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Chapter XIX

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Chapter XIX - WMD

The sun was just starting to rise on the horizon. The very same horizon, as it turns out, that the Cornucopia was being shred to pieces by Reaper. On some level, Leon was frightened. Of all the people he didn’t want to go up against, it Jacob Reaper was at the forefront. He always had the sneaking suspicion that the Writer of Reality had only been letting him go as far as he had because it served his purposes. For the longest time, he had been scared of enacting his plan because he was fairly sure Reaper would stop him.

But Spider Queen forced his hand.

If there was anything he learned from his time with Assault, however, it was that he had to be adaptive.

With a heavy sigh, he turned to look over his shoulder.

“You know,” he began, “I was sort of hoping you’d be the one to meet me up here.” He turned to look back at the dismantled starship. “It’s hard to plan for every eventuality but I think I did a fairly good job. I mean, it still sucks that the Legion and their troops couldn’t keep you away long enough before the bloodbath started but I guess this is more poetic.”

His shoulder sagged. “If Spider Queen has just given me a few more days, I would have been able to make it all look like the Legion of Pain had come back. The Traumatiser would have been the catalyst. I told him to surrender, you know. The plan was that he’d break out of prison by turning into a wolf-ram-hybrid, unleash the powers he was hiding and wreck the Elemental Tower. Arsenal and AEGIS would have been so preoccupied with that on top of Tibia and the Gimp’s return that they would never have been able to notice when my troops and I came to Reacher and killed everyone here.

“In fact…” he turned fully around, offering a sad smile. “I was actually hoping you’d ban me from not interfering, dad. That way I could sneak off and enact my plan while you and the others were fighting the remnants of the Legion.”

David Hale stood on the other end of the rooftop, fangs bared and eyes glowing red. He was pissed but he wasn’t attacking. Not yet.

“Why?” he snarled. “Just tell me why?” The elder wolf made a slicing motion through the air with his paw. “Why would you even threaten Abby’s life like that without actually sending anyone?”

Leon shrugged absently. “Would you have preferred I did?”

David’s lips peeled back in fury and he took a step forward. “If this is all an attempt to humiliate me? To emasculate me…?”

“You think I did this all just to make you feel small?” He let out a short derisive laugh. “I use to think the world of you, dad. All I wanted was your approval. For you to see me as the hero I could be. I even fought against you hoping that instead of worshipping at your feet, going against you like Caleb would be enough to get your attention. Then I came to a realisation…”

He shot David a searing stare. “Your admiration isn’t worth shit.”

For a second his father looked genuinely startled and that just confirmed what he already knew.

“I don’t need your approval,” Leon said, turning his back towards the superhero. “Especially not when scrambling for it puts everyone else in danger. Your fucking tournament proved that.” He let out a little laugh. “I finally see you for what you are, dad. You’re just the little dog trying barking and making as much noise as possible so that he looks threatening but the old adage is true. Your bark is worse than your bite.”

He gestured towards the destroyed Cornucopia. “There are people out there that make way more difference than you or the Elemental Alliance. People who are genuinely heroes; who do what needs to be done. They don’t care about image, popularity or even money. They just do what’s right because it’s right.”

“And you think what you’re doing is right?” David demanded. “You’re not even giving us a chance to find out who in Reacher is infected! You’re just going to kill them!”

“That’s because you don’t know how the Gene Stealers think!” Leon snapped. “They’re right, dad!”

That shocked David all the more. So much, in fact, that his next word came out in barely a whisper. “What?”

“There is a massive inequality between those with powers, Outsiders and those without powers. Spider Queen at least honestly believes that Chimera wants to resurrect Thelakosia and bring about an age where things like racism, discrimination and even genetic defects are a thing of the past. You don’t have to live with the conditions of your birth anymore. You get to choose!” He pressed a paw against his chest. “I felt like that for the longest time. Lance got some amazing superpowers. My twin brother. Even my adopted brother has powers. At first, I felt like I got the short end of the stick because I didn’t get any but then I found out that I had and you were oppressing me. The times we’ve fought has put a massive strain on our family. If you’re too stupid to realise that, then you’re even dumber than I thought.”

Leon turned his gaze back towards the sunrise. “There are so many people out there who are in the same situation. The Legion of Pain is an example of that. Tibia had superpowers but was given what was considered a ‘weak’ power. He turned to crime, blaming the system and all the people at the Elemental Tower who teased him for it. What kind of ‘hero’ would do that? Those are meant to be our next generation of superheroes and they drove one of their fellow supers into crime just because all he could do was make people feel like they were kicked in the shins!”

“There was more to Tibia’s story than that and you know it!”

“It wasn’t just Tibia that’s the problem!” Leon growled. “It was the supers that tormented him.” He turned fully towards his father once more, detecting the fight coming up. “Think about the Gimp. He had an amazing superpower but because of circumstances, he was picked up by criminals and never given a chance to reform. People just automatically assumed that because his power is ‘pain’, he must be a bad guy. Migraine is another example. He was just constantly hurting and in desperate need for someone to help cure him of his constant migraines. If someone just talked to him and tried to help him, he would never have turned to a life of crime! Pins and Needles were considered common nuisances and were abandoned as children. They only had each other in a world that looked down on them. The Scalpel was just trying to do his best to fix a broken system and just because what he was doing was considered ‘extreme’, he was considered a vigilante and a villain. He was making a difference!”

“What they did was against the law!” shouted David.

“The law can and should be changed!” Leon growled back. “But it’s stubborn old men and women like you who are unwilling to see past the huge fucking noses you’re looking down on everyone else to see that! Times are changing and the law should change with it! If you treat the law like an unbendable piece of glass, it’s going to fucking break and shatter.”

“And if you treat it like fucking rubber, people will get hurt,” David snarled.

“You should know. You’re the one that decided to join a criminal organisation.”

To that, the esteemed Feral Steel had nothing to say save for emitting a low growl.

Leon tilted his head to the side with a long, exasperated sigh. “Whatever. You’re still so narrow minded and stuck in your old superhero ways. You didn’t even ask yourself where the men who I supposedly sent to attack Abby were.” He saw David’s eyes widen in surprise. “That’s right, dad. They’re in this building right now, slaughtering people left, right and centre.”

“You said you were going to collapse the building…”

The eldest Hale son gave his father a helpless shrug. “Yeah well, what else is a villain supposed to do apart from lie? I bet you were thinking I’d have the trigger on my person or something, right? You beat me down, rip the button from my paws and win the day? Sorry to disappoint but of all the people who would’ve caught up with me, it was either going to be you or Jacob. Frankly, I’m glad it’s you because I’m fairly sure I can hold you off on my own.”

David’s hackles rose and a loud tearing sound emerged from his suit, his muscles bunching beneath the flexible spandex-like material. “That’s wishful thinking, pup.”

“No. What’s wishful thinking is that you can beat me with enough time to get down to every floor on this building and stop my men from killing all the Reacher employees. What you’ve failed to realise is that I’m not trapped here with you.”

In that moment, Leon Hale’s flesh rippled like oil. He reached for the tuxedo that was still a remnant from attending his sister’s wedding, digging his claws into the seams of his shirt and tearing it boldly apart. Already powerful chest-muscles ballooned out, bones and organs rapidly reshaping and changing. Memories of the first time he had changed flooded his mind and it was through those very same memories that he triggered his transformation.

All his fury, all his frustration came bursting out of his chest, pushing it outward, changing and contorting the shape. There was a sudden shift of weight as he was forced to topple forward and caught himself on his paws. Already enlarged muscles built from years of wrestling and football filled with the fire of his bitterness, pumping through his veins and pushing them until they were visible even past his fur. As with every time he transformed, there was a violent tendency to become overwhelmed by those flames, to burn up in its fiery fury with his consciousness turning to ash in a raging, feral body.

But somewhere through the raging, red flames came and a blistering white light; a shimmering pilot light of pure, white intent that cut past the rage like a laser. The fire cooled within him, manifesting as a sudden burst of white smoke and mist emerging from his body like a cloud. His heaving and huffing propelled the smoke further and further out from his body, somewhat masking his changing appearance. Some part of him was admittedly ashamed when his morphing feet ripped through his pants and exposed his genitals but the mist offered him some modesty. He kicked off the tattered pants with his now quadrupedal feet.

Loud cracking crackled down his spine as his stance took a more feral appearance. Even though his paws maintain their opposable thumbs and his chest kept his humanoid torso, it was like his lower half and spine was clearly that of a feral wolf pinning him to a mostly quadrupedal stance. He rolled his shoulders, the already massive bulbous frames ballooning out as they prepared to support the new position of his head. He never kept his eyes off David as his neck snapped upwards, angling to become in line with his horizontal spine.

Across the rooftop from his, David Hale let out his own roar and underwent his own transformation. The patriarch of the Hale Family burst from his costume, enormous arms exploding out of the sleeves and coming down against the concrete in a gorilla-like manner. Every muscle in his body surged outward, tearing through his suit with his traps rising up to swallow his neck. The hackles that seemed permanently raised became silvery white and ran down his back as Primal Steel emerged.

For a second, Leon was struck by fear at the enormous werewolf in front of him. Then, the rest of his transformation took hold as his already large frame widened and lengthened. He brushed aside the feeling of vertigo as his tall shoulders rose up to a towering twelve feet tall and the length of his feral body reached almost twice that. Every muscle in his body was proportionate and built to support his incredible size. It would have been easy to spot the massive, grey-furred feral wolf from several buildings away.

With full control of the mist around him, Leon allowed the thick, white gas to part momentarily so that his father could see him in all his splendour; nearly a tonne of muscular, lupine mass that was as fast and deadly as any werewolf.

No more words needed to be said.

Both wolves tilted their heads back and let out one final howl, a cry that was both trying to compete with one another and, at the same time, mourn their loss of their father-son relationship. Leon even felt a slight wetness in the corner of his mismatched eyes.

When the final notes echoed into the blood-red sky, the two men charged at one another.

******

There was a a weird sense of vindication and satisfaction that came from beating down the same moose-men who had been responsible for capturing her and then turning her against her own friends. Admittedly, that friend had been Samson Connors but she still didn’t like being controlled. Even though there were twenty of them, Mary Brightwood had used every skill in her arsenal to bring them all down. She stood in the middle of what had once been the very same baseball stadium where their final battle against Gnoll had taken place, right on the pitcher’s mound. Around her were the members of Leon’s half-moose, half-wolf traitor team, all of them bound down by crackling purple chains - a skill she had picked up from the Gimp. Along with her ‘bone sense’ and abilities to project telekinetic forces picked up from the Tibia and Migraine mutations, she surprised even herself.

The biggest surprise, however, came from the dark haired woman dressed in flowing, bright blue robes with a silver breastplate positioned over her chest decorated golden filigree. It took her only a second to realise who this woman was.

“Mom.”

Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, nodded with a gentle benevolent smile. It wasn’t hard to see where Mary got her own stunning features. Athena’s chiselled cheekbones, angled chin and almost too perfect features were simply breathtaking. Her hair was surprisingly dark in colour and it was clear that Mary had inherited her blonde hair from her father. However, their eyes were the same shade of baby blue. Athena wore a traditional Greek helmet. In one hand she held a round shield with the image of a Medusa’s head on it, the real Aegis. In the other was a long, gold and silver spear. There were no beams of divine light streaming out from behind her nor was she standing on some fluffy cloud. She simply stood in in the dirt and grass alongside Mary.

“Mary,” Athena greeted, sounding both relieved and proud at the same time. “It has been so long since I’ve seen you with my own eyes…”

That sparked a burst of fury from her. “If you had actually been involved in my life, maybe it wouldn’t have been so long.”

Her perfectly sculpted eyebrows lifted slightly in apology. “Oh Mary, you must know by now that with great power comes grave consequences. As a goddess, I cannot even breathe without someone somewhere interpreting it as some form of divine intervention.”

“And yet you still had sex with dad and bore me as a child. For what? So that I could fulfil some prophecy that I would die in a few minutes, we’d be reunited and then I’d get to come back as some herald for the gods to usher in a new age of divine involvement?”

Athena’s features softened. “Ah. I see he told you.”

Mary strode towards her mother, stopping about six feet away. “Yes. Jacob told me. Don’t go blaming him. I forced it out of him.” She crossed her arms guardedly. “I assume he’s the reason you’re here as well.”

“Yes,” came the blunt admission. “He had contacted me to appear before you exactly at this same spot and this same location.”

That was on advantage Jacob possessed over the gods. His foresight bypassed the Gene Stealer’s immunity. It begged the question of whether or not Jacob knew about Leon’s betrayal and if he did, why he didn’t do anything to stop it. Still, Mary couldn’t be too mad especially when Jacob’s warning came back to haunt her. AEGIS would be destroyed if she asked to meet her mother. Right now, the Cornucopia was crumbling due to Leon’s betrayal. She had to wonder how her decision to meet her mother somehow made the fall of AEGIS possible.

“Guess that’s something he has over you guys, huh?” she said. “He knows what’s coming.”

“He does indeed and he certainly has his own plans. You would do well not to trust him.”

That irritated her and sparked the powder keg that she had been trying to keep restrained. “Really? You’re giving me advice. You. The bitch who left me with my dad and then expects me to die for her so I can be used as some tool to make the gods relevant again? Honestly, Jacob has done more for me than you ever have.”

Athena’s features were a mask of calm. No doubt she was used to people lamenting at her like this. “Reaper is no god and does not understand that governing over the masses who believe in you and look to you for guidance requires a subtle touch. Do too much and they become dependent on you. Do too little and they lose faith. History is rife with examples of deities walking amongst mortals only for that to turn out poorly. Taking an example from my own pantheon, Zeus’ constant infidelities with mortal women has led to countless conflicts.”

Mary scowled and shook her head. “I’m getting a lot of hypocrisy here especially from the woman who was fucked by my dad.”

Again, the goddess didn’t show any signs of rising up to her antagonism. It was irritating. She wanted Athena to get pissed. To show that she had some sort of emotion even if it was just anger! To act like an actual mother!

“We are comparing my methods to Reaper’s and while I limit my interactions with mortals, the Writer of Reality blatantly steps in and reveals the universe’s greatest secrets to anyone who will listen all in some misguided attempt to elevate them all to godhood. He is little more than a parasite who steps into our world and leeches resources from us.”

“Is that all we are to you? Resources?” Mary spat. “Also, let’s not forget that Jacob saved your ass. As I recall, he was actually the one that brought the furs into our universe, ending the zombie Apocalypse and thus starting our world on the path to healing.”

There was a slight blush on the Goddess’ cheeks. Was that embarrassment or anger? “Yes. I recall. It was then that he conspired with me to form AEGIS. I was foolish enough to take this action at face value and was too grateful to see he planned for much more. Keep that in mind, Mary. This was centuries ago. Reaper knew AEGIS would be needed well into the future and planted to seeds for his return. He is not to be trusted.”

There was a kernel of truth in those words. If Jacob could set plans into motion all those centuries ago, who was to say that he couldn’t see the future then? Sure, maybe his vision was limited now but it wasn’t then, right? What did he know that he wasn’t telling them?

“I’ll deal with him later,” she said fiercely. “This is about you and me.”

“Yes,” agreed her mother sagely, that calm, benevolent smile returning. “I know you are tempted to go against my wishes and sacrifice yourself for the greater good but the consequences are far more dire if you did not.”

She didn’t visibly flinch but internally, she felt a pang of pain. “What are you talking about?” she demanded.

“As we speak, David and Leon Hale are engaged in mortal combat atop the Reacher Corporation tower. Spider Queen awaits at the foot of the building, debating whether or not to intervene even as her former recruits systematically kill each of the agents she had planted within the building for General Vernon Washington to capture. There are many people currently on their way to stop the duel. Leon’s distractions have been dealt with and each of them are now racing to stop Leon’s ultimatum save for one.” She lifted a finger. “Reaper will not intervene.”

“Stop bringing this back to Jacob,” Mary snapped. “What are these ‘dire consequences’ you’re talking about?”

“One way or another, someone will die as per the prophecy,” Athena said gravely. “For anyone else apart from you, that death will be permanent. They will be removed from this reality, never to be seen again. However, as per the agreement I made with Reaper, if you were to die, you will not fall under his jurisdiction. You will be brought to the realm of the gods in preparation for your eventual return.”

It took her a second to realise exactly what her mother was saying.

“I can stop the fight… but I’ll have to die. It has to be me because if anyone else dies, Jacob plays his role as a real ‘grim reaper’ and take their soul away. They’ll never come back because he’s not allowed back. But if I die, I’ll get to come back.”

“Exactly.”

Mary shook her head in exasperation. “Seriously? You’re throwing this kind of ultimatum at me? Your own daughter!?”

She saw her mother’s benevolent smile for what it was, a cold, uncaring mask design to set mortal minds at ease. “Not too long ago you were chastising me for not acting like your mother. Why demand such affection now?”

Cornered. Either she died and fulfilled the very same prophecy that her mother and the other gods had orchestrated and therefore save the life of one of her friends or…

… she did nothing and let one of them die.

Sure Jacob would likely take care of their soul but they would never be in this Earth again…

… ever.

With a frustrated cry, she bolted past Athena.

******

The twin howls could be heard miles away from the Reacher building. As the Cornucopia crumbled towards the sea, the roar each of Leon’s well-laid out distractions reached their inevitable conclusion.

Ben and Samson stood in front of their manor, tossing out the half-wolf, half-ram men that Leon had sent after them. Both werewolves exchanged glances, smiling at one another in acknowledgement. There was no denying that even if their paths were diverging, there was a lot of history between them that could not be easily broken. The howls, however, caught both of their attention. Without another word, both werewolves charged towards the source of the noise. Martha Connors watched them go and closed her eyes. A tear ran down her cheek while the rest of her family stood beside her, the sun’s golden rays washing over the bloodstained steps of their mansion.

Bren looked derisively at the unconscious forms of Pins and Needles in front of him. All around him were the multitude of corpses from his various clones. More than half of his supply had now been depleted but he had managed to trick both Pins and Needles into entering one of his clone vats. His gambit had paid off and now the otter twins were caught in suspended animation, slumbering quietly. They had been so focused on trying to fuse with one of his clones that they attempted to preemptively release one only for Bren to pounce behind them and throw them into one of the vats. His victory was short lived, however, as even deep within the facility, he could feel something was wrong. The tiger turned, rushing back towards the stairs leading up to the surface but not before snatching a pair of sunglasses and slipping them on.

The troops deployed against AEGIS Central were securely trapped within Rhiannon’s pocket dimension, their worst fears and pain ravaging them. The Hound of Destruction heard the howls and turned to leave. She was suddenly stopped by a paw gripping her shoulder. When she turned, her red eyes widened as Arcturus, the Hound of Death, slowly shook his head.

The Traumatiser lay unconscious atop the Elemental Tower. Lance collapsed onto his knees while Corey slumped onto his rear behind him. Lars, having been thrown off his wheelchair, lay on his back in relief. When the howls came, all three of them exchanged glances. Lance immediately scooped up Lars in his arms and charged down the stairs with Corey right behind him.

Madman lowered his chain gun as the last of his foes fell. He was just about towards Gnoll for some answers, he heard the howl. Torn between the man who had abandoned him and his friends, he didn’t even spend a second debating. He turned and bolted towards the sound.

Spider Queen stood at the base of the Reacher Corporation building. She watched the mirror-like glass of the building shatter as the troops she had handpicked over years had turned to betray her thanks to the efforts of one pup. Both infuriated and impressed, she had no choice but to turn as Dragon Knight opened a portal for her.

Chimera would not be pleased.

Within Callista Heights Mall, Tibia lay unconscious, encased in glass.

On the shores of West California Island, Jacob Reaper landed from his spectacular display of power, slamming the Gimp into the sands while his Advocates landed behind him like four angelic guardians.

“That’s why they call me Legion,” he announced.

But the Gimp was unconscious and before the surrounding crowd could break out into cheers, he closed his eyes, pressing his paws against his temples and braced himself.

On the rooftop of the building, Leon and David clashed, wolf against wolf. There was some conscious effort from David not to bite his son even though he was in his primal state. Leon likewise shrouded the entire rooftop in his infectious mist but did not activate it even as his father breathed it in. Claws grazed flesh only for the wounds to heal almost instantaneously. Metal spires and barricades were erected to be shattered a moment later by the hulking bodies of the wolves. Through this all, Leon’s trump card was enacted.

The last of his men planted the bombs and immediately began to evacuate. A timer was set.

Ten seconds.

Their orders were simple. Kill everyone in the building but when Leon and whomever he was pitched against began to fight, they were to plant the bombs and detonate them.. It didn’t matter of Leon lived through it. The important thing was that the Gene Stealers were stopped.

Leon lunged out of the white mist, massive fangs bared. David grasped his son’s titanic jaws, each fang as big as his head and the jaws themselves big enough to clamp down on his gargantuan form.

Nine seconds.

Primal Steel flung Leon onto the ground with enough force that the concrete beneath them formed a quick crater. Leon didn’t give his father the satisfaction of uttering a whimper and scrambled to his feet.

Eight.

David flung his paws forward. Massive, metal wolves made of living metal sprang from his fingertips, charging at his son. A thick white mist erupted from around Leon, completely shrouding him. Subjected to his son’s powers, David couldn’t detect his son but did hear the grinding of his metal constructs against huge paws.

Seven.

With barely enough time to react, David’s ears perked and he leapt back. Leon’s enormous jaws clamped down in the space just inches from his chest. Leon’s bright, fiery eyes locked gazes with his, time seeming to slow as father and son stared each other down.

Six.

Like lightning, Leon landed on his front paws and pivoted in the air, turning his powerful hind legs against David and unleashing a powerful double kick. Primal Steel was sent hurtling out of the cloud of mist like an arrow, parting the fog before colliding with a rooftop air conditioning unit.

Five.

The two wolves recovered almost instantaneously, squaring off against one another. Leon did a quick calculation. Soon, it would all end.

Four.

But not before one final charge.

David let out a loud, thunderous roar. Whether he was fully in control or not, Leon couldn’t tell but it didn’t matter. Leon charged, his claws digging deep into the concrete beneath him.

Three.

They closed the gap between them within a second.

Two.

David leapt into the air, fangs bared and claws raised over his head. At the same time, sharp, metal spikes erupted from the ground beneath him, ready to impale Leon. For his part, Leon closed his eyes.

This was it.

One.

“STOP!”

His eyes immediately snapped open as a figure encased in a familiar gold and black hoverbike came zooming in between them.

Caleb.

His younger brother held out both his paws towards them, desperate to stop them from clashing. Leon looked past his brother, saw the recognition in David’s eyes and the flash of fear. They couldn’t stop. There was no way to stop.

And the bomb…

Zero.

…

Boom.

******

There’s an old saying.

You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

For Mary, Caleb’s light had always been constant for her. He was that weird little pup that had knocked on her door when they were just kids and asked if she could come out and play because she looked sad. He was the strong foundation that she built her life around.

And suddenly…

… he was gone.

She wasn’t even halfway to the Reacher building when she immediately sensed what had happened. She hit the brakes of her car, causing loud, angry honks from behind her and a few curses thrown her way. All of that was drowned out by the massive void that was suddenly there where Caleb’s mind used to be. Even when he was asleep, it was like he was a lighthouse in the darkness that steered her in the right direction. Caleb Hale had helped her control her powers just when she was starting and for years, he had been her inspiration to keep fighting…

And now…

Mary clutched the sides of her head and pressed her temples against her steering wheel.

She screamed.

Not just a loud vocal cry. A powerful, metal scream unlike anything West California Island had ever experienced. The powerful psychic blast immediately knocked out everyone within two miles of her. Those further were hit by a banshee-like wail that sent them to their knees. Some even began bleeding from their noses. Cars crashed. People on the streets toppled over, clutching their heads. Even the airwaves were disrupted, a deafening screeching bursting from every speaker, screen and media.

For a whole minute and a half that felt like an eternity, Mary Brightwood caused all of West California Island to come to a standstill.

That didn’t stop time, however.

Leon’s bomb went off and the entire Reacher Building came crashing down in a fiery conflagration. A cloud of debris and dust spread out from the central business district of the Island, barrelling down streets like a miasma that perfectly mirrored Mary’s psychic cry. Floor by floor, the skyscraper collapsed, each burst sending the pale brown cloud further and further out in all directions while the height of the tower rapidly descended.

Only when the debris reached her did Mary cease her wail, chest heaving and tears streaming down her face.

She immediately got out of her car and rushed towards the source of the explosion. She didn’t care for her health. There were likely glass and concrete particles in the air that would rip her lungs to shreds but she didn’t care.

“Caleb…” she coughed. “Caleb, no!”

An eternity in the purgatory seemed to pass before she finally came close to ground zero. She didn’t need to get any closer to know exactly what had happened.

The rubble was all the evidence she needed.

That… and the sight of the Hound of Death standing in front of her, fiery blue wings spread.

“Arcturus…” she coughed, blood spluttering from between her lips. She scrambled towards him, collapsed in front of him with her hands just around his waist. “Arcturus! Please! Tell me… Tell me it isn’t true…!”

The Hound of Death looked down apologetically at her.

He didn’t say anything but it was enough to break her heart.

She wept, burying her face into his coat.

Not too far away, atop one of the nearby buildings, Jacob Reaper and Gwen stood watching the scene. David and Leon were just extracting themselves from the rubble. Being enhanced by the werewolf virus and a Gene Stealer strain respectively while also being supers allowed them to survive the blast albeit with severe injuries. Caleb Hale wasn’t so lucky. As a pure Outsider, he had none of the baseline superpowers that might have given him a chance to survive.

“There was betrayal…” Gwen murmured.

Jacob nodded grimly. “Elliot’s betrayal as well as Leon’s. You could even say that Alex’s betrayal could be counted even though he technically wasn’t aware of it.”

A short distance away, Lance, Corey and Lars arrived. Just the sight of Mary amongst the rubble was enough to send Lars weeping. He struggled out of Lance’s grip and crawled towards Arcturus. With his legs utterly useless, it took him a while to claw his way towards the Hound of Death but that didn’t stop him from begging and pleading the entire way.

“Then there was heartbreak.”

“Lars’ confession that his is a transformation fetishist certainly broke his heart. Leon’s betrayal definitely did.”

Bren and Rhiannon arrived a moment later alongside Madman. Rhiannon charged towards Arcturus and gave her fellow Hound a fierce slap. Arcturus barely flinched. Madman, for the first time showing tears in his eyes, gently prised Mary from the Hound knowing full well that nothing could be done. Bren did the same with Lars.

“And then death of someone close to him.”

Jacob sighed heavily, resting a paw over his eyes and tilting his head back. “I told the pup not to put himself between two people who are fighting. It was a surefire way to get killed… and sure enough…”

Far below, David, who was back to his normal lupine form albeit naked was in shock. Then fury entered his eyes once more and he whirled around to face Leon who had retained his enormous, feral form.

“This is your fault!” shouted David. “You killed him! You killed you brother!”

“What!?” bellowed Leon. “You’re just as much at fault as I am!”

Their back and forth quickly escalated but Jacob was in no mood to watch them. He knew how this story ended.

“Well,” he sighed, “it’s not the ending I would’ve wanted but it’s the ending we got.”

Gwen let out a soft laugh as she turned alongside him. “Already got a plan in motion, I see.”

Reaper grinned, gesturing for her to take the lead. “I do, in fact. If you would be so kind?”

The Liaison of Life shrugged and waved a hand absently through the air. A tear in space and time appeared before him and he casually strolled right through…

… right into the dark expanses of the Gene Stealer’s home base and their gawking features.

Four of the five original Gene Stealers watched as the two No Ones entered their most secure base.

“Well…” Shark Tamer began, the first to recover and flashing a dark, toothy grin. “This is interesting.”

“Hello,” Jacob greeted. “I thought I’d pay you all a visit now that things are quickly coming to an end.”

Dragon Knight, arguably the most chivalrous of the Gene Stealers, stepped forward and spread his wings protectively in front of the others. “What do you want and how did you find this place?”

“I’ve known about this place for a long time,” he explained with a casual wave of his paw. “Remember that ring I gave Trojan? The one that shook him to the core and he no doubt took to all of you? Yeah. That was bugged. I’m sure Elliot actually told you about it since he was privy to that information. I’m pretty sure you were all pretty confident I wouldn’t make a move on you because I can’t mobilise AEGIS would risking the lives of countless lives and other governments bearing down on us and branding us as terrorists.”

“That was one of the leverages we had, yes,” Spider Queen chortled. Then her eyes widened as she came to a realisation. “Wait…”

“Yep.” Jacob shrugged helplessly. “Now that AEGIS has effectively been dismantled because Leon exposed the Cornucopia as well as attacked AEGIS Central, there’s absolutely no reason for me not to just pop in here and wreck shit up!”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

Shark Tamer rose from his seat, using a webbed hand to push down Dragon Knight’s wing and step forward. “You’re an intelligent… would you be a man or a deity? I haven’t pinned down exactly what a ‘No One’ is.”

“I’m mortal just like you.”

“Well, you’re clearly in the know about the Ring so you know full well that everything we’ve been doing is to stop their activities.” He reached out towards Jacob, grinning broadly. “Surely you can see that while the sacrifices made are indeed lamentable, we are working for the greater good.”

“Right because a world full of Gen 5 Gene Stealers would have a greater chance of defeating the Ring.” Jacob bobbed his head from side to side. “That’d be quite noble if you guys weren’t so narrow minded.”

Shark Tamer’s brow furrowed. “I beg your pardon?”

Reaper grinned darkly at them. “The Ring, as it’s name suggests, is the very cyclical force of this multiverse. While it’s very commendable of you to try and defeat them and carve your own destiny, I am going to have to call bullshit on that. None of you are really in it to defeat the big bad save for Chimera. Each of you have your own personal objectives.”

Spider Queen shook her head in frustration. “What are you saying? Speak clearly.”

Gwen stepped forward. “Have you even questioned why Chimera hasn’t emerged from his Geneheart? It’s because Caleb Hale died.” She pointed at Spider Queen. “You’re the only one that still envisions a future of all Gen 5s, obsessed as you are with the idea of them being your ‘babies’. When it comes down to it, you’re not willing to send your children off to war with a mythical force that you barely believe in.” She then gestured towards Dragon Knight. “You’re personally enamoured with Chimera. You don’t care for his motivations, you’ll be there but there’s still that little nagging voice in the back of your head that doesn’t believe the Ring even exists.” Eyeing Shark Tamer, she said, “You’re a man of science and thus far, you have found no traces of the Ring so while you’re willing to use Chimera’s knowledge and abilities to your advantage, you were already planning to betray Chimera when this phase of your plan completed. ”

The Gene Stealers turned towards Shark Tamer whose grin never faltered.

Gwen turned her gaze towards Wendigo. “You were planning to eat Chimera when you had enough powers believing that you’ll become even more powerful than a Gen 5 through the process.”

Jacob stepped forward. “Unlike previous iterations of this universe, the No One involved wasn’t kicked out after they transfered the furs into this reality. This No One got involved and has significant contacts in all the world’s governments. Before, the four of you would bicker and start a sort of Gene Stealer civil war while the remaining members of Arsenal rallied themselves and came after you, using Caleb’s death as a rallying call. They would have succeeded but Chimera’s Geneheart would remain sealed until the Ring did their thing in… I dunno…” He glanced towards Gwen. “What is it…? About four or five years from now?”

“About that time,” she agreed.

“Four to five…?” gasped Dragon Knight. “You know when the Ring will attack?”

“Roughly.”

“Then you can help us!” exclaimed the black-scaled Gene Stealer. “Your powers are clearly superior to the Ring’s! You can put an end to them before they end all existence as we know it.”

Jacob grimaced a little and bobbed his head from side to side. “See… I sort of want to but at the same time, no.” He wagged a finger at them. “I’m going to pull a very ‘Gene Stealer-esque’ kind of move here. You say everything you’ve done is for the greater good. That the sacrifices, identity rape, existential crises and billions of dollars worth of destruction is worth it. Well, trust me. The pain I’m about to inflict upon you all is all going to be worth it in the end.”

Suddenly the screens behind Shark Tamer began blaring and was wreathed in red. The scientist turned and his beady eyes went wide in horror.

“You didn’t…”

“Oh I did,” Jacob chuckled. “There’s a thermonuclear bomb currently primped to detonate on this very location. The moment it goes, you can bet every government in the world is going to scramble to investigate this side. Even if they don’t find the Geneheart, your base of operations is going to go up in radioactive vapour.”

“You’re insane!” Spider Queen shouted. “Dragon Knight has countless people in his Menagerie. They’re all going to die!”

“Not unless Dragon Knight does something about it.” Jacob eyed the reptilian Gene Stealer pointedly. “Of course, he should move before Wendigo…”

Suddenly, the four-armed, monstrous Gene Stealer lunged at his draconic comrade. His fangs sunk deep into Dragon Knight’s left wing and he tore his jaws back, ripping a huge chunk of the dragon’s flesh with it. Dragon Knight let out a pained cry and fell to his knees, grasping the wound while Wendigo chewed and swallowed.

“Whoops. There he goes,” Jacob said idly.

Wendigo offered Dragon Knight a toothy, bloody grin. “You state good, Aloysius. I’ll come back for seconds later.”

A deep, orange portal sprang up behind the monstrous Gene Stealer. Wendigo, having adopted Dragon Knight’s powers after having devoured his flesh, stepped through the portal, escaping the nuclear blast.

“Damn you, Weiss…” snarled Dragon Knight. With a scowl, he opened a portal for himself and staggered through.

“Wait! Aloysius!” Spider Queen cried.

The black-scaled dragon shot her a piercing stare. “You were always naive, Seraph. The Legion of Pain was your failure and it was your incompetence that led us to this. If you had kept a better leash on your pup, maybe we wouldn’t be here. Reap what you have sown.”

And with that, the dragon disappeared into his own blue portal.

Spider Queen turned desperately towards Shark Tamer who merely shrugged. “Ah, it was always a pleasure, my dear Seraph. Unfortunately, this is where we part ways.” He took a step back, seating himself on the chair in front of his console. “I do wish you the best. Say ‘hi’ to your children for me.”

A glass dome sprang up from around Shark Tamer and suddenly, he sank into the floor, no doubt being shot out in an escape pod.

Alone, Spider Queen turned towards Reaper.

Jacob stepped aside, gesturing at the shimmering rip that they had entered. “Guess you now have little choice, don’t you, my dear? Either die here in a nuclear blast that even you can’t survive or take a gamble and step through the same portal that we came in through. If it helps, Gwen can go through first.”

The Liaison of Life turned and easily stepped through the shimmering white tear.

Spider Queens hands formed into fists. “Why would you save me?”

With a sinister smile, Jacob said, “My dear, I save everyone whether they like it or not.”

Scowling, the arachnid Gene Stealer charged through the portal.

Jacob took one last look at the Gene Stealer base… and then at the enormous black sphere that was embedded deep into the walls. The one circular door into the Geneheart was open. Silhouetted against a bright blue light beyond was a single figure. Jacob grinned and gave a mocking salute to Chimera before he too stepped through the portal.

******

Contrary to what everyone would say, Abigail Hale was not always self-centred. When her father had come crashing through the portal port screaming her name she had put her honeymoon on hold knowing full well something big was happening.

She had not expected that ‘something big’ to be the death of her youngest brother.

Needless to say, she wasn’t flying off to Australia any time soon.

It tore her up knowing that Caleb’s body had been so mangled not only by the competing empowered superpowers of her brother and father but also the collapsing multi-storey skyscraper that they couldn’t even bury Caleb in a traditional casket. No. They had to cremate her youngest brother.

Lillian Hale sat openly weeping in their family lounge room. Caleb’s ashes sat on a pedestal next to a large portrait of him smiling while dressed in his favourite football uniform. Hales from all over the world made an effort to attend the funeral and wake. Friends had also attended. Jacob Reaper and Gwen were mysteriously absent. For the first time in months, their house was quiet. There was no heated exchange between Leon and David. There were no werewolf visitors coming to intrude suddenly. There wasn’t a shout about ‘claws’ scraping the floorboards.

How she’d miss her youngest brother forgetting to put on his slippers…

“Abby? Are you drinking enough water?”

She lifted a head that she wasn’t even aware she had lowered. Arthur, her husband, draped an arm comfortingly over her shoulder. “Why would you ask that?” she replied, taking the offered glass.

“Because you’re not crying anymore. I was worried you were dehydrated.”

It had been almost three weeks since the incident and she was fairly sure she had cried non-stop since then. There was so much she wanted to tell her little brother; to thank him for not only helping give her a dream wedding but also for keeping them all safe. She recalled when he had courageously infected himself with the Minos Strain and pushed them out of the house while Ashton had become infected. Then there was the time at the football game when he saved them from Gnoll. Her little brother had been a hero through and through…

… and now he was gone.

“I don’t think I’ll be fine for a long time, Arthur,” she croaked. Her throat was dry so she took a sip from the offered glass. “But thank you. For keeping my hydrated.”

“Anytime,” he answered gently. “Maybe you should talk to someone? Your mom?”

She lifted her head as her black-clad mother. Though hundreds had died as a result of Leon’s actions, Lillian was mourning the loss of two of her sons. Within the first few days, David had openly disowned Leon and they had not seen the eldest Hale brother since. Abby had secretly hoped that they would see him at least for Caleb’s funeral. But there was sign of him. Lance seemed shaken the most as he was Leon’s twin.

“I think she’s got enough on her mind,” Abby responded.

With her heart broken multiple times, Lillian had withdrawn her candidacy for the mayorship. Vernon Washington had pounced on the opportunity and was currently running unopposed. With a few months, he’d be the mayor. Spurred by the nuclear explosion in the ruins of Thelakosia and the Gene Stealer attack - not to mention Weapons Master’s death, the General rallied support around him. Without the one source of a Gene Stealer cure around, it seemed that the only way to protect themselves from the Gene Stealers was to follow his lead.

Of course, there was one major pocket of resistance amongst it all.

Jacob, while not running for mayorship, declared that the area known as AEGIS Central to those in the know would refuse to follow Vernon’s decrees. He even openly challenged the soon-to-be-mayor to try and ‘make them’ obey. This prompted any who refused to subject themselves to the invasive screening Washington was proposing to flock to Jacob’s city block.

Abby couldn’t shake the feeling that this was exactly what the Writer of Reality wanted.

A short distance away, she heard a loud sob. It was David. Though his father tried to appear steely and emotionless, he was clearly torn up over his part in his son’s death. No matter how much he wanted to put the blame of Leon, deep down, he knew that he was just as responsible for Caleb’s death. Though there could be no official autopsy due to the damage, everyone suspected that Caleb died long before the building collapsed around him.

It was strange then that Samson Connors was there. The big man gently grasped David’s shoulder and pulled him into a hug. David wrapped his arms around the man, burying his muzzle into Samson’s neck and closing his eyes.

Abby didn’t want to even think what that meant so she decide that she wouldn’t talk to him.

On the opposite side of the room, Lance stood, his four arms hidden but his eyes swollen and red with tears. Corey stood beside him, their hands intertwined. Lance was looking at the large urn that contained his younger brother and former lover’s ashes. She couldn’t even think how the poor guy felt but at the same time, didn’t want to open up that can of worms. If she lost Arthur…

Shaking her head, she turned her gaze to scan the room to speak to someone else.

Mary seemed the most appropriate but the poor girl was hit by the weight of her own guilt. When it came out that it had been her powers that had caused the powerful psychic blast that not only endangered countless people all over the Island but also killed more due to accidents, she had locked herself up in her house, unwilling to see or talk with anyone. Abby only saw her at the wedding and today at the wake. As Caleb’s best friend, she bore a heavy mark on her heart from his death.

She likely wanted her space so Abby wouldn’t go invade that.

Her eyes finally settled on Lars. Still wheelchair bound and broken hearted over his boyfriend’s death, poor Lars had been there for the family, mourning alongside them. If anything, he had grown closer to them and Abby started thinking of him as another brother.

She gently gripped Arthur’s paw before rising from the couch.

“How are you holding up?” she asked the Doberman kindly.

Lars looked up at her with dull, hollow eyes. “I…” he croaked. “I keep praying that I’m dreaming. That this is all some terrible nightmare.”

“I know,” she whispered, kneeling beside him and grasping his paw. “Every morning, I keep waking up waiting for my mom to yell ‘Claws!’ because Caleb forgot to wear his sandals up the stairs again.”

Lars let out a hoarse, dry chuckle. “I know… He always forgot.”

Painful memories were rising up again so she fought them down. “Caleb wouldn’t have wanted us to feel down for much longer. We’ve got to move forward. He liked things simple, remember? We can’t be carrying this baggage around with us all the time.”

Lars shook his head grimly. “I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of this baggage. But you’re right.” His paw tightened into a fist, squeezing down on her fingers. “Caleb was always a fighter. I’m going to keep fighting.”

“Ow…” she whimpered.

He immediately released her paw. “Sorry… I… I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

“We all do,” she replied, shaking her paw slightly. “Just promise me you’ll be okay.”

“As long as you do the same,” he responded with a small smile.

Abby reached down and wrapped her arms around Lars’ shoulder, giving him a tight hug. “I promise.”

Then, as she rose she noticed that Mary was moving towards the rear of the house. Curious, she quietly followed her. No one else was in the backyard. Everyone was in the house. So it came as a surprise when Mary entered the grassy backyard to meet the one person that Abby had expected to be at the wake; Jacob Reaper.

Ears perked, she peeked through the window of the door and pushed it open slightly so she could hear what they were saying.

“… my mother?”

“She’s pissed,” Jacob responded. “She really wanted you to die so that you could be resurrected as the gods’ avatar in this world. The fact that Caleb died instead and I nuked the Gene Stealer’s base has them scrambling. You can bet they’re going to come after me. And you.”

Mary lowered her gaze. “Is this… is this really how it should end? Was this the only way?”

Jacob was silent for a moment.

“Jacob?”

“No,” came the soft response. “There was a scenario where Leon managed to talk down David and another where it was the reverse. They would have fought Spider Queen together and reconciled their differences. Then there was the scenario where Rhiannon realised what Arcturus was doing and stopped the fight. Of course, there was the instance when Spider Queen would have tried to put a stop of Leon’s schemes and would have ultimated died in the attempt. You could have taken Caleb’s place as the prophecy intended, of course.”

“But then my dying scream would have killed everyone anyway and accelerated Washington’s plans.” Mary sighed heavily. “The gods couldn’t see my future anymore because I became infected but they could still see Washington’s, right? That’s how they formulated their plans.”

“Yes.”

Mary lifted her gaze, fixing it at him. “And you? How are your plans going?”

Abby’s heart froze as her eyes widened. The dark smile on Reaper’s lips chilled her to the bone.

“I once told Caleb that it’d be foolish to trust me. That I could very well be the one that betrayed him. I’ll give you the same advice as well, Mary. But I’ll give you a little bonus.” He lifted a finger. “This is a world of superheroes. The protagonist always comes back somehow.”

Abby’s breath got caught in her throat.

“Are you serious?” Mary demanded.

Reaper turned, spreading his chain-wings in the air.

“Just do me a favour. Make sure that Lillian and David keep Caleb’s room just as it is.”

******

It had taken the better part of a month but now, finally, Arcturus was confident that his plans had come to fruition. Hiding a soul not only from the all-knowing gaze of Shin-Lazar the Androgynous God of Life and Death as well as the Writer of Reality was difficult enough but somehow, Arcturus had done it. He knew that Reaper’s weakness was variables; throw countless variables and he couldn’t accurately predict the future. Since Caleb’s soul was touched by the Gene Stealers, Shin-Lazar couldn’t see it. So for the last month, he had kept the poor pup’s soul in limbo with him for this very moment.

The moment when he stood at the Gates of Paradise ready to transport Caleb soul into peace.

That was Phase 2 of his plan.

“And Phase 3 would be you seemingly ‘seeing’ the broken hearts of the Hale family and offering them the possibility of bringing him back, eh, Arty?”

The Hound of Death’s heart sank.

He flung around. Jacob Reaper stood a short distance away, arms crossed behind his head casually and approaching.

“What? How did you…?”

“Phase 1 was getting Tibia involved, getting my eyes semi-functional and feeding me enough information not to intervene so that Caleb would die instead of Mary. Phase 2 was hiding Caleb’s soul long enough for the gods to lose interest and keep it from me so that you can smuggle him into paradise. Phase 3 would be you offering to bring him back through some convoluted manner which would involve David Hale somehow realising who you are. Phase 4 is that he falls in love with you for bringing his son back, ending the Gene Stealer threat and all of you living happily ever after. Am I right?”

Arcturus snarled, gripping the glowing white feather in his paw tightly and protectively. “Answer the question, Reaper. How did you find me?”

Reaper came to within a few feet of him. “Arty. My eyes may only be partially functional but that doesn’t stop the fact that I know how this story will end.”

“That’s impossible. You can’t know. You said so yourself. You can’t see that far into the future especially with all the variables!”

“I was talking about the me that’s here now,” Reaper said, pointing down at the ground. “But what about the me that was here centuries in the past that helped the furs come into this world? What about the me that before entering this world? What about the me that exists after my work here is done?”

Arcturus’ eyes widened in realisation. “You’re cheating…”

“High praise from someone who is currently smuggling a soul that rightfully belongs to me.” Reaper held out his paw towards Arcturus.

“This soul belongs to no one but Caleb!”

“Funny choice of words,” Reaper laughed. “But I totally agree. I fully intend to resurrect Caleb. This isn’t just to spite you either. Caleb was always destined to come back.”

The Hound’s brow furrowed. “What…?”

“When I looked into the past instances of this reality, I found a distinct pattern.” Reaper held up four fingers. “There is always a Chimera. There is always a Caleb. There is always a prophecy that involved betrayal, heartbreak and death and there is always the Ring. Note how the No Ones aren’t a constant. That’s because we don’t get involved in every iteration. Sometimes we do but not always. We don’t always bring the furs from one reality to another. Sometimes, it just happens without our interference. Do you know what that suggest?”

Arcturus shook his head. “I don’t know. What?”

“That someone else is capable of it. The Ring.” Reaper lowered his paw. “Now I’ve done my research and I know that the Ring has to be stopped. In fact, I’ve laid out plans to ensure that happens. There’s a cycle going on here, Arcturus. A seemingly endless cycle that’s causing people to suffer over and over again and is reset constantly on some arbitrary time line.”

The Hound of Death just stared dumbfounded at the Writer of Reality.

“I once compared this entire multiverse to a massive multi-celled organism. Every world is like a single cell. It fulfils its purpose and then at some arbitrary time, it is shed by the overall body only to be replaced with a similar cell, one that is fundamentally the same in function but deep down, is very different.”

The Hound’s eyebrows twitched in annoyance. “By that very same comparison, whatever you’re planning is likely to turn that cell into a cancerous one. You might just end up killing the entire organism.”

Reaper tilted his head to the side, a dark and confident smirk on his lips. “That is unless I changed the very rules of the multiverse itself.”

“What…?”

“Do you know what I see when I look at this multiverse, Arcturus?” continued the black-furred wolf. “I see potential lost. Every reality is cut short abruptly. People’s futures, their lives, their families, all ended abruptly to be recycled and shed and replaced. There is no natural end. There is no happy endings. Just the Ring which comes and ends worlds to maintain this cycle of continuity. This was the system of rules placed on this multiverse. But rules, like laws, can be changed. That’s what Leon was trying to achieve, after all. Indeed, it’s what you were trying to do. When the system doesn’t work, we need to change the system. That’s exactly what I aim to do.”

Arcturus shook his head in confusion. “What? You aim to go into every world in our multiverse and somehow free them from this ‘Ring’ you keep talking about?”

“I don’t need to. In a couple of years, the Ring is going to come into this world and destroy it. Whether you like it or not, you’re all going to die and be reset. The key to defeating them rests not only in Caleb but Chimera as well.”

That surprised the Hound. “What does Chimera have to do with this?”

“Can’t spoil that, unfortunately,” Reaper said with a shrug. “But if you think about it, Chimera knows about the Ring so clearly there’s something special about him.”

“Fine. Whatever.” Arcturus held the ethereal feather close to his chest. “So let me resurrect Caleb. You don’t need him.”

“Oh, but I do. For everything to fall into place, I need to play my role as well.” Reaper stepped forward, basically nose to nose with Arcturus. “Because - spoiler alert - I’m going to be an antagonist in the next issue.” He plucked the feather from the Hound of Death’s paws and spun around mirthfully. “That is, of course, unless you can swallow your pride and admit to David exactly who you are.”

Arcturus’ heart sank. “What?”

“Those are my conditions into reviving Caleb. You tell David exactly who you are and I’ll bring back Caleb.”

He was livid, his jaw hanging from its hinges. “You’re pitching the existence of the entire world on my love life!?”

“To many, love is the world.” Reaper skipped a few paces away before turning back around. “So what’ll it be, Arcturus? Will you go to David and tell him that Hounds of Death and Destruction aren’t made but die and that you’re back or will you try and find a way to take Caleb’s soul from me and then mount one last desperate assault against my fortress in AEGIS Central alongside the members of Arsenal and Assault?”

The Hound of Death didn’t move, his fangs bared.

“Yeah, I thought so.” Jacob grinned broadly as a tear appeared in time and space beside him. Arcturus’ anger faded as he saw another instance of the Writer of Reality standing on the other side of that tear.

“What are you doing!?” demanded the Hound. “You can’t do that! It’s against the rules!”

“I know. That’s why I’m not the one opening the tear. However, if there just happens to be another version of me that’s standing outside of time and space that opens a rift between this world and Naught, it’s not against the rules. After all, he’s just looking.”

The Reaper on the other side of the tear, shrouded by an endlessly white realm waved at Arcturus. “Hi. I’m just looking.” Technically, this was true. As long as the other Reaper doesn’t step into the world, he wasn’t breaking any laws.

Then, the Jacob Reaper that he had been talking to lifted the feather in his paw and angled it towards the rift.

“Stop!” Arcturus cried. “That’s -”

“Against the rules?” finished the wolf. “Pay very close attention, Arcturus. I’m not stepping out of this reality and he isn’t either.”

True to his word, all Reaper did was poke the tip of the feather through the rift. On the other side, his counterpart grasped the edge of the feather that was now in the void of Naught, pulling it out of the world and forever outside the influence of the Hound of Death.

No rules were broken.

“What… what are you going to do with him?” Arcturus demanded, voice shaking.

Reaper’s expression turned a bit dour, even regretful. “The one thing that Caleb has always had a hang up about is that he has very little experience in the vast, wide world. He’s been struck with the wanderlust and his relationship with Lars was strained because of this. Even more so when Lars admitted that he had a bit of a desire to not only be transformed but to transform others.” Then that expression turns puckish with a devilish grin. “I think I’m going to get Caleb to go through a couple of… profiles so that he can get a better taste of not only other men but the wide, vast world around him. Maybe when he gets back, he’ll end up with Lars after all.”

“You… you want them together?”

Reaper turned his gaze back towards the Hound as the rift closed before him. “Despite what your deities may believe, I only want what’s best for everyone involved. You may not agree with me and there’s certainly a debate to be had about choice and free will but I’m just acting on what I feel is right. Just as you should. We’re in this journey together. Fight me, resist my machinations all you want but as long as you are happy with your decisions and the consequences of your actions, that’s all I can ask for. I’m just the catalyst for your happily ever after.

“All I want for Caleb and Lars is for them to be comfortable with whatever decision they make for themselves. Whether that them living happily ever after, parting ways amicably or even ending up on opposite sides of the battlefield, so long as they can be satisfied with the results and not look back with regret, then I know they will be the best version of themselves that they could possibly be.”

“That sounds hypocritical. How can anyone be the ‘best version’ if they are fighting against one another.”

Reaper smiled at him coyly. “Because being the best doesn’t necessarily mean being the happiest.” He turned to leave. “Now, if there’s nothing else. I’ll leave you to your plots. See you later…”

He threw one last glance over his shoulder, grin chilling Arcturus to the bone.

“… Ryan.”

******

Jacob Reaper stepped towards his apartment building. The loose ends were starting to get tied up and he could see the end rapidly approaching. Part of him was sad to see the end of this particular story but at the same time, he was a little exhilarated. The end of the book did not necessarily mean the end for the characters, after all.

There was always a tale to tell.

With a smile, he mounted the steps to the red-brick building. AEGIS Central was quickly becoming a fortress. Members of AEGIS and even some refugees knowing full well what Washington planned for those with powers had begun making preparations for what would inevitably be a quarantine and assault upon their very livelihoods.

War was coming.

A war he was hoping to win.

“Oceans apart day after day,” he sang softly to himself. “And I slowly go Insane…”

He pushed open the door to his apartment building. AEGIS members rushed past him, giving him a grave nod as they carried tools and equipment to build the walls around their sanctuary.

“I hear your voice on the line. But it doesn’t stop the pain.”

He headed up the flight of stairs, reaching his apartment which was undisturbed and empty. Within, he headed towards his mysterious second bedroom.

“If I see you next to never, how can we say forever?”

He pushed open the door. Beyond was a long, bright hallway with a single throne sitting on the end. Flanking the throne were five men who all turned to him as he approached.

“Wherever you go, whatever you do.”

Felix and Trent both gave him a very rigid salute as he sat down on the throne. To his left, the Scalpel and Migraine nodded gravely, knowing full well what he had planned.

“Whatever it takes, or how my heart breaks…”

Lastly, there was a burly panda who crossed his arms in anticipation.

Gabriel Ramos.

Reaper smiled, watching the door at the far end.

“I will be right here waiting for you…”

_ _

End of My Life is Super Issue 5

_ _