Devil May Cry: Restitution

Chapter 1

Mundus.

That wasn't a name Dante heard often these days. Not since he'd beaten the Demon Emperor more than ten years ago on Mallet Island... but for some reason, these days, he was hearing it a lot...

And that bothered him.

Everywhere he looked, every case he took, the people and demons involved all threw the name Mundus around like it was the latest fad out of Hollywood. By the time he took his tenth case this month, he'd punched a man in the face, pumped a demon so full of lead he couldn't tell the difference between it and the bullets, brought down an entire building to silence one deranged cultist and walked away from at least twenty different conversations with Trish.

And all because of /that/ name.

In an attempt to ignore it as he usually did these sorts of things, Dante did just that; ignored it. Every conversation, every case, every mention of the name Mundus. /Everything/.

At the moment he was sitting at his desk, feet propped up on the top of it with a magazine on his face to hide the fact that he was trying to sleep through another conversation Lady and Trish were pulling him into. A series of "MmHmm's" and "Sounds good's" or "Yeah's" slipped out from under the magazine as the girls tried to brief him on a new case. He just wasn't having any of it. Why?

Because it was a /Mundus/ related case. /Again/.

"Dante." Lady's irritated tone drifted into his ears. "Are you even listening?"

"MmmHmm." Dante's haphazard response slipped under the magazine, a startled noise escaping him when it was suddenly ripped off his face. "Hey!" He sat up a moment. "I was reading that!"

"Sure you were." Trish folded her arms and sat on the edge of Dante's desk. "If /I/ didn't know any better /I'd/ say you weren't actually interested in this case."

Dante just sighed and folded his arms, sitting back in his seat looking miserable. "Yeah? So what." He huffs. "It's just another group of zealots. I'm tired of dealing with these religious groups." He waves a hand dismissively. "Let the Order handle it. They like this sort of thing."

Lady retracted from Dante's desk and folded her arms as well, the three of them conveniently ignoring the knock at the door for different reasons. "Do you like money?"

Dante squinted. "What self-serving man /wouldn't/?"

"So?" Lady slammed the magazine down on the top of his desk when Dante just made a face and looked away. "Stop whining and take the case. Preferably /BEFORE/ the Order gets involved."

"I don't care if the order takes this one." Dante waved Lady off. "Call Nero why don't you, I'm sure he'd /love/ the history lesson." Almost as though he were on cue, Nero pushed open the front door and stepped inside, a loud groan escaping Dante as he saw Nero and 'company' walk into the establishment. "Oh GREAT!"

The Knight's of the Order slowed their pace, Nero scoffing at the remark. "Nice to see you too. Could have answered the door." He made a face and shook his head. "What's /his/ problem?" He motioned to Dante with his head and looked to Lady and Trish for an answer.

"Dante's whining because he doesn't want to take another case." Trish mused, earning a huff of disapproval from the elder hunter.

"That's NOT why I don't want this case." Dante squints at Nero and his compatriot. "Forgive me kid but the LAST time you walked in here we ended up on some friggin GOOSE chase to find your girlfriend that /I/ don't even remember!"

"Hey, as I recall YOU agreed to come with me, Jackass!"

"Only because I'd never hear the end of it if I left you again. It'd be the Saviour all over again with /these/ two around."