Lilith, Charlie, and Emily get to the Palace with the Von Eldritches, only to find it swarming with Hellborn, the Sins, and their various second-in-commands.
Beleth and Belial, in particular, are looking like a hundred Sinsmas' have come all at once, as if the massive surge of Calli and Lucifer's energy that could be felt all the way to the depths of Hell weren't enough of a sign that shit is going down.
Charlie spots her father directing everyone, and asks "Dad, what is going on?!"
Emily glances around, and adds "And where's Mom?! There's no way she'd be sitting something like this out."
Lucifer gives them a grim look, saying "Sera happened. She somehow convinced the entire Council to try and invade Hell, even brought some of Heaven's actual guards along for the ride." Lilith stiffens up at once, and immediately starts searching for any injuries - what she'd like to do is drag him to another room and start checking him over, but they can't with all the chaos going on.
Lucifer takes Lilith's hand in his upon seeing her expression, and says "She never laid a hand on either of us, Wildflower. She never got the chance, really."
Lilith sighs in relief, and Charlie asks "What happened, then?"
"They all started dropping like rocks almost as soon as they were all lined up in front of us, that's what happened. Calli restrained them all via the Wards on the Hotel, and then we sent them straight back to Heaven. I Barred them from re-entering via a portal…and Calli Warded Heaven up there to keep anyone from just flying down and passing out halfway to the ground."
Charlie and Emily both sputter and trade looks, and Lucifer says "I know, she's occasionally done a few mind-blowing things like that. Of course, this time she did it after coming out of her burn-room…so she ended up passing out from sheer exhaustion almost as soon as the Warding was finished. Hed's with her up in her room now, if you want to check on her."
Charlie and Emily nod at once, and Lilith says "Two floors up, room right across from ours at the end of the left hall." Charlie and Emily rush off at once, and Lilith runs a hand through her hair before murmuring "Since when does Calli pass out after using her magic?" The only time she can think of that happening, it was when they'd first come down to Hell - she charged the Wards around her cottage, then raced off to Heaven to save Lucifer, healed him enough that he wouldn't bleed to death before they could get back to him, put him in some kind of sleep/stasis so he wouldn't be in agony the whole time, Warded the small cave they'd found so none of the Hellborn would find him and finish him off, went back up to Earth and her cottage, killed the Angels attempting to kill the defenseless human holding a kitchen knife, grabbed her and got the both of them back down to Lucifer, and then tightened the Wards around the three of them so nothing could get in and they'd all stop burning alive.
Yeah, she passed out after strengthening the Wards in that cave...and never did again after that, not in front of either of them anyway.
Lucifer grimaces, and says "Since she basically used all of it in the course of maybe an hour. She says the Phoenix Fire, as she's calling it, is a lot more draining than using a spell."
"Okay," Lilith breathes out, "we can handle this. It's not like we haven't dealt with Sera trying to pull shit while Calli was indisposed before…"
Lucifer shares a look with Lilith - they both remember all too clearly how that went, Sera always walked all over them with the false accusation of Lucifer creating Hell and damning Humanity to evil and eternal suffering.
Which, as it turns out, he didn't. Humanity was always going to be flawed, a mixed bag of good and evil, light and dark, etc. Trying to make them exactly what one person wants was never going to work the way Sera wanted…and brainwashing Eve didn't damn her but doom her, doom her to madness and to Roo in equal measure.
Fuck, offering Eve whatever deal or power she did may have actually been the one good thing Roo ever did, regardless of whatever schemes she had in mind for Eve, and isn't that something to think about? The literal Root of All Evil unintentionally doing something good after a Seraphim did something despicable.
Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Lucifer straightens his coat before saying "As Loona likes to say, let's get this shitshow on the road."
Lilith nods, squeezing Lucifer's hand - and not saying what she thinks, that they should've had this meeting centuries ago. She gets why they haven't gone to war before now - Lucifer was grounded due to lack of wings, Lilith's powers aren't geared for combat, and Heaven was never as divided as they're hearing it is now - but she's tired of Sera treating them like doormats, tired of their kingdom being invaded every year without fail, tired of this punishment they never deserved.
Is it so wrong to want to just take Lucifer, Calli, Charlie, and now Emily, Vaggie, and Alastor and head back to Calli's cottage in the field? When Lucifer was still whole with his creative spark intact and his brothers weren't actively against them and Heaven as a whole wasn't out for her head?
A pipe-dream, she knows - especially since Azrael told them that cottage had been completely demolished once the Council was sure it was safe to do so, once the last traces of Calli's magic had faded from the building, all the pictures had gone still, and dust coated every inch of everything.
Cowards, the lot of them.
No, Hell is their home now, despite Heaven's worst intentions, and they're done sitting back and feeling helpless while Sera rubs salt in the wounds she inflicted so long ago. They get everyone settled down, more or less - Satan in particular looks like he's about to vibrate straight out of his seat from pure fury, unsurprisingly, and Bee's unfortunately feeding off it - and get the impromptu war meeting going.
Satan and his lieutenants look thrilled that they're actually going to war with Heaven, and everyone else seems to understand the gravity of the situation because there's not a single objection…or even hesitation, for that matter.
After a multitude of suggestions for how to prepare from everyone, Lucifer runs a hand through his hair and says "We should probably get the Sinners involved with this. The Overlords, at the very least."
There's a dead silence from everyone, right up until Beelzebub says "I mean, it was Pride Ring Heaven's forces came to first. And it was the Sinners they've been killing off every single year."
Mammon adds "There's no possible way they won't want to get some kind of vengeance, honestly."
There's another stretch of silence, until Lucifer clears his throat and says "I can get them all here in about an hour."
Asmodeus crosses his arms, saying "That's probably for the best…else we'll have Sinners literally coming out of the woodworks and getting caught in the crossfire."
Lucifer grimaces, wishing he couldn't see that near-literally happening. "Alright," he claps his hands together, "I'll get the Overlords here within an hour, everyone else start talking strategy."
He's just stepped through a portal to Cannibal Town to get Rosie and Alastor when a thought hits him like a punch to the face, and he calls over his shoulder "And, if Calli somehow wakes up and makes her way here, somebody get her sitting down before she collapses altogether, because there's no way in all seven Rings she's going to sit out any strategy meeting until we have an airtight plan for dealing with Heaven."
Shaking his head, Lucifer quickly locates Rosie's Emporium and heads over - thankfully, Alastor made sure he knew the right District, as well as where to go to find the woman if necessary.
Also thankfully, the woman - despite being an Overlord - sounds like a fairly decent sort for being in literal Hell from Charlie's description. Anyone willing to gather an army together for his daughter because she asked her to has to be alright.
Getting to the right door, he quickly taps on the glass - not wanting to break it altogether - and breathes out a sigh of relief when he sees Alastor and a semi-familiar figure he remembers seeing at Charlie's party and the day afterwards. Rosie, he assumes.
Alastor opens the door, glancing in the Hotel's direction, and almost immediately asks "What's going on?"
"Sera's going on. Calli and I Banished her, the entire Council, plus their guards from Hell, and Calli Warded Heaven up there, but only Calli knows how long that's actually going to last. As for why I'm here, war meeting. I'm gathering up all the Overlords since Pride is going to be the literal frontline for any further invasion force Sera sends down."
Rosie nods, saying "Give me twenty minutes to get the emporium closed down, everyone on their way, and let the rest of the Cannibals what's going on."
Lucifer nods, and Alastor says "I happen to know where most of the other Overlords usually are. Let's go."
Lucifer nods, not questioning just why Alastor knows that - he's heard the rumors of Pride's Boogeyman by now, of course he has, he's spent enough time amongst the Sinners in the Hotel that he's heard plenty of stories about the guy. Some, he's sure are the stories he wanted everyone to know, the ones where he killed several Overlords before ever being recognized as one himself.
Given what those Overlords were known for, though, he can't really blame the guy - it's also hilarious that he killed them within days of learning about them solely because he thought they were the worst of humanity. That would be the part almost nobody knows, why he had and still has no remorse for any of the lives he took - they were monsters in their own right, ones that did far worse things than the one that killed them.
So, of course, Pride's Boogeyman would keep tabs on all his potential targets - he's honestly surprised he didn't kill Valentino long before meeting Eve.
They head to Zestial's first, and he looks more relieved than anything else for some reason - according to Alastor, leaning over so Zestial doesn't hear him, the guy's petrified of Calli for some reason.
Camilla Carmine is next, with her two daughters coming along.
Most of the other Overlords start following without a fuss, until they get to V-Tower…which is in utter chaos. People running everywhere, many of them gripping files and sheets of paper, and a general uproar that sounds like they all believe Hell is ending right then and there - it's so bad the entire group doesn't even get noticed at first, everyone running around in the general chaos.
After a moment, Lucifer heads up to the harried-looking receptionist, who's answering phone calls nonstop and looks like she's about to lose her mind. Of course, as soon as he gets to the desk - making his way through the tumultuous crowd and nearly getting trampled in the process - she freezes mid-sentence, staring at him like a deer in the headlights. After a solid minute of that, she squeaks out "I've gotta go, I'll return your call soon." She slams the phone down before grabbing another phone and quickly hitting the speed dial. "Eeliot, this is an emergency! I don't care what you have to say or do to get him out of whatever meeting he's in, just get Mr. Vox down here now!" She lets out a hysterical laugh, and hisses "Why?! I've got the King of Hell at my front desk- yes, the same guy that flat-out threatened him in the lobby that day, I saw the whole thing! Plus, he's got all the other Overlords with him. Am I s- yes, I'm sure! All but the Cannibal lady that runs Cannibal Town! Yes, including him! Of-fucking-course I'm sure! How could I mistake the guy for anyone else?! I'd send you a picture, but the guy's famous for being impossible to capture on camera! Whatever's going on, I'm positive they're here about it!"
Slamming the phone down on its receiver as well, the woman clears her throat and attempts to sound professional as she says "Mr. Vox will be down as soon as he can, Your Highness. He was in a meeting when you walked- er, portaled in."
Lucifer glances around at the sheer chaos, chaos that's only gotten worse now that the group of Overlords has been noticed, and asks "Yeah…what, exactly, is going on, by the way?"
She lets out a semi-hysterical laugh, and says "Hell may be ending, and is about five times more on fire than it usually is."
After about a minute and a half, Vox zaps into the room from a security camera, looking almost as frazzled as everyone else - the only reason he doesn't look as frazzled as everyone else is solely because he's got a tv for a head with a screen for a face - no hair to get messy, no sweat running down his face. He still manages to look stressed as all hell, even when it's clear he's trying very hard to at least look calm and put-together. After forcing his way through the crowd of people, Vox straightens his jacket and says "Normally I'd welcome you to V-Tower and offer a tour…but I'm guessing you're here about earlier."
"Got it in one. War meeting. Grab Velvette and whoever it is you've found to replace your ex-bug if you found one, we're bringing all the Overlords in on the planning as Pride Ring is more than likely going to be the frontline for any battles that take place."
Taking advantage of the wait for Velvette - as she needs to get down to the lobby, Lucifer opens up another portal to Cannibal Town for Rosie to come through.
Finally, Velvette gets down the stairs and makes her way through the crowd of people Vox has managed to somewhat disperse, and they make their way through the portal Lucifer opens up directly into the room the war meeting is currently happening in.
Only to stop dead when they see Calli standing in the room, looking dead on her feet while Lilith has her face covered by one hand in what's clearly a facepalm, the rest of the room looking various amounts of dumbfounded, flabbergasted, and utterly resigned, and Emily looking about ready to just drop with Charlie and Octavia on either side of her just keeping her upright.
Calli snaps her head over to look at him at once, downing a Pepper-Up if the steam coming from her ears as she walks over is any indication, and immediately says "Great, everyone's here. Catch me up, please - how long was I out, has Sera tried anything else, and what plans do we have?"
There's a heavy, near-suffocating silence in the room for a moment, until Asmodeus snorts and says "Let me get this straight, Calli. You and Lucifer unleashed enough magic up here to be felt all the way down in Envy, you flew up to Heaven up there in the sky and Warded the entire thing so nobody could come back that way, I'm not even gonna ask how that's even possible, and somehow you're awake after only around a few hours of being out cold after all of that?" He's got complete faith that she actually did all that...but he's sure she's got to be barely hanging onto consciousness even with those Pepper-ups. If it were him, he wouldn't even be functional, not even seeing straight no matter how many fast-acting potions he downed.
Mammon adds "Fuck's sakes, how are you even awake right now? Much less convinced you're going to be able to remember anything of this?"
Calli downs another Pepper-Up, and says "This isn't the first time I've gone to war dead on my feet. Least this time, we'll have some semblance of a plan, and I'll have backup. No, you're not getting me out of this room or getting me sitting down, no matter who it is that asks. We don't have time for me to crash once more. Everybody find a seat and pay attention. You see a flaw somewhere or have an idea, speak up. You're not here to nod along and keep your comments to yourself."
Velvette and Vox trade glances as they pick two chairs next to each other - this is not a side to the red-headed woman they've seen before, even with the several hours they spent deep-cleaning her kitchen. They saw glimpses of it, yes, but they also spent several hours of listening to her banter back and forth with Lucifer, Charlie, Stolas, Alastor, listened as she filled the silence with humming or playing some music. This, though…for all that her title is the Royal Family's Ambassador…right now, she reminds the two of them more of a general than anything else. Looks like they've got the last piece of the puzzle as to how she took on all of Hell - apparently single-handedly, from what records the two of them managed to dig up - and won, legitimizing the royal family's rule in the first place.
She's apparently got a mind for strategy and a sense for battle like a shark for blood, and just turned it to politics after the fighting was all over and the Morningstar family was ruling.