The Sin Hunter: Double or Nothing

Back to Work

In the gloomy office space above the lively hallway below, Crow stepped through the doorway, cradling his phone in one hand while the other slid the door closed behind him. Pulling his phone up to eye level, Crow found the notification from earlier. It was from Satan. A text message. Crow felt his heart pumping as he swept open, sliding to the Messages list of friends and coworkers. 'I hope nothing bad has happened,' Crow whispered, opening their chat to reveal the newest message. To his surprise, the message was a playful one, and not something more dire. "Last night was fun," Crow read aloud, "hope we can do that soon. Winky face."

Crow chuckled, kicking back against the wall as he responded to the message. "Sorry for the delay. With Shrap back in town, the gang wants to go back to the Living World." No sooner had the Plague Infector set his phone down on the table nearby than the device buzzed again, illuminating the table in an eerie blue light. Crow scooped the phone up again, reading the message replying. "The Living World? Why there?" Crow sucked in a deep breath, then hovered his fingers over the keyboard, typing his message in response. And this is probably the most fascinating segment about this story.

Because Crow would live his life carefree and whimsical, never once revealing the message he responded with. What can be drawn, however, is the Lady of Envy's reaction to the message. And put simply, the reaction was...nothing. The Plague Infector waited for a moment after sending his message, then set the phone back in his pocket. The device, however, did not buzz immediately as he hoped it would have. As Crow tapped his fingers against the edge of his arm, the door into the office flung open with Deck and Shrap, both rushing to shush their third member and tell him about their grand plan.

As Deck kicked back in his chair, Shrap extended an arm across the room, closing the door as he, too, sat back in a more comfortable chair, grabbing a glass of wine from their cabinet. "Well, we have some fantastic news for you, Crow, old buddy!" The Plague Infector shook free of the snares from moments ago, his heart pulsing again in slowed, controlled pace. "Uh, okay. What's going on?" Shrap rubbed his hands together, presenting his pitch for their meeting. "The card takes me back in tee minus 15 minutes. You two are coming with me." Crow raised his goggles in surprise, turning to a very giggly and excited Deck.

"You refer to myself and Deck?" Shrap nodded, motioning another hand to the blinds over the window outward. "Harley and Wrench have agreed to stay back while the three of us take a well-earned vacation from Hell." Crow brushed a hand over his beak, pondering the situation. "Hmm..." he muttered, although Deck cut through before Crow could finish his thought process. "Hey listen, Crow. If you want to stay back, you're welcome to, really. We're comfortable going and finding Jack as is." Crow waved his hand, the lingering regret of his message to Satan driving his emotions. "No, it's...it's fine. I'll go with you guys if it's alright with everyone else."

Deck pumped his fists into the air with a backflip into a walk through on his heels. "Yippee! Looks like the trio is back in business!" Shrap snaked through the office space, wrapping his arms and the briefcase around his associates. "God, am I glad we got this amazing opportunity! Alright, you two, now hold your breaths!" As Crow raised his goggles in alarm, shouting, "No, NO, WE ARE NOT-" the Sinner salesman crammed the Knightly Demon and Plague Infector into the contents of his suitcase, where the duo were met with the casual, inky black void. Deck snagged a pair of headphones and a wireless router from the void, hooking up a console and a controller.

Crow grumbled, flipping over as he pulled the void over like a blanket and some pillows. "I hate it when he does that," Crow muttered, removing his goggles and mask while he drifted into a slumber. Deck turned, chuckling, then returned to his game, slashing at a massive troll as the caves began to collapse in on him.

Shrap hopped back down the stairs as Harley and Wrench stepped forward, ready to begin. "Are they...?" Harley asked, pointing to the suitcase. Shrap nodded, beaming with his right half of his mask while he patted the suitcase with another hand. "They're safe. It's just a matter now of if they'll travel through unnoticed." Wrench nodded, extinguishing his cigar on the side of a stool. "Just make sure you bring zhem back in vone piece." Shrap chuckled, stepping onto a table while he gripped the golden business card in his right top hand. "If I brought them back in one piece, that'd be a very unsettling sight," he replied.

Wrench waved away the reply, grinning through forced mechanical genes. "You know vhat I mean," he muttered, and Shrap tilted his top hat to the wind, wiping the drop of blood away from his card. "Whoo! Like a fresh burst of light," he cried, before Shrap exploded in a flash of golden light, disappearing without so much as a trace to be left of his arrival.