Chapter Text
Vox didn’t have any fucking time for this. Setup for the Resistance Rally was underway, his people were running around the stage areas like a mad circus, and Alastor was being an especially big pain in the ass. His excuses ranged from curiosity to boredom as he got in the way, sabotaged setups, and generally harassed the staff. Vox didn’t think he’d have to keep this grown-ass fucking man under constant surveilance, but then again, never have high expectations when it comes to the Radio Demon.
“You are going to sit in this fucking chair!!” Vox declared, having shoved the man into a nearby office chair and tied him up with AV cables again. You’d think the guy would learn how uncomfortable they were at some point. “You are going to fucking behave yourself for ten fucking minutes!!!” He jabbed a finger at Alastor’s nose. “And when I get out of my dressing room, not a single one of my fucking staff had better be fucking missing!!!”
Vox thought he was going to blow a fuse with how pissed off he was, and all Alastor could do was smile like a spoiled brat.
“Well, I suppose I could take a break. After all, I am quite hungry.”
Vox snarled, squeezing the arm rests of the chair and nearly shredding them to pieces. “There is food in the greenroom, you fucking child!!! Go fucking eat something!!!”
Alastor giggled merrily before using his feet to scoot himself away. Vox was breathing heavily while he watched him go, trying to reign himself in. Today was his day; he and the Vees went around town pitching their rally to every overlord they could find, and now he was in charge of taking center stage, so there couldn’t be a single thing that might fuck it all up. He had a killer speech, a sexy new white suit, and everyone was here to listen to him.
When he was finally at a manageable level of emotions, he let out a deep breath, set a neutral expression, and took one step in the direction of his dressing room.
Only to be stopped by Valentino who was standing with his arms crossed and a big wily smile on his face.
“I knew you had a crush on Alastor, but I didn’t know he had one on you too.”
Vox heard a vinyl record scratch in his mind as he was caught off guard and nearly tripped over his own feet. An involuntary blush lit up his screen, and he was scrambling for words.
“What… the fuck are you going on about, Val?” Vox asked, incomprehensible confusion knitting his eyebrows together. Valentino’s smile darkened.
“Oh? I thought you knew.” He said playfully. “With the way he won’t let anyone else touch him or come near him, but then you come along and you can’t keep your hands off him.”
Vox glanced around frantically, but no one was in earshot. “You’re imagining things, you have no idea what you’re fucking talking about!” He deflected lamely, suddenly over-analyzing his interactions with Alastor like he could put them on slides under a microscope.
“I’m just saying… you might want to be more careful around him. Especially since he makes you think with your dick.” Val pointed out simply, his tone light and airy.
Vox opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, then thought better of it and crossed his arms. “Fuck you. I'm gonna go get changed.”
He stomped over to his dressing room and slammed the door shut, grumbling to himself about how Val should keep his damned nose out of other peoples’ damned business.
Then again, the Film Demon was a slut for gossip.
He scrubbed his face with his hands, then reminded himself he was going to have an audience to manage soon, and set to work getting ready for the event. Val was just spreading rumors like he always did. Was Alastor more relaxed and receptive to being near Vox? Sure, they’d known each other for over seventy years and were pretty close back in the day. Did Alastor readily let people into his life and allow them to see more than his one-dimensional smiling facade? No, not usually. If ever. Not even Vox managed to get the whole story about the man’s life, but he might be the only one closest to achieving something like that.
Did that mean Alastor had a crush on him? Absolutely not, what a stupid fucking thing to consider. They were arch rivals for decades arguing over turf and trying to best one another. Of course, Alastor always seemed to have the upper hand, and he loved toying with Vox just to tease him and get his hackles to rise. But it didn’t mean anything. And now Alastor was his prisoner, forced to live under his thumb despite the power he still wielded.
Vox shook his head and decided to put all that aside. He could speculate and come up with theories and excuses forever, but in the end, none of them would matter because there was no way Alastor the Fucking Radio Demon had special little feelings for him.
~0~
After the rally, Vox was supercharged with energy. He put Lucifer in his place, showed up Little Miss Morningstar, and had the undeniable support of the people. Now all he needed was for Carmilla Carmine to build his weapon and the next phase of his plan could be under way.
Vox shook hands with his people, allowing them to thank him for such a wonderful performance and making cool finger-gun poses the entire time.
“No, you rock!! Ah, gotcha!!! You’re right, I rock!!! I’m the fuckin’ MAN!!!!”
He pushed through some more of the crowd and couldn’t help noticing a certain mischief-maker was unaccounted for. He tried sensing for his AV cables since they were controlled by his overlord powers, but the signal was weak and pretty much undetectable. If that was the case, then he was no longer in the building, let alone the same city block.
Vox pushed through a few more people, ordering them to go do some actual work instead of just kissing ass and was eventually standing next to Valentino.
“Val, have you seen Alastor? I can’t sense him at all.” Vox stated, flicking his eyes around the backstage area. Val hardly even acknowledged him and took a heavy drag off his opium pipe.
“I’m your little show producer, not a fucking babysitter.” Val replied venomously before blowing a smoke ring. Vox felt a bubble of rage welling in his chest.
“My-!” He stopped himself short and backtracked. “OUR entire plan is only going to be possible if Alastor is on our side!! Or are you too doped up to remember such an important detail?!!”
Valentino sprung to his feet in an instant before stooping over to be eye-level with Vox. “Do NOT fucking speak to me like that!! Pinche idiota…!! What the fuck crawled up your ass and died?!”
Vox took another step to be nose to nose with the other overlord. “If he’s missing because of your oversight, I swear I’m going to-!”
A timid throat being cleared distracted Vox long enough to not finish that sentence. He glanced to his side and found his assistant Spencer… or was it Joshua? Whatever, that baby shark looking motherfucker, was pathetically trying to get his attention.
“Whatever it is, Kevin, it can wait. I’m in the middle of…”
“It’s, umm… It’s Ethan, sir.” He pointed out, then quickly realized he just interrupted Vox in the middle of speaking and nearly threw his phone across the room as he hastily pulled it out. “Sorry, sorry! I overheard you talking about the Radio Demon and I just saw something sent privately to the VoxTek social media account!”
Vox decided to spare the young man’s life. For now. He accepted the phone, saw there was a voice recording sent, and tapped on it to play the message.
“HeLlO vOx.” The voice spoke with a garbling effect and Vox had to turn up the volume to understand it. “YoU dOn’T kNoW mE, bUt I hAvE sOmEtHiNg ImPoRtAnT oF yOuRs.” Yadda yadda, blah blah… Video chat this number within one hour or the hostage dies. Vox tossed the phone back to Ethan and pulled his out, dialing the number and waiting for the screen to connect. When it did, Vox felt his blood boiling to see Alastor duct taped to the office chair. Two goons in balaclavas were standing at his side while another one with a Mardi Gras mask was pointing a gun at his chest.
“HeLLo VoX…” The same garbled voice spoke until Vox interrupted him by tutting disapprovingly.
“Lose the stupid fucking voice changer, I can’t understand a fucking thing you’re saying and after this is done I’ll never think twice about you again.”
The guys all exchanged looks and the one running the show sounded like he was setting some equipment aside before speaking again.
“You don’t know me, but…”
“Yeah, yeah. Cut to the chase, I’m a busy man. How much?”
The kidnappers were all stupefied. They whispered a few things back and forth before their leader spoke. “We’re demanding one hundred! Thousand! Dollars…!” His tone was dramatic, almost theatrical, and Vox instantly deflated it.
“Done. Send the exchange location.” He examined his fingernails boredly and the kidnappers were at a loss for words. It seemed like it was going to be the easiest hostage exchange ever performed, unless some idiot spoke up and ruined everything.
“Whaaat?” Alastor drawled out, his smile wickedly playful. “One hundred thousand dollars? Is that really all you gentlemen think I’m worth?”
Vox felt his eye twitch as a blood vessel nearly popped in his forehead. “Alastor…” Vox warned, his voice growing dangerously low.
“Come now, you must try harder than that. In fact I think you could easily get a million dollars from him.”
Vox snarled ferociously, his fists shaking from his anger. The three guys all exchanged glances again and their leader took Alastor up on his tip.
“The deal’s off. Now, uhhh… We want…” More whispering and one of the balaclava guys was gesturing vigorously at the camera. “Two million dollars!”
Vox wondered if the sound of shattering glass was real, and was just thankful it wasn’t his phone. He took three deep breaths before speaking through his clenched teeth. “Fine! Send. The. Location.”
“Mmmm…” Alastor hummed thoughtfully. “He’s still agreeing too quickly. I think you strong, strapping men could get even more!”
“ALASTOR!!!” Vox shouted, his expression contorting into feral hysterics.
“I believe you all could get, hmmm… Let’s say… Ten million dollars! Maybe even twenty million! After all, I’m rather important to him.”
“ALASTOR!!!!!”
The three guys were nodding and Vox was practically foaming at the mouth.
“Fifty million dollars for the safe return of the Radio Demon! You have until midnight to come up with the money! And it’s cash only!!”
Vox choked and sputtered, unsure which fucking dumbass to start shaming first. “No bank has that kind of fucking cash you fucking dipshits!!! I’d have to hit up every single fucking bank, money lender, drug dealer, and pawn shop in this whole fucking city to even come close!!!”
The guy with the Mardi Gras mask found his voice modulator again and spoke. “ThEn YoU’d BeTtEr HuRrY. TiMe iS rUnNiNg OuT!”
The man started laughing like a third rate villain, waving his gun around carelessly while the others joined him in his guffawing. That is, until the gun suddenly fired and one of the balaclava guys held a hand to his stomach. He pulled it away, revealing a heavy amount of blood, before dropping to the ground. The other two shouted in disbelief while another without a mask ran on screen to hopefully do something.
But that’s not what Vox was paying attention to. It was subtle, but Vox could see Alastor grimacing from a tear in the upper arm of his coat where the bullet nicked him and opened a wound.
Vox thought he was mad before. Now he was livid.
Another of his phones was reduced to scrap and when he turned to Val, the other overlord was grinning maliciously.
“Go get your Bambino.” Val stated, his expression depraved with violence and lust. “And don’t let a single one of them die an easy death.”
Vox grinned with the same intensity. “I was never planning to.”
If Vox challenged himself, he could zip through multiple power lines at once, enough to travel a radius for miles. He never found the limits to this power, mostly because he never needed to, and the only unfortunate side effect had to do with exponential growth. The larger the circle got, the more ground he’d need to cover, and if they were hiding somewhere sneaky then he’d need to be thorough.
It took him about two hours to find their little hovel in some abandoned basement, and he started the festivities by turning his victims inside out. Entrails were yanked free, severed limbs were shoved down esophaguses, and in the end there were seven corpses, including the guy who was accidentally shot. His fancy white suit was ruined, and he still didn’t find Alastor.
Vox wandered into one room, then another, and on the third try he opened a door that led to some kind of large-scale faraday cage.
If only these chuckle-fucks turned the entire basement into a faraday cage. Then no electricity could come in or go out. But, sadly, that’s what you get when you all have to share one brain cell.
Alastor was locked in an iron cell, laying on the floor facing away from the entrance. Vox felt his heart flutter in his chest, wondering for a moment if something happened to the other man.
“Al?” Vox asked, swallowing hard when Alastor didn’t move. “This isn’t fucking funny, Al. Get up.”
The Radio Demon stirred minutely and Vox felt like he could breathe again. That is, until Alastor gracelessly flopped over to face him with a nearly empty fifth of whiskey in his hand.
“You certainly took your sweet time. I’d just about won their entire earnings before you ever even showed up!” Alastor jutted his hand towards an overturned folding table with a bunch of poker chips and playing cards scattered around it. Vox was speechless.
Alastor climbed to his knees and shuffled over to the bars, pressing his head between them and staring up at Vox. “Are you…” his voice trailed off right before he belched into his fist from deep within his chest, “going to get me out? Or are you just going to stand there?”
Vox folded his arms and realized he kinda liked this look. Alastor, locked in a cage, and begging him for help to be set free. “I dunno, now that I know where you are, I could just leave you here.” He looked around and smirked when he found another fifth of whisky along with a bag of pork rinds alongside a bag of beef jerky. He used his cables to collect the items and set them in the cage. “There, now you’re stocked up for the next few days. Pick a corner to shit in and I’ll be back before you know it.”
Alastor narrowed his eyes, either from bitter scorn or because he was so fucking wasted. To Vox’s amusement, he then pushed his head through the surprisingly wide bars and managed to shimmy his shoulders through as well. Vox thought it was hilarious until he realized something.
“Wait… You could escape this whole fucking time?!”
Alastor dissolved into a fit of giggles, halfway out of the cage but no longer able to focus on his task through all the laughter.
“What can I say? I missed being amongst those who didn’t want to constantly fuck me.” He declared, using his arms to drag himself the rest of the way out. “Although, they did turn out to be spoilsports when I won the whole pot and one of the big guys flipped the table over.”
Vox rolled his eyes before crouching down. He lifted one of Alastor’s arms and dipped a hand into his sleeve, easily finding a few playing cards stashed in there. Alastor shrugged his shoulders and snorted a laugh.
“Old habits really do die hard, I suppose.”
Vox shook his head with a tart scowl, then reached out to slip his hands beneath the Radio Demon’s arms and started lifting him to his feet. When he was finally up, Alastor’s knees gave out for a moment, sending him stumbling into Vox who held him steady and supported him with an arm around his waist.
“My, my, Vox… Have you always been so strong?”
Vox felt his face light up with a blush, almost not believing what he just heard until Alastor was bursting into laughter.
“You really are so easy to manipulate, Vox. When will you ever learn?”
The Media Demon frowned crossly, then wrapped one of Alastor’s deer ears in his fingers and yanked hard enough to be rewarded with a grunt.
“And when will you ever learn to shut your fucking mouth?”
With Alastor snapped up in his arms and a building full of corpses, the atmosphere seemed perfect to lean in for a kiss. The Radio Demon didn’t have a chance to fend off the other sinner as he jammed his tongue into his mouth, and Vox let the little sounds of protest go straight to his dick.
Alastor’s hands were flat against Vox’s chest and when the Media Demon dug his nails into the other man’s lower back before gradually dragging them down his ass and behind his thigh, Alastor clenched his fists with such strength he began ripping the seams of his suit jacket.
Vox wasn’t paying much attention to his surroundings, so when he took a step to compensate for Alastor leaning into his arms, he tripped over something and landed on his ass with Al straddling him. He took a moment to curse at the pain until he looked up to see large red eyes staring right into his. Alastor had his hands braced against the other man’s shoulders and Vox couldn’t resist placing his hands on the other sinner’s hips.
“How’s about it, Al? I think you owe me for coming to your rescue.” Vox asked in a sensual tone, tightening his grip and rubbing his thumbs back and forth on the innermost parts of Alastor’s thighs. The Radio Demon continued to stare and for a moment Vox wondered if he was finally tapping into some sort of repressed sex drive until Alastor was shoving him away and crawling to the side in order to throw up.
Vox cringed and let him go, scooting back to avoid the splash zone. “Take your time, we can pick this up when you’re done.”
Alastor hurled again, completely coating the floor in whiskey and whatever finger sandwiches he still had in his stomach from the greenroom at the rally. Vox gagged and held his fingers over his mouth.
“No worries, we’ll get you some water and a damp cloth…”
Alastor heaved but there was nothing left and Vox finally gave up. “Fine, you win. The mood is killed.” He stood elegantly and dusted off his sleeves and pants, despite both still being splattered in blood. He then collected Alastor into his arms like a sick child and looked around for a sink. When he found a little hand washing station accompanied by some cabinets, he walked over and sat Al on the countertop. He then rummaged around until he found a cup, blew a breath of air into it to blow away the dust, and filled it with cold water.
“Rinse.” He ordered, handing it to Alastor. He accepted the cup, swished a bit of water, and spat it all over the floor. While the Radio Demon was being uncharacteristically compliant, Vox wetted a rag before smearing it all over his face and neck. “Don’t be such a little bitch.” Vox ordered when Alastor began trying to fend him off. “I don’t have time to babysit a fucking drunk, so you’re going to be spending the rest of the day in Valentino’s studio while Velvette and I run some errands.”
Vox collected the man in his arms again, then used his own broadcasting frequency to contact his assistant. “Evan, track my location and send a car.” He ordered, then glanced down at Al who looked like he was about to fall asleep in his arms. “Send the driver with some antinausea and aspirin while you’re at it.”
Ethan did as he was told and Vox didn’t have to wait long in an alley beside the building until his ride arrived.
When they got to V Tower, Vox used a private entrance with Alastor still knocked out in his arms. He went straight to Val’s studio, ordered the staff to bring him a couch, and Val couldn’t hide his irritated glare.
“What? So now I am his babysitter?” He asked, watching as Vox gently laid the other man down across the cushions.
“Bite me. He passed out from drinking too much whiskey. Velvette and I have an important meeting with Carmilla Carmine and all you have to do is call me if he wakes up.” Vox stated, walking right up to where Val was perched on his director’s chair and using his finger to tip his chin up. “I’ll be back soon so I can properly… thank the babysitter.”
After that, Val didn’t seem to mind, and Vox was off to strike a deal and get his weapon built.