Location: The Uptown Neon District (The Halo)
Time: 7:00 PM
The Uptown District didn't have rain. It had holographic weather control that kept the streets dry and the air smelling like synthetic lavender. The skyscrapers here were made of pristine glass and white steel, towering over the grimy slums of the Lowtown like gods looking down on ants.
Dante hated it immediately.
"It's too bright," Dante muttered, shielding his eyes. Even at night, the neon billboards advertising perfume and cyber-implants made it look like noon. "My retinas are burning."
"Stop complaining, Emo-Boy!" GiGi chirped. She was walking ten feet ahead of him, spinning in circles.
They were in disguise.
GiGi fit right in. She was wearing a glittery pink skirt, a "I <3 LUST" crop top, and had woven glowsticks into her pigtails. She looked like every other hyper-caffeinated fan in the crowd.
Benji looked like he was about to vomit. He was wearing a generic "anime fan" happi coat and holding two light-sabers (glow wands). He was trembling.
"There are so many people," Benji whispered. "Statistically, at least 4% of this crowd are vampires in disguise. I can feel them looking at my neck."
Dante looked... uncomfortable. Sora had forbidden him from wearing his hoodie or his vest. Instead, Dante was wearing a trendy, oversized streetwear t-shirt that said VIBE CHECK and baggy cargo pants. His piercings were still there, but he had covered his industrial bars with band-aids to look "less threatening."
"Just blend in," Sora's voice came through their earpieces. Sora was not with them. He was supposedly "monitoring the perimeter" (eating at a high-end sushi bar three blocks away).
"We're at the entrance," Dante said, looking up at the massive Uptown Dome. "Security is tight."
"Not for me," GiGi grinned. She walked right up to the bouncer—a hulking man who smelled like iron. A vampire.
"Ticket!" GiGi shouted, shoving the pink slip in his face. Then she did the Gorillaz dance.
The bouncer stared at her. He looked at her red eyes. He smelled the pureblood scent radiating off her. He paled.
"V-VIP entrance is to the left, Ma'am," the bouncer stammered.
"Thanks, sweetie!" GiGi skipped through the velvet rope.
Dante and Benji followed, keeping their heads down. The bouncer sniffed the air as Dante passed.
"Wait," the bouncer grunted. He stepped in front of Dante. "You smell... weird. Like ozone. And cheap soap."
Dante froze. His hand twitched toward his umbrella (which was disguised as a folded fan).
"I use 3-in-1 shampoo," Dante said deadpan. "It's efficient."
The bouncer narrowed his eyes. "Open your bag."
Dante opened his bag. Inside was:
1. A bag of gummy worms.
2. A spare Smile Mart vest.
3. A Hello Kitty plushie holding a strawberry.
The bouncer stared at the plushie. He looked at Dante's face, which was covered in piercings and miserable apathy.
"Go ahead," the bouncer said, stepping aside. "You clearly have enough problems."
Location: Inside the Dome (Backstage Area)
Time: 7:45 PM
While GiGi distracted the crowd in the mosh pit, Dante and Benji slipped into the employee corridors.
"Okay," Benji whispered, plugging his laptop into a maintenance port. "I'm in the sound system. If Lust tries to use her Hypno-Voice, I can scramble the frequency with a counter-signal. But I need to get to the main mixing board. It's on the catwalks above the stage."
"I'll escort you," Dante said. "Stay close."
They moved through the dark hallways. The bass from the opening act thumped through the walls, shaking dust from the ceiling.
Suddenly, a door opened ahead of them. Dante shoved Benji into a janitor's closet and flattened himself against the wall.
Two figures walked out. One was a tall, glamorous woman with pink hair and a dress made of diamonds—Cardinal Lust. The other was Eri.
"The preparations are complete," Lust said. Her voice sounded like wind chimes. It was beautiful and terrifying. "The Red-Eye has been distributed to the concession stands. Once I hit the high note in the third song, the conversion begins."
"Excellent," Eri said, adjusting her glasses. "The Dominion will be pleased. But be careful. My sources say the Bureau sent a squad."
Lust laughed. "Let them come. My fans will tear them apart. They love me to death. Literally."
They walked past Dante's hiding spot. Eri paused. She turned her head slightly, looking directly at the shadow where Dante was hiding.
She smiled. A tiny, knowing smirk.
Then she kept walking.
Dante exhaled, realizing he had been holding his breath.
"She saw us," Benji squeaked from the closet. "She totally saw us! Why didn't she raise the alarm?"
"Because she wants us to fight," Dante realized. "She's testing us. Or she wants Lust to fail."
Dante gripped his umbrella-fan. "Change of plan. We don't just scramble the signal. We have to crash the stage."
"Crash the stage?!" Benji whisper-screamed. "There are ten thousand people out there!"
"Don't worry," Dante said, pulling the Hello Kitty plushie out of his bag and tying it to his belt for luck. "I have experience with unruly customers."
Location: The Stage
Time: 8:00 PM
The lights went down. Ten thousand glowsticks cracked open, turning the stadium into a sea of pink neon.
A spotlight hit the center stage. Cardinal Lust rose from the floor on a hydraulic lift. The crowd screamed so loud the air vibrated.
"HELLO KAGURA-ZAKA!" Lust screamed. Her voice carried a magical resonance that made Dante's teeth ache. "ARE YOU READY TO GIVE ME EVERYTHING?"
"YES!" the crowd roared.
In the front row, GiGi popped a piece of gum. "She's lip-syncing," she muttered.
High above on the catwalk, Dante and Benji were running.
"Three minutes!" Benji yelled over the noise. "The conversion starts in three minutes!"
Dante looked down at the stage. Lust was starting to sing. The air was getting heavy, thick with curse energy. The fans' eyes were starting to glaze over, glowing faint red.
"We can't make it to the mixing board in time," Dante said.
He stopped running. He looked at the massive rig of stage lights hanging directly over Lust's head.
"Benji," Dante said. "How heavy is that light rig?"
"Uh, two tons?" Benji said. "Why?"
Dante opened his umbrella. His piercings began to glow white-hot.
"I'm going to cut the power," Dante said. "The hard way."