The Sin Hunter: Double or Nothing

No Time for Tears

"GOD DAMMIT!!" Everyone turned with a jolt as Jack exploded through the door frame, kicking into the office space with a face as grim as the weather outside. Jack stormed into the room with rolled up sleeves and a dark scowl beneath his fedora. Cynthia rose from her spot on the couch, rushing over to the Sin Hunter. "Where's Jules? Did you find her?" Jack stopped beside Doctor Florence, and his shoulders dropped, steam hissing from his breath as Jack removed his fedora. The shadows that masked his facial features withdrew when the Sin Hunter rested his fedora on the wall beside the coat rack.

"Nothing. Just nothing," Jack exhaled, his expression admitting defeat. Cynthia felt faint tears brimming in the corners of her eyes when Jack straightened out, coughing before continuing. "I swept over the last five blocks. They've gone a long way to run out of sight. But," Jack motioned with a pointed index finger, pacing back and forth, "if Jules is traveling with Deck, she should be fine. I've met Demons who we wouldn't want to encounter, and Deck is one we can trust no matter what." Crow moved from the corner of the room, sweeping beside Cynthia with a warm blanket and gentle arms. "He's right, Thia. If there's one Demon in all of Hell you want to be protecting your kid, it's Deck."

Doctor Florence straightened out, wiping her eyes before she brushed hair out of her face. "Alright. Then Deck's the one who gets his anything broken if and when Jules gets hurt." Jack held up his gloves, shaking his head. "Take it easy, Doc. If there's one thing Jules was right about, it's that we can't wait forever. Hell got its precious audience with us, so now," Jack smiled, dragging a hand across the surface of his revolver in its holster, "we need to focus on getting some aid before things go crazy." "Ladies und gentlemen! Ve haf a bit of a problem!"

Wrench's surprised and confused shouting drew everyone from the office space out into the warehouse, bustling through the door and onto the wireframe scaffolding above the factory and the processing stimpak conveyor belts. Wrench was waiting at the opposite end of the facility, a servo arm, built into his workbench on the right shelf, displaying a large screen across the wall with a map of Hell's geography. And all across the map were large, blinking red clusters of dots, pushing against the walls separating continents from one another.

Jack rushed across the scaffolding, stopping in front of the screen with clenched and unclenched fists. "What are we looking at, Wrench?" The Nazi Engineer stepped forward, keeping his servo arm raised to project the image onto the flat wall. "Zhis is a recent report from news channels in Pride. Zhere are increased forces pushing not only in zhe streets but outvard into zhe ozher continents." The Sin Hunter moved around to face the map head on, his eyes darting wildly around the dots and clusters of red on the map. "How recent are we talking about?" He asked.

Wrench turned away from the wall, plugging his arm into a socket beside a computer monitor before replying, "Three hours ago." Everybody froze, turning toward one another in stunned silence. The sound of clanking machines and stamping mold presses filled the factory before Jack spoke again, this time with a low, rumbling voice. "We have to get to our allies in the other continents. If those walls fall-" "It's the end of Hell as we know it," Shrap cut in, to the fear of everyone. "We need to find somebody to start with, then," Cynthia's voice rose up.

Jack turned to face Doctor Florence, crossing his rolled up sleeves over his chest. "Great idea. If we can get help from the Rulers of Hell, then maybe we could stand a chance at bringing order back to this chaos." Crow dusted off his shoulders, coughing beneath his mask. "You all have a wonderful point. But who do we start with? Everybody's dealing with people trying to kick through their doors." Wrench emerged from removing his arm from the monitor, stepping into the ring with his own thoughts. "Ve can go to Wrath," his autonomous tone stated.

Everyone turned to hear the Nazi Engineer's perspective on the subject, to which Wrench happily provided. "I haf scanned zhis map over, and compared to all ozher influenced attacks, Wrath is zhe only vone to be left amazingly untouched by zhis madness." Jack stepped forward, his pupils narrowing into pearl white slits beneath his fedora. "Well, I guess we know where to go first. And I bet a little firepower would be much appreciated now." Wrench's cleared and clanking throat interrupted the moment. "If I may, Sin Hunter, zhere are ozher issues to regard in zhe matters vith zhe Sins."

Jack turned with crossed arms, his eyebrows raised in anticipation. "What else should we know about, Wrench?" The Nazi Engineer gestured his mechanical arm back to the wall and the projection of Hell's map. "It vould appear zhat high levels of ancient magic haf begun plaguing zhe Sins. Magic since ages before any of our times." Cynthia stepped forward, her eyes wide with shock. "Oh God...so Sloth could be facing something really bad..." she whispered. Crow turned away from the railing overlooking the factory when he heard the reaction.

"What's in Sloth that we should be worried about?" He asked. Cynthia turned slowly, combing her fingers through her long, silver hair before sighing, relaxing her shoulders. "Nothing yet. But we need to get through Wrath and go find Sloth next. If we go through with that order, maybe we could circle Pride and attack at the end here," she gestured, striking the map with an extended pointer finger, "in Greed." Shrap stepped into the ring, pounding his four fists together. "Sounds like we have ourselves a grand ol' plan, lady and gentlemen. I think it's time we get this party started!"

Jack moved forward to pat Shrap on the shoulder, grabbing his fedora from the table beside Wrench's charging cable. "Where we're going, Shrap, we're gonna need some real magic to help us. Holy magic, if what Wrench and Cynthia have told us is true." As his fedora connected with his head, cloaking Jack's face in shadow, two eyes, brilliant white with narrowed slits, burst from the dark, and one of his famous candy cigarettes popped into the corner of his mouth. "Let's get ready to give these Demons some Holy Spirit."