Life outside captivity isn't as different as she thought

Beelzebub had all sorts of grand ideas for what she'd do once she was out of her pocket dimension. First, she'd start out touring all the fine dining locations in town. Sure, she'd had good food in captivity, but not new food-- it was one of the things she was looking forward to the most. Next, she'd take to the theaters and see what sort of dramas people were watching these days. Humans were always so ingenious when it came to little plays and shows based on their otherwise insignificant woes-- it was such a delight to see what the human minds could come up with, so ignorant of the realities of hell. Finally, she'd finish by hitting the town and redoing her whole look. She liked her wardrobe, but fashion was always moving forward, and she was sure she'd become many years outside the times.

Instead of the town, Beelzebub found just how deathly serious the Helltaker had been about keeping her locked down for the good of humanity. She thought he'd get it out of his system by the first day. The over-world food she'd had a chance to sample was Chinese takeout (not even authentic Chinese, she noticed). The theater she'd had a chance to watch was daytime soap operas on the television when the others weren't using it. The clothing she'd had a chance to try out was one of Zdrada's old shirts that happened to fit her, which still smelled of the smoke of one-thousand cigarettes.

"I'm certain the others had clothing they could have lent me. That damnable Lucifer wants to make this **** for me," she growled, as she sat upon her hammock in the laundry room and held her knees. They hadn't even had a spare room for her, though the Taker had told her he was working on it. To hear the other girls talk about it, he'd been trying to reshuffle the rooms to fit them all comfortable since the day they moved in, like it was one of those little puzzles he was so fond of. She didn't have a lot of faith he'd figure this one out any time soon. All of the demons here in this household were like extra jigsaw pieces that didn't fit a puzzle.

"They're certainly just as much of a nuisance, anyway," Beelzebub groaned, leaning back into the makeshift hammock and kicking her bare legs up onto the wall above her head. The long shirt's hem fell away, revealing black, lace panties that didn't match the rest of her disheveled appearance. She couldn't stay like this. To have to hear the sound of her own laundry going through the wash... degrading! Utterly degrading! This was so much worse than her pocket prison had been.

And the worst part...

"What is that bedeviled man doing?!" she thought to herself, biting her thumb with agitation. The guy had been so into her that he'd figured out how to summon a hell portal and jumped through it with no way out, but now he couldn't even make time to go on a date with her? He should be the one taking her to dinner, to movies, to buy new clothes! What the hell did he have going on that was so much more important?!

The second day afforded her some more time to snoop around-- it was then that she began to understand exactly why he couldn't make time. He was indeed bedeviled, with far too many devils. The man was so unable to make up his mind on a girlfriend-- or perhaps polyamorous-- that he couldn't get clear of all of them to give her any private time. It was driving her crazy, watching him pet Cerberus or pour drinks for the Sour Demon, all demons far below her own power or station.

The ones he ended up spending the most time with were the ones who complained or made trouble. "The squeaky wheel gets the grease, hm?" she mused to herself, once again lying in her hammock, this time with nothing on but her bra and panties-- there was no point in dressing up if no one was paying her any attention. Her stormy glare was slowly replaced with her usual charismatic grin, curling up at both sides, as a scheme came to her. "So the key is to make trouble, is it? That's something I have a bit of experience with. It's time I stopped being such a gracious guest."

The Lord of Flies took a quick shower, reclaimed her clothes from the dryer, freshened herself up, then headed for the front door. If she was going to create trouble, she might as well do it heading out to sample the lights and sounds of the town. She'd been wanting to stretch her legs as her first order of business getting out of the pocket dimension! The Taker had a car, but she was just as happy flying-- a massive pair of insectoid wings spread out from behind her back as she flourished her hands out to either side, then gently lifted herself into the air with a low buzz. She didn't want to create mass panic going pure fly, but this much ought to be fine, right?

The dazed stare of a passerby walking his dog suggested she was wrong on that account, but she chose to ignore that.

"Where shall I go first? The clubs? The theaters? Or perhaps straight into--"

A jolt suddenly issued from her collar, causing her wings to buzz faster in surprise and making her teeth clench. Her eyes widened, with her pupils dilating inward and outward in a most undignified manner.

"The bushes?!"

The woman ended up with her ass sticking up out of the foliage and her jacket and wings caught on the shrubbery as her face peeked out from the lower side of the bushes. The vegetation had stopped her fall, but it didn't do a thing to protect her dignity, which was in shambles. Just then, the Helltaker, wearing a stern frown, came out with his arms crossed and Zdrada's buzzer under his thumb. "You can't take off without being supervised," he reminded her.

Beelzebub spat out a couple of leaves, then momentarily transformed her head from that of a lovely demon into that of a fly, snapping at him with her mandibles. "You dare to do this to-- uwwuwruruuugh!" she groaned, as another zap ran through her. "Are you telling me that masochistic demon actually finds this pleasurable?!"

"She does," Helltaker confirmed. Beelzebub wanted to know more about how he'd learned that, but she held her tongue, as he approached and crouched next to her. "All of the other girls are putting in the effort to adjust to the topside and not to bother other humans. You're going to have to do the same if you want to walk around town. Or fly. In fact, you should probably just forget about flying."

"Forget about flying?!" Beelzebub protested, rocketing out of the bush and standing upright.

"That's right. Look... Malina has her games. Lucifer works from home. Azazel has her research. Isn't there something you can do to fill up your time? I get it, you want to see the town and all of that, but we need a little more time for you to adjust to home life first. First off, so we can make sure we can trust you," he sighed, placing one hand on her shoulder.

"... You must take some time for recreation yourself, mustn't you?" Beelzebub questioned, swatting his hand away as she retook her usual freckled face and retracted her wings.

"I do. Look, anything that the girls and I do to occupy our time, you're free to try too if you like. I'll even do it with you, to show you it's not so bad."

"Hm hm hm... Well, now that you mention it... that does give me a certain thought," she chuckled, cupping one hand over her mouth with a sly smile peeking out behind it. It seemed she'd pivoted on a dime. The shock hadn't been planned, but she'd been looking for an opening and that part had played out like she'd hoped. She knew the Helltaker would prove to be a bit of a softie when it mattered. Now it was time to take full advantage of that weakness of his.