2014.02.04 - Rougish Hell in Smallville

After a brief trip through Hell, Daimon Hellstrom and his partner in crime... er... X-Factor, Rogue had arrived in an alley way of the lower income section of Smallville, Kansas. America's heartland, and even it had the 'bad side of town.'

As Rogue and Daimon walked towards the address they had for the Sittenfeld residence, Daimon, dressed only in a black leather trench coat with the wide collar flipped up, "So the date with Jamie... how'd it go?"

Rogue herself would have preferred wearing her 'Uniform' but since they were talking with normal folk, maybe it wasn't the best choice. Running around with X-factor, she started to wonder how often she was going to actually need it. Instead, she was dressed in a yellow flannel shirt, with a brown leather jacket with a thick fur collar, black distressed jeans, with brown leather boots and gloves.

Her bright green eyes moved to the side as she suddenly seemed very determined to stick her hands in her pockets, "Went fine, nice. Nice and fine, really. All the good stuff."

She double checked her phone to make sure they were heading in the right direction, all these houses looked the same.

Daimon rolled his eyes at Rogue a bit, "Oh come on now! This is Daimon you're talking to, not Logan or Kurt, or any of the other people you have to be around the bush about."

He smirked at her and said, "I want to hear the carnal details. I mean after all, if I had seen you in that dress I would have had you over table before desert arrived."

He let Rogue lead the way, tract housing all looked a like to him, and though he had memorized the rest of the details... well when you can teleport where you want to go you tend to have a bad sense of actual direction.

Rogue's phone refreshed their location, "Just a couple of blocks away, we should be there in a jiff...if they are home. Otherwise Ah guess we can wait around a bit."

And at that Rogue blushed and pushed her hair aside like she often does when nervous, "Jamie ain't like that so...no. Kept things slow this first date, we'll see if there's a second one."

She smiled very confidently as she gave a small wave to a group of kids who were pointing at Daimon's chest, "That dress was hot as hell though, Ah'll give ya that. Well...from what Ah could feel just now, yikes."

"Dad's a drunk, he'll be home," Daimon said to Rouge's comment about if they would be there or not, "That's not the real worry though."

Daimon didn't seem to care who saw the brand on his chest. Though the kids pointing at it did make him smile and think about something else, "Oh by the way, my sister wants to meet you, Anna. She thinks your hot."

They were just a bit further away from address they had been given. Daimon thought for a second and said, "I think... it's sometimes hard to tell with my sister."

A brow quirked, she didn't take Daimon for the "come meet my family!" type. Of course his "relationship" with his sister was highly unusual. So she never knew what to expect with this one, "The succubus, right? Ah guess, if you think it'll be safe. Before you seemed real worried about her."

She checked her phone again and stopped, gesturing her head towards a faded blue house at the end of the street, with a few broken down cars in the front lawn, "That's the one."

"Charming. I have a feeling they leave this part of town out of the whole 'Come to Smallville for that Mid-Western, 50s Nostalgic, slice of Americana," Daimon said with a small snort and closed his jacket and buttoned it up. When he was done only the very top curve of his branding was visible, but he still looked rather out of place for that small town Kansas vibe.

Whe he and Rogue reached the door he reached out and knocked on it.

No response as of yet.

Rogue went to ring the doorbell, and waited a beat. A quick look around to the driveway, where there was one working car parked in front of the garage.

She called out so that if anyone was inside, they could hear her, "Mr. and Mrs. Sittenfeld? We just want a quick word with ya, and we'll be on our way."

Daimon's eyes flashed red for a moment, "They're in there, they just don't want to answer the door."

Daimon glanced about, "I kind of wonder why though. It's not like they have anything of value that anyone would want and..."

His phone began to play, o/` Please Allow Me to introduce myself. I'm a man of. o/`

With a small growl Daimon reached in and answered it, "Not! A! Fucking! Good! Time!"

A pause from Daimon as he listened to whoever was on the phone, "Da Fuck did you say?"

He glanced over to Rogue and said, "Pretend we are just door-to-door salesmen Rouge.. just follow me and walk away."

Rogue's eyes widened when he answered his phone. She wondered why he didn't just let it go to voicemail. But clearly something was a problem.

She nodded silently and moved to head towards the next house, if they were traveling salesmen they needed to at least follow through a bit. With a hushed tone she asked him, "What's going on?"

Daimon looked about subtly, his eyes and senses reaching out in all directions as he walked down their path and back to the side walk where he acted like he was going to the next house down the line, "Let's just say I have it on the lowest possible authority that our intel was right except that the family is still be -actively- watched. I'm going to have to teleport us in."

He knocked on the next door and waited for the people of that house to answer it... ready to lay the charm on thick.

They didn't bring any leaflets or products to share, so she could only think of one thing to 'sell' and Daimon wasn't much going to like it. When a mother holding a young infant answers rogue beams with her widest smile, "Well howdy there! We're visitin' y'all today to see if you've accepted Jesus into yer heart. Are you free? This'll just take an hour, give or take a few minutes."

Daimon looked at Rogue for a moment when she started her pitch but then just ran with it speaking in a mock Irish brogue, cause why not, "Aye, indeed. We have been going through this community of the less fortunate to spread the love of Jesus. He himself would walk among the sinners and the less fortunate and inform them of God's plan and intentions for them."

The mother didn't seem convinced and Daimon quickly added as he pulled his jacket open, "We also want to warn of the dangers of the Satanic. When I was just a wee lad, no older than your own young one there I was kidnapped by said cults of the Demon Lord and they did this to me."

Daimon held his jacket open to show his brand, "Now I we know of the ones acting in this area and we'd like to help you spot the warning signs, so your wee lad there doesn't suffer me own fate."

In a bit of shock and horror the woman backs away from the door and that's just enough for Rogue to step in, "You wouldn't believe where Satanists come up, even in good 'ol Smallville here! But don't you worry a thing, we're here to help."

Once the woman, still looking a bit confused closes the door Rogue looks over to Daimon, "Will this do?"

"More than good enough," Daimon said in his normal voice as he closes the door and takes Rogue's hand, "Close your eyes and think of Ireland, love." He jokes to her as he starts the teleportation process.

A glance to the terrified mother and Daimon added, "Just go atheist. You'd be wrong, but you'll be happier."

And WOOSH! In a ball of Hellfire both Daimon and Rogue are gone, spending a few seconds in Hell as Daimon tries to coordinate such a close teleport. He usually only does this to travel miles at a time, not a few dozen feet or so.

He he prepares Rogue can hear a voice in her ear going "Open your eyes and all will be revealed. This is where you belong Anna. Open your eyes."

Rogue kept her eyes closed, but this was longer than she had been in a teleport with Daimon before. Only seconds of difference, but she hadn't heard a voice like that before, "Daimon didn't you say Ah needed to keep my eyes closed?"

She felt that heat, and the sound of screams as if they were traveling across miles. Rogue held tighter onto his hand, and gripped his arm with her other.

"Unless you want to -know- what Hell looks like, yes keep the eyes closed." Daimon said very seriously, "I'll only be a few more seconds. I don't want us to appear in a wall or something. That would be very bad."

The voice, that almost sounded like Kurt's voice continued.

Rogue laughed a bit nervously, "Actually that voice kinda sounds like Kurt. Weird. He always has to worry about that too with portin'. Take yer time."

The screams sounded like they were getting closer, "Totally not scary..."

And poof again!

As they arrived a woman screamed and a man shouted, "What the hell is your problem woman!" And then say the rather odd couple who had just appeared in their living room, "Who the hell are the two of you!? What the hell are you doing in my house!?"

"They just appeared in the living room! There ghosts!" The woman shouted to her husband.

"Ghosts are they? We'll see about that." The Man headed out of the room, based on the intel the two had gotten... probably going for one of his guns.

Rogue called, "We aint ghosts! Just want to have a word, we know things have been rough for ya'll so we're sorry to intrude. Just want to talk and then we'll be on our way. Don't mean any harm."

She held a hand to her chest, "Ah'm Anna Marie, this here is Daimon. We're investigators, and if you don't want to shoot us today we'd like to help."

Mr. Sittenfeld had come back at this time, now holding a double barreled shotgun... worse given the way his hands were shaken he was at least a little drunk, "We don't wanna talk to no investigators. We had enough of them!"

Mrs. Sittenfeld spoke up, a bit more calm than before, "And we were told that if we talked... there'd be hell to pay."

The man gave his wife a dark look, not one that suggested abuse, one that suggested that she had said too much and he was now afraid for both of them, and their child."

Daimon held up his hand and said, "That's why we teleported in, Mr. and Mrs. Sittenfeld. And trust me, when it comes to hell for payment...." his voice dropped multiple octiaves and his eyes seemed to glow and the visible pentagram on his chest seemed to smolder, "You have more to worry about with me than with any men in suits. We are with X-Factor Investigations. A man name Shift sent us here to find out about your son and try to help you.

His voice and appearance reverted to normal, "We know he was special. So are we."

Well we really were going overboard with the whole hell thing today, weren't we? Rogue was going to have to ponder all of this with a stiff drink later. That is if she doesn't get shot through the chest today.

Rogue held up her hands, and didn't have any glowy business going on. Really on the surface she looked normal, save for an unusual dye job. She gave them a small smile, "He's right. We just want to help, and maybe find out something we don't already know. Maybe we can help get you guys out of this rotten situation. But Ah'd feel a lot better if you put that shotgun down. Just on the table right there maybe, still in yer view."

"Or just point it to the ground even, we'll accept that," Daimon said calmly making perfect eye contact with the man, "And then you, me, the lovely lady over there, and Anna here we can all talk about who it is who took your son, and how we can get him back."

The man thought for a second and lowered his weapon but kept in his hand, "You really think you can help us?"

Rogue smiled to the man, genuinely, "We sure would like to try. The both of us are 'different' so we understand gettin' that shock in yer life, like he did."

She glanced over to Daimon, then back to the parents, "At X-Factor, we just like to help those who get caught up in this weirdness, that would otherwise have normall (and stressful enough) lives."

You need to vote for other players before voting for Rogue again.

The next couple of hours was filled with talk... discussions of The Sittenfeld's problems with their son, the child services fight, their own poverty status and the history of both mental illness and alcoholism keeping them from fighting the charges.

A discussion of the people who are still watching their home who had warned them not to talk about any of the other things. Those little clues that suggest more was going on.

At one point Mr. Sittenfeld asked, "Are you sure you can help us... those men, they are rougher than any other guys I've met."

Daimon said in response, "I'm the literal Son of Satan, trust me... they have nothing on me."

Apprehension ran high for a bit after that statement but eventually most everything was answered. It wasn't the whole puzzle, just one piece of it.

Rogue smirked, at by this point she was sitting next to the mother on the couch, and the gun was still in the man's lap but he didn't look inclined to use it from his recliner, "Ah don't doubt they are rough, but we can handle it and we want to. We'll be in touch, you'll be getting junk mail from 'NuLife Ministries', that'll be us. Don't ask, it's a theme for the day."

Daimon nodded and stood up itself and said, "We'll be in touch. And we won't be charging you. Any expenses have already been covered by our contractor."

He took Rogue's hand and said, "Here we go again."

This jaunt through hell was quicker and arrived in Rogue's apartment... which Rogue had never shown him before, "Better call Jamie and tell him what we found out."

Rogue nodded and took her phone out, Jamie was on speed dial after all.