This was it, death approaching for Setrakian's cohorts. Finally, finally! Oh Vivika practically purred at the idea. She watched as Strigs rushed around obeying The Master's silent orders, her emerald eyes flashed around with glee; to see their master's world finally pushed through to completion. They'd found Zach unfortunately alive and whining but Vivika had shoved that out of her mind until she could unlock her happy dance at his inevitable death.

The last showdown approached, damn she felt like she'd waited forever for it.

Suddenly arms snaked around her from behind and Vivika found herself hauled backwards against her husband's comfortingly warm chest in his tight grasp. Vivika hummed out happily, to watch death devour from her husband's comforting arms did sound delightful.

Thomas peered down passed the zipped up leather jacket, down the tight jeans to her boots. They were an almost back purple with pink laces which finally reached an end just below her knees, despite the fight they were surely in for they were still her traditional platforms though this time she'd at least opted for wedges rather than giving in to her tenancy for stilettos.

"Are these new?" He enquired in his thick German accent.

"Uh-huh." Vivika tilted her head against his shoulder. "Got them especially for the occasion. You like?"

Thomas entirely ignored the question in favor of his own stream of thought. "Liebling, you don't like pink."

Vivika shrugged. "I tolerate pink when the shoes are pretty enough."

Thomas must have accepted that because he said nothing further on the subject, just continued to hold his bride until the call to move out came. The couple stood together a time in the cold night air as more and more Strigoi appeared to loyally serve their Lord. It was only when Thomas' remaining hand slipped to rest atop the swell of Vivika's stomach that the quietude was broken.

"You really have started to show now, haven't you. Soon you will have everything you desired, my bride."

"Oh Thomas," the raven-haired beauty grinned "you really do get me everything I want and more. I'm starting to think I'm being spoilt."

Eichhorst smirked, a thin upturn to his lips which told his wife he enjoyed her teasing. "But of course, I will always spoil you. Still, it's a good kind of spoiling, a … daddy's little girl spoiling rather than an entitled child spoiling."

Vivika chuckled just as their master finally turned to them and Thomas went rigid as a stream of information was subliminally passed his way. It ended just as quickly as it had come and before she could say a word Vivika was being tugged over to The Master by Thomas. This was it, an end to this war between them all; she practically tingled.

~X~

The drones went in first, not that it had been any big surprise, and cleared as much of a path as they could as quickly as they could. Gus engaged quickly, Vivika could see that from her place beside her husband with The Master and – regrettably – Zach. The emerald-eyed more than human was no stranger to the dulcet tones of gunfire but this constant popping of bullets as the air became more metal than oxygen had far more meaning, it was the last sound of the last shred of human hope for triumph dying.

Strigs moved further in to the derelict building, practically an uncontrollable wave, towards the elevator. The Master and his entourage halted though leaving their army to move around them like Moses parting the Red Sea. Using the eyes of his soldiers The Master peered around the battle field.

"Do you see my dad?" Zach all but demanded which got disgruntled sideways glances from both Eichhorsts.

"Yes," replied their Lord without much care "but not the Born."

Vivika nodded to herself. "They'll want to use him as the boss battle. He's the strongest they've got." Green eyes turned to her Lord. "They're running and hoping he'll deal with all of us for them."

"Cowards." Thomas hissed as though he were an angry viper.

"They are in retreat." Said The Master to Zach. "Come, I will take you to your father for a final goodbye."

With that he threw his arms up and the Strigs went running chaotically while his little group continued to stride calmly. They had more than enough Strigoi to win this fight, yes they'd lose some but it was no great loss in the end; all means to an end.

Suddenly there was an explosion to Vivika's left and she stumbled backwards into Thomas' awaiting arms while The Master shielded Zach while silver rained down like feathers on the wind to burn all in its path. How many of those fucking things do they have, Vivika's brain screamed as she stood straight, there can't be any more. Setrakian was already dead but he was still causing shit!

It was then they spotted Eph, the man had once been a proud doctor but had turned into little more than a stumbling mess in Vivika's opinion, maybe he'd hopped up on that wagon or maybe he'd just avoided the bottle long enough to man up for a change, truthfully she didn't care, he'd be dead soon regardless. The fight continued though, the handsome Ukrainian and the whore known as Dutch carried on putting Strigs down unaware they were just delaying the inevitable.

Clearly The Master had let this go on about as long as he was willing to because he released his trademark, high-pitched sound which had Vivika covering her ears until the damn Born, Quinlan, launched from wherever he'd been hiding and knocked The Master, Zach and Vivika into the decrepit elevator.

Thomas didn't get away so lightly, instead of landing neatly in the elevator the force of movement sent him face first into the edge of the door where he lost not only consciousness but a thick line of make-up down his right eye, the corresponding fake eyebrow and shattered his cheekbone. When he awoke, what couldn't have been more than a minute later, he found the elevator gone along with his meister and wife … and the boy but who cared about Zach at this point? A quick glance around him showed humans distracted and Strigoi doing what they were designed for so Thomas took the opportunity, in a single motion he roiled himself over the edge and down the shaft into the darkness; wasn't like it was the first time.

~X~

Vivika awoke on her back, her head hurt but she managed to push herself up into a sitting position where a sharp pain thundered through the back of her skull; Vivika didn't care, her hands went right to her slowly growing bump.

"You okay, little one? Mommy's sorry."

Finally it dawned on the twenty-two year old where she was and what had just happened. In an instant she was back on her feet and totally ignored Zach and the fight between The Master and Quinlan in favor of looking for the fucking bomb, green eyes spotted it quickly and she rushed to the device. She'd heard Thomas speak of the bomb, how it needed deactivating but Vivika wasn't him and she honestly had no idea how to disarm it. That was how they'd always worked things, she dealt with people and he did the explosive things. Bombs were not her circus nor her monkeys. Even so, while Zach stood uselessly to watch the fight between father and son, Vivika tried desperately to stop them all going bang.

"I brought you into this world, Invictus, and now you will leave it, my ill-begotten son." Announced The Master only for Vivika's head to snap up at the wet, horrendous sound that followed; Quinlan tore out her Lord's stinger; asmirk came to Vivika's face not a moment later when the Born found her Lord stamping down on his face.

A thud sounded then, metallic and loud but she paid it no attention, it wasn't important in that moment. Her eyes flicked to the bomb again only to be instantly drawn over to the elevator as Thomas practically ripped the roof from it and dropped down into the tunnel, his face was a mess and his suit would never be wearable again but he was truly a delightful sight to his bride in that moment. Eichhorst scrambled towards her the second his eyes spotted her which was also the moment Goodweather appeared in his coffin sized box.

Goodweather glanced to the bomb and his eyes grew hard seeing Vivika and Eichhorst had beaten him to it, but it was when they peered over to find Quinlan dead that the weight of the situation finally settled itself atop him fully.

"Born of my flesh not of my soul, an abomination." Mused The Master. "Now nothing stands in our way."

He dropped to his knees then, Palmer's body was done for and they all knew it.

The door swung shut behind Eph as he made for the bomb, this had to finish, had to be done. They'd focused so hard on killing The Master and make killing the Strigoi that remained so much easier, but if they could end Eichhorst and whatever the hell the dark-haired girl had let them turn her into then it would just be the icing on the cake. Zach, as always, ruined his plans though when a warning shot was fired dangerously close to his head. Goodweather looked back, his son had been good and kind once but it had faded away long ago.

"Kill your father, Zach. Kill him and be free." Ordered The Master but the useless boy hesitated. "Slay him, Zach!"

He whined. "I can't." This was exactly what Thomas and Vivika had attempted to point out from the very start, Zach was a child and nothing more. The Master yanked him down by his arm forcing Zach to look at him properly. "He's still my father."

Without warning several shots rang out in the tunnel which had fallen disturbingly quiet until that moment, each ripped into The Master's body violently and knocked him backwards. The first time Zach grew a pair and this was what he did with it? The Master got right back up though.

Thomas hissed and tried to rush to his Lord but Vivika pulled him back and gestured wildly to the warhead.

"He'll be fine as long as you disarm this fucking bomb!"

That was the push Thomas needed because, without a word, he shuffled closer and got to work while Goodweather was distracted.

"You failed me, Zach." Breathed The Master; his left and right hands had been correct all along about this boy.

Ephraim charged with all the intense rage of an angered lion the second he realized The Master's plan for his son, it did him no use though as The Master was much too strong and soon had him pinned to the dusty and now bloody floor. And then, just as in Palmer's last moments, he felt a flood of worms attack his face and mouth as they forced their way down his throat. Up above the Strigs would have gone blank but it was hardly even a side though for everybody in that tunnel, it was for Vivika right up until Thomas' hands stilled.

"Thomas!" She shouted; he'd been so close to finishing. "Thomas, tell me what to do, darling. Come on, you can do it, tell me what to do."

Her pleas fell on deaf ears though, her husband said nothing nor did he move, just continued to kneel before the warhead as if his batteries had been ripped out.

Meanwhile Zach helped his father to his feet, a look passed between them before all attention returned to the device. It was then that Vivika realized the bomb getting disarmed didn't actually matter in that moment, she didn't have to figure out how to turn it off, she just had to keep them away from it long enough for The Master to take over Ephraim Goodweather fully. Once Goodweather gave his body over Thomas would return to normal and he could disarm it. A smile settled across her red lips, blood-red just for the occasion, and she pulled her weapon from its holster.

"I really don't think so." She told them calmly as they approached.

"Vivi, please!" Zach implored of the woman he'd come to think of as his older sister. "You don't have to do this. The Master was hurting people, I see that now, not trying to help them. We didn't see it. You don't have to help them any longer, you can come with us."

Vivika tilted her head as laughter burst out of her; she hated the kid but damn could be be funny.

"'We'? No, Z, you didn't see it. You didn't see it because you're a snivelling idiot of a child who has done nothing but irritate me since the day we met."

"What?" Zach's face fell. "We're family."

Vivika rolled her eyes. "Oh for God's sake, we're not family! I've been manipulating you the entire time. No one gives a shit about you, Zach, our Lord might have but that's out now. After everything you've done not even your own father does. Kelly only loved you because The Master told her to. I'm not your big sister, I'm your babysitter. Think about it, Zach, really think, the way I breathe a sigh of relief every time I get in that elevator and away from you, every time Thomas has to wrap an arm around my waist so I don't strangle you with my bare hands. The Master gave you a chance, saw potential in you, but he said it himself, you failed him like you fail everybody else. You're not a hero or part of some supernatural family, you're a child who has thrown a tantrum for years now." Vivika took a calming breath as she trained her gun on them. "And neither of you are getting near this bomb."

"You can't stop us!" Eph growled only to drop to the ground in agony which only made Vivika smile.

"I don't have to, The Master already has. He is eternal … and you are little more than a handbag now."

The raven-haired, semi-immortal delighted as she watched her master rise up having fully taken Goodweather's body. They'd won, there wasn't any denying it now.

"My son." If Vivika had thought she didn't like The Master's voice coming out of Palmer's body she hated it leaving Goodweather's. "Now we can rule the world as father and son."

"Dad," began Zach slowly while Vivika put her gun away, "are you still in there?" The boy hugged the shell of his father then seeking comfort from any place he could get it. "'Cause if you are … I love you."

His hand snapped out for the detonator switch on the bomb but Vivika smacked it away just in time as though he were trying to steal a cookie.

"Failure." Growled The Master and then, finally putting Vivika out of her misery, he snapped Zach's neck and let him drop.

"I have given that boy chance after chance but this had to be the final one. Even turning him would only continue to disappoint."

Vivika didn't stick around for his words though, she'd already turned to the device.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing, daughter? Thomas will wake momentarily."

"Not a clue how to disarm it but I can turn the detonator off." And that was exactly what she did. "There, all done."

Vivika smiled up at her master who tilted her chin up with the thumb of his newly acquired body; the quickly growing nail teased her bottom lip. She's honestly not been fond of her Lord using Eldritch Palmer's body but she realized then that she preferred it a great deal to Goodweather's.

"To think, all my Strigoi soldiers, Thomas, myself and yet it is a pregnant woman who ended it." He nodded to himself. "Fitting. A giver of life who saved all of ours."

"Anything for you, Master."

And that was as humble and Vivika Eichhorst would ever get.

"As it should be, daughter. We will remain here until I entirely control this body, to the very atoms which compose it, and then Thomas will finish with the bomb."

Slowly, he leaned in and pressed a light – and surprisingly caring – kiss to Vivika's forehead; it was the second time he'd done that. His kiss was unusual but Vivika treasured her master's actions, she liked the display of his faith in her.

They'd won the battle, they'd won the war. Yes, three of Setrakian's compatriots still lived but the dominoes were falling and coming for them.