Hank swatted Joshua across the bank. "Seriously?! Seriously? Dude." He threw his hands aside with each question. "That's crazy. Let's be real, whole thing's pretty nuts from the start, part of living in hell, but, really."

Joshua tried to make himself seem smaller as he listened. "I had to do something. I'm not just going to let people die when I can help. That's wrong." He scratched behind his head.

Katie snickered at that. "Points for sticking to his guns. First overlord I can remember that ran with those rules. Real sweetheart you've got there." She gave a wink at Joshua before peering past him. "So, we have our three souls, we'll need a lot more than that. A lot more." She huffed a little as she patted her hand on her thighs. "But I figure, we should take the time we've got and build up your personal skills."

Behind them, a small television played the usual garbage that sinners ate up on the regular, promising distractions of violence, sex, and other vices. A commercial break peddled all manner of devices, drugs, and places to go. One such place seemed strange compared to the others. It spoke of a hotel offering up 'salvation' instead of the usual.

Winny turned around at the screen. "Uh, okay, is it just me or did that seem, like, odd? Salvation. In hell."

Joshua jumped up with a chirp. "They have a good idea though." The others looked at him strangely. "I mean, could we have a commercial?"

Katie threw a hand. "Oh! Yeah, that makes a lot more sense than what I was thinking. Commercials can be a great way to get the word around the city."

"Word of mouth is also pretty powerful." Joshua smiled at her as he sat back down. "Yeah, I guess we need a little something else to really help out here." He laughed nervously. "Not like we can build a website or something."

Hank shrugged expansively at that. "I have not found much of easy Internet access around here, so that's out. But you're thinking, bud. Good for that."

"I figure a few more commercials would do the trick. One big one, and a few small ones in other spots." Katie snapped her fingers. "Dollar per soul, not a bad deal at all. Speaking of, a normal sinner would have a hard time getting a commercial at all, but you, buddy boy—" She punched at Josh's side. "You're an overlord. Just one little soul's probably enough to get you some air time."

Josh squeaked, backing up at that. "What? No! Each one was trusted to me. Um, except the original set. That was more of an accident, but still, they're my friends! I'm not just giving them away!"

"Yeah." Hank tossed a handful of cards onto the table. "That's pretty fucked. Like, I guess I can understand. He's being dumb about this, but also, it makes sense." He rolled his eyes a little. "Look, for most of us, we figure being dead means that the chips are down." He clapped his feline hands together. "Not really looking forward to having my soul sold to the TV gods though. That'd somehow be a step even further down."

Katie threw up her hands. "Well, you're not a big freakin' deal like that smiling bitch on the ad. You can't just ask nicely and get a spot to sell what you got. So if you aren't up to using some of those souls, you're out of luck there."

"Um, we could give one soul, that's okay, right?" Joshua fidgeted with his hands as he spoke. "I just, you know, don't want to push it any further than that." He sagged in place. "No. No. I can't." His moment of bravery faded away, just imagining consigning some sinner to some dark fate. "They trusted me. That's my whole thing. I can't go betraying that trust."

Katie squinted at him. "Are you sure you even belong around here? Damn it all."

Winny ruffled Joshua's head. "I didn't think I'd end up with my soul owned by a dopey idiot, but I'll take this one if I have to pick one. You're a good one."

Hank stood up, tail flicking wildly behind him. "We need to start now. We don't know when they're coming back, but—" Motion caught his eye. He went to the window and peered out. "Oh. Nevermind. There's a huge timer right there."

Winny leaned over Hank to look outside. "Holy shit, dude. How much time is on that thing?" She yelped as she suddenly scrambled back from the window, taking cover behind Joshua. "I'm too young to die."

Joshua went to the window and gasped. "That isn't enough time!" He wriggled, tail lashing as he looked about in a moment of panic. "Okay. Calm. In. Out." He breathed purposefully, calming slowly. "Let's just do this."

Katie pumped a fist. "Alright! I'll call—"

"I mean we should all go outside and start talking to people, face to face." Joshua pointed to the door to his apartment. "Let's get the word out. It's a city, if we start talking, word can get spreading."

"Idiot." Katie hopped off the table. "Sure, that's true. You just said it, it's a city. A big one. Just how the hell are you going to talk to everyone?"

Winny started for the door with a little purr. "The more people talk, the further it can spread. If Josh wants us talking, I'm for it."

"Damn straight!" Hank's feline grin showed a lot of teeth. "What do we say though?"

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Joshua trotted after Winny, falling into step beside her as they reached the street outside. "Tell them I'll protect them, the price: One soul that I will guard, not lord over them. That's it."

Katie spread her arms wide with a hiss of a breath. "You are one stubborn bastard, you know that? Sure. We'll get that going." She whistled at a passing bird demon. With a quick exchange, she sent the demon squawking out to help in the news spreading. "Let's go talk to a bunch of dirty sinners."

The more they walked, the more word seemed to spread. Few of the sinners spoke much with Joshua and the others, but he did catch more than one eye following him. Eyes filled with hope, but some with darker intents.

It was, perhaps, all too easy to throw their chips behind someone offering a way to avoid the purge.

Joshua started with surprise as some large-breasted cow of a sinner, literally, got in his way. "Save me!" She grabbed his shoulders. "Please. I barely got out of the last purge."

"I will. Of course I will." He tried to wiggle free of her, but she wouldn't budge. "I just need one of your souls." He didn't mean it that way, but that was the deal, so that was the deal. "Not that I expect you have more than one?"

"Just one." She wriggled. "But why have a soul when you could have a good time?" She batted her lashes.

Katie suddenly sprang up between the two, shoving the cow away. "No deal. Besides, Josh ain't swayed by cheap sex. I know, I've tried." She gripped his paw tight in hers, putting a little tension into their fingers. "So sorry, he's busy helping everyone else right now."

The cow licked her lips slowly. "He can help me and help others. Why not have it all? There's more than one way to help people." She winked at Joshua as she took a step closer.

Josh colored at what he imagined the cow was offering. "Look, um, I need the souls. Each one makes me a little more powerful, and we need that to keep the angels away from the sinners that are trusting me to keep them safe."

Katie fell onto her rear end with a huff. "Dammit. Why you gotta be such a goody two-shoes?" She put her hands behind her head, glancing back at Joshua.

The cow let out an almost hysterical laugh. "You really mean it then? You're not after anything else?" She could see little else in Josh's face. "Wow. Look." She grabbed his hand. "Sign me up then. One soul's fine, so long as I'm around to see another day."

"Thank you!" Joshua nodded to her. "And if there's anything else we can do for you, please don't hesitate to ask."

Katie rolled her eyes. "If it involves fighting angels. That's what we're doing." She nudged Joshua way and down the street. "See ya!"

The cow chuckled softly. "Cute. You get him." She waved with a little wink to Katie. "Give him a nice time."

Joshua colored at that. "Katie?"

Katie huffed softly. "Don't look at me that way. I've already offered a hole before. You're the one that turned me down, remember? What, did you suddenly get a sex drive?"

Joshua recoiled at that, looking back to the street ahead of them. "We're working." He grumbled softly. "You're hard to understand sometimes."

"Really? All I do is be honest about my thoughts." She crossed her arms, spotting someone new. "Hey! Fuckwad! Wanna die next purge or get a chance of being protected?"

The word spread quickly after that, the truth coming out like an arrow loosed from a bow, cutting through the air and hitting the target with unstoppable speed. It didn't matter what someone had done on Earth, how badly they'd failed in life. None of them wanted to give up existing.

The real trick was that not every sinner simply hung out on the main streets.

Joshua looked up at the sign that hung over the neighborhood in front of them. "Cannibal Town. That's a thing? Why is that a thing?"

"You're seriously asking me that?" Katie shrugged at him. "Look, this isn't exactly my place, but I've had friends here. Might be something." She took a deep breath, walking ahead of Joshua. "You want to reach a lot of people? This is a good spot. You get one sick cannibal, you basically got all of them. They're kinda all or nothing."

Joshua nodded slowly as he followed behind Katie. "Okay. How do we explain this? These people seem a little, what, fixated?" He could see a gang of them tearing into an unmoving body there on the sidewalk.

"They are sinners, with one specific sin that binds them." Katie hopped over a puddle of something dark and thick, definitely blood. "If you have a problem with it, go cry about it somewhere else. You're in the flesh market, chubby boy."

"I'm not chubby!" Josh folded his arms around his chubby middle. "Do we just start talking to people then, like on the street?"

"You could try that." Katie waved at one of the cannibals not in the middle of lunch.

The cannibal waved back with a bright smile. For their unsavory habit, they seemed fairly approachable. "Katie! One of the few imps that 'slums' around us sinners. What brings you around?"

Katie grabbed Joshua by the wrist and pulled him closer. "We've got a little offer going for our new friend here. He's a saint. We're looking to make him an overlord, the big kind, biggest."

The cannibal sized up Joshua a moment. "You have ambitions. But tell me why? He looks like some scared thing that couldn't even get his teeth into an already prepared corpse."

"He has a name." Joshua held out a hand. "I'm Joshua. It's nice to meet you."

The cannibal laughed at that. "Bullshit. I don't care what your name is, you're just another dead man." He took the hand despite that. "Nice to meet you. Now, you already got a shimmer around you. Baby overlord, what are you peddling?"

Katie nudged Joshua with a smile. "Go on. Tell him."

Joshua met the cannibal's eyes and swallowed thickly. "Um, basically, the angels are coming back. They're gonna hit back sooner than usual, and it isn't good. I learned how to fight back against them. I'll protect you, and everyone. The more souls I have, the more I can fight."

The cannibal lifted his gaze skyward, licking his lips. "That is interesting." He patted his hands together. "I heard there was someone offering salvation, and they didn't look like a wimp like you." He tapped at his own chin. "But maybe they were looking for something else. You sound honest though. Fuck it, why not?" Just before they could clasp hands, another arm thrust in the way.

"Nuh uh." A female slid between them. "No souls swapping hands on this block without permission. Unless you're trying to pick a fight with Rosie, and I'm not voting on you if you are."