The road ahead.

Now together with the bassist, remaining in demon form so that it looks like they have captured him, Cortez and 2D make their way back to the transfer circle, guided by the blinking light from the keyboardists bracelet. As they walk along, the raven fills the old man in on the events that had lead up to their meeting. The old man listens intently, a little surprised that his pet felt that the young man had done a reasonably good job, not only when it came to summoning and spells, but also fighting and dispatching demons as well. However, Murdoc being Murdoc, he is unwilling to praise 2D for any reason, so instead he turns to Cortez and smiles at him, telling the raven what a good job he has done teaching the keyboardist. Then he laughs, and joke about possibly having to use a whip to keep the young man awake.

“I deed weesh we have one when that dinosaur appear.” the raven remarks wide-eyed, shuddering a little at the memory of the large creatures teeth. Murdoc stops laughing and turns to the bird in astonished confusion.

“The what?” he gasps, then thinking it might still be a joke, he suddenly begins laughing again. Cortez smiles and giggles himself. Sullenly walking behind them, 2D lifts his eyes from the floor, and grits his teeth angrily because they were still finding reasons to laugh at him.

“That weren' my fault. It just kind'a appeared.” he moans grumpily, but then shakes his head and looks back down at the floor, knowing it would not make any difference to the two of them. Murdoc stops walking and wrinkles his crooked nose in a combination of disbelief and amazement, looking from the raven to 2D and back again. The young man slightly raises his head and looks at the old man from behind a veil of annoyance and fear. For the last twenty or so minutes, he had dragged his heels as he walked faithfully behind the bassist, feeling like the proverbial third wheel in Murdoc and Cortez's plans. Now it seemed that Cortez was determined to tell the bassist that he had been wrong about his abilities and state of mind. Although peppered with mistakes, he had succeeded in rescuing him. It felt good hearing it, but how Murdoc would take the idea that he had made a mistake. It seemed obvious to 2D, so why Cortez could not see it, was beyond him. Either way, the young man knew that Murdoc was going to snap and fists would fly, not at the bird of course, but him certainly. He wanted to tell the raven to shut up, but that would make the bassist snap sooner, so he lowers his eyes to the floor again, and hopes that perhaps Murdoc is too tired to loose his temper.

The raven explains that the dinosaur had appeared after the keyboardists first few attempts at demon summoning, obviously due to his lack of experience. The old man listens quietly with a huge grin on his face, but every now and then turns his eyes and gazes coldly at the young man, before looking back at the bird. He bursts into a gale of laughter when he hears Russel's response to the unwelcome visitor, how the large man had blamed the impostor for it being there, and the accusation that it was there merely to annoy him. The cold expression seems to lift from the old man's eyes for a moment, as the bassist doubles over, slapping his thigh and gasping for air. He finally stops laughing and stands upright, wiping a happy tear from the corner of his eye. 2D watches his face for any sign of change, but it seems that this story had indeed cheered the old man up. He smiles at him, and decides to join in.

“I called him Jerry, and Russel finks he ate the polar bear.” he adds with a huge grin. The bassist looks over at him and starts laughing again, only this time with a little more control.

“Jerry ate the polar bear?” Murdoc chuckles with a strange grin. 2D half nods, half shrugs in response. Murdoc turns his head and waves it off with a grin, checking the path ahead and behind them to be sure they were still alone. “No real loss. I hope it ate that idiot crocodile as well.” The keyboardist tips his head to his shoulder and taps his bottom lip, thinking. Slowly he begins to shake his head, until finally he looks back at Murdoc with an exaggerated shrug.

“I don' fink so? I can' remember.” he answers. Murdoc's smile flickers and slowly fades, as he looses interest in the story. Shoving his hands deeply in his trouser pockets, the old man grunts and continues on to the circle, a heavy tension building in the air around him. 2D slowly follows after him, wondering if perhaps Cortez was right in trying to show the old man, that he was more than just singing, keyboards, melodicas, and pain medication. He catches up and takes the bracelet from his wrist, handing it to the bassist. Murdoc walks along, turning the object over in his hands, not showing any clear sign of how he felt about 2D's effort. He eventually hands it back and dryly asks the young man how he had made it. Delighted that Murdoc seemed interested, 2D smiles and begins to answer, but before he even begins his story, realizes that he has once again been defeated by his poor memory. Embarrassed, he grimaces and turns to Cortez for help. The raven sees the pleading look in the young man's eyes and slumping his shoulders in exasperation, begins to answer for him. Murdoc once again stops walking and slits his eyes, slowly turning his head to stare hard at the bird, who on seeing the look, falls instantly silent, then turning it back to look at 2D.

“I don't remember askin' Cort how you made it.” he snarls viciously. 2D flinches at the tone and rubs his arm nervously. “You fergot how you made this, didn'cha?” he adds, gritting his teeth and hissing at the young man in disgust. He shoves the bracelet back at the young man, thumping it into his chest and pressing him back away from him. Cortez looks nervously at the old man, and sees what a huge mistake it had been to start the conversation. He had originally wanted to merely show Murdoc how he and the keyboardist had worked together to save him, not to mention, give the bassist a bit of a mood lift. However, in his haste, he had failed to see the warning signs and had taken it too far. The raven thinks quickly and tries to pull Murdoc's anger back to a dull roar. He tries as best as he can, to explain that it had originally been 2D's idea to save him, and he had insisted on doing it alone. Maybe if Murdoc sees how important 2D thought he was to him, the bassist would be impressed and they could continue making their way to the circle. Too late Cortez sees the mask of fury, and suddenly his words turn from praise to insult in his mind. He mentally kicks himself and knows that he has just made things a thousand times worse. Backing up slowly, he drops his gaze to the floor, and breathes a silent apology to the young man. Murdoc rounds on 2D in almost, a blind fury, jabbing him sharply in the chest with a long filthy talon.

“Who the fuck are you, to think that I need help from a half-wit like you? You can't even remember how to tie yer shoes without a diagram. How you somehow managed to find me, I wouldn' have the foggiest, but I will bet all the porn I own, that it was Cort's doin', not yers!  If I wanted out of this place, I could of done it on my own. I didn't need you, or yer ridiculous Superdolt dreams, comin' down here and interferin' with my plans. I was doin' well enough already. I am in my element you know! So why don't you take yer fucked up ideas, and go kill yerself! It'll save me havin' to do it later, and be the best idea someone else, ever gave you!” the bassist screeches, then snatching back the bracelet, storms away down the passage, leaving the shaking keyboardist, and the stunned raven behind him.

“He no keel you?” the raven splutters almost silently. “Must be tired.” he answers himself, and quickly runs to catch the old man up. In his mind, the raven makes the mental note to never again suggest to the sociopathic bassist, that he ever needed anyone, especially 2D, to help him. Better to leave the illusion that 2D was useless, and Murdoc was the only one in the entire world, who had the ability to help him. An idea that the bassist had been fostering, since he had first met the young man.

“Awww, why does he always make me feel like a useless sack of..... wait? Superdolt?” 2D whimpers, slowly uncurling from his protective ball. He thinks about it for a few seconds, before realizing he was now alone and starts running to catch up to them both. Eventually he does catch them and keeping a safe distance behind, the young man listens to the faint sound of the old man grumbling and swearing obscenities about him under his breath. Slowly 2D's anger begins to build at what the bassist was hissing.

“'Ave no idea why I bloody bothered rescuin' yah meself, yah smelly old fart.” he mumbles back. Cortez, who had been silently walking beside the old man, suddenly turns his head and looks back at 2D, then looks across to the grumbling Murdoc, hoping that he had not heard what 2D had just said.

As the trio are about to enter a large cavern, Murdoc hears someone talking just up ahead. Stopping suddenly, he reaches back with his arm and swipes his hand through the air, hissing at his two companions to be quiet. Cortez and 2D freeze to the spot as Murdoc continues to listen, and when it becomes obvious to him that the voices where getting closer, the bassist turns and shoves 2D toward  the wall of the cavern, hiding them all in the shadows, as the demons close in on them.

“And you're sure you got the old bastard?” one of the voices asks. Straining to look through the darkness, Murdoc suddenly catches sight of a huge Major demon, as it steps from the shadows ahead of him, into a more brightly lit part of the cavern. He clenches his jaw and moves closer back against the wall, watching the major demon, surrounded by a small group of medium sized ones, make its way towards them. The large demon looks down at his companions, waiting for an answer to his question. One of them smiles sweetly and pats him on the arm.

“Oh yeah. We grabbed him, beat him up, and shoved his wrinkly arse in a box.” it smiles, carefully encircling the major demons arm with his own and trying, without force, to lead the demon from the cavern.

“And buried him in the wall, just like you said.” Another adds, taking the major demon by the other arm, assisting his friend.

“Yeah, so he shouldn't be a problem to anyone anymore.” replies another. It presses its hands into his back and tries to move the demon forward. “And the best part is that Satan heard about it, and knows it was all your idea.” It adds. The major demon stops moving and turns sharply on them all.

“What?” It splutters, looking from one to the next. They stand in front of him, shushing him and gently trying to calm him down, looking nervously around them, hoping no one had heard them.

“No, it's okay. He was really impressed, and reckons you did a great job.” One of them adds with a sweet smile, the others nodding pleasantly behind it. The huge demon tips his head slightly, slitting his eyes, not sure if they were telling the truth or not. They sense his caution and step forwards, taking him gently by the arms again and leading him to the mouth of the cavern.

“Yeah, and he said he was gunna promote you to second seat. So yah haffta get there, before someone claims it was them and not you. You know how conniving people are down here. They'd steal the wings from yah back if you stopped paying attention long enough.” The huge demon puffs his chest out with pride, and walks confidently in front of the small group. They smile at each other slyly, and follow him from the cavern. Slowly Murdoc steps away from the wall, watching them depart until they disappear from view.

“Moron. Yer an idiot if you believe that shit.” he grunts with a grin. 2D steps away from the wall and stands next to the bassist, squinting in the direction they had gone.

“Whaddya mean?” he mumbles, finally looking at the bassist. Murdoc grabs the backpack on 2Ds back, and yanks him around to stand in front of him. He opens the pack and rummages around inside it, taking out the bottle of Scotch and spinning off the top.

“Don't be daft dullard. Can'cha see what that lot just did?” he growls, tipping back his head and guzzling the gold liquid down his throat. 2D shakes his head silently, trying to look over his shoulder at the bassist. The old man wipes his mouth with his arm and lets out a sharp frustrated sigh, pausing to check the level of Scotch left in the bottle. Cortez smiles as he watches Murdoc relax, and slip back into his typical dominant posture with the confused young man. The raven sighs with relief, and can feel the heavy threatening cloud lift from the small group.

“That was the eempostor, I could feel eet. Not that matter, coz those other Diablos just lie to heem. They probably hees amigos or someteeng.” Cortez replies, answering for the old man. Murdoc gives 2D's backpack a nodding shrug, and takes another swig from the bottle.

“Yeah, and his arse is goin' straight to Oblivion. Best place fer the fucker really.” the bassist adds quietly with a grin.

“That woz the who?”2D asks, slightly turning and looking down at Cortez. The raven explains as Murdoc finishes the bottle, and rummages around in the backpack for one of the two bottles of wine he had taken from Satan's wine cellar. He looks down at the new bottle in his hand, as he tosses the empty one over his shoulder, letting it smash on the wall behind him.

“How did all that demon, get inside that little body?” 2D suddenly splutters in astonishment. Murdoc snaps his eyes from the bottle and growls softly at the back of the keyboardists head.

“That'll be enough of that little shit. Ain' nuthin' little about me.” he cups himself, and slaps the flap of the pack shut, roughly zipping it closed and shoving 2D forwards and away from him. “Satan don' like anyone risin' above their station, and makin' decisions fer him. You can't think fer yerself down here. It makes the old fucker look like a twat, and he don't like that.” Murdoc continues to press 2D forwards, and into the direction the blinking bracelet indicated. Stiff legged for a moment, 2D relents, allowing himself to be pushed as he thinks about what Murdoc had just said.

“Oh.” he finally replies, and relaxing his gait, walks more easily with Murdoc strolling casually along behind him, occasionally swigging from the wine bottle. Cortez walks beside the old man, sighing heavily in annoyance.

“That Diablo theenk much to high of heemself.” the raven suddenly spits in disgust, thinking about the way it had reacted, and assumed it deserved a position that even the bird knew he was not worthy of receiving. Murdoc looks down at him slightly, and nods in agreement.

“The fact he trusted what those demons said, just shows he ain' worthy of second seat. I mean c'mooooon.” Murdoc rolls his eyes and takes a large mouthful of wine from the bottle. He swallows hard and points at the raven, as though struck by an additional thought. “Annnnd he came back here. I mean, what sort of a moron is he? To go to all the trouble of settin' this whole scheme up, only tah come back here and get itself caught fer bein' too clever fer its own good. If I were it, I would of....” The old man and the bird suddenly freeze to the spot and slowly turn and blink at one another. In that precise moment, it is as if they can clearly read each others thoughts.

“Yer thinkin' what I'm thinkin', aincha.” Murdoc grunts at the raven. Cortez nods his head slowly.

“Si. He set up transfer een Kong.” the raven croaks back. Murdoc suddenly scoops the raven up in his arm and races after 2D, who had continued walking ahead and not noticed the two of them had stopped moving. Grabbing the young man hard by the upper arm, he yanks him along behind him, moving as quickly as he can toward their circle, determined to get back to Kong before the impostor.

2D complains bitterly that Murdoc is hurting his arm, unaware of the urgency of the situation. The bracelet flashes and pulses rapidly as they race along, flashing brighter and faster as they get closer to their goal. Finally the pulse becomes a steady bright light, indicating that they were standing directly over it. The bassist finally lets go of 2D and snaps at him to hurry up, as they all stand together in one spot. The bassist not trusting the keyboardists memory, performs the ritual and in a bright flash of light, suddenly the three find themselves back in the old dilapidated studio. Gently putting down his pet, Murdoc snaps at 2D to turn the two of them back to normal, while he goes off in search of the impostors circle. 2D nods and watches the old man run from the Hell hole room, still rubbing his now aching arm.

“Why's he in such a hurry? We're back now, so that's like the end of it, ain' it?” he mumbles at Cortez.