Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Burying The Hatchet
“What the fuck, Baxter?”
Vaggie exclaimed, looking down at the small scientist with a rather pissed off expression. The sinner had been away from the hotel for about an hour before returning. He didn’t come back empty-handed; he shamelessly dragged the abandoned body of Vox through the hotel lobby. The scene caught the attention of the other few lounging about. Angel, Husk, and Cherri sat at the bar while Charlie was scurrying over from behind the welcome desk.
It had been about a month since Vox had tried to take over heaven and nearly kill everyone in a 200-mile radius of him in the process. Hell had been recovering pretty well, all things considered. The only real damage left was where Vox held the Gala; the entire area was closed off by Carmilla Carmine. Honestly, the whole thing played out well for the hotel. There was a fairly large group of sinners who flocked over with the intention of being guests. Now that hell knew redemption was possible, people were here for the right reasons this time.
So when the smooth sailing had been interrupted by a guest dragging the disembowled body of Vox through the lobby, everyone was rightfully uncomfortable. At the sight, Charlie tensed up; it wasn’t a pretty sight. Since the body had been lying around for about a month, it was in pretty rough shape. All sorts of wires stuck out from the neck, lots of tears and bends where there weren’t supposed to be. It was hard to tell how much of Vox was machine and how much was flesh, but in that moment, it looked far more robotic.
“Hmm?”
Baxter let out, seemingly unaware of how odd he looked.
“Jesus, what are you doing with that thing?”
Angel chirped from over by the bar. With a lot of help from Cherri and Husk, they had managed to get Angeldust to return to the hotel. He acted off at first, but thanks to the reassurance of everybody, things fell back into place soon enough.
“Bringing it back to my lab, of course! I can’t let such an opportunity go to waste!”
He proclaimed proudly, continuing to drag the body a few more feet before being stopped by the sound of Charlie's voice. He grumbled something under his breath as she spoke. He seemed to be a little annoyed at all the attention he was earning himself.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! You can’t just- drag that thing around!”
Baxter quirked a brow. His grip tightened defensively.
“How else am I supposed to get it to my lab?”
The princess let out a small, unsure hum. Considering the body was almost triple his size, it wasn’t like he could just carry it. Vaggie spoke up again.
“Well, you can’t just-”
“Perhaps I could be of assistance, after all, we don’t want the other guests to get the wrong idea.”
Nobody seemed to notice the presence of Alastor's shadow until he rose up from the ground, emerging from it. Baxter was the only one who was caught off guard; everyone else had grown accustomed to the habit. When he noticed the short sinner's reaction, the corners of Alastor's smile traveled a little higher up on his face.
Baxter was quick to recompose himself. He couldn’t help but be put off by the Radio Demon. Although his name didn’t bring as much fear as it once did, that didn’t mean none came from it. Besides, Alastor absolutely towered over him; it was hard not to have some kind of reaction. Just looking up at him caused Baxter to let out a small pop from his spine. Alastor leaned over a little, the action coming off as slightly demeaning.
“Let me assist you in moving it. I don’t want our guests to have to witness this filth longer than needed.”
He didn’t even wait for Baxter to accept or decline the offer; instead, he leaned right over to scoop up the near-corpse and carry it. The smaller demon didn’t seem to want to argue and just accepted it, leading Alastor to his lab. From behind them, Charlie muttered something about being happy Alastor was back. Vaggie didn’t let the princess see her eye roll.
Ever since Alastor returned to the hotel, he has been pulling his weight more than usual. He’d help Charlie give guests their keys and direct them to their rooms, fix things that became broken for one reason or another, and occasionally assist a guest who had an inquiry. Nobody knew why he had suddenly decided to step it up. The only reason anyone could think of was Lucifer's absence. Even though Charlie and her father left things on better terms after rescuing him from Vox’s giant deathray. He had yet to return to staying at the hotel, seemingly guilty about the whole situation.
He still dropped by on occasion to see how things were doing, but with him not currently residing there, it meant Charlie was lacking the help he previously provided. Still, it wasn’t like Alastor was this helpful before the King of Hell had begun staying at the hotel. When asked, the Radio Demon brushed off the question before quickly leaving the conversation or changing the subject.
He and Baxter remained fairly silent while making their way to his lab. The scientist wasn’t keen on small talk, and Alastor was more than fine with that. He was too busy with his own thoughts at the moment. Seeing the dismembered body sparked something in him. Anger? Frustration? Disdain? It took a bit of thinking before he landed on the word he was looking for. Curiosity. Though he hadn’t ever gone out of his way to waste space in his brain thinking about the fool, now he couldn’t help but wonder what had become of Vox.
He knew about as much as anyone else did. Valentino ripped his head off, grabbed Velvette, and the three of them flew off. Then, a short time later, the moth took center stage on the big screen. From Hell’s perspective, the two overlords seemed to be running things just fine without any help from Vox. The entire incident flushed Vox’s reputation down the drain, and any trust sinners had in VoxTek was gone. By separating their own brands from the self-absorbed TV, the other two seemed to have no trouble remaining on top where they were before this whole mess started.
But what about Vox? Where had he ended up? The two should have just left the scene without him, but they didn’t. Surely he was somewhere in that tower, hidden away from the public eye. Alastor could only imagine him sulking, being nothing more than a head. He was humiliated; there was no doubt about it. The Radio Demon wanted to see how far the mighty had fallen more than anything right now.
“Just set it right here.”
Baxter said quietly, tapping the metal table in the center of the lab with his hand. Alastor hadn’t realised they were in the lab until the lesser demon spoke. Without any ounce of care, he set the body down and wiped his hands on his coat as if the body was germ-ridden. After this, he would probably wash his hands. The only reason he offered to carry the body was that he wanted to further inquire about Baxter's intentions.
“What exactly do you plan to do with this, my good fellow?”
Baxter hummed before answering. Now that Alastor had served his purpose, he couldn’t really care about his presence. But any time there was a question about his work, he couldn’t help but give an answer.
“Research, of course! I’ve always wondered about his physiology! I’ve always been curious about how his body worked. I mean, with this I can run all the experiments I- huh?”
The moment Baxter turned around to face the deer, he had already vanished from his lab. The scientist let out a scoff before getting to work. Alastor, on the other hand, has heard all he wanted to hear. He didn’t want to hear the inevitable ramblings that were bound to happen. So he escaped through the shadows before that could happen. He reappeared in one of the many hallways of the hotel, taking a small stroll as he thought to himself.
He couldn’t help but be a little curious as well. He had known Vox long enough to see how he changed through the years. With evolving technology, he evolved with it. The demon had switched out old heads with new ones as time went on. Alastor had seen him go through dozens of heads, each more advanced and efficient than the last. For all he knew, his conscience was in a phone or something. Alastor didn’t know how it worked, but the mental image made him chuckle. The more he wondered, the stronger his curiosity festered. Perhaps he should go seek him out, just to taunt him in whatever sorry state he resided in.