Part 5 - Blood of the King

Chapter 87 - Phase Six

"Time for another briefing!" Said Conall to Max, sarcastically.

"Oh yay..."

"These briefings are important. You need to know all the details before you dive in head first and come out headless." Said Teresa. "Khahrahk is back. From the recon, he's about the same size as last time with a sixth spike. Presumably he'll be just as strong, maybe stronger. Any questions?"

"Where is he? What's his plan?" Asked Robert.

"I meant questions on his appearance and abilities. Nothing? Then onto where he is and his plan: he's in dimension 033, the place some of us killed his fourth phase. As for his plan, it's logical he'll try and get the Scarlet Crucible back. That's being stored at Site L07 in dimension 71 along with the Plate of Trust. Then there's our plan: we hope to take him out in 33 but there's a chance that won't work. If he escapes, we follow him and kill him then prepare for phase seven. Any questions?"

"How much do people want to bet he'll suck us into another multiverse?" Asked Conall.

"Any reasonable questions? Good. Head to 33 when you're ready."

The meeting room emptied quickly, except Gwen held Max back.

"Hey, can we talk?"

"When phase six is dead, sure. Right now there's lives at stake."

Gwen sighed as her son walked away. There was always something between her and the people she loved, and she figured it had always been the Scarlet King one way or another.

Max peered over the rim of the volcano, lying on his stomach. Kharahk seemed really quite relaxed, and he had good reason: at least fifty of the tentacle lizards were prowling around the edge of the floating platform. Edward crawled up next to the spider.

"It's bigger than last time; same with the throne."

"Yeah. Not much to swing on."

"I wouldn't worry about Khahrahk; he's too big for his own good. It's all those KTE-2032s."

"Where'd you pull that number from?"

"Old SCP Foundation database."

"Alright, I'm calling them 'Kates'. I'll sign something official looking if I survive this."

Suddenly, Khahrahk turned to look directly at them. They ducked below the ridge.

"That was creepy." Said Max with a grin.

"I think he knew we were there all along."

Gwen crawled up to them.

"Teresa wants me to say we're ready. Your order, Max."

"Cool. Get it over with."

She returned to Teresa and a few moments later, a squadron of Ares jets roared overhead. Max and Edward returned to the ridge to watch them. Khahrahk just watched them, sitting on his throne. The aircraft each dropped two small objects, most likely bombs. Each detonated sending tiny specks flying everywhere which exploded as well. Most of the Kates were blown off the side of the platform into the bubbling lava below.

"This is too easy."

"Yes. Those tentacles would make good spaghetti."

Max frowned and looked towards Edward but found himself staring at Venom.

"Oh..."

Venom licked his lips, getting to his feet unlike Khahrahk who continued to watch the aircraft circling overhead.

"It's a trap." Said Gwen as she came up behind them again.

"I know. What's he waiting for?" Asked Max.

"Don't ask me."

Venom bounded down the slope into the volcano, leaping onto the platform and grabbing a Kate by its tentacles before spinning it around and hurling it into the lava. The four survivors went for the symbiote, but an Ares roared overhead letting loose a downpour of bullets which distracted them. Gwen and Max decided it was their turn to get in on the action, so began to descend the cliff. Conall swooped overhead, plucking them off the ground and carrying them to the platform. Max landed on top of the sole surviving Kate and rolled so that he had it pinned on top of him. Gwen sliced one of her katanas through its heart and he just had time to throw the corpse away before it melted into a sickening pool of goop. Gwen fired a web at the throne and swung up on top of it. Max swung in circles firing webs at the Scarlet King's hands to pin them to the throne. The Ares jets descended, hovering nearby with their guns and missiles ready. Conall floated in front of Khahrahk to gloat about how easy it was.

"I'm beginning to think you want to lose."

"Perhaps I do?"

The reply confused Conall.

"Why would you want to lose?"

"Why would I want to win?"

"So you can go and trash Creation and this farmer guy you call the Creator."

"The only flaw to pattern screamers are their loose tongues. Get this over with, why don't you?"

Gwen was ready to kill him, but she couldn't shake the feeling it was a bad idea. However, she figured nobody this evil was ever going to ask her to kill them again, so drilled her katana into Khahrahk's head. It took almost a minute to get through his skin and skull, but eventually she cut through and the Scarlet King went limp. Max climbed onto the top of the throne.

"No way it was that easy."

"Something's not right. Corbo, check in with the dimensional watchtowers." Said his mother.

"All are reporting nothing out of the ordinary."

"Even 71?"

"Including 71."

The spiders swung down to Conall and Edward.

"I guess that's that."

Conall shook his head.

"He'll be back in a week or so, and I think phase seven is going to be special. Everything to do with him revolves around that number. It haunts people after a while, like a fly trapped in your ear."

"All we can do is wait."

A few hours later, Gwen sat down with Max in one of the many canteens at the Legion HQ.

"Can we talk, now?" She asked, uncertainly.

"Sure."

She took a deep breath, wondering how to phrase it.

"I want to say I'm sorry. I've been the worst mother in the history of mothers."

"I can't blame you for most of it. You were dead for ten years."

"I mean since I came back. When Miles died I wasn't there for you; I went off on a killing spree like a psycho."

"You were killing Khahrahk's followers. I'm not mad about it."

"But I should have been there. I should have been a shoulder to cry on, not some crazy..."

"Mum, stop. I'm not angry at you; you're only human and you've been through so much in your life that I'm surprised you haven't just started killing everybody, not just the bad guys."

"Maybe because I've done that."

"OK, bad phrasing but you get what I mean. I had Ganke and Jacob when Dad died."

Gwen nodded, angry at herself for thinking her son thought so low of her.

"Maybe I'm just worried we're starting to drift apart. We're the only family either of us has got."

"There's still Uncle George."

"Did I forget to mention he disowned me when he found out about the whole Empire thing?"

"I know, but like he's still technically family."

"It's complicated. I'll leave you alone. I love you."

Max decided it was finally time to go home. He hadn't been back to his actual house in 7610 since his father died and had been putting it off in case it stirred up memories and made him break down. Now he felt he was ready to face it. He stopped outside the gate and frowned; the door was ever so slightly ajar. He tensed up and pushed it open. Everything looked untouched. He closed it behind him and began to search every room. He wasn't worried about the box of reports; he had had them moved to HQ in case this exact thing happened. Max took a deep breath as he entered the living room; the house seemed to be completely untouched. Suddenly, there was a click from the armchair opposite the TV. He whirled round to find himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

"I've been waiting here a whole fucking week, Maximilian."

The trigger was pressed; everything went dark.

Crossovers in this Chapter

- SCP Foundation