DC Hellblazer: I'm Constantine

###### C17. I'm Constantine

The world of magic needs balance. It needs rules. And when those rules start to break, the balance gets disrupted, and chaos erupts. In times of chaos, only order can rise to restore the balance.

Doctor Fate has been inactive for longer than he'd care to admit, but whatever personal reasons had led to his "temporary vacation" have now had to be put aside for the greater good.

The underworld's worse than usual. Not the standard backstabbing politics or pathetic power plays. This is something bigger. Demons are claiming that their world's being turned upside down. That the peace's been disturbed. They're up and running, escaping from something ominously dangerous.

Only recently, Khalid had a run-in with a demon that tried to drag his college roommate into Hell, claiming that it was liquidating its assets before *he* came burning it all to the ground. The asset in this case was the roommate who'd apparently sold his soul and somehow wasn't aware about it.

Khalid had more questions than the answers he got, but the demon was too terrified to keep talking.

Of course, he didn't let his roommate get dragged to Hell. He summoned the will to dig up the Helmet of Fate from whence he'd buried it, donned it, and resumed his duty as a protector of the mystical and mundane world, albeit temporarily, or so he hoped.

But it wasn't until he got wind of the news and connected the dots that he began to understand just how much chaos had erupted in his absence. And as the vessel to a Lord of Order, it was only right he undertook the mantle of Doctor Fate once more until order was restored.

Tonight, he's following another clue tying up to one name he's been hearing constantly: Hellblazer. He's been working quietly, discreet to man's world, only dealing with those of the mystical community. A good example is Fuseli, the Lord of Nightmares.

Fuseli's a troublesome little green, goblin-like demon, but he can be handy when you've got a guillotine hanging over his neck. That guillotine is by the name of Zatanna Zatara who's had her fair share of history of dealing with the Lord of Nightmares.

Doctor Fate sought out Zatanna right the second he started hearing a connection between the names Hellblazer, and John Constantine, only to find her carrying out her own investigation on the same basis, albeit more worried about what Constantine might've gotten himself involved in, this time.

As Doctor Fate and Zatanna exchange their latest notes, Fuseli comes in with a buzz from the underworld.

"Is my Mistress doing fine this evening?" Fuseli asks of Zatanna politely, fear dancing in his eyes like flames. Yer, Fuseli, despite being a powerful demon, is afraid of Zatanna like you wouldn't believe.

"Speak quickly before my mood sours," Zatanna replies harshly, not withholding the hate she's got for Fuseli.

Khalid is right by her, staring down at Fuseli with no expression behind the Helmet of Fate.

"I.. er.." Fuseli doesn't know how to put the information he's got into words. He knows that if he mis-speaks, it could be his undoing because Zatanna's got low tolerance with him for the torment he put her through.

"Where and when is the auction happening?" Doctor Fate demands, like he knew the information all along.

Fuseli blinks, wondering and confirming that the mage has breached past his mental barriers and read the information. As a demon whose only job is to enter people's minds and haunt them, it's greatly revolting that he's stooped so low as to have his own mind breached.

Anger flares in his eyes, and he's about to attack Doctor Fate for the disrespect when he notices the fury in Zatanna's eyes, causing him to squeal like a mouse cornered by a cat.

"I said *speak quickly before my mood S.O.U.R.S.*" Zatanna commands, stressing every syllable between gritted teeth.

Fuseli is intimidated and speaks quickly, "It's happening down in the Gutters when it blazes hottest. The Hellblazer will be there."

"When, in human time?" Zatanna demands.

"Midnight," Doctor Fate replies, looking up as if he's consulting with an invisible clock. "Tonight."

"We'll be there," Zatanna say, sending Fuseli away with a cheap flourish and a stern expression. It's as if Fuseli, or demons in general, find a way to unlock her darker side.

Time flies so slowly, yet midnight reaches.

I don't have a clock, but I can tell time from how the fire grows more intense that it starts to growl like a rampaging dragon. I could be in that fire right now, screaming like all those other souls, but I'm half-glad I'm in a safe haven: Mammon's lair.

In a manner of speaking, Mammon's lair's like a raised platform, lifted high enough to minimize the fire's effects, but it's actually a different reality from the Eternal Hell. It's more like a fort giving damned souls hope.

For some reason, I figure that Bane would love such a setup. Give people so much hope so that they can despair proper. Wonder if we'll ever cross paths. I gotta get out of hell first to hope or despair about that innit?

Mammon said the auction will be held in the Gutters and I'm fashionably late. Blame the succubae. They just couldn't get enough of me, could they? Got one that's obsessed with my tats and another telling me I should get more ripped. All in due time.

And then there's one that I'm particularly fond of. Says she's the 666 daughter of Triskele, The Succub Queen. Goes by the name Ellie and she's got quite the charm. I find her reliable enough to entrust her with a simple task.

The Gutters isn't far off from the lair. I hear it's like a large arena flooded with hundreds of demons. 's where they come for entertainment after a good week of torturing damned and *worthless* souls. What if OG Constantine's soul is among them worthless souls?

Doesn't matter, I'm the Hellblazer now.

It's not like I'm stuck putting couplings on. I don't even have a shirt for that matter. What's got me delayed is the mode of transport to get to the Gutters. I'll have a demon guide to follow through a trail of pure horror and despair. But what's daunting is the fact that being burnt with Hellfire along the way is inevitable-...

-and it could consume me, suck my soul into the Eternal Hell. After the sins I've committed, I can only shiver and leave almost everything to chance.

"Let's go," the demon guard commands more than he speaks. He's got a buffalo's head or sorta, and a hellish spear on hand. Apparently, those features didn't stop him from wearing dreadlocks like he's got a fashion sense. So yeah, he's got dreads resting on his bulging demonic shoulders.

He's quiet, as am I, as we trek along the path of damnation. I'm watching the fire closely, hoping only for the best. The more I listen to them - the screams of the souls of the damned - it sounds as if they're calling out my name in thick annoying stretches.

"C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-I-I-I-I-N-N-N-EEE!"

I don't like it one bit and I curse them under my breath.

The fire keeps licking on my boots and washing away like an ocean does at a beach. Goddamn it's hot. I try hard not to flinch in order to avoid it's attention now that we're close to climbing to the Gutters.

It's as if I jinx my chances with that thought. All of a sudden, fire sparks in the Sulphurous air around me and ignites my entire body. I don't even realize as it carries me away and decides to dump me in the ocean of it - those eternal flames.

I scream the bloody Hell out of me.. The pain is incomparable that I can't believe I've subjected people to such magnitudes of torture. My senses coagulate into one. All I hear, see, and smell is pain like no other. Pure torture that lingers in my mind even after I remember I'm the F*cking Hellblazer!

Hell Fire is FUCKING MINE to command. My screams start to transform into a savage laughter as I will for the fire to take me back to solid ground. One by one, my senses become their own again, and I feel as I get transported all the way to the Gutters, crash-landing among a cluster of demonic kin as the sulphurous stench floods my lungs again.

I can hear again. I hear their whispers. As I stand, I see them and watch the Fire that I had caught behave as it repairs the damage on my skin while licking itself away. I almost smirk, but tears are what flow from my eyes. I don't ever want to experience that again.

And for the record, I'd trade places, living in a sewer if it meant never ever coming to Hell again.