Double or Nothing: One in a Million

Down Boy, Down!

While Cynthia flew ahead of the demon dragon, powerful turbines on her back and legs propelled her miles ahead of the rampaging nightmare. Breaking through the shower of dust and sand, Cynthia slammed into the rampart wall with her turbine legs, her feet pushing upward as she flew over the sharp black lip of the wall, landing next to Shrap, who was preoccupied with loading harpoons into a cannon. Upon seeing his ally standing beside him, Shrap's mask beamed from its smiling side. "Well there you are! Now just where have you-" Shrap started, but Cynthia's arms quickly silenced the salesman.

Jack hung limp and wounded in her arms, her shirt stained with blood and ashes. "He's been damaged real good. I don't think he's gonna make it if I don't get him to Sloth." Shrap nodded, his eyes wrung with a newfound pain. Placing two fingers between his mask's mouth, Shrap whistled for the bodyguards who had been dispensing more ammunition into their cannon. One ran forward, his black cape draped over a power pack. "Yes sir!" He responded, saluting to his superior.

Shrap lowered himself to the bodyguard, wrapping one of his arms tight around their shoulder. "Now listen here, sonny. You take good care of these two, and get them to Sloth as quickly and discreetly as possible, do I make myself clear?" The bodyguard paused, turning to face Cynthia and the unconscious Jack. After eyeing the two up and down for a moment, the bodyguard turned to face Shrap again, nodding his helmet. "You have my word, sir. You two, come with me!" The bodyguard led Cynthia and Jack away from the ramparts while Shrap turned to face the dust cloud.

And trapped inside the dust cloud? The Flamecrested Harbinger, a fiery fossil from the ancient world. Shrap brought a handkerchief to his mask, wiping soot and ash from its surface. "Ready the cannon, and get the rest of these fiery wardens ready!" Shrap barked, to which the entire wall of artillery and firepower responded, Avery himself running from the crowd over to the boss. "Ah, there you are, bud," Avery gasped, panting on the ground beside the taller, wire thin Sinner. Shrap nodded, tipping his hat to Azazel's right hand.

"Good to see you made it. We're out of options, our only shot is to either steer this thing away from the castle, or fire everything we have into it with one big, glorious German blitzkrieg." Avery nodded, crossing his black leather sleeves while the hatchets on his belt jangled against their chains. "You got that right. Everything here is at your disposal until Azazel gets back." Shrap turned, his emotionless mask cocking to the right. "But you're the right hand. It's your call." Avery paused, blinking before slapping himself across the face.

"Well season it and shove it in the grill, you're right! What have I been doing?" Avery chuckled, wiping sweat from his matted black hair as he struck the air with an outstretched arm. "OPEN FIRE!!" He roared, and the ramparts exploded with cannons and powerful blasts of energy. They soared across the dusty desert in flashes of orange and blazing gold, striking the dust cloud and exposing the horror inside. Tusks ravaged through bone white jaws, all the skin peeled away to reveal the fiery skeleton of a prehistoric nightmare, jaws wide and gnashing.

Shrap took a step away from the wall, clutching his briefcase in one hand and his hat on his head, but Avery took another step forward, approaching the beast with a steeled expression. "RELOAD AND LOOSE!!" He barked, his voice ringing across the ramparts. More artillery fired across the gap, from the courtyard behind to the very top of the walls, everything Wrath's blackstone prison had to offer had directed itself to the towering threat arriving from the volcanic wastelands.

However large or small the barrage of firepower and ammunition may have been, the unfortunate reality was plain for all: the Flamecrested Harbinger wasn't slowing down. Their volleys of attacks and stones to throw were striking the shell of the beast to no avail. It truly seemed that, for everything Wrath's fiery fortress had given to the enemy, it was just not enough. And it was in these fleeting moments that the Harbinger crackled with energy, its jaws thrust into the air in gasping shrieks as a violent pink while adhered itself to the beast's throat, yanking it backward.

The Harbinger flailed into the air, its talons on aged and dried hands swiping and slashing in the air as if they depicted cleavers against burnt flesh, while its eyes snapped and shifted in the air, irritated and enraged by the shock of burning pain, more pain than its fiery husk had ever imagined. Sitting proud and furious upon the demon dragon's backside, clutching the lashings of the burning pink chains, Lucifer Morningstar XII floated in the air above the beast, his sleeves wrought with the tightly wound chains.

The Harbinger persisted against the King of Hell's intense grip, thrashing and throwing itself into the sand again and again in clouds of dust and smoke. However, its vain efforts to remove the chains shone as bright as the neon pink in the darkening sandstorm. Lucifer clenched his rattling teeth together while his eyes burned with flickering orange light, twisting his arms together and pulling as hard as his arms would allow against the thrashing chains that bound the Flamecrested Harbinger.

The King of Hell's wings shook as they thrashed in the air, dragging the Harbinger through the sand while the beast clawed at its entanglements. Avery slammed himself against the wall, his gloves cracking the brick in his grip while his throat drove itself against the grindstone, barking orders to the fiery wardens and soldiers. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE!! KEEP FIRING, STUN THE ENEMY!!" More artillery flung past the walls, crashing into the Flamecrested Harbinger to distract it from tearing away at its bonds.

Crow's shoulders dropped in shock while Wrench bubbled and jolted with rage, ripping the mechanical device out of his arm and smashing the pieces against the floor of the watchtower. "God. DAMMIT." The Nazi Engineer stormed away from the ramparts while a soot and ash clogged Crow watched the Flamecrested Harbinger tear at the empty sand, struggling to find anything to grab as the King of Hell, a drop of white in the darkness of the charcoal caked skies, had managed to seize and drag this colossal nightmare away.