Furuichi whistled as the Old Imperial Dungeons Corrective Facility came into view. He had created many mental images of the building, but none came even close to the giant towering castle. It looked old and forbidden, full of arches, towers and walkways at sharp drop-offs. Windows were far and few between. Many surfaces were covered with rusty spikes.

"It looks like something you never ever want to be on the inside of", said Kunieda. "I guess that's the idea, too."

"The architect spent five years, just showing drawings of the building to little children, to see what would scare them the most", said Hilda. "In two hundred years, nobody ever managed to break out. Hundreds of inmates died trying."

"I am scared. Takayuki, protect me!" said Alaindelon.

"But we have a plan, right?" said Kunieda. "This place is giving me the shivers, too. I don't think we'll be able to fight our way in."

"Of course not. We will go in through the front door. After all, we're bringing a prisoner of Kaiser Emperana de Beelzebub IV himself.", said Hilda.

"Oh? And who is that supposed to be?", asked Furuichi, although he had a feeling that he wouldn't like the answer.

Getting the respect of big demons, who were in the toughest demonic jail for at least the fifth time, wasn't easy. Akephalos had quite his share of experience with that. These people wanted money, and they were willing to deal with a lot of crap to get it, but they saved their actual respect for the people who could beat them. Akephalos did not qualify. It was never a problem initially, since his money was more than good enough, but keeping such a bunch actually under control was never easy. However, listing to them, one guy they did respect was Oga. Just great…

"Look, say what you want, dude, but that Oga guy really messed up Freddie and his crew. I ain't getting on his bad side if I can help it", said one of them. He was twice as tall as Akephalos would be if he had a head, and weighed at least eight times as much. From the prison records, Akephalos knew that this one could tear down smaller buildings, with or without the inhabitants, which had landed him here to begin with. It was hard to imagine someone like him being scared of someone like Oga. Akephalos said as much.

"Listen, boy", replied the giant demon. "I ain't scared, I'm careful. The difference being that one will get you killed and the other will keep you alive. Especially if you want to use either of these words to describe me again, got it?"

"Oh, you're just a big wuss,"said the other demon. She looked like an eight year old girl with a giant hair bow. In reality, she was at least sixty years old, and the description of her crimes had come with a big red warning sign, reading "do not read if you've just eaten."

"He's just some scrawny human. And what's more, we won't be fighting him anyway. If all goes well, he'll never know what we did. So the problem isn't him. The problem is our new friend here. Can you deliver?"

At this, she turned to Akephalos, and cast him a smile that some people might call dangerous. He didn't really know; it was not as if he had big uses for smiles.

"Of course I can", he replied. "You'll get a royal family pardon, if you just rattle some bars, maybe throw a few punches… a nice little riot. The guards are in it, too, and I'll take care of the camera images. Just remember: Oga Tatsumi was the ringleader."

Kunieda knew a lot of good qualities in Hilda, as well as a lot of annoying ones. What she had never suspected were how many could be considered both. In particular, she always found the demon's maid arrogance to be particularly grating. But right now, it was proving to be a valuable asset. The demon maid simply strode into the prison as if she owned the place, something not easy to pull off when you're also carrying a naked baby.

Also an asset were Furuichi's acting skills. His aura of fear as their prisoner was incredibly convincing. Alaindelon, Angela and Lamia were all at various stages in between, but as "support troops" that was probably acceptable. Aoi only hoped that her own uneasiness didn't shine through.

The entrance desk was protected by more iron bars than normally seen outside a barbecue. Behind it, a single demon sat lazily, but stood up as he saw the little crowd appearing. He eyed them suspiciously.

"We come with a prisoner of Kaiser Emperana de Beelze…", began Hilda, but the guard cut her off.

"Where's your paperwork?" he said.

"Paperwork?" asked Hilda in her most offended voice. "Listen, man. This" – she held up Beel - "is the son of the great demon king himself. He has, through tireless efforts, captured a dangerous criminal and brought him here himself. You don't need more paperwork than that."

"Don't care. Nobody comes in without form A 38 says my boss. No offense to the royal family and all, ma'am, but without the proper paperwork, I…"

"Alright, alright" said Hilda. "So where do I get this form A 38?"

"I don't know; the people who bring prisoners always have one. You should probably ask your Lawful Officer of Legalities for the proper procedure to get a Request Official Form Letter. Then you…"

Kunieda saw how Hilda began drawing her sword from her hilt, and tensed. There was no way they were getting in through that way, and now the guards knew their faces. If they had any chance of securing Oga, they would have to act fast and…

Furuichi spoke up. "A 38? Don't you mean A 39? It's been standardized by general report B 65."

"B 65?", replied the guard cautiously. He was clearly surprised. "I ain't never heard of B 65. Maybe the department on internal memos forgot something. Hang on a second, I gotta call…"

The guard started speaking into a speakerphone, occasionally asking Furuichi something. Kunieda decided to take the moment and dragged Hilda over to a side.

"Please, tell me that this is not the quality of planning for the entire mission", she said. "I don't want to die in a demonic prison."

"What's your problem? It's working, isn't it?", said the demon defensively.

"Yeah, because our prisoner is explaining why he should go in." Aoi pointed at Furuichi, who was now discussing "the applicability of standing order 47" with two different demons. Alaindelon had taken over the guard role, although he seemed to stand a bit closer to the silver-haired delinquent than strictly necessary.

Kunieda took a deep breath, and continued at a whisper. "So what is your plan for getting out of here? Remember, we can't rely on Oga punching out everyone. If that worked, he wouldn't be in here to begin with."

Hilda smiled. "Of course not. There is an underground river, used to dispose of trash. Its normal entry is grated, but there are other ways out that the guards don't know about I only found out because the Great Demon King had lost a Pokémon card down here and I… stop that giggling!"

Kunieda obliged, although it wasn't easy. Hilda walking through the sewage like that… Still, one doubt remained.

"So we're getting in by pretending we're a prisoner transfer, then we're rescuing someone, and we get out via the garbage chute. I think I've seen that movie before."

"And it worked there, didn't it? Besides, nobody here will ever have seen it."

That sure sounded like hell, but before Kunieda could say so, Furuichi spoke out.

"Alright then! We're supposed to go to cell 47 until they've figured out the paperwork. Come along… I mean, please, don't throw me in here!"

Oga had always considered himself very knowledgeable (even if Furuichi, the idiot, disagreed. Not everyone could appreciate genius, after all). But there were still things that could surprise him. For example, he would have never thought that Hilda was the best demonic cook there was. Well, at least better than the jail food, but quite a lot of the demons around him apparently really enjoyed the meals here. And to be honest, it took a certain special skill to prepare food that was both way too spicy and way too bland.

He wondered what weirdness that fish-faced fan demon had been referring to. It was almost evening, and nothing interesting had happened yet. The other demons weren't behaving oddly either. They were all trying to look overly casual and tried to avoid eye contact with him. That was standard civilian behavior around him, so no reason to worry, right?

He stood up and turned to leave back to his cell. Suddenly, someone shouted his name. Dozens of other demons repeated the call. He turned around, but found that nobody actually seemed to care much about him.

A nearby guard approached the demons and asked them, in an overly dramatic, slow and loud voice to please stop this disquiet. He stole the odd glance at the ceiling, where Oga saw a video camera. After a few seconds, the guard had found the precise spot where he would be fully in focus, and repeated his request.

In return, a demon stepped forward, and with a great show of effort, threw his fist past the guard's head. It missed by a mile, but the guard obligingly collapsed anyway, screaming "Aarrrgh!" like a pirate.

The show was apparently over, and the rowdy demons began to leave the mess hall. Nobody seemed to care much about Oga, but they kept shouting his name.

What the fuck was going on here?

"I don't know how demons run their prisons", said Furuichi, "but I'd have expected some guards around here."

Hilda wanted to chastise him for being a fool, but sadly, he was right. Since the gate, no guards had stopped them, or even just shown their faces. It rather clashed with her memories of the place. Of course, at that time she was on an official mission from the demon king, with appropriate paperwork thanks to his advisor, and the guards did their very best to make a good impression and appear busy.

"There were some guards a minute ago", said Alaindelon. "They looked at their watches, and then they left rather hurriedly."

"Let's be on our guards then", said Kunieda. "No matter what is going on, it won't help us if it catches us unawares."

She had a point, Hilda had to admit. Once more, she cursed herself. It was her job to keep the young master away from any danger. This probably did not qualify.

Lamia checked her documents again for Oga's cell number. It hadn't changed, but clearly she wanted to help, too. Hilda wondered whether it was for Oga's benefit, or to please Beel. After a second, she realized that Lamia might also be in it for Hilda's sake.

They passed three open security doors when they saw the first signs of something happening. Two demons in prison clothes were trying to break off a radiator, or rather discussing the best way to break off the radiator so it would like random violence.

The first of them was literally as tall as he was wide and probably could have broken the radiator by walking too close to it. As he noticed Hilda's team, he expressed some surprise at the fact that visitors were in the prison, using an astonishing amount of expletives. He had not been briefed about that.

Hilda pointed out that prisoners had no right to know about this, and made a mental note to remember some of the more creative expressions, in case Oga gave her reason for using them.

The second demon was green, tiny, and clearly unhappy about the visitors.

"Dude, what are we gonna do?" he said. "I don't think they're paid off. If they say anything about what happens here, the entire thing will crumble like the king's sand castle. And I guarantee you, it's not the bigwigs with the money who'll take the fall for that."

The fat demon showed a wicked smile. "So what you're basically saying is, we should stop these little birds from singing, right? You know, I always wanted to know whether it's true what they say about demon maids. Rough on the outside, easily broken bones on the inside."

Hilda shot Kunieda a quick glance, and saw her own resolve mirrored. They both unsheathed their swords simultaneously.

Oga hadn't felt this confused since his parents held an awkward talk about birds, bees and the fact that storks weren't real. Only years later did he realize that they had meant sex. He hoped very much that this wasn't the case with the prisoners now.

The ones who shouted his name and punched guards were confusing enough. The ones who ran up to him and told him to leave them alone were baffling, too. But none were quite as difficult to understand as those who wished him well and kept saying stuff about more whiskey, better mattresses, and replacing the broken Famicom in the common room. How exactly was any of that his problem?

Still, people trusted in him, which was probably because they had realized how awesome he was. He was about to step onto a table and hold a motivating speech, when a series of loud shouts disrupted the situation. None of the demons near him had any idea what this could possibly mean, but all were certain that something truly weird had to be going on, and that you'd live longer if you stood a long way away.

He didn't need to be told twice. Within a second, the master delinquent was walking towards the source of the noise.

Hilda had seen plenty of movies where people stood on mountains of defeated enemies. What she had never realized was how hard it would be to keep your balance, especially if the mountain kept complaining that you stood on someone's nose.

Kunieda was standing by her side, doing her share in growing the mountain. But she had also become restless. She insisted that Hilda had led them to a dead end.

In theory, that was not true. They needed to get from a balcony overlooking a courtyard to another balcony overlooking the same courtyard from the opposite site. Easy enough, except that the way through the courtyard was blocked by a battle between guards and prisoners. The way through the third balcony was blocked by the incoming demons, who seemed less and less eager to go up against the "little girls", but who still would not be persuaded to move out the way. The reality of the situation was that they were stuck, thanks to Hilda's planning. Not a pleasant thought.

Suddenly, on the other balcony, a certain someone with familiar black and spiky hairs appeared. His face lit up when he saw her. Well, the entire group of them. Whether Hilda on her own would get such a reaction… She quickly decided that continuing this line of thought would not provide any benefits.

"Yo, Hilda", shouted Oga. "Do you have any plans for getting out of here?"

Of course, he had seen the problem, too, and it seemed rather unlikely that the malcontent demons blocking the way would allow him through. But now that he didn't need to be physically freed from his cell, things looked a great deal easier.

"Head to the nearest garbage chute!", she shouted, which the young master punctuated with a loud "Dah!". It was hard to see over the distance, but Oga seemed confused.

"Wait, what?", he shouted. Damn it, he doubted her strategies, too? Well, not a big surprise. Despite all they had been through together, it had mostly been him who performed the actions, while she had watched from the sidelines. He didn't really have any reason to…

"Okay, but bitch, this better work!", he shouted suddenly.

That was a relief. She had begun to doubt her abilities to lead people. It was not, after all, a skill she normally had to use as a demonic maid.

Kunieda still looked a bit doubtful, but nevertheless, she agreed. While Oga disappeared on his balcony, they went through the nearest garbage chute on their side. The mission had been a success.

The journey through the garbage system was unpleasant. The reunion wasn't. Before anyone could say anything, Beel had already sprinted to his father and was hugging him with all his might. Oga ruffled his son's hair and beamed. He looked around and saw Hilda, who looked just as pleased, but quickly tried to hide it. For half a second, he thought she would hug him, too, but that was clearly wrong. Hilda would never do that. Neither would he. At least not while people were looking.

"Erm… thanks", said Oga quietly. There was quite a lot more he wanted to say, but he didn't know how it would be received. There was a reputation he had to maintain. "I'm glad you came.", he added.

"Of course", said Hilda. "I mean, the young master wouldn't shut up, so I had to…"

Was it just Oga's impression, or was she not quite as composed as usual? He wanted to ask, but before he could, Furuichi told them all to get a move on. Apparently, he was scared.

The underground river was barely more than a trickle, and the prison guards liked to keep it that way. It had been discovered only long after the prison had been built, and it was a lot easier to keep it secret as long as it did not make any noise. Sadly, the river was not always accommodating.

Ever so often, more water came from the mountains, and the carefully maintained tiny outlet would be too little to drain it all. Thanks to decades of reinforcement, the excess water didn't manage to break it, but that only meant that the liquid found routes through the rocky terrain underneath the prison. The guards never quite managed to keep up with closing all the tiny holes that the water broke open. That was what Hilda had counted on when she designed the plan, and it seemed that the river was on her side.

The flip side of this all was that the path outside was narrow and tight. A few larger caves had formed, but most of the time, they had to walk and occasionally crawl in single file.

They were just about to enter one of these when Oga, now again with Beel on his back, told the others to go on ahead and stopped Hilda.

"I just wanted to say… you know, thank you, and…", Oga began to stutter. "Look, what I want to say is, I'm really glad that… er, no, let me start over…"

One of Hilda's oldest instincts screamed to make fun of him. All this uncertainty was not becoming of a demon lord's father. But another instinct, one she didn't know she actually had before, overrode this and told her to keep quiet and not destroy the moment.

But she needn't have bothered. A scream from one of the others broke the silence. For a second, Oga actually seemed relieved that he didn't have to say whatever it was that he apparently urgently wanted to say. Then he told her that she should wait, and he was going to check it out.

Not a chance. She waited a second, then followed behind him through the gap. After a few seconds, she saw him reach the next big cave. And then he screamed, "Stay back! That guy wasn't a fan after all!"

She looked out, and what she saw almost stopped her heart. Kunieda, Furuichi and the others were bound and gagged, watched over by fish-faced guard demons. She recognized the uniforms. Those were not guys she was happy to meet. Oga was wrestling with one of them, but it wouldn't last long. The tranquilizer dart in his thigh made that much clear.

His eyes caught hers, and she saw that he was shocked. Then, he had an idea.

"Beel, take Hilda and run!", he shouted. The young master looked pleadingly at his father for a second, but Oga was having none of it. He took him from his back and threw him at Hilda. The impact sent her flying a few meters back into the cave.

"Dah-buh!", shouted the young master. Despite being separated from his father again, he seemed happy to contribute to the plan, whatever it was.

"Now run, Hilda, run!", shouted Oga. Then he punched the wall.

Rocks began tumbling down around her as the plan became obvious. He was planning to close the route, so she and the young master could escape. Damn that stupid selfless sewer rat! Hilda had half a mind to kill him for his insolence, but sadly, the plan worked. She had to scramble to get out. The last thing she saw of him was a rare smile as the tranquilizer took over.

It was an hour later. Oga had been right when he thought that there would be a second exit. Of course, it was only a matter of time before the prison guards would find it, too, but she could be long gone by then. First, she and the young master needed to stop and think about the situation. Most importantly, they needed to catch their breath. The young master was shivering, and it took all of Hilda's power to keep him from crying.

Not that she was in much better shape. She was exhausted, dirty, and her dress was full of holes. This mission had been a total failure. She had meant to save Oga, the way he always did for everyone else. He made it look so easy. But now he and her friends, acquaintances and Furuichi were captured in a cell, with no easy way out. The only reason she and the young master got out because Oga had once again saved them, at the cost of his own freedom. The irony was not lost on her. Now she and the young master were alone, fugitives, up against people who deeply scared her.

Well, shit. What now?

Author's note: That took a while, didn't it? Thank you for all your patience!

This represents a major departure from the original route that I wanted this story to take, so I am not yet sure how or when it will continue. But I guarantee that I will finish it.

If you're interested in more discussion about what this chapter was supposed to be at the start, and why it ended up like this, I wrote a bit in the "Beelzebub Fans" forum here on .