"She speaks the truth."
This time, Lee was scarcely shocked at Finnwich's reappearance. It was the person next to Finnwich whose presence here did shock him.
Lee's father was there.
Before Lee could react to his father's arrival - in any visible way, at least - a person Lee did not recognize, but assumed to be a Coral Grove employee, came running up to Cassandra: "Enemy forces have been contained." Lee suddenly realized that the fighting had indeed ceased.
"Excellent," Finnwich said, almost as if the message was for him instead of Cassandra, "it is almost time then. You know what to do?", he continued, turning to Lee's father Alfred, or Al for short. The latter nodded.
"Dad..." Lee wasted no time asking for clarification. "You're here to open the pyramid with your mark along with Finnwich, aren't you?"
"Not at all up to your usual standard, Lee. Only one out of two, I'm afraid. You see... I no longer bear the mark as a result of my modifications," Finnwich replied, once again as if the speaker had been addressing him.
Lee's next question was cut short as the few of them assembled there heard what seemed to be several people running down the stairs not far away. Finnwich and Al quickly ran, seemingly to see what this new commotion was about, and the rest of them followed. As they rounded a corner, the small group of people joined the larger group huddled not far from the pyramid - the rest of those who had escaped Coral Grove on the sub! However, Lee was distracted by the appearance of someone possibly even more unexpected than that of his father.
"The librarian!?", Lee exclaimed under his breath - indeed, almost silently. "You've got to be kidding me!" He saw the woman running towards the pyramid entrance - which was no longer guarded - and Jenny and Tina running towards him.
"Yeah, I know," Tina began as she neared Lee, "but it's her! She's Wurst's daughter!"
"Of course!", Lee responded. "It all makes sense now. Finnwich must have figured out a way to destroy the pyramid, and now the two of them need to open it to do that... of course!", Lee exclaimed again. "It has to be done from the inside!"
"Well-observed, Lee," Finnwich suddenly said from just behind him, slightly startling him. Lee noted the use of his actual name - a rarity as far as Finnwich's speech was concerned. "Now, if you may..." Lee realized that his father had been waiting patiently for him to hand over the key he was still holding.
With both keys in their slots, and two mark-bearers turning them, the pyramid opened once more. Finnwich walked towards the pyramid entrance along with an object Lee recognized as looking identical to the one the wizard had previously used in a failed attempt to destroy the structure.
Suddenly, all of them were startled as a deep, harsh voice growled: "I DO NOT THINK SO, WALKING, TALKING PRIMATES!" The voice belonged to His Eminence, and the creature carried that same staff previously used to apply force fields to Lee and his friends. Within moments, the monster had covered many of the people holding the other members of the species in the room, allowing the latter to break free in significant numbers. The creature growled fiercely: "You shall not be allowed to destroy our pyramid..."; then with some uncertainty: "What is happening?"
Several people were then heard yelling: "We beat Barrage and we'll beat you too!" At that moment, an immense wave of A. Nigma High students rushed the lizard species head-on, armed with crystallizers. Given that not all of the creatures had been freed before these new arrivals, the renewed struggle was brief, and victory for the students quick. His Eminence's staff was knocked from the monster's grasp in the struggle and slid towards the pyramid.
"Cam! Brandy!", several people yelled, including Lee, as they noticed who was clearly in charge of this group.
"Thought you might need a little help, guys," Cam said, grinning.
"Yeah, it's not like you guys handled this stuff all that well on your own last time," Brandy added.
Suddenly, Finnwich yelled: "The time is now!" He grabbed His Eminence's staff and shot a force field out of it around the entire pyramid, enclosing himself as well as he was now inside.
"Finnwich, what are you doing?", Lee yelled back at him.
"The pyramid must be destroyed after all the marks of those with them are gone," the wizard replied. "Even though I no longer physically bear the mark..."
Finnwich had trailed off, but what he was about to do seemed clear enough to Lee. "NO!", he shouted. "Don't do this!"
From just outside the pyramid, Lee watched helplessly as Finnwich placed the explosive device just as he had previously. This time, however, the wizard did not seem to make any attempt whatsoever to escape before the explosion.