Chương 16: chapter 16: Hellblazer I
So, as stated before, three days passed by after I talked with Clark, during which I had little else to do aside from stopping small crimes and repairing a damaged dam. It seemed that no one wanted to do the big ones that would have drawn my attention, at least until they recovered their wits.
And then VEGA says the last thing I expected to hear.
"Slayer?" I heard him say as I oversaw the construction of the test fusion reactor from my desk, the reactor itself already on its finishing stages. All that was left, aside from of course the building, was getting deuterium and tritium to power it.
That would end up taking a backseat for a few days after what happened that day... and the following four that came after.
VEGA's words made me raise an eyebrow. It was the first time he spoke to me without being prompted, at least that I remembered, and definitely the first one he spoke like he was asking me something.
"What is it VEGA?"
"I have detected two demonic presences on Earth, both located close to each other."
I fell from my seat when I heard. "Demons, here?! What kind?!" Yeah, it was kind of a comical reaction, but it was the first time since, well, EVER, that I heard the famous line.
That and, well, DEMONS.
"Their energy signal indicates they're from this dimension." VEGA informed.
I sighed, but not relief. They might have not been MY demons, but I had just enough knowledge of DC's to know they were nasty pieces of work that, in many cases, required your typical anti-supernatural weaknesses to be actually hurt, like prayers, silver or cold iron, what you have, else your average cop squad wouldn't be slaughtered/possesed without the aid of mages or priests.
Later I found out that I could just pimp-slap them to death, but at that moment I had no idea if my weapons would be effective against them. I mean, put yourselves in my boots: not all demons are the same you know.
I could had always just ignored it, but the fact VEGA had detected them at all despite the dissimilarities, and the fact he did that well after coming here, made me decide to... take care of the demons before they caused havoc. As in, rip and tear them.
"Show me their location."
Both were located on the outskirts of Barcelona. One of the presences, the larger of the two, was discovered in an apartment complex, one surrounded by a large crowd of onlookers ,news crews, fire fighters, several police vehicles... and also covered with a plastic tarp, with several snipers keeping guard on the nearby buildings. That kind of crap only happened when a NBC emergency (nukes, chemical gassess, biological weapons, the usual) came up, and despite how dangerous Earth was, the procedure was barely used because of the involvement of metahumans.
That could not be good, not at all.
The other, a much smaller signature that was also in Barcelona, was located in an alley just a neighborhood away.
When I asked VEGA to show me what was there, my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when I saw... him.
A scruffy-looking, blue-eyed blonde who looked like your average private investigator, save his open jacket and the flask of booze on his hand. Only, I knew he wasn't your run of the mill detective. As a matter of fact, he wasn't exactly a private detective, at least not of the mundane.
He was John. Fucking. Constantine.
The 'Occult Detective'. Bloke from Liverpool, singer of grunge, disdainful of Hell, Heaven (and as later I found out, Woking), smoker of the million cigarettes, drinking of the whisky gallon, and the closest thing DC had to a non-overpowered Doctor Strange despite not using his magic that much compared to his magical peers.
He would also end up earning the title of 'Brit Who Can't Shut His Yapper'.
And at that moment, he was speaking with a small, red demon hunched over a pentagram.
For the third time since I arrived here, I was overcome with shock, not because of the demon since I was the demon slayer of demon slayers, but because of the fact the protagonist from a fairly underused storyline in a DCAU-based world. I mean, yes, Gotham and Bruce were mostly Arkham-based, and the games were rather disturbing by themselves, but those I had already known of since the beginning, while I didn't know Constantine even existed here!
Still, despite the fact I knew (well, believed) he was more than capable of controlling any demon he summoned, it didn't mean I would let him keep interrogating the imp. I mean, c'mon, I'm Doomguy, I'm supposed to hate demons and kill 'em dead no matter the source! Plus, I thought it was time to show someone my real job, even if I didn't actually tell them.
So, with shotgun in hand and goal in mind, I opened a portal to the alley and aimed at the imp the moment I came out. Constantine was his usual apathetic, a bit drunk self and therefore didn't react fast enough to the usually amazement-inspiring blue portal and me stepping out of it fast enough, but the imp did.
Just not as fast as it probably wanted.
"What the-" That was the most the little freak of nature got to say before I blew him apart in a single shot. Aside from the satisfaction of finally killing a demon since becoming the Slayer, this showed me two important pieces of critical information:
-A DOOM demon he wasn't, not really tough. Therefore, most other demons here would be the same.
-At the very least, the aforementioned fact meant the weaker demons could eat lead without trouble.
Sadly, I DID ruin Constantine's job in a rather rude manner AND cover him in demonic blood.
Oh, and I had done so while he was taking a sip from his flask, so he also chocked AND accidentally dropped his flask, spilling the precious liquor on the disgusting alley floor.
"You killed my contact, you twat!" He screamed at me between coughs. Years of smoking non-stop had left his voice nearly as gravelly as Wolverine's. "And made me drop my flask!"
I shrugged. "I do not like demons, and let's leave it at that."
His annoyance and anger evaporated when he finally stopped coughing and then gave me a good look up and down... and then walked around me to confim that I was real. "Wait, you're that Doom Slaying guy, aren't you?"
"Slayer." I corrected him. Funny, how quickly he recovered from losing his drink and, you know, seeing me of all people up front.
"Tomato, potato, whatever the hell americans say." Constantine replied. "Okay, this crazy. Never expected to meet you of all gun-toting vigilantes out there. Why did you come here? And how, exactly, did you know my informant was a demon? He could have been some mutated rat with wing you know."
"You opened a gate to another dimension. Cannot be sure what might come through, you already know if you watch the news. And that creature was a deadringer for your average demon, and I've known for a while that both Heaven and Hell are real." I said as I erased the pentagram on the ground. He didn't need to know everything, not yet, and didn't want them to possibly eavesdrop on us. "I don't like interdimensional creatures, much less demons."
Constantine grumbled as he watched the imp's blood burn away... and scorch his jacket as it did so. "I knew that already, EVERYONE does as a matter of fact.."
I put the shotgun back into Hammerspace and then looked at the detective. "Why did you summon a demon?"
Constantine just glared at me before sighing. "You know, nobody has ever been able to pinpoint me during a job. I... needed firsthand information."
"For what? I might help."
He signaled me to follow him outside the alley to a spot where we were still hidden, then pointed at the nearby apartment building as he took a whiff from a cigarette he produced. "A few months ago, some catholic bloke brought a portuguese lass here after she got possessed by a demon the previous year, to see if he could kick the demon out of her. A little over a month ago he went dark. The Vatican then asked me of all people to go and see if I could take both back and try and exorcise the girl with my 'skills'" He said with air quotes. "Usually I tell them to piss off any time they call me for my services, but this time was about a poor girl being possessed by a demon.
That interested me. "Would you have helped them if the demon had possesed the priest instead of the girl?"
Again, he took a smoke as he stared at the apartment building. "Don't care if some priest pisses off the wrong demon prince and gets his soul nabbed because of it, might have brought it upon himself, but I don't like it when its the innocent who suffer THAT, much less children."
"How serious."
He looked at me with a steely look. "The fact not even the Vatican's own exorcists could free her should tell you something, space marine."
Something told me I had seen this before, but where? Definitely not DOOM. "Why is the building in quarantine then?"
He took another whiff as we the small media spectacle watched from afar. "Dunno what the hell did he do, but the entire place's been quarantined since fiver hours ago after someone called the firefighters."
"What for?"
"Something about a screaming lady. Pretty sure she's the girl." He replied. "Twenty minutes after they went in the police covered the entire place up, covering it up saying something about a dangerous virus that had somehow found its way into the building." He took another whiff and then glared at me. "Could have found out everything that was going on until you came and blew my informant to smithreens. Can't use clairvoyance to scout the place either, something's blocking me out. I think it's the freak."
That wouldn't have been everything he got from the imp. He had been speaking to it for a few minutes at least. "Did you get something from it at least?"
"Yeah. Little bastard rhymed too much and tried to be as bloody cryptic as possible, as always, but I did get him to say something about 'blood' and 'it spreading'."
'Blood' and 'it spreading'. Just the fact this involved demons and those words made me feel a bit uneasy... and have déjà vu. At the same time, however, I wanted to help. I mean, I was already there, and as already stated I was Doom Slayer, demon slayer extraordinaire.
"Say, I planned to go in there through the sewers, but since you came with that teleporty thing, and seem so willing to help me out... You need an image or something?
I merely shook my head as VEGA opened a portal behind me. "Don't need one. I take the lead."
..........
Sorry for the (relative, all things given) lack of length and genuine story plot, and overall crude writing, despite being THE chapter many of you have been asking for, didn't see the need to make it any longer. Otherwise, was my portrayal of John accurate to the comics, or at least the general idea of him? And don't worry, the annoyance part will come later, for now he'll be serious due to the circumstances.
Also, fun note for the story's background: Games Workhsop exists here, and so do both Warhammer series. John is british, has just called the SI a space marine, and they're about to face a demon. He might not be really surprised when the beans end up inevitably spilled out.
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