Edit-Just a quick note to all the people following this story that the sequel story is now up, Reversed Fates-The Chronicles

One month later

The brothers stood outside of the newly finished shop. Vergil, with some small assistance from Mary, had been hard at work for the last couple of weeks furnishing the building. Dante had not been involved, and in fact Vergil had not even told him where the office was until today. He wanted it to be a surprise.

They now stood side by side, Dante in a slightly different red coat with a black vest now covering his chest. Among the first of Vergil's demands had been that Dante dress properly, and he had refused to be seen in public with him until Dante gave into the demands. Dante was now covering his eyes, which were closed.

"How much longer I gotta stand here and wait?"

"Just one more moment." Vergil said as he walked over and turned on the power. "Ok, you can look now."

He opened his eyes, and saw that the front of the building had been done up in such a way that it looked like a regal manor. Up above the door, a blue neon sign was lit up, with the new shop's name of "Devil May Cry".

"Nice. Love the neon sign, by the way."

"I thought you'd appreciate that." Vergil had decided already not to tell Dante that the only reason he had gone with a neon sign is that it was the only thing he could get commissioned on such short notice. He wasn't terribly pleased with it, but maybe it'd grow on him.

"Let's move this inside."

The two entered the shop, and the theme of fancy regal manor continued, from the walls, to the chandeliers, to the desk, to the bookcases stacked with various books on demonology, even the display mounts which had a combination of conventional arms picked by Mary and Vergil's demonic devil arms looked fancy. In the middle of the large room sat a staircase that led upstairs to a large balcony area, and around the room were various unmarked doors that led elsewhere. Dante looked around, nodding.

"I can see what you were going for, bro. Feels like home, don't it?"

"It is our home now, Dante. And you will be expected to clean up after yourself. I will not have pizza stains on the furniture."

"No promises." At that moment, a knock came at the door. Vergil turned to get it, but Dante quickly ran in front of him.

"No no, that's for me " Vergil raised an eyebrow as Dante opened the door, was handed 2 pizzas, and paid the man.

"Where did you find the time to arrange for a delivery before we even got here?"

"Did it while you were on the can." He went to drop it on the desk, but Vergil caught the boxes and placed them on a small table next to the desk that had a slightly cheaper look.

"Your pizzas go there."

"Shit, you went through the trouble of buying me a pizza table? I'm touched."

"I just don't want sauce on the furniture."

Dante flopped into the desk chair while Vergil took a seat on a sofa off to the side.

"So. Kinda don't wanna ask, but, I gotta." Dante asked between bites. "How the hell did you swing this? How much is the rent going to be on this monster?"

"Rent? We don't rent, brother. We own this office "

Dante choked on his pizza, and had to take a moment to clear his throat. "You're shitting me."

"Have you ever known me to joke about this kind of thing?" Vergil asked as he held up a deed.

"….How the hell did you get a loan for this place? What bank did you go to?"

"Several. Apparently I have no credit, so I was turned down by them all."

"So…..how the hell did you pay for this?"

"I took out a personal loan."

"Personal…..no no no, bro, don't tell me you went to a loan shark. Please don't tell me that, we might need to change our names if you did that."

"I wouldn't call her that to her face, unless you like the idea of being shot again."

"I don't like the idea of a bunch of mafia goons trying to bang down our door and-" Dante trailed off. Vergil just reached for a glass of wine next to him, and took a sip, smirking. "Wait. Shot again? Vergil…..you didn't…."

He continued to smirk as the roar of a motorcycle became audible, halting in front of the office.

"You put us in debt to HER!?" He yelled. A second later, the door opened, and Mary entered, looking around.

"I like what you've done with the place, Vergil."

"Did you see the name?"

"I did, don't think I don't remember where you got that. I should charge you royalties every time you use it." She said, wagging her finger with a smirk. She reached over, grabbing the deed out of Vergil's hand. "Thank you, I'll just hold onto this until you pay me back my money."

"As you wish."

"Neon sign's kinda tacky, though, don't you think?"

"Hey, hey, don't hate on the sign!" Dante turned to Vergil. "I can't believe you did this and didn't even ask me first!"

"Didn't we agree that you couldn't be bothered to handle the finances, and I should deal with it?"

"Yes, but you should still ask before you take out a loan from your scary girlfriend!"

"We're not dating." Both Vergil and Mary said at the same time.

"All I'm saying, is that they have a saying about this situation, Vergil. "Bros before-""

"Finish that sentence and you'll regret ever being born male." Mary said, giving her rocket launcher's bayonet an unsubtle look.

"I can't believe you'd do this to me, Vergil."

Vergil was still smirking as he sipped at his wine again.

"So." She turned to Vergil. "My things are in the saddlebags outside. I have someone bringing the rest of my boxes later, but where should I unpack?"

"Up the stairs, straight back, you have your own room, and I took the liberty of installing you a personal bathroom."

"Thank god."

"Woh, hold up a second. Time out." Dante stood up, putting his hands in a T. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Mary chuckled. "You didn't tell him?"

"I was getting to it." Vergil looked over at Dante, who was looking confused. "She'll be joining us as a partner in the business."

"But…don't I get any say in this?"

"No." Both Vergil and Mary said at the same time. Dante reached for a slice of pizza, only for it to be stolen by Mary, who took her time taking a bite.

"Hmmmm….this is good pizza."

"I know. That's why I ordered it for myself." Dante threw up his hands as he grabbed another slice. "Alright, well, if I'm stuck with you, I need to know your name."

"Mary."

Dante shook his head. "That name doesn't suit you at all."

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Mary said as she leaned in.

"I mean that's way too nice a name for a scary person like you. I ain't using it "

"Screw you!"

"Nope. We gotta think up a better one."

"Vergil! Make him cut it out!"

Vergil shook his head. "I'm afraid he's as hardheaded as you. Once he decides something, there's no changing his mind."

"Hmmmmmm….. problem is I'm not the best with names…"

"Then maybe you should just call people by their real names!"

"Maybe a nickname….Boomer?"

"Sounds too male." Vergil said.

"Shorty?"

"And what if she grows?"

He gave Mary's large bayonet a look. "Bayonetta?"

"That's a bit of a reach, don't you think?"

"Hey!" Both of the brothers blinked, and looked at an outraged Mary. "Don't I get any say in this?"

"No." Both of the brothers said at the same time, causing her to cross her arms.

"Hell, I don't know. You got any ideas, Vergil?"

"Well, for a while she refused to give me her name, and I just called her "Woman".

"Eh, that's a little too…..you."

"I'm a lady, thank you very much!" Mary said as she pointed a finger in Vergil's face.

"Perfect!" Mary looked over at Dante, confused.

"What is?"

"Lady. That's your new name. Nice and short and snappy."

"No!"

Vergil shook his head. "We could always call you Woman"

"You said you thought my name suited me!"

"I reconsidered after looking at your interest rates. Even a demon wouldn't go so far. And didn't you threaten to castrate him a few minutes ago?"

She threw up her hands. "Fine, call me whatever you want!"

"Lady it is." Dante said with a smug grin of victory. "So, Lady, where did you even get the cash to finance this place? Weren't you a little busy to be making a fortune on the side?"

"I had less expenses then you think, mainly ammo, and there was plenty of demons left in his wake that I was happy to clean up for a fee." She said as she took a seat." But no, what happened is that my family had considerable sums of money, before everything happened. He never touched it, he knew I was monitoring the account for any hint of his location. They discovered his body, and as it turns out, he never bothered to alter the will. So I inherited everything. House, bank account, a couple of stocks…."

"Some people just have all the luck."

"I wouldn't call what happened "Lucky"."

"Oh, er…." Dante scratched the back of his head. "Sorry…."

"Well, I can't change it, but I'll be making the most of what I got. I sold the house, and that's the money Vergil got from his loan."

"So what you're saying…" Dante reached for his pizza. "Is you can afford your own pizza."

"Now why would I order my own when I can just take yours?"

Suddenly, the sounds of breaking glass sounded through the room. However, rather then a window breaking, various black robed demons holding scythes leaped out of thin air, landing in the office. Dante and Vergil slowly got to their feet.

"That time again? Alright, bro, new month, score's reset."

"Think you can beat me this time?"

"Damn straight."

Mary looked at their unconcerned reactions. "This happen often around here?"

"We are sometimes attacked by demons, due to who our father is." Vergil explained. "With the two of us together, those attacks have become more frequent."

"So, we made a game out of it. Every month, we tally up who gets the most kills, and they're Employee of the Month."

Mary smirked, walking up next to them. "I like that idea. Count me in." She reached for her rocket launcher.

"Not in the office!" Vergil yelled at her. Slowly, she took her hand off of it and drew her normal pistols.

"You're no fun." She sulked at him. Dante, meanwhile, just laughed.

"You sure you can keep up?" Dante asked.

"We could always offer her a handicap." Vergil said "Each of her kills counts for two of-"

A pair of gunshots rang out, and two demons fell dead.

"Too slow, two for me! Take that handicap and stuff it!"

"Hey, you can't jump the gun, Lady!" Dante complained. "That's breaking the rules!"

Two more demons fell to gunshots. "I can't hear you over the sound of you losing!"

Vergil and Dante picked up their weapons.

"Hey, we still have to say the line!" Dante yelled.

"Oh my god, I thought you were kidding about that, Vergil."

"Why does everyone continue to assume I am joking?"

"You're the straight man, bro, that's why."

"But it's so cheesy!"

"If I have to say it, you do."

Dante knelt down in front of Mary and Vergil, holding his guns sideways, while Mary pointed hers in a more standard manner and Vergil entered an Iaido stance.

"Alright." Dante said. "Together now!"

"Let's rock!"

And there we have it. The most consistent thing I've seen said in reviews is "Do more". So my question is, where should I go from here? There's two options, I go right to DMC 1 which, given DMC 1 has much less in terms of story, is going to be mostly me writing from scratch (And frankly I will admit I'm not sure how I'd even keep it interesting, unlike 3 there's no real presence from anything but the 3 bosses, one of which does not talk, until the final mission so it'd just be the trio walking around shooting demons, there's only so much I can do with that) Or, I do something more slice of life. Gives me more freedom to work with, but would require far more time and effort to ensure it's not terrible or I don't screw up some obscure lore detail or anything like that. Regardless of what one it is, it will likely be some time before I get around to writing it.