more AU writing since i robbed y'all of 5 wholeass characters last time >:')

I PROMISE I'LL START WORKING ON THE NEXT DOTB CHAPTER AFTER THIS 💀

not sure what y'all should be expecting.... crack, mayhaps? this will include everyone, & have ship content ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), but will also get long as heck so dive in at your own discretion.

things with an * next to them are lore stuff of the specific AU; i'll leave an inline cmt next to any & explain it there (mostly so non-SPN fans can understand what the heck is going on).

hope you enjoy 🌚

~~~~~

"Where the fuck were you guys?! And what happened to him?"

Arlo makes a helpless expression as he carries a passed-out Donatello into their base, an angry Marino trailing behind him. He tries to put the demon down gently, but the green-haired hunter hisses at him:

"Oh come on, he's not a dandelion. Just drop him. You can even suplex him onto that couch, and he still won't feel a thing."

"Can you stop?!" You're being so annoying, but Arlo stops himself before he can let that slip. He can't take his frustration out on Marino. The kid's just trying to show he cares — even though he does it in the most infuriating ways sometimes.

Arlo sighs, pinching his nose bridge:

"I'm sorry. I'm really sleep-deprived, and stressed, and, just... sorry I snapped at you. That was terrible of me."

Marino glares at him in semi-stunned silence. Then he lets out an indignant huff, turning on his heels:

"Whatever."

Without waiting for a reply, the younger hunter storms out of the room. But before he can make it very far, emergency-meeting alarms blare throughout their base.

"Oi, what the hell?" He hears Stella's groggy complaint from down the hall. She must've been rudely woken up from one of her spontaneous naps — since she doesn't sleep much at all, the timing is probably a lot worse for her than for everyone else. Giving her a shrug, Marino rushes to the first floor, where Christopher is flipping switches and pressing buttons madly on the grounds-control panel, while Ontario peers over his shoulder.

"What's going on?" He walks up to the demon, frown deepening when Ontario exhales tensely:

"Dunno. Abnormal presence detected, apparently."

"What kind?"

"The supernatural kind."

Stella walks up to them, blanket dragging on the floor as she chimes in:

"Do we know what specific sort? If it's monsters, Marino and I can—"

"No." Christopher suddenly speaks up, the gravity in his voice grabbing the whole group's attention, even Arlo's when he steps through the doorway. "Whatever's coming, it's bad news."

"Reeks of grace* to me." A grim voice sounds right behind the gunslinger, and Trent steps in, surprising everyone by having let down his long hair. He furrows his brows at their wide eyes. "I was sleeping, okay? It's not... you're never gonna see this again."

"Whaaat?! But I was just about to compliment you!" Stella whines, but Christopher intercepts the chatter with a clap of his hands:

"Hey. This is the meeting room, not a salon. Trent, you said you can sense grace?"

"Bucketloads." The pinkette replies, and Ontario speaks up to further add weight to the already-tensed atmosphere of the room:

"I sense it too. It's really strong. Better set up your barriers* now before it's too late."

The hunters nod at each other, before immediately getting to work. Ontario jogs after Marino as he makes his way to the southern entrance, stopping by his room to grab a few spray cans:

"You need any help?"

"I'm fine."

"What are you four gonna do? I hope you're not gonna light this whole building on fire like some holy oil* beacon."

"Wha— of course not." The hunter shoots him a weirded-out look, before stopping by the south door, on which a few faded sigils can be seen. "Please stop talking, I need to redraw these perfectly or we'll all be screwed."

"Oh; sorry." Ontario stands back, and watches with interest as Marino rolls up his sleeves and vehemently shakes a spray can, before directing it at the wall and beginning to trace over the old symbols. He is surprised the hunter trusts him enough to use his anti-angel knowledge right in front of his eyes, but Ontario supposes it's only because this is a dire situation. Sigils in blinding white quickly appear all over the wall, and after about two minutes of intense spraying, Marino stands back, wiping his forehead nervously:

"I hope this is all correct."

They go silent for a few seconds, keeping an ear out for any unusual noises throughout the base. The alarms have been turned off, and a borderline eerie silence permeates the semi-darkness, unnerving even Ontario. Fortunately, they detect nothing.

"Well, I think it is!"

BOOM!

A deafening explosion shakes the whole foundation of the base. Dust literally rains down on them as numerous cracks appear in the ceiling, and Marino whips his head to the demon, teal eyes aglow with fear:

"What direction did that come from?!"

Over by the northern entrance, Christopher gasps and hacks as he crawls away from the gaping hole on the wall, the force of the blast having slammed into him hard enough to knock all the air out of his lungs and turn his muscles to jelly. He was half a sigil away from angel-proofing the door completely, and yet.... No point in lamenting now. The others probably already picked up on the breach, but still, he has to get away and regroup before their enemy can do anything fruitful. But before he can get further than a meter, a spiffy pair of shoes suddenly materializes right in front of his face, and goosebumps pop up on his skin when the angel's jovial voice echoes throughout the destroyed space:

"Trying to lock me out? What, you got a secret in here or something?"

Christopher clenches his jaws, trying to push himself up into at least a sitting position. His body feels impossibly heavy, but the angel helps him by putting a hand into his hair and yanking his dust-streaked face up, pallid silver eyes drilling into his watery green ones:

"Well? Will you answer, or will I have to make scrambled eggs out of your brain before you do?"

His scalp aches from where the angel is pulling on it, and he can't remember for the life of him where he's left his angel blade*, but regardless, Christopher snarls:

"Go to Hell*."

The angel's smile twists into a frown in a matter of seconds, before he mumbles, almost pitifully:

"After you."

He jerks Christopher's head up like he's a lifeless puppet, before hurling it down at the ground — but before he can shatter his face against the floor, a sharp zwip! forces the angel to pull back, motions halting abruptly. Glancing to the side as best he can, Christopher catches Dorotea's pitch-black glare* behind her curtain of curly hair, as lethal as the blade she's just hurled at their attacker's face.

"Hiroaki." She seethes, and with a flick of her wrist the angel blade shoots back into her grip. "Pick on somebody your size, won't you?"

"Surely not you, then." The angel — Hiroaki — replies without missing a beat, causing the demon to click her tongue in annoyance. In a flash, she vanishes and reappears right behind him, blade plunging down into his neck — but with a wave of his hand Hiroaki sends Dorotea flying toward the nearest wall, petite frame crashing against the cement so forcibly it makes Christopher wince. But before the angel can relish his little victory, Dorotea's angel blade somehow zips across his face again, and this time it slices open a gash on Hiroaki's otherwise unmarked cheek, fresh blood welling up around the wound.

"You bitch!" Christopher cries out in pain when the angel's hand inside his hair fists tight, before Hiroaki thrusts his free hand toward Dorotea, and a sickening KRACK followed by a shriek ring out, before the demon goes deathly quiet. The hunter has no time to worry about her wellbeing, though, when Hiroaki yanks him up to eye level, breathing erratic as he growls:

"Alexandre will flay me alive if anything happens to you, that sentimental little brat. But I'm sure he won't object if I just lock you away for a while, would he? After all, this space is becoming terribly infested."

The angel snaps his fingers, and everything goes black.

~~~~~

to be continued in 8.1.2....