A bad idea, part I

'Hi. What can we do for you?'


'I've got kind of an imposing favour for you guys.'


'What's that?'


'I need to go back to Devil's Port. So first, I was wondering if any of you had the name of a decent place to rent a car. But also the imposing bit is...I can't take Wed back with me. ...Is there a chance she could stay with you guys while I'm gone? Shouldn't be all that long, maybe a day?'

'I can stay at home. I'm not an idiot.'

'I'm not saying you are.'


'Yeah, I could probably find a car rental for you.'


'As for the second bit... well, it depends on what the others think.'

'It's fine by me.'


'Yeah, I know it's a lot to ask.'


'It's okay, you don't have to. I can look after myself.'


'But I don't see anyone really having a problem with it...'


'Hey Charon, this is Wednesday and her sister Indigo. They're friends. Do you mind if she stays here for one night?'

'Fine by me.'


'Hi.'


'Hi.'

'Hey.'


'It's okay, I don't probe people.'

'Sorry, I'm just shy...'


'Well, I'm glad that's okay. Thanks.'

'What do you think'll happen if I stay at home?'

'I dunno, get into an accident. Trip down the stairs, or something. I know I'm being paranoid, but damn it, humour me.'

'Stairs are much less dangerous without Dad around though.'

'...Yeah.'


'...What do you mean?'


'...He pushed me down once.'


'Oh God, that's horrible.'


'...Bastard.'


'Yup, well that's Abraxas in a nutshell.'


'I'm sorry.'


'Me too. Hey, will you go ask Heath if it's okay with him for Wednesday to stay?'

'Sure.'


'So is there a reason you're going back to Devil's Port?'


'A few, yeah. We've got a couple of toddler sisters. I feel like shit leaving them there. Our stepmum's nice, but ultimately kind of useless. I wouldn't trust her to be able to protect anyone from Abraxas. I guess I wanna be able to talk to her. The other reason... Well, you wouldn't believe me if I said why.'

'I see. Go on, tell us. I'm sure we will.'


'...I believe Abraxas has some sort of cosmic alien horror hidden inside the science base.'


'Did I hear you correctly?'

'...Yeah. You did.'


'A "cosmic alien horror"?'

'...You're going to have to explain this one.'


'...Before we left, I heard Abraxas talking to someone called Nephilim on the phone, because he's too fucking stupid to think maybe someone might overhear. I heard him refer to it as a deity called Yahzoputl, and that it can fucking turn people inside out. But he referred to it as one of "Lovecraft's abominations". It's being kept in the science base, I heard him say that too.'


'Wow. That... sounds absolutely ridiculous, but I can see you're being sincere.'

'So I want to find it.'

'And how are you going to do that?'


'Break in, get some proof of this thing's existence.'


'You're going to break into a science facility?'

'I'm going to plan it out first, but yeah. Otherwise this shit's going to remain hidden.'


'Do you know anything about the facility in question?'

'So far just the name and location. This isn't going to happen until I have more information.'

'That's good, but... it sounds impossible. Something like that must be tightly locked down, surely?'


'Probably. I'll find a way.'


'But what if you get arrested?'

'The police don't really bother with that kind of shit. If someone gets on Abraxas' bad side, he gets his gangbangers to deal with the problem, fuckheads I've met before. I'm not bothered.'

'That doesn't sound much better...'


'...Gangbangers?'

'Gangsters. Y'know, your typical street gang lowlife.'

'Oh, right.'