The Sin Hunter: Double or Nothing

The Boss is Back

Crow sat forward, his face coated in sweat and his tongue still nub from all the frivolous movement. "Wow," was all the Plague Infector could manage. Sitting on the other side of the large mattress, wrapped in a splendorous garb of blankets and a pillow, Satan laughed, tossing her arms into the air while she kicked back against the piles of pillows. "My God. So that's what it feels like to meet your equal." Crow turned in shock, eyebrows raised. "Are you serious? That was awesome! For the first time in what's been, what, years, I've never felt so...like you said. 'Equal'." Satan rolled over, rubbing her eyes. her starry eyes glistened with her shining chocolate hair while her horns pulsed a faint silver.

"Whew! What a night. I will definitely be coming to you anytime I need to let off some steam." Crow rolled over on the mattress, wrapping one arm around the imp as he grinned, brilliant, void-like white eyes gazing into Satan's view. "Well, then I'll be ready whenever you're coming, I guess." The two chuckled before Satan leaned forward, draping the blanket over their shoulders and pressing her lips tightly against the Plague Infectors. As the two embraced and rolled around in the covers, Crow's phone began buzzing violently, shaking the nightstand nearby. Crow broke away, to which Satan paused, eyes blinking. "What's wrong? Too much?" she asked. crow shook his head. "No no, you're just fine," he nodded, giving her a quick peck, "my phone's buzzing. Hold on one moment."

Crow rolled over, grabbing his phone as he held the screen in front of himself and Satan, both sitting up to view the screen. "it's from Deck," he nodded, turning to Satan. The Lady of Envy shrugged, reaching a hand across the bed for her marble-cake patterned bra. "Well, don't let me be the reason you don't answer. Let's see what he wants." As Crow swept open the number, a Face Time popped on screen, turning on the camera. Crow shielded his eyes from the glare of his lens, but Deck appeared in a car on the road. "Hey Crow! Whatcha up to?" Deck asked. Crow felt his face crumpling as it always did when deck asked that question. "Doing some paperwork, nothing else. What about you?" But before Deck could answer, the Lady of Envy tilted her hand in front of the camera, spinning the lens her way.

"If you insist, Decklyn, I'm 'paperwork,' thanks for asking!" she laughed, as Crow rubbed his eyelids. "Oh, great," he grumbled, but as Deck laughed at the wheel, somebody else was laughing right alongside the demon. And it was not a voice he had heard for decades. "Wait a second. Deck, who's in the car with you?" Crow asked. Deck tilted the phone down into the passenger seat to reveal a briefcase with a blazing gold eye on the cover. "Well, see for yourself!" Deck chuckled, struggling to hold his laughter in. Crow and Satan both inspected the briefcase, pressing their faces closer to the camera. "Wait, is that...?" Satan asked, cutting herself short as the briefcase slammed open, and out popped Shrap's lovingly terrifying theater and mask and long, wiry black neck.

"How y'all doin' tonight? Oh, we are getting BUSY up in here!" Shrap roared with laughter, his mask tossing around the briefcase in a fit of shrieking laughter. Crow's expression went for one of irritation to confusion to utter shock. And Satan was the first to fully experience the stunning shift of emotions in one sitting. Crow remained silent, motionless like a man who didn't understand what to feel or even how to feel it. His hands trembled on the edge of the blankets, his eyes quivering in panicked shock. Satan finally wrapped her arms around Crow, concerned. "Crow? Crow! Harold, snap out of it!" Satan began shaking the Plague Infector in a wild fit, and as Shrap craned his neck to inspect the scene from the phone, he coughed in stunned silence.

"Uh, Deck?" Shrap asked, turning slowly to his associate. "Yeah?" Deck replied, turning right down the street. "Remember how we thought it'd be fun to spook Crow? Uh, I think we hit him too hard." At the end of his sentence, Deck began pressing harder on the gas, the car accelerating down the exit ramp and launching into the street as Deck seized the phone again, yelling into the phone. "Satan! Where are you right now?!" A panicked and thoroughly terrified Satan replied, tears streaming through her words. "We're in Lust at the Lotus Resort! Hurry!" Deck squeezed the phone in one hand so tight it could have shattered in his grip. "Crow! Hang tight, buddy, we're coming!" 

Harley covered her mouth in shock as the call ended, and Shrap sat back in disbelief, the corners of both halves of his mask curled in panic. "Huh. What a horrible way to tell him that the boss is back." Deck curled his lip while his eyes twitched, the car thundering down the road while he focused into the gps. "You got that right," he muttered, flashing volts of Crow in every frame of the mirror.

Hours later, lights flashed in Crow's eyes. The Sinner covered his face with his hand, shielding the light. 'It wasn't this bright in our room,' he thought, sitting up to see a very different kind of room. He was in a hospital, surrounded by flowers, a few cards, and a large tank with blood and some kind of morphine substitute. Crow analyzed the substance as the freshened aftershock of anesthesia, still lingering in his blood system. The Plague Infector reached a hand for his hat, sitting in a chair nearby when his eyes connected with the tall, wire-thin Sinner sitting in the corner of the room, quietly wringing their hands. At first, Crow couldn't tell if he was hallucinating or not. But he quickly suspected otherwise.

"Shrap?" he muttered through a half-slurred speech. The Sinner in the chair reacted as if they had been pricked, turning to the hospital bed. "My god! You're awake!" Rushing to his side, Shrap gently cradled the injured Sinner's bloody hand in his. "It's a miracle you survived. Nothing more than a heart attack, but the kind nurses warned you to take things easy." Crow nodded, swallowing and then coughing, tilting his eyes up to the dreadful mask of his friend. "Heh...you don't look a day past forty five, bud." Shrap felt the edges of both sides of his mask smiling as he laid his elbow down on the edge of the table. "Say, Crow," Shrap asked, to the Plague Infector's intrigue.

"I was wondering if you've been feeling up for an adventure." Crow raised an eyebrow, scoffing while he brushed a hand along his night gown. "Depends on your definition of an adventure. I've been working on settling down with the Lady of Envy lately." Shrap chuckled, tipping his hat. "And a fine job you've done, sir. But, if that's alright with you and the missus, I need you for one big favor that you owe." Crow coughed, recalling the night they had been sworn in. "Alright, alright. Where do we get started?"