Defiance (Husk x Angel Dust)

Unfiltered Truth

Vox was minding his own business keeping an eye on cameras throughout Pentagram City when he received a call from Velvette. That was never a good sign. Velvette always minded her business unless Valentino was going on some sort of rampage.

With a heavy sigh, he answered the call, "Hello, my dear..."

"You're goddamn plaything has lost his shit, Vox! Do something! He's killed several of my models and he's gonna ruin the business if he doesn't stop!" There was the sound of a gunshot over the phone.

"Alright, alright, I'm on it..." Vox said, begrudgingly getting out of his chair. He didn't know why he was always the one being put in the line of fire when Valentino got like this. At least Valentino tended to hold back when he was around.

When he got there Valentino still held a gun and was getting ready to fire when Vox quickly zapped next to him to intervene, "Hey now, why don't we go upstairs and talk about what's bothering you instead of fucking up Vel's business, hm?"

The glare Valentino leveled at him made him flinch back slightly. He had seen him angry before, yes, many times, but that anger was almost never aimed directly at him. It was... frightening.

"Val..?"

"Fine," his voice was clipped.

When they were alone in Valentino's room, Vox tried to speak calmly, ignoring how tense the room was, "So... What's going on?"

"That piece of shit quit!"

"Angel Dust?" He tried not to sound hopeful, but he had been hoping for this for a long time. He hated that Valentino spent so much time with Angel Dust instead of him. He was admittedly jealous.

Valentino scowled at him, but it morphed into a smile so quickly that it was unsettling, "Oh, I bet you're so happy he is gone though, aren't you?"

He'd seen that false smile directed at Val's employees on camera thousands of times before. A face thousands of employees would see before getting harshly slapped across the face or worse. To have it directed at him was new, and he had never had to experience first-hand the unfiltered truth of just how cruel Valentino could be. He really did not want that streak to end today.

And it wouldn't. Val would never hit him.

As Valentino advanced closer, Vox continued to try easing the tension by acting casual, "O-of course not, Val!" He cursed his biology for making him stutter like a damn TV when he was nervous, "Let's have a drink, huh? Maybe we can-"

The slap across his face shocked him, "Val..."

Valentino picked him up by the collar and slammed his back against the window overlooking the city, "You're so concerned with Vel's business, huh? She can't afford to lose a few models, but when I lose my best fucking star you're suggestion is that we have a fucking drink? No. You're gonna go find Angel on your fucking cameras, and you're gonna find someone he cares about, I don't care who, and you're gonna take them to me isn't that right, amorcito?"

Vox glared at Valentino, the fucking audacity for him to call him by Angel Dust's pet name... "Why don't we just go straight for Angel Dust?"

"The slut doesn't care enough about his own wellbeing to listen anymore. He needs... Motivation. If he gets a new phone, give me the contact information. The ungrateful whore broke his last one. If he doesn't buy one, find a way to bring him one."

"Let go of me," Vox attempted to demand, but it sounded more like a plea.

Valentino dropped him, leaving him crumpled on the floor, "Get to it," he demanded, kicking Vox's screen with his stiletto. Vox felt his screen crack and error messages started to flood his feed, "Look what you made me do to you..." Feeling utterly humiliated and admittedly shocked, Vox teleported through the nearest camera collapsing into his chair.