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Book 11 Atonement of the Gods Act 1 Finale

Prologue End of the Wrong Path

Thursday, December 9, 2049 Bunker beneath Syracuse ...

Natalia Kincade sighed softly. The vampire paced in a study. An ornate mirror hung from a sash around her hips. Her earth tone dress was a coordinated contrast to her smooth alabaster skin.

She glanced over at a man sitting on a cot in the corner.

People called him the oracle, a prophet, and many other endearing terms. Cybil J. Powalski opened and closed his hands twice. He grunted twice, and shrugged at nothing in general.

Natalia gazed at the floor, trying to emotionally digest his latest prophecy regarding the alleged future death of Reno Nevada.

"What happened to young Mr. Navada? Was his fiancée correct - did he survive? Or was the succubus," Natalia frowned. She tried so hard to remove feelings of attachment from the those who faithfully served her for so long.

Cybil tilted his head.

Natalia knew they were more than chess pieces on a board. The succubus was especially important to Natalia - they once had a romantic relationship many, many years ago.

"Mrs. Kincade?"

"I prefer 'Mistress,' if you please." Natalia licked her lips. "Was Karla correct when making the assumption that Reno Nevada may have died?"

Cybil sat up on the cot. "Mistress Kincade, I cannot see Reno's fate. I do not see him in the grave, but he is not in either fork of the future I've seen. He always vanishes. It's some sort of anomaly; I can't understand how he disappears from existence like he does, but one thing is certain - he's on a collision course with, well, destiny. Whatever happens, we can't stop it."

Natalia sighed. "What becomes of the others?"

"As you may recall, I have - ngh - two futures I see." He grunted twice and shrugged his shoulders. "I see one where the District Coast never broke away from eastern North America. In it, most everyone survives."

Natalia sat down on a chair a few feet away from the cot. "Cybil, I understand you're taking experimental medication that helps with the predictability of your accuracy. So ... Am I correct in my understanding that you have not seen the 'victorious path' as of late?"

"No. I haven't. I only see the current one, now."

"So the medicine is helping you to focus on the correct path? I understand this mixture is potentially hard on your heart?"

Cybil shrugged with a measure of indifference towards his own health. "I check my blood pressure." He lifted his left wrist, showing her a health accessory, which was paired to his cellphone. "My tics are exacerbated but it has somehow helped with the frustration factor that brought about my cussing. And, yes, I have been a more proficient prophet now. Are you sure you want to know what happens next?"

"Yes. Do more people die?"

"Unfortunately, many die. You and your husband survive. Sinopa, her children and grandchildren survive. Also, Kalen, Collobulous and..."

"Wait." Natalia held her hand up and took a deep breath. "I want to know everything, not just the footnotes."

"You don't want the details, ngh. The Ragnarök begins. Less than a handful of deities survive."

"In the Ragnarök, it's said only two people survive," Natalia said in a somber tone. "Is that our future?"

"Two_percent_ of people survive."

Natalia swallowed. "Only two percent?"

"On the upside, it's one hundred ninety-nine million people. On the downside, that's less than half of the population of America, but imagine them spread out across the whole globe."

Natalia grimaced. "The exact population of Earth the year Christ was born. That cannot be a coincidence."

"The population around the time of Christ's birth was only two hundred million?"

Natalia nodded. "Yes. It's a projection, but considering the time of Judgment is supposed to be when Christ returns, it cannot be a coincidence that the rapture of humanity will bring the planet back to the same population as when Christ was born the first time."

"Scary thought." Cybil grunted softly and shrugged his shoulders twice.

Natalia scooted her chair closer and took the oracle's hands. "Tell me how it begins."

"The end of the world?"

"I want to know what happens after Reno disappears. What happens to the rest of our friends and allies?"

"You won't like the details," Cybil said in a soft voice.

"Just ... please?"

"Alright." Cybil drew his hands back from the vampire. He shifted his weight and eased onto his back. He settled on the cot and put his hands behind his head again. "I'd like to start from where Sinopa, the four-tailed kitsune, is standing with Karla Loupe."

"Standing where?"

Cybil closed his eyes and relaxed. "Sinopa and Karla are standing in an empty shell of a building; they are in the Lost City where your husband was born. There is no furniture. The building is empty. It is a freestanding structure, with a doorway, and empty window frames."

Natalia remained quiet, listening to Cybil's prediction of events to come in several weeks.

"I see this as things that have already happened," Cybil explained. "It would be easier to narrate the future in a third-person past-tense perspective."

"Understood. For a doctor, one who is trained to be concise with details, I noticed you are a superfluous storyteller. Please, Cybil, continue."

Cybil smiled at the compliment. He cleared his throat twice and continued his narrative. "Well, Sinopa stood by a glassless window. The kitsune nodded to the succubus. I've always admired Sinopa's long red hair. Her soft golden eyes, and her smooth Irish face, interesting isn't it? I rather love how she looks European despite her Japanese Shinto heritage...

"Anyhow, Sinopa turned to Karla. The succubus and Kitsune bowed to one another. Sinopa frowned, quick to notice the emotional expression, which marred Karla's pretty face. The Kitsune tilted her head, waiting for Karla to monologue whatever dramatic situation was troubling the pretty green-eyed blonde..."

X

X

Saturday, January 1, 2050 Below the Atlantic Ocean ...

** ** Karla swallowed back sadness , which gnawed at her insides. "Reno is dead. It all happened so fast. With him gone, the plan has changed."

Sinopa embraced her friend. "Oh, Karla-san ... I am _so_sorry."

"I saw it happen," Karla whispered against Sinopa's ear so that her husband wouldn't hear. "I saw him die. And there's nothing I could do. I lost Chance, the love of my life, and then my best friend, Nathan, and now I lost Reno, too."

Sinopa said nothing, she simply held Karla in silence,

"Worst of all, we're at a disadvantage, Red. How the hell can we win this thing, now?"

Sinopa closed her eyes. "We said we would fight Aris Falcon together and take back our children. We were victorious in being reunited with our families, but..."

Karla nodded, burying her face against Sinopa's shoulder. "I know. I know - we're not powerful enough to fight the bastard. We should have ganged up on him twenty-six years ago."

Sinopa grimaced. She gently relinquished the hug. "We have to move our loved ones to safety."

"That's why I came back," Karla said. "I want you to take Donnie up the elevator shaft, out of this ... whatever this city is called. Take him up to New Atlantis. They'll be in full evacuation by now. Donnie can access the city's modern computer interface. He'll find Elvena, Fox and Topaz. Then I want you to get the kids out of here."

"Karla, what about you?"

Karla tilted her head back, glaring at the ceiling. She peered down the bridge of her nose at Sinopa, and laid a hand on the kitsune's shoulder. "You get those four to the surface, and you keep them safe. Take all four of them to my house in Paris. Stay there and wait for me. If I don't make it back, you need to keep our children safe, Sinopa. Yours and mine. Can you do that?"

"Hai. But what of Conner?"

"I'll make sure that boy gets his ass out of here alive. Listen," Karla rubbed her face and lowered her head, meeting the kitsune's amber gaze. "Sinopa, if I don't make it, I want you to keep our children safe. Yours and mine. Promise me. And while you're at it, keep Eric's head on straight for me."

"Karla-san..."

"Falcon should have killed me last time. He didn't because I agreed to take my family and run away. I'm not running away, this time. I'm gonna fight until one of us is dead. If it happens to be me, I want you to take everyone to the mansion in Paris. It's a safe place for specials. Raise the kids there. Keep Eric's head on straight - my kids need their father in their lives."

"Karla, please, we agreed to fight Falcon together..."

"He's fireproof now. It's up to me, Red. You can protect the children. Now, I can't fight Falcon unless I know things are in order. Promise me you will raise my family and my husband if I don't make it."

"You have my word," Sinopa said.

The two women embraced again.

Sinopa went to a small bedroom in the back corner of the cozy dwelling. She picked up Donnie Loupe and held the boy in her arms. He was asleep. She carried him out to the foyer of the empty building.

Karla kissed her son's forehead. "You'll have to wake him when you get up to New Atlantis. He's the only one who can find his sister, not to mention your children. When you get to the surface, look up Natalia Kincade and Peter. They will help you find Steven Milford and Cybil Powalski."

"I will - why?"

"Why what, hon?"

Sinopa shifted Donovan's weight onto her hip. "Why will I need your son to find my children?"

"Fox and Topaz have a little computer chip in their heads, right at the top of their neckline. Steven and Cybil performed a surgery on your granddaughter, Carmen, and removed the one she had. Steven and Cybil will be able to operate on Elvena, Fox and Topaz, too. But until that time, Elvena and your twins are still in danger from those damn things in their heads."

Sinopa's orange-furred fox ears lifted, her head tilted.

Karla grinned somewhat. She stole a glance at her quiet husband, then turned back to Simopa and said, "Donnie can shield the trigger signal to stop Falcon from killing our children, but those chips eventually have to come out."

"Could Fox perform this same task in place of Donovan? Can Fox not interact with the chip?"

Karla shook her head. "The way I understand it, Fox can't take control of the chip because it's just a receiver and microprocessor. It isn't programmable, it just ... accepts commands from elsewhere."

"I ... think that I follow," Sinopa said.

"Red, Donnie can't directly interact with the chip in their heads. However, my boy can block the transmission those chips receive. If Falcon lives through the day, he would be able to kill your children with the push of a button in the future."

Sinopa swallowed. "Understood."

Eric Loupe approached Sinopa and nodded respectfully. He gently brushed his son's bangs back from over the boy's eyes in silence.

Donovan was fast asleep in Sinopa's arms.

Eric thought about kissing his son's forehead. Instead, he stepped back and nodded for Sinopa to depart.

The kitsune returned Eric's nod. "I will protect Donovan. You have my word." Sinopa carried the sleeping child out the front door.

Karla turned to Eric. "We should talk Nichole into going with Sinopa."

"Why?"

"Because she's injured."

Eric shrugged. "She'll only slow Sinopa down. That woman has our son. We can't afford to..."

"Eric, if you want things to work out between the two of us, you need to stop arguing with me. You need to act like you have a heart."

"Karla..."

"No. Let me finish. I understand you have PTSD, Eric, so I understand if you're anxious or whatever. I understand you've been through things that no one else can understand. And I know it's the craziness of not knowing what you've done. I get it; that really makes things hard. But..."

Eric nodded, gesturing for his wife to continue.

Karla licked her lips. "But Nicky Parker was able to fight her over-amped clone. No one else could pull that off."

"Yes, and now we're finding out Sigyn killed the clone and took her temporal ability."

Karla shrugged. "That bitch-clone is dead now, so fuck her. Nicky Parker needs to go with Sinopa and our son. Think about this, Eric: it's virtually impossible to sneak up on Nicky Parker with her augmented perception ability."

Eric nodded. "I'll catch Sinopa before she gets too far. Stay here. When I get back," he took a deep breath, "you, me, and Rufus will find whoever is left, and go after Conner before Falcon kills him." Eric pursed his lips and headed for the doorway. "If the boy isn't dead already." He hurried out, after Sinopa.

Karla heard Eric, outside.

In a distant, muffled voice, Eric told the others, "You, Nicky, come with me. Rufus, go inside and wait with my wife. Don't touch her."

A moment later, Rufus came inside, ducking his way through the doorframe. "Blondie."

She smiled weakly. "Ruebear."

Silence.

Karla licked her lips. "How did we let it get to this?"

"Hell if I know. But I don't wanna go through life alone. I ain't talkin' about taking the cheap way out. I just mean ... I know I can't fight Falcon. I tried. And if I die, I'll go out in a blaze of glory."

Karla narrowed her eyes. "You self-righteous fleabag, you have a son up on the surface. A son who barely knows his father. Let me ask you this - how did Rama act when you two met?"

"He were happier 'n hell."

"Was," Karla corrected. She frowned. "Sorry, bad habit."

"Ulfey_died_, Karla. I finally get'er back in my life and she's killed? Nah, fuck all that. What's the point, now?"

Karla grit her teeth together. "Look, Rufus, you have a son who craves validation from a father he never knew. You gotta make it home and be a father. Go to your kid's wedding, you jackass hillbilly. I'm sorry you feel like you're all alone in this world. But you're not the only one."

"You got your husband back."

Karla folded her arms. "I was talking about Elvena. And, Christ, you want to talk about my husband?" The succubus sighed. "How long do you think we will last? All we do is fight with each other! When all this shit started back up, he and I talked about a separation. Yeah, I'm going to try again with him because he came back for me when it really counted. But I was alone for most of my life. If I can do it, you can do it."

Rufus smirked. "As I recall, you lived a very cavalier, dangerous lifestyle until you had kids."

Karla grinned. "Touché, Ruebear. Maybe I'm not the right person to give you advice."

The werewolf crossed his arms over his large, furry chest. "Lil' ole Sinopa is the only one of all your friends to have any damn sense, Karla."

Karla approached Rufus. She cupped either side of his muzzle and pressed her soft lips against his large wolfish maw.

After a moment, she stepped back and said, "That will never happen again. We had good memories, Rue. But I may never see you again. And someone has to protect Sinopa and Nicky."

"Wh ... what?"

"When Fox and Topaz disappeared, and Sinopa's second husband was killed protecting Conner ... and after my husband was thought to be dead, and my children were both abducted by Falcon ... Sinopa and I made a pact, as mothers, to do whatever it took to get our babies home safe."

"I don't understand what you want from me, Karla."

"Sinopa will be escorting an injured woman, a pregnant woman, a man in his fifties, my little boy, and my confused, stiff, recently awakened daughter. Eric is right, Sinopa will be held back. She cannot protect them all. It's up to you."

"Me?"

"Yeah." Karla shrugged. "You already said you couldn't defeat Falcon. So why get in my way? Just go after Sinopa. Hurry up. Help her get our families back to Paris, safely."

"You're serious?"

"Yeah, you redneck goober. You catch up with Nichole and Sinopa and you help them find the others. I mean it. Both of them lost the love of their lives. They're going to be struggling with emotions and heartbreak. Get your tail out there and help. Protect them like a faithful goddamn family dog or something, now go."

"You kissed me..."

"I did. That's what you get for being the good guy in all of this, Rue. I may not live through the night, but I need my children to survive. I need for Sinopa and Nichole and the twins to survive. I need to have done something good. Now go, use that big goddamn nose and catch up to the fox." Karla fidgeted, and then added, "Keep Kuda safe. Don't let Tamamo treat him like a pack mule."

"You have a lot to live for."

Her eyes dropped to the dusty floor. "You're right. I do."

Rufus nodded. "I hope to see you again, Karla. Try and live through this shit, Blondie."

"I'll do my best."

Rufus hurried through the door to catch up with Sinopa, Nichole and little Donnie.

Silence.

Karla hated silence.

Eric came back several moments later, stepped through the door and approached Karla. "I passed Rufus. You sent him with Sinopa?"

"I did."

Eric nodded. "Alright."

"You're not going to argue with me about it?"

"No." Eric took Karla's hand. "We'll do this together, as husband and wife. Aris Falcon won't know what hit him."

"Eric, I have a confession to make."

"I know," he said in a soft voice. "You fell in love with Reno."

"I did." She swallowed a figurative lump of emotion, welling at the base of her throat. "And we both know he's dead now."

Eric nodded with a frown. "But you're still my wife."

Karla nodded. "I am."

"Then you'll let me fight by your side?"

She offered her husband a weary smile. "I would like that."

"And if we live through this, will you let me try one more time to be your husband?"

Karla cupped either side of Eric's face. "Do you promise to try?"

"Yes. I swear to Christ, I will do what it takes. I swear on my family, most of which has survived."

"Good."

He placed his hands on her hips. "Karla, I didn't know how to tell you my feelings in the past ... but I'd like one more chance to show you I love you."

"You won't act like a jackass because I look half your age this time?"

"The world is a much different place, now," he said. "I'm a much different person, now. I promise I won't treat you like my daughter in public. You are my wife all the time, everywhere."

Karla smiled a bit. "I promise I'll dress like a forty-year-old instead of a teenager, so I fit in better at your side, okay?"

"You really think the others will measure up against Falcon?"

Karla shrugged. "Charlie, Johann and Evan? Yeah. We have a possessed telepath and two boys who can change the molecular property of anything. And if Conner is still alive, the six of us will pull through this."

"Possessed telepath?"

"Never mind, it's complicated, hon."

"Did you tell the others about the fallback plan?"

Karla swallowed. "No. I didn't want to scare them."

"Did you really ask Vincent Nevada to irradiate this place if we don't get out of here alive?"

"Yeah." Karla gave a downward tug at her blouse and bra, showing her husband a square patch on her solar plexus. "This is sending my vitals to a computer Vincent has. Evan has one, Conner has one, and Reno had one. I told Vincent if we _all_die, I want him to hit this underground city with all the radiation he can produce. He'll vaporize everything. All living tissue. I told him to fry New Atlantis too, and then get his ass to the surface. If we die, he's leading the charge against whoever killed us."

"What about flooding this place?"

Karla nodded. "That was my preference, if we can figure out a way to so it. Flooding the city means nobody will kill for access again."

"Hell of a backup plan." Eric took her hand. "Let's meet up with Evan and the Foster boys. It's time to see how this ends."

Karla interlaced her fingers with Eric's. They disappeared, teleporting back to the other side of the ancient subterranean city.

X

X

Minutes later...

Side-by-side, Karla and Eric appeared at the front entrance of the main citadel.

Several feet away, Evan, Johann and Charlie Foster stood together, startled but then relieved to see Karla and Eric.

Charlie turned to Karla and looked her over with a frown. "Karla, I am glad you are here. We cannot find a way to enter the building and save Conner."

Karla cracked her knuckles. "I have bad news, boys."

Evan frowned. "Don't say that, Karla. I want to go home to my wife. I want to watch Haley grow up."

Karla frowned. "I don't know how else to say this, so I'm just ... going to be blunt: Reno's dead." She grimaced and looked away, not wanting to see their pained expressions.

Evan's eyes widened. "What?!"

Charlie looked away. "I did not expect that. This is worse than I thought."

"I'm sorry, babe." Karla felt her heart ache all over again. She opened her arms towards Evan. "I know he was a close friend of yours."

Evan approached Karla and hugged her. "I'm so sorry."

She wrapped her arms around the middle-aged black man. Evan was still a wide-eyed twenty-year-old in Karla's eyes. Now forty years old, Evan Balmoral had short hair, brown eyes, and wore a homemade superhero logo on his t-shirt.

Karla gave his shoulder a pat and stepped back. "I'm conflicted."

"You guys had a thing right?" Evan frowned. "Before you realized Mr. Loupe, here, was still alive?"

"I did. But it's in the past. Reno's gone now and we have to grieve later on. I feel bad for Nicky Parker. Those two finally reconnected after all these years, and then ... Top Cop goes and gets himself killed."

Charlie Foster frowned. "What happened?"

Karla turned to the Foster brothers. "It was supposed to be simple - he was removing the temporal block so Raul could help. And then Sigyn showed up and killed Raul. And Reno used the time-stream energy to kill Sigyn. It must have been too much energy to handle." Karla took a deep breath to keep her emotions under control.

"I can't believe he's really dead," Evan said softly.

Karla frowned. "He's gone but he saved us from Sigyn's future self. Apparently she acquired a temporal ability from the clone of Nichole Parker. If Reno didn't give his life to stop her, we'd have _all_died."

"Everyone but Falcon," Charlie said. "He is sealed inside that citadel, safe and sound. That building could withstand just about anything."

Johann Foster appeared younger than the others at his side. He still looked twenty years old, having just been revived from cryogenic stasis the day before.

Johann stood besides his best friend from twenty-six years ago, and his little brother, who was now much older looking. Foster licked his lips and said, "I just want to survive so I can go home and see my first hover car. Is that too much to ask?"

Karla scoffed but in a good-natured sort of way. "Then let's do whatever it takes to win."

Karla's husband placed his palms against the smooth outer shell of the citadel. "How do we get inside?" asked Eric.

Karla rubbed her palms together. "Now that Conner deactivated the energy field, I should be able to actually teleport through it."

"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Evan. "Let's get in there and end this mess."

All at once, an enormous brown object burst from the top of the domed citadel. The brown pillar climbed upwards into the sky at a rapid rate of growth.

The pillar-shaped object slammed into the bedrock, above.

Evan stepped back, away from the large doors at the front of the citadel. He looked up at the brown object and squinted.

Branches sprouted from the side of the large brown trunk. Foliage rapidly blossomed from the branches.

Evan frowned. "Is that ... a huge tree?"

Karla turned to Charlie. "Can you sense Conner in there?"

"He is alive," Charlie confirmed. "He is alive but highly offended. Also, Sigyn is alive - my god, she is trying to have sex with him."

"What?" Karla blinked. "Are you serious?"

"I am," Charlie said. "But Aris Falcon ... I cannot sense his thoughts."

Karla looked straight up at the enormous tree growing up, out of the center of the citadel. "So that's a new one. I've never seen a tree sprout over a hundred stories like that before."

Johann stared straight up at the enormous brown pillar. "I'll take a tree over the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man."

Karla kept her gaze on the budding tree. "How far up do you think it's going?"

Evan frowned. "If it breaks through the bedrock, and into the Atlantic Ocean, it will drown us." He squinted his eyes. "I would really hate to be _accidentally_killed by the freaking Mana Tree."

"That would suck," Johann agreed. "Evan, I'm glad you're still the same guy, at forty-six, that you were at twenty."

"I'm_better_, Kakarot!" Evan grinned.

Johann grinned.

Their grins faded. The momentary levity was immediately replaced by the severity of the situation.

Evan added, "I have a wife and child, now. And I want you to meet them." Evan grimaced, looking straight up at the tree as it grew wider, thicker, and became covered with leaves. "Let's get Conner and get out of here. If Falcon is dead..."

Karla announced, "Everyone hold hands." All at once, she teleported the group through the door.

Inside the citadel, Conner was slumped on the tiled floor. His orichalcum cane lay on the floor a few feet away.

Sigyn straddled his lap. Her hands pressed against the wall on either side of Conner's head. She spoke to him in a soft voice, as if trying to appeal to his masculine ego.

However, he was exhausted, injured, and did not appear interested in her advances.

Charlie picked up the cane on the floor. When he lifted it, a glowing flame aura appeared around the metallic staff. Charlie drew it back and swung it, striking Sigyn in the back of her head.

The ancient goddess of multiple religions flailed to the left and rolled onto her side, motionless.

Karla waved her hand, using telekinesis to roll Sigyn onto her back. The ten-tailed goddess had a burn mark just beneath her temple. Her hair slid back, revealing her had human-like ears, which seemed strange due the fact she also had fox ears atop of her head. Part of her hair was singed.

The succubus turned to Charlie and their gaze locked. Karla narrowed her vibrant green eyes, noticing Charlie's brown eyes and vertical pupils. "You are still in there, I see."

Charlie swallowed back the desire to say something spiteful.

Karla actively thought words so that the telepath would perceive the message.

Charlie nodded, albeit slowly, in reply to Karla's thoughts. He cut his gaze over at Conner but whispered so that only Karla would hear. "Yes, I told you earlier, I could not resist the urge to make sure my friends would be safe."

Karla glowered at Charlie and moved close. "I told myself I wouldn't hold a grudge. I'm trying my best, here."

Charlie nodded. "We should check on Conner." He nodded towards an enormous tree, adding, "And investigate that."

At the center of the room, a massive tree with a huge trunk took root in the floor tiles.

Aris Falcon was nowhere to be seen.

Karla turned away from Charlie and moved toward Conner.

Conner Parker, the youthful master thief, was slumped against the wall. His pants were open, somewhat, but he didn't appear fully conscious.

Karla knelt besides the teenager. "Hey. Wake up, Parker."

Conner looked up at her.

At a glance, Karla saw several injuries. Conner had bloodshot eyes, a broken nose, a bloody lip, and his shirt was torn. The shirt was saturated in blood. Three fingers on his left hand were broken but he seemed too fazed to notice the pain.

"God, what happened to you?"

"Karla? I thought we were arguing again."

She raised her voice so the whole group heard her. "My beef is with Tamamo-no-Mae, not you." Her voice lowered to a more personal tone, adding, "Just because you and I argue doesn't mean I hate you"

"But what happened between us ... it was horrible."

Karla rolled him onto his side. "Yeah. But let's face it - we're both victims of Tammy's childish bullshit." She paused, thinking of Reno. Karla licked her lips and frowned. "Anyway, you and I made up, remember?"

"I remember Falcon's fist in my face," he muttered. "I remember Sigyn saying that she would be my 'trophy wife' for avenging Loki's death. I remember you guys standing over me a moment ago. It's hard to keep my eyes open."

"Your wife is Tamae and she's waiting to start a family with you, kiddo."

Conner smiled weakly. It was obvious it hurt him to show any facial expressions. "So, we're friends again, right?"

Karla frowned again. "That attack happened in November. Today is January. Happy New Years, babe. Let's put that little ... misunderstanding behind us, okay? Where is Falcon?"

"But, look, I didn't mean for any of that _other_weird stuff to happen," Conner said. "I swear to God. Everything is different now, Karla. Tamae and I have a baby on the way. I'm going to be a father. I don't want to miss that."

"Jesus, that guy must have hit you pretty hard, kid. We made peace, remember?"

"I ... right, sorry. That guy has insane super strength. I think Evan's going to have to fix a few more of my teeth."

Evan approached. "I've got you covered, we just have to get out of here first."

Karla grimaced, forcing a half-hearted chuckle. "Can you walk, Conner?"

Parker looked down at his feet and wiggled his toes. He sighed in relief and nodded. "See?" He motioned to the movement in his shoes. "Yeah. I should be okay."

"What happened to Falcon?" Karla asked.

Conner replied with a weary, crooked smile. "You remember when Uncle Reno took that stupid seed ... eh, nut, or whatever it was? You remember when he shoved it down Falcon's throat?"

"I wasn't there for that, but yeah," Karla replied with an equally grim smile. "He forced Falcon to eat it. But it didn't do anything. Cybil, the oracle, said it would kill Falcon but nothing happened."

"Yeah." Conner sat up. He reached down and touched a lump beneath his shirt. Conner winced, and said, "Falcon dragged me here while the whole city started to shake to pieces. It's hard to breathe."

"Everything is fine now. Reno was able to overload the temporal temple."

"Oh good," Conner said. "Thank God. Where is he? Reno, I mean."

Karla cut her eyes away. "Reno died saving our collective asses." She drew in a pained breath and released an equally emotional sigh.

"Oh ... Jesus, he died? Karla, I know you guys were close. I'm ... I'm so sorry." Conner frowned, reflecting on his uncle-by-marriage.

Karla licked her lips and swallowed. "I need to suck it up. We can be emotional later. Where's Falcon's body?"

Conner nodded at the behemoth tree growing up out of the citadel's rooftop. "That seed thing grew in Falcon's gut. Reno killed him. It just ... it had a delayed reaction." Conner took a moment to catch his breath and added, "It happened right after I shocked him with a bolt of lightning from my cane."

Karla looked up at where the enormous tree trunk disappeared through a large hole in the domed building.

Silence.

She glanced over at Sigyn, the goddess, who lay motionless on the floor. Karla smirked. "I can't believe that bitch was trying to get her rocks off on you, kid."

"Loki was fighting this other guy, I don't remember his name..."

"Heimdallr," Karla surmised. "You want help getting up?"

"I got it. Give me a second." Conner shifted his weight. He moved his legs and sighed, thankful all his joints still worked.

"So ... Heimdallr," Karla said. "What about him?"

"Yeah. Heimdallr, that was his name." Conner gingerly traced his fingers over his injured lower left ribs again. "Falcon shoved them both into the power core thing. They both died."

"And Sigyn?" Karla placed a hand on Conner's face, checking his injuries. "What happened to Loki's wife, over there?"

Conner grimaced from pain. "She turned on Falcon for throwing her husband into the power core. She was pissed. And then I struck Falcon with the energy in my cane. That seed started growing. It turned Falcon inside out in seconds. It was pretty gruesome." Conner looked up at the huge tree. "How tall is it?"

Evan chimed in. "Last I saw, it was pushing against the bedrock above. How high is that? Maybe a thousand feet? Fifteen hundred feet tops."

"I'd guess two thousand feet, but I'm better guessing metric." Conner shifted his weight again. He held his right hand up, signaling for Karla to step back. "Wait, what if it grows up into the Atlantic Ocean? We'll drown."

"That's what I said," Evan replied.

Karla sighed. She pulled Conner to his feet, gently, using her telekinesis to support his body weight. "Stop trying to be such a tough guy. It's okay to accept help. Look at your Uncle James, he's a team player." She guided Conner's right arm around her shoulders.

"God ... my ribs," he muttered. "The break is on the left."

"Quit your bitching," she said with a wry smile. "It's nice to see you vulnerable."

"You're the only one who has seen me vulnerable," Conner murmured. "After the building fell on us in Europe. Oh, and after I nearly died in that other building in Chicago; again, after that nuclear scare..."

Karla frowned and, in a soft voice, she said, "...When you were unconscious during that thing with Tamamo. Not to mention later on, when I hugged you on the yacht and you had that awkward..." Her voice lowered at the end.

"Yeah, I prefer that we never talk about that again."

She kept her voice soft, speaking directly to Conner. "I was going to say '...expression on your face.' Heh."

"Sure you were." Conner winced, keeping his free hand over his lower ribs. "Now what?"

Karla side-nodded. "My husband is that guy, over there. On the far left. He would freak out on you. So, yeah, what happened in Vegas should stay in Vegas."

"Yeah. And what happened in DC should stay in DC," Conner whispered back in an equally soft tone. "Let's go home, Karla." He gingerly reached his left hand out towards his cane.

The yellow cane warbled across the ground. It lurched up to meet his palm. Conner groaned due to the shock against his arm. "God, my goddamn ribs."

"C'mon, you big baby ... let's get you home."

Conner grimaced in reply.

Karla helped Conner towards the doors. "Okay, boys," she said to Evan, Charlie, Johann and Eric, "you guys need to escort us back towards the elevator. We need to get out of this city before the Atlantic Ocean floods this place and kills us all."

Charlie nodded. "Peter and Steven are going to be _quite_upset."

Karla smirked. "Good. Nobody should ever have access to the technology down here. It practically ruined civilization on Earth once upon a time. Anyone want that happening again? No? Okay then, great. I say we get out of here and let God's tree crush this place under all the water pressure. Fuck this place, let's go home." She cut her eyes to Evan and grinned. "Sorry, babe."

Evan shook his head. "No, you're right - eff this place." He made his way over to Karla. "C'mon, guys. Everyone take hands so she can teleport us out of here."

Everyone rushed over and linked hands. Karla took a deep breath and teleported the group outside. Then, she did it again, bringing the group to the center of the city, where a huge manmade elevator shaft went up into the bedrock.

The elevator lift rumbled down the shaft as they approached. It stopped in front of them. The gate swished open.

Karla sniffed at the air and smiled. "I can smell Rue's cologne."

"Karla," Eric murmured.

"Relax, it just means our friends made it safely to the top, and then they sent the lift back down for us."

Eric frowned. "My mistake."

Karla hobbled onto the platform of the lift with Conner. She leaned against the sidewall.

Evan, Johann, Charlie and Eric boarded the elevator.

Conner relaxed his body and touched his cane hook against the control panel. Using his gift, he mentally interfaced with the computer.

The gate slid shut and the lift ascended the shaft.

As it rose into the sky, they could see ventilation ducts hanging throughout the city, pumping fresh air in from the city of New Atlantis, above the subterranean ceiling.

"Oh my God," Evan murmured.

Everyone cut his or her gaze to the enormous tree trunk in the distance. Water began to gush in from the far end of the city, where the tree had forced itself through the bedrock.

Karla moved Conner closer to the gate and peered over the side. "The base of the elevator shaft is down there, below us. If the water destroys it, it might mess with our ride."

"Think positive," Evan scolded. "Woo - sah."

Karla grimaced. She looked back at Evan and said, "I've always been cavalier in the past. I thought I was just older than most other succubae, and that I was going to drop dead at any moment."

Charlie leaned over the hip-height of the lift. "I sense someone down there. He is panicking." The telepath tilted his head, trying to pick up the frequency. A slight smile spread across his face in realization of the person's identity.

"Who is it?" Johann asked.

Charlie clasped Johann's forearm and patted Foster's wrist in a friendly manner. "One of Falcon's people. So, you will replace the Justiciar now, yes?" Charlie's gaze gleamed with satisfaction.

"I ... guess." Foster rubbed his eyes. "Sorry, Karla. You were saying?"

Karla sighed with a shrug. "Nothing huge. I was sort of reflecting. Less than an hour ago, I was resigned to whatever fate was going to happen. I told myself I was probably going to die against Aris Falcon in battle."

No one spoke.

The succubus swallowed down the worry she'd harbored for most of the evening. She guided Conner's head back against the wall panel of the elevator. "And for the first time, I'm actually afraid to die, because I'm so close to getting away."

"Think positive," Evan said. "I'm going home to my kids, and so are you, Karla."

"God I hope so."

Everyone held his or her figurative breath, hoping the elevator would make it to the top of the shaft in time. The ocean water continued to gush into the lost city below.

Karla Loupe looked down over the rail, watching the beautiful capital of the First Age. The frigid ocean water rushed in from the bedrock above, like a geyser.

Charles leaned over the gate again. "I sense this person because he is the last survivor. He is afraid. When I am high up, the reception is improved. He is thinking that math will somehow save him."

"It can't be Peter. He's in a bunker," Karla said.

"No, it is not Peter. However, this man is quite old. He is more than one of Falcon's lackeys." Charlie tilted his head as of trying to listen to something far away. After a moment, he said, "The thought pattern has abruptly stopped. I can only presume they must have died in the frigid Atlantic flooding in."

"Who was it?" Johann placed his hand on Charlie's elbow. "Tell us?"

"A man who I thought was up on the surface causing great trouble." Charlie turned around, facing everyone on the lift. "When we arrive on the surface, I would like to confirm my suspicions before jumping to such conclusions. Suffice to say, the man I sensed below us ... he was not an ally."

Charlie turned back to gaze out over the city growing further away, beneath the elevator. His vertical-slitted eyes zeroed in on the temporal chamber, which collapsed from the water pressure gushing over its roof. The temporal energy field caused a bright flash in the distance.

The light faded.

Over a mile away from the time chamber, high above the heart of the ancient city's residential sector, Karla and her friends stood on the lift. It rumbled up the shaft over the flooding city.

The water pressure pushed a building over, sending it into another. Water filled three large deep canal rings around the citadel temple. Within a matter of minutes, the three canal rings became flooded. Water channeled into the streets.

The succubus licked her lips. "It looks a little like Venice, now."

No one spoke.

Karla glanced at Johann Foster, whose virginity she took twenty-six years ago. Her gaze panned to Eric, her husband, who gave her two beautiful children. Her thoughts turned to Rufus Darken, one of her past lovers. She thought about Topaz Parker, hopefully well on her way to escaping.

Silence.

Karla frowned and turned to the telepath. "Charlie, stop reading my mind." She cut her gaze over at the middle-aged man. "I mean it."

"I am focused on Conner. He is in tremendous pain."

Karla nodded. She thought back to Reno Nevada, now dead, who had been her lover for the past few months. Reno was with her through thick and thin. She nursed him back to health less than a year ago.

However, Reno was now dead.

Karla's eyes cut to Conner, propped up against the wall, with his arm around Karla's shoulder.

She sighed. Conner ... she thought about their massively misunderstood falling out. She thought back to the infamous night it all happened - Saturday, the sixth of November.

And the strangest part of all was that they both put it all behind them and pretended like the awkward argument never happened.

Conner sagged against her, barely able to hold up his own body weight.

She used her telekinesis to keep him stable. "Almost there, boys." Karla watched as the last of the city disappeared into dark obscurity beneath their feet.

The elevator made it to the subterranean ceiling. It ascended into the bedrock. OLED light panels were set into the smooth vertical-bore tunnel, counting the fathoms of depth to New Atlantis, high above.

Karla kissed Conner's forehead. "I forgive you."

"Well, in that case," he murmured, "I forgive you, too. Friends?"

Karla grinned. "Hell no. You're still an egotistical little shit." She glanced at Evan in the dim elevator shaft. "Sorry, babe."

Evan rolled his eyes. "Uh huh."

Conner grinned, although it went unseen in the dark. "And you're still a snarky bitch."

"Hey," Eric snapped. "That's my wife."

Karla cut her gaze back to Eric, unable to really make out her husband's face in the darkness. "Babe, Conner and I were forced to go through something neither of us will ever forget. And we hated each other for a while, because we didn't know whom to blame. Talking to each other like this - it's therapeutic. So, please, let it go."

Eric moved closer to Karla and Conner and whispered to them. "You ... with him?"

"Not exactly," she whispered back. "What happened is complicated, okay? And fucked up."

"Really fucked up," Conner agreed in a soft tone. "And if I never have to think about it again, I'm fine with that."

Karla smirked. "Shut up, Conner. You liked it."

"Thankfully, I will never remember it."

"You remember the first half."

"Okay, true. But let's stop talking about it."

"Yeah." Karla sighed. She raised her voice so the rest of the elevator heard her. "So is Tamamo going back with Usagi?"

"Yeah," Conner said. "She's as messed up over what happened as the two of us."

"Maybe. I'm not convinced about that, yet." Karla stole a glance at Charlie. She leaned her head back against the elevator wall panel. "Are you mad at her?"

"I don't know. Are you?"

"I don't know, Conner." Karla paused. She sighed again. "Tamamo's been through a lot. And I really appreciate a good redemption story."

"I keep forgetting you're an avid reader," Conner said.

"What the hell happened between you three?" Eric asked, trying to keep his voice down so as not to alert the other three boys on the lift, who spoke amongst themselves.

Karla turned towards her husband. She went unseen in the darkness. Her smiled flashed in the occasional LED depth markers inside the shaft. "You want the long version of the story, or the short version?"

"I've never known you to tell the short story version of anything, Karla." Eric cleared his throat, his secret code to his wife to signal that he was joking.

The succubus replied with a smirk. "There's a lot to tell."

"How so?"

"In order to save Tamamo's life, I had to volunteer to be a host for her spirit at one point."

"What does that mean?" asked Eric.

"Meh," Karla trailed off. Her attention was distracted by a sudden change of scenery.

The elevator ascended from the bedrock. The shaft became clear, allowing all six to see the ocean floor. It was bathed in floodlights from the enormous domed city, high above.

The words "New Atlantis" were painted and illuminated by flood lamps on the bottom side of the large manmade city.

In the far distance, the behemoth tree punched through the seabed and extended up into the Atlantic Ocean.

"The Mana Tree is still going," Johann said, staring at the oddity, which was blurry in the frigid winter ocean.

"Biggest tree of all time," Evan murmured.

Eric folded his arms. "So whose story is it to tell, then? Yours or Tamamo's?"

Karla shrugged. "It's everyone's story. But it all started and ended with Reno." She frowned, thinking back to her friend and how she watched him die. "He went through all those things, and then for him to die like that...? It's not fair."

"Karla," Eric said with a frown, "I love you. I won't judge you. I just want to understand what you've gone through. I want to understand what Reno experienced, what Tamamo experienced ... I just want to know what I missed in your life."

"Then you should have been there for it," Karla snapped. She took a deep breath and feigned a smile. "I'm sorry, my attitude was not called for. I'll dial it back, okay?"

Eric nodded. "Reno was a good man to put himself in danger repeatedly. I'm glad I was able to fight at his side before he died."

Charlie moved besides Conner and whispered to him. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Conner muttered. "I'm in a lot of pain."

"Did Sigyn seriously try to have sex with you?"

"I was in-and-out of consciousness, man." Conner shrugged his right shoulder. The bruises of his face were barely visible in the dim illumination of the shaft.

The elevator car continued up into the New Atlantis superstructure.

Charlie brushed his lips against Conner's ear. "It is me, Conner-kun. I am Tamamo. I came to make sure you would live through this day. I will help you home to Tamae."

Conner whispered back, "You're possessing a telepath?"

"Hai," Tamamo said in a hushed, masculine tone. "I wanted to watch over everyone. I have been in possession of Charles Foster since aiding the Kincade clan into their bunker. I also helped Rama and his fiancée, Aimee - I guided them into hiding. Sigyn is trying to kill the werewolves."

Conner sighed. "Does Karla know?"

"Yes."

"This is weird. I have a thing with Tamae now and you're not apart of that."

"I know," said Charlie. "But I arranged that. So I have only myself to blame."

"Who else did you possess lately?"

"I possessed Nicky Parker after Sigyn mortally wounded the girl. I made it so that she felt no pain. I saw everything that happened to her. Rufus, Vincent, Fox and Topaz - I saw how she worked with Laura to stop one of the nuclear weapons." Charlie trailed off. After a brief pause, he added, "Laura and Charles Foster have a relationship, now. But even with all the work I have put into helping my friends and loved ones, I could not stop Ragnarök. The gods are dying. It is only a matter of time before Earth will be affected."

"Then we'll have to stop the attacks," Conner murmured. "Sigyn is going to die down there, when the place floods."

Charles shook his head. "Conner, I have the ability of telepathy. Sigyn is nearby. She will not die in the flood. My only hope is that Vincent irradiates her for killing Nicky Parker. Last I saw him, he was in mourning."

The elevator grunted again. It came to a stop in the middle of a lobby.

Everyone made his or her way off the lift. They stood on the ground floor of Aris Falcon's large skyscraper.

"We should move," Evan said. "Water is going to make its way up the shaft soon." He gazed around the lobby. There was broken glass on the tiled floor.

Karla frowned. "Is it going to flood this city?"

Evan shrugged. "I don't think so. It should only come as high as the superstructure base. But there's a possibility it will come up, even with this floor."

The elevator doors closed and the car went up the shaft, headed towards the penthouse floor.

Karla leaned Conner against a wall. "You need a break, kiddo. Just take a minute."

"Yeah, thanks," Conner murmured. He sank to his butt and shifted his weight. "Everyone else okay?"

Johann nodded. "Speaking for myself, I'm great. I can't wait to see what the world looks like. It's 2050 now, right? Happy New Years, you guys."

Karla laughed. "Yeah. Happy New Years to you, too. I won't feel like celebrating until we make it up to my yacht."

Evan frowned. "It's probably been taken over by the Coast Guard by now. Remember, twenty-six years ago, when they seized everything?"

Karla nodded. "True. Okay everyone, Sinopa and the gang have a head start. By now, they should have met up with Fox, Topaz, Carmen, and anyone else who survived."

"Are we the last ones to leave?" asked Charles.

"Yeah," Karla said. "Are we safe to get moving?"

Charles shook his head. "Sigyn is near."

Karla folded her arms. "Well, let that bitch come at us. We'll kick her ass."

Charles frowned. "She is a ten-tail trickster goddess, ruling the fox spirits over every Asian religion. She was also a spirited Norse goddess. She had many names in many religions, and was very powerful."

Karla scoffed. "Nobody knows her now. She's not very strong anymore."

Charles approached Karla and put his hands on the succubus' shoulders. "Loki and Sigyn announced themselves to the world under the threat of nuclear attack. Everyone knows their names. Cults have sprung up almost overnight, because people were afraid of being nuked. And even those who chose not to worship them still know his and her names. Sigyn is more powerful than she has been in ages."

"Charlie?" Johann approached and looked over his brother. "You okay, man? You're talking weird." Johann tilted his head. "Are ... you wearing contacts?"

Charlie shook his head. "Everyone, prepare yourselves. Sigyn is coming up the elevator shaft."

The doors opened and Sigyn hovered in the empty shaft.

Karla clenched her hands into fists. "I am _tired_of this bitch." She turned to Charles and said, "Tammy, you're familiar with Earth stuff. I want you to burn out the brakes."

Charles opened his mouth to ask what Karla meant, but sensed the succubus' plan. "Understood."

Karla created two fists, tensing her body. Her forearms became bright pink. The glyphs, muted just beneath her flesh, glowed through the skin of her hands, wrists, biceps and shoulders.

Sigyn erupted into glowing flame, hovering in the empty elevator shaft. "You stupid childish mortals..."

"I'm an _im_mortal," Karla said. "And I am going to fuck your day up, bitch."

Sigyn narrowed her gaze. "You cannot understand what I have endured. I was a mother and a wife. I have been pushed to become this spiteful."

"Cry me a river, bitch."

"You are the last succubus. It is time to make your race extinct. I have had enough of your little rebellion."

Karla sneered. "Yeah? I've had enough of you."

Charlie tensed his forearms as well, using Tamamo-no-Mae's power to create fire somewhere high above, in an unseen place.

Sigyn panned her eyes from left to right, smirking at the group. "I will allow Conner to live. He can stay at my side for avenging my husband's murder. But the rest of you will die."

Conner looked up at Karla and Charlie. "Are you doing what I think you're doing?"

Charlie looked back at Conner and nodded. "Yes, that_is _exactly what we're doing."

Conner nodded. He interfaced with the elevator shaft, deactivating the emergency brakes. "It's ready when Karla is."

Eric stood besides Johann and Evan. "Evan, I want you to go and have the next sub unmoored, powered up, and ready to go. We may need to leave in a hurry."

Johann reached over and brushed the knuckles of his fist against Evan's right hand. "We got this brother. We need a getaway driver. You've got this."

"Be safe." Evan hurried out of the lobby.

Sigyn watched the middle-aged black man leave to procure safe travel. "He learned how to operate the vessels here, did he? Perhaps that one will be useful to me as well. I will allow him to live as a harmless family man."

"You want to know why I hate you so much?"

Sigyn arched yer brows.

"A future version of you is about to do something very stupid."

"Yes, I have absorbed just such an ability. I am learning how to use it. It is only a matter of time."

Karla ground her teeth together, using her telekinesis to break the elevator cables. "Good luck with that."

"You speak bravely for one who is about to die," Sigyn said. "My name is now spoken by billions of humans. I am unstoppable. I will show you my true..."

Karla brought her hands up and thrust them downward. The elevator car screamed down the shaft, striking Sigyn from above. It plummeted to the water far below.

Johann approached the shaft and counted aloud. There was a faint splashing sound. He turned back to the group and grinned. "If that didn't kill her, it sure as hell hurt her."

Charles frowned. "I still sense her. She is at the edge of the range of this vessel. But I sense intense anger and..."

The elevator shaft exploded, bowling everyone over. Several support pillars collapsed and the ceiling began to cave inward.

Karla teleported everyone out of the lobby. They appeared in an intersection, facing the skyscraper. A plume of smoke and debris gushed from the first floor level.

Karla sighed in relief. "Fuck that bitch. I hope she trapped herself in there."

Charlie frowned. "I still..."

The front of the lobby blasted apart, sending debris in all directions. Karla's telekinetic shell deflected the incoming concrete chunks. "Fuck this bitch!"

Sigyn stormed out of the collapsed lobby and approached the group. She appeared to move faster than they could perceive.

Having taken all of Nicky Parker's abilities before killing the girl, Sigyn moved through time, phasing in and out, rapidly, in a flit of brief appearances.

Johann dropped to the street, gasping as the air in his lungs turned solid.

Eric turned his body tenebrous, so there would be no need to breathe.

The shadowy mass, which Eric became, erupted into flames, created by Sigyn.

Karla's eyes widened. She teleported Conner and Charlie out of the intersection. The trio arrived at the marina.

Karla stammered, looking back in the distance. "She ... that fucking ... I will kill her!"

"Karla," Charlie said in a stern tone. "We are unable to fight her! Vincent might be able to vaporize her with radiation but _we_cannot fight her like this."

"Get on the fucking sub," Karla snapped. "I'll cover you."

"I am not letting you fight her," Charles said.

Karla waved her hand. Conner disappeared. "He's with Evan. Get the fuck out of Charlie's body. Natalia and Peter will need their telepath." She reached for Charlie's hand and lined her fingernails up with his. "Charlie, you tell them to leave. Now. I can escape with telepathy, using telekinetic bubbles to keep the ocean from crushing me. You got it? Get Conner and Evan to the surface now."

Tamamo's spirit drained out of Charlie's fingertips.

Karla's green eyes faded to a brown coloration. Her pupils changed from round to vertical ovals. "Now go. I will cover your escape."

Charlie looked around, somewhat dazed. "Jesus, she's been in me since yesterday and..." Charles swallowed. "Johann! That woman just killed my brother! I can't hear his mind!!"

Karla waved her hand at Charles. He disappeared.

The possessed succubus turned back towards the rest of the city.

Tamamo-no-Karla stood alone. "This doesn't make us friends again, Tammy. This doesn't make us even. I'm still upset with you."

She replied to herself out loud. "Hai, Karla-san. But you cannot deny we make a formidable force when paired together."

Karla cracked her knuckles, stretched her back, and tied her hair back. "That fucking cunt just murdered Johann and my husband. If I kill her now, she can't come back in time to kill Reno and Raul. If we kill her, right now, we can stop everything. We can save almost everyone."

"Hai, Karla-san," Karla said to herself. "We will fight her. But she is an undeniably powerful creature, now. We may not survive."

"Fuck you, Tammy. If I die, you show up in the Celestial Realm because I helped you open the portals again. You have nothing to lose, you little bitch. And I'll be damned if I let you have full control of me. I'm driving. You're riding shotgun, are we clear?"

"Hai, Karla-san."

The succubus took a stand in the intersection at the main entrance to the marina. "Come on!" Karla shouted. "Let's do this shit!"

Sigyn appeared in the street, fifty feet ahead.

Karla ground her molars together. "How's your head, bitch? I hope that elevator hurt."

"You crushed my skull," Sigyn replied. "I felt my body shatter. But I regenerated. And now I..." Sigyn paused. She tilted her head. "Tamamo-no-Mae? Is that you I sense?"

"Hai," Karla said, speaking as Tamamo. "I stand with Karla. We will protect Conner and the others. You will stay down here. If we all die together, then so be it."

"You won't die," Sigyn said. "You're prepared for it."

Karla looked down. The possessed succubus held a makeup compact in her left hand. Karla scoffed. "Tammy, you chicken-shit little bitch. You better not abandon me."

"If something happens," Tamamo said, speaking from Karla, "I assure you I will watch over Conner and Tamae. Someone will need to fight Sigyn if she..."

Karla's voice pitch changed in mid-sentence, "Shut up, Tammy." She forced the mirror shut and tucked it into her bra. "We're fighting her together. Don't be a coward."

Karla held her hands outward, towards Sigyn. "Time to die, bitch. If I kill you, I save the people that you're about to murder, starting with Reno and Raul. Then Reno and Raul will survive to help me stop you from killing my husband."

"Karla!" The voice belonged to Vincent Nevada. He hurried up the block. "Where is everyone?"

Karla teleported him. Nevada appeared at her side.

Vincent looked around dazed. He turned and faced Sigyn. "You! You're the woman that killed Nichole!"

"Aris Falcon changed my genetics so I could absorb abilities. And then he fed Nichole Parker to me."

Vincent clenched his hands into fists. He licked his lips, "Karla, where is everyone?"

"She killed Reno," Karla told him. "It's complicated. I'll explain when she's dead; that bitch killed Raul, Reno, and Eric and Johann ... She's going to pay. But if we kill her, right here and right now, nobody dies. We'll have changed time."

Vincent stood besides Karla. "Then we'll fight her together. She and her husband want to nuke California? Let's see how _she_likes being at the center of a nuclear reaction."

Karla took Vincent's hand. "Tamamo, take his body, and fry this place."

Vincent gasped. His eyes changed. His posture changed. He stood a little taller and a little prouder. "If I use his ability to destroy this place, you will die too. Go. Board the submarine."

Karla swallowed. "I'm staying to get you out of here. I'll teleport Vincent to the sub."

"Karla, go."

"No. Fry her ass."

"Very well." Vincent tensed up, irradiating the immediate area. Sigyn groaned softly. Her flesh began to bubble, and her clothes ignited.

Sigyn changed the temporal speed of the present time. It slowed the speed at which the radiation affected her body.

Sigyn moved through time-space rapidly, narrowing the gap between herself, and Karla and Vincent.

Karla began to react by tensing her forearms. But everything happened too quickly.

Sigyn buried her fingers in Karla's torso, closed her hand into a fist and jerked her hand free, ripping Karla's heart from her chest.

Karla felt a sting of excruciating pain. But it felt slow. She saw the fist emerge from her chest and the beating heart within Sigyn's grasp.

Sigyn spoke with a sneer. "You are lucky. Eric died a miserable, meaningless death, just like your daughter."

Karla mouthed the word, "Elvena..."

Sigyn glanced down at the bloody trophy in her grasp. "But you were worthy of a warrior's death."

Vincent reached for Karla's hand, shouting her name. In anger and resentment, Vincent tensed up, trying to irradiate Sigyn faster and hotter than the goddess could regenerate.

It wasn't fast enough.

Sigyn, with her stolen power of molecular-kinesis, changed the molecular composition of Vincent's body.

He reverted to a primordial soup, reduced to two smoldering shoe prints.

Vincent's death caused Karla, stunned and dying, to stumble, no longer holding Vincent's hand for support.

Now both Nevada boys were subjected to a similar fate.

Tears slipped down Karla's cheeks. Without her heart to pump adrenaline, she felt the pain with incredible clarity.

Sigyn continued. "And now I've killed Tamamo, inside of him. She never returned to the Celestial Realm. Such a waste. She would have been better off helping me. Did you know she once tried to possess me? I am too powerful and rejected her attempt to..."

Karla sank to her knees. She didn't care about the gloating woman. She couldn't think about her husband, or her daughter right now. She was happy that Donnie made it to safety, but in her precious last seconds, her last thoughts were of Marcus Howard, the boy she called 'Chance' in 1999. The boy she fell in love with after only a single month by his side.

Karla couldn't feel her left hand. She couldn't see Sigyn anymore. It was then that she somewhat realized she must have fallen onto her back, because she was looking upward.

There was a comforting presence there with her.

Tamamo's warmth held Karla as her life drained out of her body. "I promise," Tamamo said in a gentle voice, "I will work with the other gods and find a way to fix this."

Karla wasn't sure where the conversation was taking place ... in her mind perhaps? The pain of her empty ribcage began to fade.

The world's last succubus relaxed as her body began shutting down.

"You were right, Karla. I ... fell in love with you the first time I met you, well over a century ago. I made sure you would not recall it. Forgive me. I am sorry I hurt you over my obsession with Conner. I will help your passing be a painless one."

"I want to see Chance," Karla murmured. "I miss him."

"Sayonara, Karla-sama." Tamamo used Karla's ability of teleportation to teleport the makeup compact into Karla's palm.

Somewhere in the background, she heard Conner scream in anger. It sounded faint, distant...

A bolt of lightning sailed over Karla, reflecting in her glassy eyes.

The bolt from Conner's cane lanced through the void and struck Sigyn.

Inadvertently, his electric discharge caused Sigyn's temporal ability to activate, due to her inability to properly control it yet. Sigyn was thrown through time, and disappeared.

Conner hobbled over to Karla and sank to his knees at her side. He drew her head into his lap. "Karla, oh my God, what did she do to you? Jesus Christ."

Karla looked up at him. With the strength of Tamamo's spirit in Karla's body, the succubus managed four final words... "Keep my son safe." Everything grew dark.

Karla's body became limp. Her glassy brown eyes changed to a milky green.

Tamamo's spirit drained out of Karla's fingernails into the makeup mirror in her hand.

The sound of Conner's voice faded away. Karla's mind, in its last seconds, showed her what she wanted to see ... Marcus 'Chance' Howard.

Chance drew Karla into a gentle embrace and whispered to her, "Welcome home. I've missed you."

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