Devil hunting chronicles of the impossible city.

Volume III Prologue III: The hunters gather.

It was a buzzing night in Center City and Abram was finally back after another long hunt, he could understand the appeal of the city, but he was never able to relax at all in that place, so he was always looking forward to returning to the labyrinth. As we walked towards the tower he could see dozens upon dozens of tents as well as caravans, Center city always had no shortage of trading but now it was a market on its own, easily one of the most known in the wasteland. People had built the town around this tower now stretching all the way to the old center town during this long year Center City had doubled in size. Now the tower was illuminated by light posts and there was electricity to keep the city safe at night, it was all the Commanders doing a settlement of this size would attract bandits or worse so Rush came to an agreement with her and now the city Watch is a security force backed by Emilia. Needless to say, Rush Collins was a very busy man now.  Abram stepped to the entrance of the tower and saw the guard lower their weapons as they moved to the side, he knew why they needed it, but he was never at ease with armed men close by. 

The inside of the labyrinth was just as full of people mainly those who had no means to build a home, but as you get deeper you reach what was once the canteen of the corps now a floor for restaurants and food stands its main attraction the Devils bar, the newly build bar Rush made, sadly he had no time to tend to it that often. Abram stepped into the bar fairly filled by the night but he still had no trouble sitting at the counter. 

"Welcome again captain, welcome." A tall man with a brown short beard and mustache welcomed him, more often than not he was the barkeeper. Mr.Jean Monet. He too was a hunter and a good one as Abram had heard but they had never worked together, of course, he was hardly the only bartender, there were at least three more taking turns, and the place was a lot busier than ever before.

"Yeah, give the same as always, I needed to take a break, anything happened while I was out."

"Not much captain, we had a bad situation from some warlord scout a bit ago, but nothing the guard couldn't handle, truth be told things are going on an upswing lately people were afraid of the hunters but after seeing them repel the forces of the city few will doubt we can keep this place safe."

"Can we really?" Abram got his enthusiasm, but the memories of what happened that day were unpleasant, he felt they almost lost everything and that was merely a taste of what the city truly had to offer, still, he had no reason to dampen the party.

" I suppose it doesn't matter, people believing we can is enough."He finished preparing a drink and served it with elegance, Abram could tell he got that technique from Rush."

"It seems, like you have a visitor Captain Abram, I will leave you to your affairs."Abram took a drink and looked behind him, it was his sister Aisha wearing the black uniform a hunter, she had a golden insignia on his chest that meant she had been given the rank of lieutenant on Aurora's team, now that the numbers had raised there were meant to be more positions to each team, Abram had a bigger insignia but he kept it hidden if he could.

"Im guessing the old lady wants to see me right away, it sounds like I'm not getting any downtime."

"Yeah sorry, I was sent to get you, there is a meeting with all captains and they have been waiting for you till now, whatever it is, it's big." She looked apologetic but she still smiled at him, its been a while since they had any time to meet.

"Well, I guess there is no rest for the wicked." Abram followed out, all things considered, it was nice to at least get to talk on the way there.

"So things are going well on your end."

"Yeah, Aurora and our team hit this Rockwell guy it wasn't anything we couldn't handle, but I'm glad we are getting some time off they want us to lay low since the corps went to the scene," Abram smirked, he had to admit hearing about her being involved in hunts still puts him on edge, but it was Aurora's team, her track record was impeccable only Collins would go to greater lengths to keep his team alive. The two of them walked outside on the market on the labyrinth going deeper into the areas not allowed to the public, little by little their surroundings turned quiet.

"Nothing too hard on my end it was just some sad fool who made a contract for power, he was just alone..."There were so many of them, people like Nicholas, who kept sacrificing so much for a nebulous hope, but to Abram if this would prove to others that it was never worth the risk it may be for the best to end it...at least one more devil remained in the world.

"Let's not talk about hunting, it's never a fun topic."Abram could only nod in agreement as they went on to the labyrinth, they reached the darkest areas illuminated by lamplights on the wall, this place was not really built for comfort or any human needs, it was unnecessarily deep, by all means, hostile to its inhabitants, but they will reach their goal in due time.

"Still, how are things going? I hear you don't go work on the kitchens anymore."

"The town has been lively lately making some friends I even get along with most of our squad, honestly I'm glad...I just wish this downtime would last forever."

"I know, really I need a vacation at this point."

"We should do something with Rush and hang out again."

"Good luck getting that guy out of his tree jobs, but true it's really been too long since we just got together, I'll tell the commander after whatever she wants me to do, she debts me at least that much."

"That will be nice, I'll think of where to go, even if Rush doesn't come. Well, here we are."Aisha opened the double doors to the command room, the white throne room that held their meeting site. Abram saw Emilia as well as four other people on the long table in the center, it was Aurora who waved at them, Cao who remained sat without acknowledging them, Rush who looked back at us excitedly, and one more person, a woman of brown skin and black hair put on a ponytail, she was wearing the black suit and the insignia of a captain on her tie, she was Alba Rosario the heir of the Villa Blanca cartel who joined them a year ago, but Abram knew very little of her as she rarely interacted with anyone outside of work.

"Welcome Captain Abram, with you finally here we can go to the main topic."Commander Emilia indicated to him to take a sit with her staff, Aisha closed the door behind him as she was not allowed to be inside, only the commanders were reunited in that room it had been a while since they all were called at once, Abram reached for his pocket and took a golden insignia that depicted the head of a dog, the symbol of his squad the greyhound and pinned it to his chest as he took his seat.

"We will be moving our operations to the families' territory, we are set and ready for it, from this point onwards we will ignore the small fry, our prey will be the families of the city." With that declaration Abrams's eyes narrowed, he knew it was coming but it was finally time.

"Gentlemen and ladies we will declare a war on the five families."