They made a stop at the bank, where Lucas traded in some reals for dollars, and then Rachel led the way while they searched for an entrance to Hell's Kitchen. David hung back a bit, looking over the taller angel. She wasn't quite sure what to make of Lucas. In a way, she reminded her of Rachel; they were both free-spirited and didn't seem to care much about what people thought of them. Rachel was largely good-natured, though, even when provoked. She thought back to the time the devil-girl had interceded between her and Tiffany; even then, she'd been in enough of a good mood to be snarky about it. Lucas, on the other hand, had a bit of a vitriolic streak; but then, it wasn't like she was really wrong to be upset. Still...
"Y-you were kind of rude back there..." she said. Lucas glanced back at her. "So? He was an asshole."
"Well, yeah, but...for all the points you made, now he's probably just going to be made because you made fun of him. And you kinda threatened him too, carrying a sword around and talking like that..."
The angel of vengeance sighed. "Yeah, well...I don't think he was really going to listen in the first place, I just had to vent...as for the sword, I never made any threatening moves, I just pointed out that he better not attack me..."
David sighed. "But...I mean, don't we want to avoid things getting violent? It's one thing to respond to an actual threat..."
Mark shrugged. "I dunno," she said, "people tend to push as far as they can when there's no visible threat of reprisal. Give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile..."
Lucas nodded. "People like that especially. I mean, I get where you're coming from, but...it's a rare 'moral victor' that really accomplishes much. Sometimes you just gotta get your hands dirty. And I wouldn't shed too many tears over these rats..."
David frowned. "They are jerks, yeah, but...they are people, even with all that...I just don't like it, is all."
Rachel flashed a grin back at her. "That's 'cause you're a softie," she said. "But that's okay, you wouldn't be the same without that. Hey, here we are!"
The angel-girls looked up to see a slightly dilapidated building with plywood over one window and plastic tarp hung in the other. The only sign that it was more than a vacant rental space was the "OPEN" light hanging inside the glass door, and the filtered hubbub of a busy crowd coming from inside. Rachel went up to the door and opened it, motioning the angels inside.
Mark and Lucas looked around the interior of Hell's Kitchen. Like most, they were a bit surprised when they realized that it didn't really conform to the building they'd entered from. Unlike David, Mark didn't feel particularily out of place; she had been in environments much seedier than this more than once in the course of her life. She couldn't quite tell how Lucas felt about it, but she seemed more or less at ease.
One of the larger devils came over to the group. "You're gonna have to leave your sword at the door," he said.
Lucas shrugged. "Sorry, I can't. It's part of me, kind of; I can't be parted from it. I can hide it, if it bugs people, but I can't leave it here."
The bouncer frowned. "I don't have time for games. We're busy today."
Lucas was about to protest when Rachel stepped in. "It's okay, they're with me," she said, then put on a mock-secret pose. "Honestly, I think she's the one you'd have to worry least about trying to open up a can of whoop-ass on the unrighteous, judging by some of the things she's said..."
He eyed them for a long moment, then nodded. "Okay," he said. "But put it away." Lucas nodded and hid her sword somewhere or other where it couldn't be seen, and the four of them entered the restaurant proper.
