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Part IV: Streamline

Chapter: The end of the fucking world

It was an unlikely rescue party.

A skinny 17-year old boy with a black ponytail, a blue man with surfer hair and combat gear, a M11 agent with Asian features and horrible scars on his face and a 6 feet tall red demon. And of course John Myers.

The full moon on the sky illuminated these five figures as they made their way along the Avenue of the Dead. But instead of heading to the Pyramids, Myers lead them to a nearby buildings, low structures that were the remains of ancient temples or perhaps living quarters. Today they were known as the Tetitla complex.

"Myers." that was Hellboy. "You sure this is the place?"

"I'm sure." Myers stated, resolute. "Alice said so, and I don't doubt her sources."

"Then where is that bitch?" Hellboy grunted. "And where the Hell is my daughter?"

"I don't know yet." Myers replied. "But I have a feeling we're bound to find out soon."

He stepped inside, ignoring the signs and fences that were there for the tourists. Now it was night, the place was empty, and his steps echoed in the darkness. The light of the full moon entering from the windows and door frames, and his flashlight only made the surrounding shadows and dark corners look more menacing. Myers didn't turn around to see if the rest of the team followed - he knew they would.

Myers didn't stop until he had reached what he'd been looking for. The Tetitla Mural.

"That is… unnaturally well preserved." Noted Jay.

"Isn't it?" Myers' tone was dark. "Looks like it was painted yesterday, not 2000 years ago."

He remembered with breathtaking clarity when he had first seen the picture of this mural in a book, doing research of a Mexican cult that had been killing people. Little had he known then, that he would be standing in front of the same mural more than 20 years later, staring at the face of the Goddess who had taken everything from him.

He felt the anger, the rage flushing through his veins like fire, and he clenched his fists.

Guess what, bitch. I'm back - and this time it's you who's going down.

The mural was impressive, though, just as he remembered it being, and even more so now, in the eerie light of the full moon. There were actually two pictures of the goddess, identical, in the same wall. The background was painted red, and the goddess herself stood her arms outstretched on her sides, the huge, extravagant headdress of quetzal feathers and a face of an owl on her head, the piercing eyes of her green painted face staring straight at Myers, as if challenging him.

"Daimio." Myers turned to look at the somber M11 agent. "This is it. This is the mural that holds the goddess' power. If you destroy it, the goddess will not be able to reborn. When we kill her, she'll stay dead this time."

"And you need me to do it, because..?"

"Because the Great Goddess had several sacred animals." Myers turned his gaze back at the mural, where all these animals were pictured. "As the Goddess of the underworld, she was also the mother of owls, quetzals, spiders - and jaguars. And I am a bit short on were-quetzals at the moment."

"What if we just hit it to pieces with a hammer?" asked Jay. "It is ancient! It would probably crumble to pieces with a push of my pinkie."

"It might, but the piece of Goddess' power that's held within, won't. Not unless it's destroyed by her sacred animal."

"Said Alice?" Jay asked, and Myers nodded.

"Oh, fun." stated Damio, and he didn't look like he thought it was fun at all.

"Enough of this." muttered Hellboy. "You gonna do it or will I?"

"I'm sorry to interrupt-" said a silent voice. "- But how is this going to help us find Maggie? Even if the mural is destroyed, we still don't know where Maggie is."

Myers turned his eyes to his nephew.

Jacob, with his black, undisciplined hair on a ponytail, wearing a black band T-shirt and jeans, looked so out of place that Myer's heart twitched.

"I have a feeling that destroying her immortality, will get the Goddess' attention." he replied. "Guess we'll find out soon enough."

"Alright, then." said Daimio, and rolled up his sleeves. "Let's get to business."

But just then, there was a tear in the world. Without a warning Myers was swept off his feet, his stomach turned upside down and it was like he was pulled through a wormhole that was way too small for him to fit through.

And then, darkness.

He came to, sitting on the cold stone floor, his back against a rock pillar, his hands tied behind his back. A groan that left his lips tasted of blood, and Myers wasn't sure if it was because he had bit his tongue or because he had been hit. Either way, he felt like shit. Fighting the waves of dizziness and nausea, he forced his eyes open.

I'll have to stop nagging at Kat about her teleporting. This shit was way worse.

The room around him slowly came into focus, and he recognized it like one recognizes a punch on the face. He had been here before. Everything he saw, brought back memories he had hoped to forget, and was now forced to relive. The stone walls, the dark corners, the scent of blood and copper and smoke, his own uncomfortable position and the fear that settled in his belly.

The only thing that was different, that this time Margot wouldn't be here to save him.

"What the fuck…!" A voice groaned nearby. "Where… where are we?"

Myers turned his aching head, trying not to black out again. There was Jacob, tied onto the pillar next to him, and he looked every bit as miserable as Myers felt. Jacob's face was white as a sheet and there were stains of blood in the corner of his mouth, on his cheekbone. The rest of their team was nowhere to be seen, and Myers could only hope they were alive.

"Jake, are you alright?" he managed, and the teenager gave a shaky nod.

"Yeah, I guess… Uncle-John, what happened? Where are we…?"

"Under the Pyramid of the—"

"Maggie…!" Jacob's desperate cry interrupted Myers' words and instinctively he turned his head, following Jacob's gaze.

In the other end of the room, half hidden in the shadows, was Maggie. She was lying on a stone table, naked, her blue skin glowing in the flickering torch light, her long, slender limbs relaxed and smooth, her tail falling over the edge of the table. Her eyes were closed, she seemed to be unconscious - and luckily unharmed. A wave of relief washed over Myers, almost taking his breath away, as he noticed Maggie's chest was moving with peaceful breathing.

But that was where the good news ended.

Leaning on the wall near Maggie, there was a beautiful, young woman with a cascade of black, waist long hair, high cheekbones and copper toned skin. She was wearing a simple black top and jeans, plus a ton of gold jewelry that hang from her neck and ears, bracelets shaped like serpents curled up her arms. In her raven hair she wore green feathers of a quetzal.

"Where it began, it will end." she said and the air hummed with electricity. "I see you are awake."

Myers recognized that voice, it went straight to his spine, to his bloodstream like a poison. It was the music of the wind chimes, singing of birds, silent whisper of long lost waterfalls and it made his breathing get stuck to his throat, his blood chill in his veins.

"Bitch." Myers growled. "Let Maggie go."

"Always trying to be a hero." the goddess sighed. "When will you learn that women hardly need you to be their savior, John Myers? Magrat came to me of her own free will, and with me she will find her true destiny. You, insignificant male, are not in any place to make demands. Your wife is dead, your team beaten, and I will have your heart before this is over. The last thing you will see in this world is my blue hand ripping your chest open, my lips drinking your blood as it was meant to be."

My blue hand.

So, Myers had been right, then. About the Goddess planning to use Maggie as her host body. And if he had to guess, that was the exact reason Maggie was lying on the stone table, naked and unconscious.

It hardly did any good to be right about things, though, if there was fucking nothing you could do about them. Myers had counted on the fact, that they'd have time to destroy the mural before the Goddess sensed their presence.

Now the mural was still intact, and the Goddess was still invincible and once again Myers had failed. He had lead his friends, and his 17-year-old nephew into a suicide mission, just as Amanda had predicted.

That thought settled in Myers' stomach like a lump of ice, but the mentioned 17-year old had apparently not yet lost his spunk.

"It'll be over my dead body, before I let you take Maggie!" Jacob growled. "Let my girlfriend go, you piece of-!"

"Ah, another one, who is willing to die for love." the goddess smiled, her eyes cold as ice. "Simply delicious - I do love a good sacrifice."

"You're saying that you're willing to take my life in exchange for Maggie's?" Jacob asked, his voice dry and hoarse. "If so, then go ahead. I'm ready."

The Goddess glanced at Myers, then turned her piercing, golden gaze back at Jacob.

"Making the same offers decade after decade. Not learning from the mistakes of the past. Men - always willing to believe their lives are more important than the lives of women."

The Goddess had walked slowly to Jacob, and now sat down on his lap, straddling him, she took his pale face into her hands.

"Fuck you—" Jacob started, but she slapped his face hard, drawing blood.

"I love the blood that tastes of passion and sacrifice." she breathed and leaned closer, to lick the blood of Jacob's cheek. Jacob resisted the best he could, but it was no use. The Goddess' lips and her tongue moved on Jacob's face, licking off every last drop of the blood she had spilled, ending into a kiss on his mouth.

"Your's is good blood. It is to my liking." she breathed, breaking the kiss. "I will have your heart too, my love, your blood, your heart, your life, your seed, the creation of new life."

"Hey Lady! The only one who's getting any of that—" Jacob spat the words to the woman's face. "—is Maggie." He was breathing hard, his chest heaving. "Release her, or I'll—"

"Or you'll what?" She laughed, filling the air with the sounds of the jungle and the night. She stood up, left Jacob and Myers behind and walked to Maggie, laying her hand to her blue, smooth cheek she followed the line of her jaw with her fingers.

"Magrat will not only be my vessel." she breathed, her eyes on the sleeping girl. "She will be my full reincarnation, and in her, I will end this world in fire and flood, and in her, I will create a new world, born of the ashes and the blood of this one."

Jacob made a sound, half a moan, half a cry, and Myers heard there were tears in his throat.

"Please…" Jacob breathed. "Please, don't…"

Myers felt the guilt in his chest as a crushing weight, taking his breath away.

So, this is how it ends.

He tried to free his hands, to pull his wrists off the bonds, but they didn't give in one inch, not even when they cut into his skin and were slick of his own blood.

And suddenly he remembered, felt it on his bloody wrist. His tracking device.

It was a longshot, but he tried it nevertheless. Pushing his hand hard against the stone pillar, he felt the subtle 'click' as it went on.

He only hoped someone was still alive to receive the signal

"If that's all you want-" he rasped, to buy them more time. "-the Apocalypse, a new world… Then why kill Margot?"

Something flashed in the goddess' golden eyes.

"She betrayed me, by not following me to death. To see her die by the hand of her lover, was a fitting punishment."

"I was her lover. Not that… that thing—"

"Yes. And it has been delightful to watch your suffering as well. Your destiny was to die, to spill your blood and to give your heart for my nourishment. For not doing that, you deserved a punishment, and what would be better than a heart for a heart?"

"So-" Myers went on, ignoring the pain in his wrists, the fear in his stomach. "-the mighty Goddess of death and creation isn't any better than us mortals. What you did to Margot and to me, it was just revenge, nothing more."

"Revenge is one of the purest feelings. It is in my nature, as is love and lust and birth. It is in the hearts of people who worship me, and their hopes and dreams have shaped me throughout centuries."

"And if there is no one left to believe in you, then what? After the Apocalypse—"

"Oh, John Myers." The Goddess breathed. "There will always be people who believe in death and destruction. Especially when they see it with their own eyes."

While talking, the Goddess had walked back to the stone table, and with those words she removed the golden chains from her neck and laid them on Maggie's. The gold shimmered in the dark, beautiful and dredly against Maggie's indigo skin, and she looked menacing and otherworldly, even if she was still asleep or unconscious.

"Maggie-!" Jacob growled. "Maggie, come on, wake up! Maggie, please-"

"Insignificant." The Goddess breathed, filling the room with the sounds of birds, making the shadows alive in the corners. "It is time."

And she opened her mouth, opened her eyes, opened her arms, opened everything in her, and in a heartbeat a cloud of gold and green emerged from her, taking a shape of a bird in the air, filling the room with light so bright that Myers cursed and he had to turn his eyes away.

"Maggie-!" he heard Jacob's desperate sobbing through the ringing of his ears. "Maggie, please-!"

"Jake, close your eyes!" Myers grunted, through his teeth.

Even through his closed eyelids, Myers saw the blinding, otherworldly light, felt it burning his skin like fire. He tasted blood, his ears popped, as a wave of pressure hit him-

And then. Silence.

It was dark again. Myers felt his own, uneven breathing burning in his throat. He licked his lips, tasting blood. Slowly, hesitatingly he opened his eyes into a total darkness of an underground chamber. All the torches had gone off, and the only light in the room was his own flashlight that lay forgotten - but still working - in his feet.

"Jake." he rasped, his throat barely able to make a sound. "Jake, are you okay?"

He heard heavy breathing, and a sound like Jacob was trying to move.

"Jacob?"

A short silence.

"Nnngh… I… I don't know."

"Christ." Myers cursed. "You alive, kid? Any broken bones?"

"I think my ears are bleeding." Jacob muttered, sounding groggy, but his response was enough to assure Myers that the kid's life wasn't in an imminent danger. He turned his attention back at the situation at hand.

His eyes had started to get used to the darkness. He now saw the stone table in the back end of the room. On the floor, illuminated by the light of his flashlight, lay the previous body the Goddess had used - now abandoned and very much dead. There was a dark pool of blood surrounding it, as if the Goddess had ripped it apart when leaving.

And on the table-

Myers blinked, cleared his throat.

Where it began, it will end.

On the table, covered in gold and shadows, Magrat Wagner stretched her slender limbs and sat up.