January 3rd, 1945
Stalingrad, Russia

Apollo woke up from sleep and bolted upright, breathing hard. He was covered in sweat and didn't know where he was. He looked down to his left and saw his gear. His shotgun and revolver unchanged. His father's pack was not there.

"Christ…Thank fuck that was just a dream." Apollo said, scooting over to look out into the square below covered in snow. He shook his head and put his head in his arms. He grabbed his phone from next to him and grabbed his earbuds. His father would call him any second to tell him to move for breakfast.

"Can't remember the last time I slept in…" Apollo said, about to put his music in and relax, "Thankfully all that zombie shit was just a dream. Couldn't imagine actually having Bellekar in my head. Helluva dream though." He chuckled to himself. He remembered it pretty vividly, maybe he would be lucky and could dream some more about it.

Apollo moved to lay back down and pulled the covers over him. He took a quick glance in the room and laid down. As he did, he could've sworn there was a woman bathed in gold sitting on the desk in the right corner of the room.

He quickly scrunched up his eyes, hoping that his brain could figure out what the hell it just saw. Having no luck, Apollo took a deep breath and opened his eyes, looking at the ceiling. He then slowly looked down back into the corner.

Sure enough, the woman in gold was still there. He sat up quickly, now very scared.

"Who the fuck are you?! And how'd you get in my room?!" Apollo yelled in a panic, reaching for the revolver on his nightstand.

The woman looked at him, a sad and questioning look on her face, "You don't recognize me?" She said sadly. Her voice, deep and buttery, sounded very familiar. Apollo just couldn't place it.

Apollo rubbed his eyes and looked back again. Nope, she was still there. His brain's cogs turned hard as he tried to remember who could possibly be in his room. He let out an involuntary groan as his mind tried to turn furiously.

"Who takes Alaskan vacations from school? Jessica? No, she hates the cold." Apollo looked up again, unable to quite place the face of the golden woman. Apollo took in her appearance and was stunned. She was the most gorgeous woman he'd ever laid eyes on. She was almost…god-like.

"Who…are you?" He trailed off, dreamily.

The woman could only chuckle. She had beautiful blonde wavy hair, golden eyes, a magnificent body, stunning legs-

"Wait…Golden eyes?" The color from Apollo's face disappeared. The smile on the woman's face also disappeared and she grew incredibly self-conscious.

"I-is something the matter?" She asked.

"Are you…Bellekar?" Apollo asked, scared for the response.

"Yes." Her normal voice returned with a couple coughs. She quickly grabbed her mask from behind her back and put it on, coughing a couple times again as her body shimmered in gold. Gone quickly were the more feminine defining features and more muscular appendages took their place. She had returned back to her normal self.

Apollo's face dropped to his head once again. Bellekar didn't need to read Apollo's mind to feel the agony that he currently felt. She could feel his mind desperately scrambling into order. She also sensed him trying to cram all his emotions down into his mind. Bellekar didn't know what to do. She was a warrior, not a therapist.

"Is it something I did?" The power of her tone back, but not with as much bravado.

Apollo held up a finger to tell her to wait as he recovered.

"Fuck…" He finally muttered as his mind felt shattered into a million pieces. He immediately loathed everything about his new scenario. His face was set into a deep frown.

Apollo finally looked up at Bellekar and composed himself.

"You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. But…which is you?"

"I am a master of disguises." She responded defensively. Also refusing to answer the question.

Apollo nodded and put his head back down. He slid out of bed still in his boxers and grabbed a change of clothes out of his bag. Bellekar watched his every movement as he went. He dressed in his white winter clothes and slipped back on his ski mask and goggles, electing not to put them on all the way yet.

"Vercanna will be ready within a couple hours." Bellekar replied, monotonously.

"Sure." Apollo weakly replied. He felt a lump in his throat and quickly dropped to a knee, trying desperately to compose himself. Apollo felt waves of dread washing over him and suddenly it became very hard to breathe.

There were three knocks at the door, "Yo A.P! How's it goin' in there? We got breakfast by the fire in the square." Wade shouted through the door.

Apollo tried to take a deep breath- "Everything is good. I'll meet you there. Be done in a minute." Bellekar responded for him, mimicking his exact voice. Apollo was once again surprised by Bellekar's ability. She gave him a slight smirk.

"Right on! See you there."

Apollo waited until Wade's footsteps went away and he looked out his window to see him trudging through the snow to the fire to finally speak again, "What was that?"

"I can do a lot of things as a Warlock. Most I don't tell you about. Regaining my strength has me feeling…adventurous." She replied.

Apollo nodded in response and grabbed his stuff. He loaded his bag correctly as his mind went on autopilot. Bellekar could feel the pain and despair emanating from her champion. She tried to look into his mind but only saw a void. She frowned as Apollo stood up and slung his bag over his back. He quickly checked the room, looking for anything that could be missing. Apollo reckoned even if there was something, he would've missed it.

Apollo slipped his phone and headsets away and put his revolver back in his holster, the frown never leaving his face. He walked to the door. Bellekar stood up and blocked his path, placing her hand on his shoulder while her other one tilted his chin up to look at her.

"I will not have my champion in the field as a loose cannon. What is the matter?" She asked, annoyed.

Apollo shrugged, "We keep it pushing." He responded.

Bellekar sighed heavily and Apollo smacked her hand away from his chin and pushed past her, exiting the room. The door slammed in her face as he exited. Bellekar's head dropped and she sighed again to herself.

"Good going, Warlock. So much for the surprise."

Apollo quickly made his way outside and crossed the square. He checked his wrist to make sure he wouldn't have any extra points he needed to spend before he left. Seeing not enough to spend on anything, he walked to the group and dropped his stuff next to a free log. Arthur waved and gave a greeting. He could see Wade and Polina walking across the square from Aethereal Haste (Stamin-up) to Demonic Frenzy (Speed Cola).

"Sleep well?" Arthur asked.

"It was uneventful." Apollo replied, monotone.

Arthur only looked up at him as Apollo gave an unblinking stare directly into the pot of boiling water Arthur was using.

"Wish I could say the same…" Arthur said, "Having 'ol Freezer in my fuckin' head is going to drive me mad. Spent all my rest in my dreams, planning for this next step. Woke up tired and sore."

"Shame. Heard from Bellekar that Frozone was a great general for Kortifex's armies. Couple failures back-to-back has him stressed out. Think he might be overcompensating to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Arthur chuckled, "Frozone, I like that one."

Apollo didn't smile as Polina and Wade walked over, chatting from Demonic Frenzy (Speed Cola). They seemed lost in conversation until Wade nearly tripped over the log in front of him.

"Whoa! Oh hey Lieutenant, how long until the oatmeal is good?" Wade asked.

Arthur pointed to a steaming pot sitting on the ground near the fire, "Already set up the meals for the four of us. Haven't been super hungry as of late though. Don't got a bloody clue why."

"As part of being connected to us, eating and drinking is unnecessary. We will provide you with the nutrition to survive." Inviktor spoke, appearing out of thin air as the elder gods stood or sat next to their champion.

"How do you plan to do that?" Wade asked.

"You share our blood. We are two beings in one." Inviktor responded.

Arthur and Norticus looked at each other before the former groaned in frustration. Bellekar tried to catch Apollo's attention but he didn't seem to care that the two shared his body.

"I don't like it either, plaything, but I am beginning to warm up to you I fear." Saraxis said.

"You are not worst elder god." Polina responded.

Saraxis seemed to love that as her three faces spun around in a circle. Polina gave a courtesy chuckle before returning to eating the oatmeal and dried meat. Apollo hadn't touched his food as he only stared at it.

"Eat. It'll give you more nutrients." Bellekar whispered to Apollo.

Apollo seemed not to react for a second, "Who are you? My mother?" He asked out loud. The whole group heard him. He couldn't care less.

"If I must bend you over my knee and spank you like a bratty child then I will do what I must to ensure your survival." She responded, slightly offended.

Apollo's only response was to grumble. He grabbed one of the pieces of dried meat and attempted to eat it. His stomach cramped in protest as the meat flavored cardboard slid its way down his throat.

"Um, soldiers?" Dr. Krafft asked, through their radios, "I can sense there is a portal here, one that has an energy signature I have never seen before. Can you come investigate?"

"Vercanna." Bellekar responded.

"Aw I see…Come over as soon as you can."

The soldiers quickly packed up all their stuff, making sure to snuff out the fire and put everything away. They hurried over to the office building and climbed the stairs. Apollo had the thought to look up at the bottom of the stairs as he remembered her portal being there originally in the game. Sure enough, her green portal was there showing a desert area.

"You couldn't have put the portal anywhere else? Fuck does she think we are? Spiderman?" Apollo said.

"Who?" Polina asked. Apollo just waved her off. Arthur continued up the stairs and to Dr. Krafft's room where he knocked on the door.

"It seems the portal is from Vercanna, she asked us to meet her in Egypt." Arthur said through the door.

"Certainly! I will monitor you from here! Good luck on your journey and remember to check in if you have any inquiries." Dr. Krafft responded.

Arthur nodded and gestured to the portal. Apollo walked the rest of the way up and onto the second floor. He quickly stood on the railing and gauged the distance he needed to jump. It was only about five or six feet. Meaning Apollo could easily make it.

January 2nd, 1945
Outskirts of Cairo, Egypt

Apollo jumped at the portal and unlike Kortifex's portals, this one didn't need an activation as he was directly teleported to a ruined building in Egypt. He landed on the ground with a thud. He quickly got up and brushed himself off. Soon, his comrades were all jumping into the portal one by one. First Wade, then Polina and finally Arthur.

"I see you made it to Egypt! Please keep me updated." Dr. Krafft said through the radios.

"Yes, sir." Arthur responded.

Once the group looked around for a minute, two sets of footsteps made their way over to the group.

"Seedlings!" Vercanna announced, "It is wonderful to see you have made the journey with no problems."

"None to speak of." Arthur responded.

Solange waved at the group and smiled, happy to see everyone again. She quickly hugged Polina, Arthur and Wade. She opted to shake hands with Apollo, not that he minded.

"Time is nigh to gather the resources necessary to invigorate our old shield wielding friend. Unfortunately, due to Kortifex's magic, being trapped in his shield has been quite a wear on him. He is the key to getting your page of that blasted book. Follow my steps, earn my trust, and we may just all get out of this alive." Vercanna announced.

"Thank you for that, Vercanna. I have created a plan-" Norticus started before being cut off.

"Ah, ah, my steps. You are a military strategist, however, you understand no finesse. Let me lead and I will not send you astray."

Norticus was obviously not happy about that. Both Arthur and Norticus crossed their arms in frustration. Vercanna rolled her eyes and began to walk off in the direction of the first step in revitalizing The Decimator.

The sky grew dark with clouds that spit red lightning and barriers shot up from the ground around the area the soldiers and their Elder Gods were standing. Kortifex had arrived.

"Seriously! You foolish gods are doing all the work for me. You decided to bring me the last remaining resistance member on a silver platter. Truly it is amazing I kept you around for as long as I did." Kortifex's voice boomed.

"Yes I am sure that you aren't reeling over being bested by four weak seedlings in Stalingrad. I imagine that your elaborate plan was to let them escape to meet here." Vercanna responded.

"Of course it was. A military genius always has contingencies, unlike some of us." Kortifex said.

Norticus was at the point of exploding, Saraxis put an arm on his shoulder and whispered, "Not now, not here. You will get your time." This seemed to lessen Norticus's anger slightly.

"Now though I must bid farewell. You have no hope of survival." Kortifex finished.

Once he disappeared, the world seemed to turn upside down. Red, spiky growths protruded out of the ground as the world was once again taken over by the Dark Aether. The barriers from previous were placed up once again, blocking the survivors from moving any farther in the surrounding area. The moans of the undead began again as the first wave crawled out of the ground.

"What is happening?!" Cried Solange. Being unused to the zombies and the Dark Aether she began to panic. As the first zombie slowly approached, she stared at it mouth agape. The zombie slowly shuffled forward before it was knifed by Wade. He gave a sad smile before he continued to kill the zombies with the rest of the group.

Unlike in the games, Apollo noticed that his guns stayed pack-a-punched. However, he soon felt a heavy wave of nausea hit his stomach. He ran to a nearby bush and emptied his stomach, losing all of the perks in the slush from his stomach. The others soon followed as Apollo was the catalyst for everyone losing the contents of their stomachs. Apollo was slow to recover and couldn't react in time as the slow walking zombies made their way over to him. A couple loud shots from Polina's sniper alerted Apollo to his savior as the zombies around him died.

"You alright, comrade?" Polina asked, placing a hand on his back.

"Yeah, thanks. Starting to know how y'all felt." He replied, standing up. Apollo could see Polina shiver at the thought again.

"I will be more careful next time." Polina nodded.

Quickly, the zombies in the surrounding area all died out with Solange really helping turn the tide in the soldiers' favor. Apollo noticed the walls having the same challenges written above them as from Stalingrad. Looks like they were splitting up again.

"Arthur!" Apollo called, "Let's split up and clear the area. Once this place is quarantined we can figure out what to do to free the shield."

Arthur nodded, calling for Wade and Solange to come with him and head into the portal to the left of the spawn room. This one, BLITZ showed the inside of some type of building. The middle portal, HARVEST, depicted destroyed rail cars. Finally, the last portal listed something new. This portal read, SACRIFICE. This portal showed a set of tents.

Once Wade and Solange disappeared, Apollo spoke, "Arthur, Polina, take the portal in the middle. I will complete this one and we can clear the main area quickly."

Arthur nodded and walked away to the other portal with Polina in tow. Apollo watched them leave and made sure that they had entered their section before entering his. He sighed to himself before sticking his hand in the portal. The familiar red lightning flashed in his eyes before he teleported.

Wade and Solange teleported to the inside of a Nazi warehouse. Large Nazi flags hung from every wall while an assortment of stuff was all over the floor.

"Seems like the Nazi's had a last stand here." Wade said, trailing off while he regained his bearings.

He was quickly disgusted by the rotting corpses on the floor that had the red spikes from Egypt protruding through them. He also noticed that the two of them wouldn't have all that much room to maneuver with all of the obstacles littering their area.

"Ugh, I'm going to be sick." Solange quickly exclaimed.

"Once you kill enough zombies you get used to it." Wade responded, waiting as Inviktor's purple ward began to rise from the ground.

"Really?" She asked.

"No." Wade responded.

Inviktor finally spoke, interrupting the conversation, "Survive for now. Make sure you are the last ones standing."

Vercanna added, "I will also help protect you. Call upon our artifacts, seedlings, if ever you need."

The moans of the undead began once Vercanna had finished speaking. Solange looked around, wide eyed before nodding to herself and heavily gripping her NZ-41. Wade walked over and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Look, just avoid getting scratched or bitten best you can. I'll try to explain the rest as we go. You're smart, you'll get the hang of it quick. Promise."

Solange nodded again before seeing the first zombie. She shot it once in the head and it went down. The zombies at this stage were easy to get rid of which made for a great starting point for Solange to get her sea legs. For the couple minutes that the two were stationed together, Wade let Solange get most of the kills. He would only help if one zombie began to shuffle its way over to him instead. Due to her high stamina, Solange was running all over the place making sure the zombies didn't get near either soldier. Once the timer ran out, Inviktor's purple light exploded across the area, killing all of the zombies nearby.

"So you cost me a handful of soldiers. I have millions more! Millions!" Von List shouted once Inviktor regained some of his power.

"Hmph…Next time, kill more of them." Inviktor responded.

Soon the party was teleported back to Egypt.

Back in Egypt, Polina and Arthur found themselves in the middle of a wrecked train yard. Near where they appeared, Aethereal Haste (Stamin-Up), sat waiting for use. Polina, braving the eventual nausea, partook in the drink's alluring aura.

"Knock it back, I need you strong." Saraxis commented.

"Pah, make demon blood taste less horrible next time." Polina spat in response.

Before Saraxis could comment any further, the familiar blue obelisk appeared nearby to where the soldiers were standing.

"Harvest fountains, here we come! You can restore us by gathering rune stones and putting them in the sin eater obelisk. Find the obelisk. I need to feed!" Saraxis said.

"I remember Apollo used this step to gather plenty of essence to start. Maybe we should do the same?" Arthur asked.

Polina nodded. A loud horn sounded over the world before words flashed in front of the vision of the soldiers.

THE WORLD GROWS HARDER…

Polina and Arthur looked at each other once the red letters faded from their sight. Arthur just shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

"On second thought, maybe not." He commented.

Zombie moans echoed through the wasteland as the first grouping of zombies began appearing. Some dug their way out of the ground but most jumped down from openings along the ridge walls that surrounded the train yard. Instead of walking or jogging as they had during the second stage in Stalingrad, these zombies sprinted. It took the soldiers slightly off guard.

Arthur took the first zombie that got close. It went down with a couple easy shots to the head, however. He smiled to himself before turning on the next zombie, it too went down without much of a fight. The second zombie dropped a rune artifact. Its floating aura drew in the soldiers who hadn't seen it before.

"Would like to study one of these at a different time." Arthur commented before picking up the artifact and running it over to the obelisk.

"Ah wonderful," Saraxis purred, "Hurry up collecting those artifacts. We have things to do. Chop chop!"

"She gets on my fucking nerves." Arthur said with malice.

"You tell me? Try having her in head." Polina responded, killing two zombies with one shot of her sniper. The resounding high ping of the rifle indicated it was still pack-a-punched.

Silently agreeing to not spend any extra time than what was needed, the duo was able to slam through the objective quite easily. With more zombies and them now running, the total of 15 artifacts were easily procured.

"Like stealing candy from a baby! That is a saying, right? Feeling like myself again. Let's go raise some hell." Saraxis spoke once again as her blue power radiated around the area. Every other zombie that was in her path was killed and no more spawned. Like before, the two soldiers were teleported back to the main hub of Egypt. There, they saw Wade and Solange talking in front of the Decimator.

Apollo's eyes cleared and he quickly realized he was standing no more than 100 feet away from the center area the group had teleported in. Apollo took stock of his area and saw the Demonic Frenzy (Speed Cola) blood station nearby next to the wall. He also saw what appeared to be amalgamations of zombies and their heads connected together and to the ground. It deeply unnerved Apollo now that he knew they were REAL. This no longer was a video game. It was life and death.

Almost in a trance, he walked over to the syphoncore, as he learned the name. As he got closer, the form started hissing and spitting at him. He became horrified. Sticking his hand out to touch it, one of the zombie hands snapped at him quickly. Apollo jumped back in shock. Bellekar quickly appeared in front of him, staring down his horrified face.

She grabbed both his shoulders in a tight grip, "What has gotten into you?! You must focus on the task at hand. Kill the fucking meat sacks before they are taken by that…thing. We will talk when this is over." She quickly disappeared again.

Doing his best to steel his nerves. Apollo walked over to the Demonic Frenzy (Speed Cola) and grabbed an ordained cup with a shaking hand. He quickly dunked it in the blood, not bothering with the mess it made, and quickly knocked back as much as he could. In his rush, most of the liquid spilled on the sides of his face and the ground. Before any zombies had spawned yet, a loud horn made Apollo jump.

THE WORLD GROWS HARDER…

He quickly looked around. Soon after the horn, the undead began appearing, digging themselves out of the ground. Apollo had to keep his feet moving as the soft sand under his feet gave way to the arms of the Third Reich soldiers. Apollo heard a slight buzzing behind him, from the direction of the amalgamation. Apollo quickly turned around and saw two zombies floating in front of the amalgamation. Red light was coming out of one of the zombie's heads on the structure. This red light was going into the other floating zombies. The two kept rising, until…POP!

Apollo flinched as bright red blood exploded in every direction from the two zombies. In shock, he backed up until he tripped over communication equipment. His shotgun went off into the tent roof. The recoil hit him right under the ribs, knocking the wind out of him. Tangled in the mess of the communication equipment, Apollo was threatened to quickly be overrun. Suddenly, Bellekar's artifact floated in front of his face as the zombies circled him. Apollo kicked and screamed as the zombies were nipping at his feet. Suddenly the artifact shook and the zombies stopped and backed up.

Apollo looked around and saw his body was covered in Bellekar's yellow fog. He quickly regained composure to his emotions. He breathed in and out until the pounding of his heart stopped. He quickly got out of the mess and ran to the amalgamation where four zombies were about to sacrifice themselves. The resounding roar of his shotgun tore apart the rest of the already disintegrating bodies.

The fear that riddled his mind was replaced with a cold righteous fury. His future had been stolen from him for the time being. He felt powerless on what to do. Apollo knew that eventually Kortifex and this world would be beaten. He would then be able to leave. Until that time, he would kill however many of these zombies it took. He would go through every elder god until he was free to go home. He would make Kortifex pay.

Bellekar watched on, sitting atop the dirt wall that separated Apollo's area from the outside world. Her vision was split between the bird's eye view above and the view from Apollo's eye. She felt his anguish turn into fury. His muscles tensed and moved with a practiced efficiency that seemed impossible if she hadn't been able to see into the depth of his mind.

Truly, though, this was practiced. His mind had seen and run over these scenarios countless times before. She had seen locations she recognized, and most she didn't. Soldiers and people, some she'd seen, most she hadn't, who all fought this battle in Apollo's…what did he call them…games? She'd seen him fight on different planets, the moon, even completely underwater in a building that seemed a carbon copy of the station on the moon. He refused to show her this, but those he replayed in his dreams.

Bellekar felt a sense of satisfaction, knowing that Apollo may have been the key to beating Kortifex this whole time. She felt a small sliver of pride knowing he was her champion. If Inviktor had Apollo, nobody would hear the end of it. At least she had some self control unlike that brute.

"If only I'd known about him sooner…" Her thoughts had trailed.

Heavy footsteps sounded next to her as Vercanna's green, flowery legs crouched next to her. She sat down next to Bellekar and watched on as the second horn sounded throughout the land.

THE WORLD GROWS HARDER…

"He is the key." Bellekar muttered to herself, barely loud enough for Vercanna to hear.

"I know Bellekar. I sensed it when I saw him enter this land. His eyes gave away a confidence that this would end." She responded.

Bellekar quickly looked at Vercanna before returning her attention to Apollo. She saw he'd quickly run out of ammo trying to fight off the overwhelming horde of zombies. Kortifex must've really wanted him dead to send this amount. It seemed…abnormal.

What caught her attention was Apollo dropping his shotgun and using his fists to kill the zombies now. Left hook, right hook, left hook, right hook, Bellekar watched on as every punch went clear through a zombie's face. Apollo became bloody, white clothes covered in the muck of the Third Reich.

"Enough!" Vercanna's voice boomed as her aura killed the remainder of the zombies, "You did well, seedling. Return to your crew and we may continue."

Apollo didn't seem to hear. A zombie that was blasted towards Apollo from Vercanna's aura became the unfortunate victim of overkill. Apollo didn't recognize it wasn't attacking him so he grabbed the corpse and slammed it to the ground. He dropped on the ground and punched its face. The bone, muscle and brain matter turned into mush as Apollo kept punching into the zombie's skull. He only stopped when he felt his body resonate in pain once his fist met hard Egypt sand.

He stopped with a huff, breathing hard. Bellekar saw the red lightning flash around him before he disappeared. She looked in the direction of the Decimator as another flash of lightning indicated that he teleported back.

"I'm worried about him. My champion." She said, uncharacteristic of someone like her. She was even shocked the words were uttered out of her mouth. The two of them, as one, made Bellekar's mind wander as she felt Apollo's very nerves as her own. She had flinched when his fist met ground. That's the excuse she would die for the words she uttered.

Vercanna looked over at her, into her yellow orbs. The two had a stare down. To Bellekar, it seemed like even she was shocked Bellekar could worry.

"Do not fret, young one. He is merely in a state of shock. He is very lucky to have been chosen as your champion. I'm sure his mind will return when the time is right." Vercanna spoke.

"But what if he dies? Kortifex already recognizes the threat he poses. He knew it in the swamp we fought in. He definitely knows it after…whatever that just was. I fear he may be our only hope at ending this and restoring our home. However, his flesh is weak. Prone to the swipes of Kortifex's soldiers. He will get tired and sore. He doesn't even want to be here. There is too much riding on his shoulders. I fear he will collapse under that weight. Give up in front of insurmountable odds. What then?" Bellekar responded.

Vercanna looked back into the area of the Decimator, she saw Apollo taking off his white coat and undressing his chest. He threw them onto a box around the area they first appeared in. Wade was there, helping to wipe off some of the muck on his pants. She could also see Polina and Solange speaking with Arthur. The two women kept sneaking glances at the two boys when they thought Arthur wasn't looking.

"What if, hmm? What if he does die?" Vercanna said, after a time, "What if he is blown up before we even awaken the Decimator? Or what if he turns into the perfect soldier to beat Kortifex? As generally weak as humans are, given the right circumstances, they can become stronger than any of the Night Legions. Think of Agis, or of Thomas Baker. Ordinary men turned into Gods in the face of overwhelming power. Or how about the famous David versus Goliath? You are the historian. He was chosen for a reason. All of them were."

Bellekar turned her attention back to the area of the soldiers. They had much work to do if they were to beat Kortifex at his own game. Vercanna was right, though. Dr. Krafft had chosen them. All of them. She trusted his sound judgment like scripture. He hadn't been wrong yet.

"Very well." She commented, "We have a shield to awaken."

Vercanna smiled, or as much as she could with very little for a mouth, "That we do."

"Oi, why'd you strip your top?" Arthur asked when Wade and Apollo walked back to the other three soldiers who were standing by the Decimator shield. The shield was held aloft by some of Vercanna's power atop protruding red spikes double the size of any of the soldiers.

"My balls was hot." Apollo responded.

Arthur looked at him questioningly, "It's, like, 20 degrees?"

Before any more conversation could be had, the elder gods made their presence known around their champions and the Decimator.

Inviktor started the conversation, "Is that the Decimator shield?! But I thought it was lost long ago within the depths of the Dark Aether.

"I found it in the Wilds, Inviktor, and brought it here." Vercanna responded, "Examine it and you will see it lies dormant. Alas, the crystals that are contaminating this area have locked it in place. Four crystals need to be shattered to release the Decimator. However," She continued, pacing in front of the shield, "they are currently unbreakable. There is a way to be rid of these crystals and free the Decimator, but he is far too dangerous in the wrong hands. I am not yet convinced of your abilities."

Everyone but Bellekar and Apollo groaned in annoyance. Wade and Inviktor threw their arms up in frustration. To Apollo, it seemed Saraxis went through all five stages of grief in the span of a minute. She eventually settled on anger.

"Seriously?! We don't have time for your stupid tests, witch! Is the fact we are connected to these meat sacks, no offense," She said, turning to Polina who shook her head and raised her shoulders, nodding in agreement, "any type of vouch to move along this process. Hell the Decimator was a fiend. I'm sure some…encouragement will break him right out of his shell."

"That will not be necessary, I am sure." Dr. Krafft finally spoke up after a long while of silence, "Vercanna will come to trust you all as I have."

"What must we do?" Norticus asked, determination passing through his and Arthur's features.

"Rid the area of Kortifex's influence. Once that happens, we can talk."

"Very well. Chop chop, playthings. Don't keep 'ol plant growth waiting." Saraxis said.

Now everyone gave a collective groan. The same three teams chose their paths to clear the area. Apollo chose to go back to the portal blocking off the train yard, Polina and Arthur chose the area where the crashed plane had landed. It also housed Fiendish Fortitude (Juggernog). Solange and Wade took the rocky area that housed Venomous Vigor (Quick Revive) and the anti-aircraft weapons.

"Last three. Let's make it quick, yeah?" Arthur shouted as the group split up.

Apollo raised his hand in thumbs up as he trudged away to an ammo station. Solange waved back to Arthur and wished him luck as they walked in the same direction as Apollo. Once Wade and Solange reached their portal, Solange quickly turned to Apollo.

"Good luck out there." She said with a smile, giving him her hand to shake, "See you on the other side."

"'Course." He replied, Apollo saluted Wade, "Good luck to you both."

Wade saluted back and put his hand into the portal quickly followed by Solange. Apollo watched them leave before he turned back towards the train yard. Apollo checked over his gear. Shotgun, revolver, hunting knife. He paused for a moment. He spotted a corpse still holding the death grip on a fire axe. Hunting knife…axe…pack-a-punch…you can pack-a-punch knives…A wicked smile began to form on his face.

"Bellekar?" He asked, grabbing the revolver and holding it up, "Can you store this for me?"

Bellekar appeared next to him, "What are yo-oh…I see…I like the way you think champion."

"Groovy." He said.

It seemed Apollo had a pit stop to make, and a new weapon to acquire.

I don't have much to add to this chapter as it is a bit self-explanatory. With this chapter I wanted to make two things clear. One, there has been no time for the soldiers to pause and breath from the onslaught of Kortifex's army. Second, Apollo soon realizes that the knowledge he has about this world is similar, but different, to the one he's in now. I plan to make things much harder for the group as I don't believe Vanguard does the maps justice in providing an atmosphere that really sells how zombies affects people. Hopefully I did a better job of that. I definitely will add more detail if I find it necessary or add it during the R&R chapter.

As always feel free to comment, review or send me a DM. Things are definitely different with Vanguard this time around.