Sid : the Devil's secretary

5. The Secret of their success

5. The Secret of their success

Several hours later, as the red sun went down over the lava sea in the distance and the streetlights came on to welcome the evening gloom, Sid walked out of the empty plaza, expecting a visitor.

"alright, where are you?" Sid furled up his sleeves calling out into the streets.

"took you long enough" the voice from the phone call emerged from the darkness beside the citadel entrance.

"what do you want?" Sid turned back.

"your job" the black figure strolled around his target.

"fat chance" Sid crossed his arms.

"then I'll just take it instead" the figure took out a pistol from his pocket and held it up.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. you know we can't die, right?" Sid repositioned his glasses, then unsheathed his own pistol from his pocket.

"who said I wanted to kill you. I just want to hurt you very, very badly" the figure fired the first shot across the plaza, starting a rampant gunfight as the figure tried an orderly retreat. Sid knew he could not let him get away, so gave chase. Their rain of bullets showered over the busy district of Rampart, with the odd light coming on from surrounding buildings at the first sound of a gunshot. The figure kept firing his shots back at Sid, who simply returned the favor.

"damn you!!" the figure felt a shot to his shoulder slowing him down. He managed to stop in the middle of a public square, at the foot of the Satsuma monument, a long shining sword of gold on a stone pedestal pointing blade first into the sky.

"end of the line, dickhead" Sid pointed his pistol at the wounded stranger.

"you going to attract more attention to us?" the figure saw more lights come on from apartments and homesteads all around the square.

"not planning on it" Sid cocked his pistol for a clear fire shot.

"because I was" the figure lunged at Sid, swatting the pistol out of his hand, and devolving into a fistfight on the cobblestone of the square. This all stopped suddenly when something yanked the figure off of Sid and held him several feet off the ground.

"naughty boys don't get their toys...if you offend one of my employees, you're offending the king" the bright red suit of Lucifer came into view. He must have heard the shots fired and come to check out what was happening. It was unusual for the ganglands to be so active at night.

"forgive me, my lord" the figure pressed his hands together and pleaded from his dangling position.

"let me think about that...nah" Lucifer contemplated briefly. A surge of energy flashed out of his hand into the body of the figure, solidifying him as a block of petrified stone. Lucifer then snapped the fingers of his free hand, enabling a large sledgehammer to fall to the ground beside Sid.

"what's that for?" Sid looked down at the handle.

"batter up!" Lucifer turned the figure statue to face Sid head on. After a thought or two, Sid picked up the heavy mallet and swung it around, breaking the figure into multiple smaller chunks.

"you alright, Sid?" Lucifer kicked away some dust on his black shoes.

"peachy" Sid went to retrieve his fallen pistol.

"was he giving you a hard time?" Lucifer approached.

"I almost had him, but thanks for the help" Sid faced his boss. A worrisome thought came to mind: if there was one guy gunning for his job, what was stopping others from doing the same?

"you're my assistant now. Consider it a family courtesy" Lucifer bent down rested an arm over Sid's shoulder. Sid was only a couple of feet shorter, and by the standards of most other demons in Hell, he was considered one of the taller ones. It usually seemed less powerful demons were more average sized, while the more powerful were exceptionally tall.