand years from now."
"Ohh, Hades is gonna KILL us when we find him!" Panic bemoaned.
"You mean IF we find him," Pain corrected, gestured to the labyrinth of hallways.
"For once that's not a very comforting 'if'," Panic said. "Now, c'mon, let's check in here!"
Pain and Panic threw open the doors to the office and strolled in. Upon noticing Rosco and DeSoto and their very sharp teeth and powerful jaws, the two imps screamed out in terror and clutched each other fearfully.
"NICE DOGGIES! STAY!" Pain yelled.
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Post by Sykes on Oct 15, 2019 19:35:39 GMT
Sykes peered over the brow of his glasses from the swivel chair behind his desk. The two imps had just interrupted the lightning of another cigar.
"Well...the considerations of my new benefactor don't seem to cease. Five minutes in my new office, and I'm sent two, brightly colored squeaky toys."
Roscoe and Desoto rose from their place, just finishing off their prior snacks, eyes pointed to Pain and Panic.
"Unless of course, the toys have something important to say?"
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Post by Hades on Oct 15, 2019 19:48:59 GMT
"Squeaky toys?" Panic asked.
"We're the highly respected right hand imps of HADES," Pain boasted.
"Yeah, we're well trained in the arts of evil," Panic nodded.
"So you'd probably better tell Fluffy and Fido here to heel," Pain said. "Unless you wanna deal with our wrath!"
To punctate the point, the two imps began to hype up some kung-fu moves before accidentally knocking into each other and collapsing onto the floor.
"Uhh, pretend that didn't happen," Panic requested.
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Post by Sykes on Oct 15, 2019 19:57:56 GMT
Sykes permitted a wheezing chortle and shook his head.
"Well, you aren't dull. Maybe it would be a pity to have you torn open...for the time being."
Sykes threw two more biscuits to his dogs, distracting them.
"You said you were on Hades' payroll? The tall one who says he pulled me from the dead." Sykes leaned back in his chair. "Then your intel may behoove me, because if Mr. Hades is anything like me, he wouldn't expect to receive nothing for something."
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Post by Hades on Oct 15, 2019 23:54:37 GMT
"Ummm… which one were you, again?" Pain asked.
"I think he's the one who Hades thinks can lead him to the Black Cauldron," Panic suggested.
"No, stupid, that's the skeleton guy in the dress!" Pain replied. "Maybe this is the one who can build those big machines?"
"No, no, no, that's the kid with the floppy hair," Panic pointed out.
"Oh, right! Varian!" Pain declared. "So, uh, which one is this guy?"
"Big, bulky, cigars, and dogs," Panic listed. "That's a toughie. I wanna say he's supposed to be some kind of animal trainer?"
"That was in no way a position Hades mentioned," Pain said with a sigh.
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Post by Sykes on Oct 16, 2019 0:30:13 GMT
Sykes rubbed his temples in irritation before reaching into another desk drawer.
"Perhaps this will refresh your memory..."
Sykes pulled out a pistol, loaded its magazine, and stood up from his chair. He reached his massive arm over the reach of his desk, far enough to point the barrel of the gun in Pain's face. On the side, intentionally in Panic's field of view, read an engraving on the metal side of the small fire arm.
Sykes
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Post by Hades on Oct 16, 2019 0:41:38 GMT
"AH!" Pain shrieked at the gun being pointed in his face. "Y'know, I always knew you were a big boss type. Panic was the stupid one who couldn't remember."
"Hmmm, Sekys?" Panic said, misreading the side of the gun. "Nope, Sekys doesn't ring any bells."
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Post by Sykes on Oct 16, 2019 0:52:35 GMT
A frustrated Sykes squeezed dents into the handle of his revolver in his hand. Using the opposite, he reached for Panic's pointed ears with intent to pull the imp directly to his face.
"I'm beginning to wonder if your benefactor sent you to MOCK me!" Smoke jaggedly escaped Sykes' mouth. "Did Mr. Hades ask you to mock Mr. Sykes?"
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Post by Hades on Oct 16, 2019 4:12:17 GMT
"Ouch, ouch, ouch!" Panic squealed when Sykes grabbed onto his horns. "Not so tight! We get it! Sykes! Mr. Sykes! A very nice name and not Sekys at all!"
"Oh! Sykes! I remember now," Pain declared. "You were the one with the criminal know-how!"
"Ah yes, the talented organizer and intimidator!" Panic added. "That makes sense."
"We're, uh, real sorry 'bout that, Sykes," Pain said. "Honest."
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Post by Sykes on Oct 16, 2019 4:32:32 GMT
"That's more like it!" Sykes smiled before reclining back in his chair. "Intimidation makes my line of work sound so nasty, though!"
Sykes turned in his chair, Panic still in his grasp, toward Roscoe and Desoto, who were just finishing their second snack. "I see my talent more along the lines of...persuasion. For instance, this is how I may persuade you to tell me about how to make Mr. Hades very happy."
Sykes began to dangle Panic over his dogs' snouts, pulling the imp upward just out of harm's way as they took turns snapping their jaws at him. As amusing a distraction this was, Mr. Hades didn't seem the type to be impressed by money, an idea that vexed Sykes. If he was going to avoid wearing cement shoes into the River Styx, he'd need a leg up on the likes of the rat and skull faced warlock he went through the trouble of reviving, a leg up these two stooges may be able to provide.
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Post by Hades on Oct 17, 2019 19:19:21 GMT
"Nice doggie! DOWN!" Panic shrieked as he wriggled and writhed to avoid the Doberman's snapping. "THIS IS NOT GOOD!"
Pain waddled over. "Oh, he's nasty. Reminds me of the boss!"
"I'm certainly seeing the similarities," Panic agreed, thinking back to the snapping jaws of Cerberus.
"Well, uh, we don't exactly know much about what he wants," Pain admitted. "He doesn't really trust us with the big stuff ever since we botched the job with Hercules."
"Though, in the interest of not being ripped to shreds," Panic said, "we DO know that he wants more mortal souls signed over to- YOUCH! -him. Something about modern problems requiring modern solutions! That all we know! Cross our hearts, hope to die... again."
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Post by Sykes on Oct 17, 2019 22:35:39 GMT
Sykes turned the axis of his chair, away from where he was pointed, swaying Panic from his dogs.
"That's more like it." The crime boss flinged the wiry demon back to the floor beside his cohort. Sykes was, before this interaction, beginning to doubt his longevity among sorcerers and monsters, but it seemed Hades had something very specific in mind for him--the souls of those living in his modern world. Perhaps the marvels of steel, smog, and concrete would give even a God pause.
"I've seen men give up great things for piles of money I wouldn't bother picking up if it fell from my pocket." Sykes smiled. "Souls might just be a peg or so above."
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Post by William Cecil Clayton on Oct 22, 2019 3:36:28 GMT
Maleficent´s look in her face upon his first appearence seemed to imply she didnt specifically summoned people she wanted, but rather people with ambition and willing to do the necesary to gain power or riches much like him. Still, better being deemed what she, or people like Tarzan deem a "bad guy" than simply sitting down there like one of those pompous aristocrats that inherit stuff instead of earning it, much like Porter´s annoying daughter.
He wondered which were the other "kindred spirits" Maleficent talked about. While walking around, he noticed something odd...wheel prints that seemed to be made by one of those motor vehicles that were starting to be a trend in his world...They certainly stood out considering Maleficent´s goons mostly had swords and pikes as weapons...His curiosity got the best of him as he followed the path.
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Post by Sykes on Oct 22, 2019 4:12:39 GMT
Sykes eyes shot toward Clayton.
"I don't recall sending out an open house invite to my office." Sykes said. "Though you look about as removed from your element as I do."
Sykes took a cigar in his hand, extending it toward the towering hunter. "Cuban?"
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