Thank you all for a fantastic first year of Gemstones. This will be the last chapter of the year. Happy holidays from the Gemstones crew.


Elias Viktor was not, by any means, an 'approachable man'. He was like a machine, constructed for work and not pleasure. And in his field, that was understandable. Extragalactic astronomy was a small field of study, and he was utterly devoted to it. There would be days he would hyper focus on his assignment and tune out all life around him, or straight out decline events.

"Doctor Viktor?"

Elias looked up from his computer to see a few younger female scientists. He recognized them from the astrophysics wing, the self proclaimed 'fun' wing of the building. There were a few others with them as well, also pretty young as well.

"I know this is super last minute, but would you be interested in grabbing lunch with us?" one of them asked politely.

Elias gave them all a blank look. "Apologies, but I must decline. I need to finish my thesis before the night gets away from me."

The scientists all shared a strange look. "Night? Don't you mean day?"

Elias cleared his throat. "Of course. Apologies. Enjoy your lunch." He then went back to typing away on his computer.

"Don't waste your time on him," one of the younger scientists whispered as the crowd walked away. "He'd suck the life out of the party. The man's work is exceptional, but he's as dull as dishwater. The guys and I invite him out every so often, but we can never tell if he's having fun or if he hates us."

The latter was absolutely true. In fact, that was true of everyone he came across. Humanity was a pitfall in the galaxy, utterly insignificant in every way. They killed and pillaged nations back nearly a century ago, and now they did the same, but with even more politics involved.

And someone else shared his views.

Elias returned home at 7 PM sharp, like he always did. He hung up his coat, placed his briefcase on the table, and fixed himself a drink, like he always did. It would always take up 5 minutes of his time.

Then, he would take exactly 30 minutes to strip down to his boxers and paint the runes on his body that would allow him to converse with an intergalactic demon for a few hours.

Yes, Elias was a strange, strange man. His nihilism and interest in the stars had led him down the dark path of occultism. He remembered how he first came across it: six years ago, he was watching the morning news. He expected the basic spiel; a heartwarming story about a kid with a disability, some news around the local area about a thief or event going on, and some coverage on national events. That very morning, it was a very special national event.

Aliens had revealed themselves to the world. At a campsite in Yosemite Park, California, there were multiple sightings of extraterrestrials terrorizing the forest. Elias was rarely caught off guard, but this was especially shocking. Then, a strange question popped into his head: do aliens have religions?

That was a particularly odd intrusive thought for a man like Elias. He was not a religious man whatsoever; he stepped into church maybe once a year, for Christmas with his small family. Elias shook his head and chuckled. What a nonsensical question, he thought to himself.

But that question continued to eat at him for the next few days, distracting him from his studies and interfering with his predetermined schedule. It made him go mad, he had to answer this stupid question even if it killed him-

And he gave in. Elias stormed into a library and walked out with every book on occultism he could find. At first, he believed himself to be an idiot for doing this. Why on Earth would there be proof of a God here? There was nothing to be told.

But eventually, he found something.

Or something found him.

"Elias Viktor," a voice rasped in his dreams one evening. "I know what you seek."

"And what would that be?" Elias shot back, unfazed and unafraid of the void surrounding him.

"The truth. And I am the God who can provide it to you."

"And what am I to call this God?"

"Call me Lord Zs'skayr," the voice cackled.

Tonight, Lord Zs'skayr gave him a mission. A rather unexpected one, to prove his allegiance to him and him alone. "Free me," he wheezed, his voice sounding weak.

"How do I do so?"

"Most of my followers," the ecto-lord went on, "have been gathering the materials necessary for a very long time. And none of them possess intelligence like your very own. You understand the cosmos better than any of them, Elias."

"This is...quite the task, my lord."

"And I know you can do it."

And that was all Elias needed to hear.


"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"You ever miss this kind of stuff?" Ruby asked, as she looked down at the 'squidburger' Max had cooked up.

"Never," Ben grumbled, setting his burger down.

"Good, me neither," Ruby said, yeeting her burger into the nearby lake when no one was looking. And then she went back to staring blankly at the redhead in front of her. There was no way this was the same girl from a few years ago. She was smiling, actually getting along with Ben, and not correcting him every 33 seconds!

(For context, the three of them were at a small cookout Max had arranged. It was just a little get together for old times sake, no big reason to celebrate.)

Ruby felt like she was being shoved into a random lunch between two good friends, with her being the odd one out. She nervously sipped her soda and hoped she'd get a chance to join in.

"So, Ruby," Gwen asked, "how's Beacon?"

Ruby glanced up. "Oh! It's going okay, I guess. I'm dwindling on a B-average in some classes, but everything else is fine. Made some friends, made some enemies, but that's high school for you, I guess."

"I suppose." Gwen sipped her water.

"Gwen's been going to this prestigious school not far from here," Ben explained, "as well as studying the occult and other witchy stuff."

"I'm too swamped right now to become a Plumber," Gwen huffed. "But thankfully my mentor lent me some books to help control my magic abilities. I might be able to help you guys with this whole Roman situation, if I master a certain tracking spell within the next couple days."

"How hard is it control your magic?" Ruby questioned. "You were fine when we were kids."

"Well, that magic was actually kind of chaotic," Gwen explained. "It was weak and uncontrollable. It was like I turned in a test I knew I was going to fail. But somehow it worked and did some damage, so that's something. My magic is much more refined now."

"So, wait, are you saying that you actually had to work for something?" Ruby grinned impishly.

"What was that, I suddenly can't hear you." Gwen cupped a hand around her ear and tried to look innocent.

"There's the Gwen we remember," Ben joked, smiling as he sipped his Capri Sun.

Later, at that same barbecue

"Benjamin Theodore Tennyson," Kevin said threateningly. Ben looked over to see the older boy sitting on a random couch he had (most likely) taken off road, just for this.

Ben pulled out the Capri Sun dangling out of his mouth. "That's not my middle name," he said sullenly.

"Shut up and get over here." Kevin patted the seat next to him, and Ben nervously sat there. His dark eyes bore into green with all the solemnity of a funeral.

"...what?"

"Why aren't you dating Ruby Rose?"

Ben spluttered and his eyes bugged out comically. "WHAT."

"Don't give me that, I've seen the way you two look at each other," Kevin said sharply, like the very thought of them not together personally offended him.

Ben wasn't completely sure what look he gave Ruby, but he was pretty sure it was friendly. And affectionate. And yeah maybe his gaze occasionally drifted to her new curves, but who could blame him, his childhood friend had grown up considerably. And yeah he felt sappy whenever he heard Ruby's funny laugh and he adored the way her eyes lit up whenever she was happy and yeah, okay, literally everything she did, even the gross stuff, was kind of cute, but that didn't mean anything, did it?

...did it?

"Wait, you said the two of us," Ben realized, his eyes wide.

Kevin sighed, like Ben was a toddler who needed to be told not to touch a hot stove. "Ben. Dude. She looks at you like you took the moon from the night sky and gave it to her as a gift, despite the fact you fucked up the oceans' tides and doomed millions."

"...oddly specific."

"Shut the fuck up," Kevin stated. "I'm pretty sure she likes you. Like, genuinely likes you, for some unfathomable reason."

"You're all heart, Kev," Ben muttered under his breath.

"And it's obvious you got a thing for her," Kevin continued. "Question is, why haven't you done anything about it?"

"Because I don't wanna ruin our friendship?" Ben deadpanned. "Because I don't want to lose her? Dude, you know my dating history, I suck at keeping a relationship!"

"But it's Ruby, she knows you like the back of her hand!" Kevin retorted. "And let's be honest, those girls you dated? Kind of bitchy. And I think the last one was just emotionally abusive, thank God Ceres got you out of that."

Ben shuddered; he hadn't been in Ceres's direct line of sight when she glared at Julie, but just seeing it from the side made Ben want to curl up into a ball and cry.

"In any case, you should think about it," Kevin told him softly but firmly. "Otherwise I think you're gonna lose her regardless."

"Believe me, you need a girl that genuinely cares about you," Kylie said as she walked by, sitting down in an armchair and eating some homemade macaroni. "Connection is the most important aspect of a relationship, aside from your personalities."

"I guess?" Ben shrugged. "I'm honestly not the best boyfriend, either." There was total silence at that. He blinked as Kevin and Kylie gave him empty, non-pitiful stares. "This is the part where you guys tell me I'm not."

"Ben, I've technically known you for six years." Kevin rolled his eyes. "I think we've reached that brutally honest stage of friendship."

Kylie just shrugged. "Though to be fair, I think you'd genuinely put in an effort to be a good boyfriend to Ruby."

Weiss, who'd happen to be walking by, just gave them an odd look. "Are we discussing Ben and Ruby's potential romance now?"

Ben threw up his hands. "Does everyone know about this?!"

"Oh no, not everyone," Weiss reassured him. "Yang is totally oblivious, and Blake is making sure it stays that way."

"And Rook isn't exactly savvy on 'Earth courting rituals', as he puts it, so I think you're good there," Kevin pointed out helpfully. Said man was currently stuffing his face with 'squidburger', one of the few people to actually enjoy the food.

"So, nearly everyone else knows," Ben grumbled. He scrubbed at his eyes and looked at them all tiredly. "Are we really that obvious?"

Weiss made a 'so-so' gesture. "I personally don't think so? The only reason any of us noticed is because half of team RWBY knows their leader well, and I'm sure Zeta could pick up any signs coming from their own teammate. To an outsider, I highly doubt they'd notice."

"Can confirm," Kylie chirped. "Barring a few more individuals, the entire base has no idea."

"How did you even figure that out?" Ben asked incredulously.

"Actually, Weiss, quick question," Kevin piped up. "What are the chances Ben and Ruby have of actually being a couple?"

Weiss smiled knowingly. "Well, from what I've seen so far, I can see that Ben and Ruby are good for each other. You both genuinely want to help people and make the world a better place. You also have a lot to learn from one another, and both are wise enough to acknowledge that."

"Plus," Kylie added, "you're both selectively social and wary of others, which actually works in your favor. You can take your sweet time during the dating phase because you both want the relationship to work. Your emotions are meted out in understated ways, especially with those subtle looks and gestures. Love will therefore grow slowly and strongly between you two, taking care to keep dignity, respect, and trust intact."

Ben blinked. "You guys… do not sound like teenagers right now. I think you got all of that out of some psychology textbook. But you also know both of our personalities to the letter? How."

"We've dealt with you two long enough," Weiss scoffed, "I know everything that makes you tick."

"Prove it! You can't know THAT much about me after spending, what, a month with us?"

Weiss smiled deviously and Kylie started giggling. "Wanna talk about your ornithophobia, Tennyson?"

"Yeah, so, I'm gonna join Max by the grill," Ben said rapidly, already walking away.

"What's ornithophobia?" Kevin asked curiously.

"Google it," Kylie giggled. "It's worth it."

"Hey, kiddo," Grandpa Max smiled as Ben walked over. "Coming in for seconds?"

Ben looked down at the grill to see beef patties with eyes on them. "Uh, no thanks." he nervously smiled. "Hey, Grandpa...how do you...know you like a girl?"

Max chuckled. "I knew this day would come."

"What?"

"Nothing. I'll start with my own experience," Max said as he flipped the burgers over. "It started when I realized I felt comfortable being with her. I was a bit of an introvert back then, but we spent a whole day driving out of town just to see the sunset. And then, when we were watching it, I got a good look at her face. I'd looked at it dozens of times, but with the lighting...it made her look beautiful. From there, it was realizing that she gave me what I needed to feel adored and loved to pieces, and that when I was close to her, I just felt the urge to hold her hand and be at her side, no matter what. I wrote endless poetry about her, I found myself wondering if we'd start a family together...and wondered how she learned to aim with perfect precision."

Ben raised an eyebrow. "Grandma Verdona?"

"Yep. Did I ever tell you how my first date with her went?" Max said, looking over at his wife. She was engrossed in a conversation with Ceres and Blake, talking animatedly.

"Uh, no. I don't think so."

"The first date I ever went on was to the local science museum's adult night. Getting to tinker and experiment with everything was amazing, and watching her face light up when we got something right was adorable. Do you ever get that feeling around a girl?"

Ben thought back to all the times he found himself blushing when Ruby gave that cute little smile of hers. "A little."

"Ben, you can say it's Ruby."

He nervously eyed the ground. "Yeah, it's her."

Max smirked. "When did you realize?"

"I think I always had a crush on her, but it didn't really sink in until she left," Ben admitted. "I was thinking about her all the time. The thought of not having her in my life nearly put me in a depression. And when I thought about her in it… I don't know, it just felt all warm and soft and right."

"When do you think you'll tell her?" Max asked as he took the patties off the grill.

"When I'm on my deathbed, probably."

Max was about to tell Ben how horribly unhealthy that was, but his sentence was cut off by a white Jeep approaching the campsite. The car parked by the Rustbucket and three people stepped out, one of them being Servantis. The other two, a man and a woman, were people Ben had seen around the base but never talked to.

The woman was of above-average height with an athletic and curvaceous figure. She had dark red hair that barely reached her shoulders, and wore a short red jacket with the ends tied, with a black full sleeved shirt underneath. She also had white jeans and black combat boots.

The other one, in comparison, was just weird. He had an average to above-average height and medium build. He wore a full biker's outfit with a black helmet that was in the shape of a human head, with three red glowing holes in the visor.

"Maxwell," Servantis said, extending his hand. "Good to see you enjoying a fine day like this."

"I'm surprised you're out of the office," Max chuckled, shaking his hand. "What brings you here? Smell what's cooking?"

Servantis glanced down at the squid burger and cringed. "Sadly not," he lied. "Rather, I have received some pressing news about a recent break in at the Plumber warehouse."

Max paused. "Who was it? The usual suspects?"

"Interestingly not," Servantis went on, as one of his assistants brought him a laptop. "There is no info on this man. He does not have any powers of any sort, nor any affiliations with any criminal on the database. He's fully human, and he stole the whole supply of Crystal Dolphin."

"Why steal that?" Ben asked. "How did he even know about it?"

"No idea," Servantis said. "Like stated before, we have no information on this man...except for this interesting shot." Servantis pulled up an image of the man leaving, but not before putting on a rather disturbing skull mask. Ben paused; had he seen a mask like that before?

Max felt a bit sick. "No..."

"Yes, Max. They're back." Servantis grimaced as he shut the laptop.

"Who's back?" Ben asked.

"A long time ago," Max explained, "when your father was your age and Servantis was a rookie, we received a series of reports about occultic activities throughout the state. At first, we thought it was your basic 'Jonestown' crap. But as time went on, we learned more."

"The group is called 'The Black Hand," Servantis said. "They blindly worship a spectral alien overlord, though we are unsure of its existence. The group would willingly sacrifice their friends, family, and total strangers just to appease a voice inside their head."

Ben shivered despite how warm the day was.

"I didn't see a lot of pretty stuff back then," Max said solemnly. "I don't expect to see it now..."

"Further investigation shows a resurgence in activity at one of their old bases," Servantis continued.

"Which one," Max wanted to know. "The one in Los Soledad?"

"Los Soledad?" Ben repeated.

"Los Soledad was originally a military base back in the 1950s," Servantis explained. "Info about experiments run there are classified, but it ended around 1960. The Black Hand set up their base of operations there in 1980, and christened it by sacrificing innocents to appease their God."

"...I have no words."

Servantis sighed. "I don't blame you. I am requesting you join me on the mission to investigate. It's preferable you bring back up."

"Well, I'm free," Ceres said, walking over. "I don't have much going on right now, I'm sure the team wouldn't mind."

"Same," Ruby added. "We're ready to help!"

Servantis rolled his eyes. "I suppose your teams will do. You will be working with my own unit, consisting of Tara Swift and Leander."

Ruby looked at Servantis' other two members, before turning to Ben. "What exactly does Servantis do?"

"Servantis is a part of the Rooters, the Black Ops wing of the base," Ben explained. "I don't know what they do, but I'm assuming it isn't pretty."

"And I will ask that you follow my lead. No questions asked," Servantis commanded. "Any disagreements?"

"None, really," Ceres said, shrugging.

"Alright, cool," Ruby said.

"Good. We leave in ten minutes," Servantis said. "And no later."

"Well, that's that, then." Gwen frowned, a bit disappointed the party ended sooner than anticipated. She walked over and hugged Max tightly. "I gotta get back to school, Grandpa. I have some finals to study for...well, more like I have to help my friends study."

"Well, alright Pumpkin," Max said fondly. "Thanks for coming. Love you~!"

"Love you too!" Gwen said, right before disappearing in a flash of light. Blake's eyes widened, as everyone else just didn't react.

"D-did she just-" Blake pointed at the space where Gwen was before.

"Yeah, she's magic," Ceres said, patting Blake on the back. "It's weird, but you get used to it."


Ben was creeped out by the empty Los Soledad base; the rickety old houses and sense of 'military project gone wrong' really added to that 'this place is cursed' energy. Not to mention there were these strange lines in the ground. It was like something haphazardly dug their way through the ground. Skeletons of lizards littered the ground near said lines. Those two guys from Buzzfeed Unsolved would probably have a field day here.

Ben looked over to see his grandparents walking with Servantis and his two cohorts. He had already forgotten their names.

"This place is really creeping me out," Yang admitted.

"I think that's true for all of us," Kevin said, rubbing his arms.

"Not for me," Ceres said, eyes narrowed as she looked around. "I'm only thinking about why this place was built."

"Wait, you know?" Rook asked curiously. "Enlighten us."

She walked closer to the group so they could hear her better. "Rumor has it they built this place in this specific location for one reason."

"And why's that?"

Ceres grinned, showing off her shark-like teeth. "For the large subterranean deposits of crystal quartz nearby. Very convenient for a military time-travel experiment, codenamed 'Project Paradox'. This experiment's head scientist theorised, after discovering unique properties in crystal quartz, that it could act as an access way to past and future events."

"Wait, seriously? Time travel?" Ruby said skeptically.

"Keep in mind, this was the 1950s," Ceres pointed out. "You could tell someone back then that telephones had a little person inside and they'd believe it."

"Children!" Servantis barked. Ben's head shot back to see Servantis and the others waiting impatiently. "Why the hold up?"

"Oh, uh, strategizing!" Ruby lied. "Yeah! In case we get attack-!"

BOOM. A quick shockwave shook the ground. Ben and the other gasped as it quickly faded. Ben didn't notice the Omnitrix briefly turning pink.

"What the hell was that?" Ruby cried out. Something whizzed past her head and onto the ground. Confused, the group looked over at it.

"That is a grenade, right?" Rook asked.

"EVERYONE FIND COVER!" Ceres yelled as she shoved her group behind a nearby wall. Verdona immediately jumped into action; she shielded her teammates before the grenade exploded. Gas immediately swamped the area.

"Where'd that grenade come from?" Weiss asked.

"More like why did they even throw it," Kylie countered, putting on her mask. She could see the heat signatures of people suddenly emerging from...the ground or something, she didn't know? All she knew was that there was gonna be an ambush. "Guys, might wanna suit up for battle. Guys popping outta nowhere."

"Hey, Kev," Ben said blithely. "Wanna do that move?"

"Alright, I'm game." Kevin grinned as he reached for the watch.

Ben slapped down his own watch; his body became a torrent of water, armor attempting to contain him. Key word being attempted; water started to leak out from his suit, flooding the grounds.

Kevin slapped down his AntiTrix; he raised his arms out and they both became skinnier and almost skeletal like. His head changed shape, and his legs split into four.

"Ooooh," Ruby gasped as she eyed the new forms. "What do you call these ones?"

"I call this one Overflow!" Ben declared happily.

"Numb," Kevin said quickly. Everyone froze and turned to look at Kevin.

"Like...the Linkin Park-"

"YES. LIKE THE LINKIN PARK SONG. Let's just do this thing already!"

"Right, right." Ben spewed out gallons upon gallons of water, faster yet more wild than anything Water Hazard could do. The gas dissipated just as Ben had spawned a small river underneath their feet.

Ceres nudged Ruby. "Might wanna start climbing that building." She motioned over to the other Zeta Squad members, who were already halfway to the top. Yang and Blake shrugged, before using their respective 'grapples' to pull themselves up, while Weiss simply used her glyph to levitate herself to the top.

"Uh, why?" Ruby asked.

"They call this one the 'Clearwater Revival'," Ceres explained as she turned to face the wall. "It's gonna be kinda dangerous to be around them when they do it. Besides, we have a better vantage point if we get on top of the buildings." And then she quickly parkoured up the side of the building.

"Alllllright?" Ruby shrugged, before using her semblance to hop on top of the roof.

Ben continued to flood the area as the adults watched from the other side. Servantis looked as if was about to blow a gasket because this was not going to plan-

"We'll let them handle these guys," Max said, snapping him out of his rage. "We know exactly where the others are. Come on!"

"Right," Servantis said as he followed Max to the main lab.

Ben, meanwhile, had given everyone still on the ground the worst feeling ever; wet socks. The ground was flooded up to the cultists' ankles, and for some reason it was like trying to walk through syrup instead of clear water.

"Increased the fluid friction," Ben told them. "And now..." He raised his hands and the water exploded upward like a geyser. The cultists were caught in the middle, and Kevin took his moment to strike; he unleashed winter winds from his mouth and froze the pillar of water solid within seconds.

"Woah," Ruby said in awe. "That's...wow."

"They spent months practicing," Ceres huffed as she hoisted herself onto the roof. "50% of their first few attempts ended in Ben getting frozen. It was hilarious. Sad, but hilarious."

Ruby just looked at the pillar, shocked by its beauty...before she noticed it seemed to be getting taller. She looked down to see why, only to see that the house was getting closer to the ground.

"Uh, guys?"

The group looked over to see Ben and Kevin helplessly sinking in the ground. "Help?" Ben said sheepishly.

Yang extended the wire on her arm and ensnared Ben's left arm, before reeling him back like a fish. "What, did you make the ground too muddy?"

"...maybe."

"Impressive," a haughty voice said. "Our lord said you would be here."

"Huh?" Ben said. "Who said-"

"Up here, child."

The team looked up to see a man in a black suit with a purple shirt, bracelets and scarf. He also had purple tattoos with eye-like designs on his chest and face. The weird thing about him was the fact that he was standing on thin air. It was like a magical illusion, one that would make people gasp and scream in confusion while that smarmy magic bastard took in the reaction.

"I'm even more confused," Ruby said.

"I'm with you on that," Ceres agreed.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Ben asked, as Yang helped Kevin out of the mud.

"I am but your doom!" the man yelled, and he snapped his fingers. Strange, bandage like tendrils shot out from his back, and the man suddenly walked to his right and disappeared.

Ben was utterly baffled; a man said he was his doom, and then walked into nowhere. What even was this?

"Confused?"

Ben nearly jumped, as said man was suddenly behind him. "How did you-"

"A gift from my lord," he crowed, praising the skies above. "He truly knows what is right for me. Why, look at the gift he gave me!" He took off his mask to reveal his face...or, at least what was left of the rotting thing. The man's flesh was grey, with half of his brain exposed. His skull was partially visible given his rotting flesh. Weiss and Kylie shrieked at the very sight.

"Oh my god," Ben gagged, stepping back.

"My name was once Christopher Lugo," the man revealed, putting his helmet back on. "But you may call me Khufu." He shot out his bandages at them, but Ruby quickly cut them to shreds with her scythe...or at least she tried to. The man's bandages quickly regenerated as fast as she cut them, rendering her attack useless.

"Nice try." Khufu smiled as he clapped his hands. Suddenly, more men dressed similar to him walked out of thin air, joining their leader. "Take them down." The cultists slammed their fists together, black sparks lighting up their hands.

"Alright, so, we got some crazy cultists," Yang sighed. "Again."

"Eh, at least they're not trying to sacrifice us," Kylie said as she fired her gun. The bullet hit her target, and the man fell down, phasing into the roof. "Ok, that's just weird."

The cultists charged at them, trying to overwhelm them with brute force, but Ceres responded with a massive 'roar' of flames. The men were either hit, jumped away just in time or disappeared into thin air. The men who jumped away started doing parkour on invisible platforms, much to the group's confusion. They jumped down from their platforms and did flying kicks at them, but to no effect. One of Weiss's glyphs had them sent flying away.

Yang punched a guy so hard he went flying out of their dimension, Blake easily dispatched a few of them, Rook took names with his Proto Tool's staff mode, Kylie shot some of them down, Ceres overwhelmed them with her fire power, and Kevin managed to freeze a guy while he was half way through phasing out of reality.

"I am so fucking lost right now," Ruby said as she slashed one of the guys in the gut.

"Yep, that's the collective mood right now," Ben grumbled as he changed forms. His form shrank and changed into the more agile Spidermonkey. "Just channel that confusion into fighting. Like I usually do!"

Khufu sent his tendrils at Ben, but Ben responded by using his webs to stick them down to the ground. "Missed me, missed me, now you gotta get KICKED IN THE FACE!" Ben yelled, as he delivered a flying kick to Khufu's face, knocking him out cold.

"Pretty unimpressive doom, if you ask me," Ruby quipped as she took out a few more bad guys.

Verdona kicked down the door and looked into the room. It was surprisingly empty, to their surprise, but they didn't let that stop them. The group walked right in, ready for anything.

Of course, no one was prepared for a bunch of people walking out of thin air. And then just standing on thin air.

"That's new," Verdona commented as she fired a barrage of energy at the minions, blasting them away. More and more of the minions jumped at them, ready to strike...

Swift jumped into action. She opened her arms and a patagia dropped down. She jumped into the air and started picking up cultists and throwing them onto the ground, at least breaking a few of their bones. A few of the minions on the ground charged at Leander, but he didn't even move. He just pulled out some rubber balls and squeezed them in his hands; a few pins formed in the balls, as he quickly tore them out and threw them at the Black Hand members. The pins exploded in midair, knocking the cultists back.

"Impressive work," Servantis said, patting Leander on the back. He walked through the battlefield with practiced ease. A few men ran at him, but Servantis gave them a glance-

And suddenly, they were clutching their heads in pain, falling to the ground.

Max unloaded his weapon, firing out into the crowd of cultists. He hadn't felt this kind of rush in a while. His body was really starting to slow down at his age, but this made him forget all that pain. He smiled, before something caught his eye.

That figure from the footage was sneaking away, out the back door of the warehouse.

"Cover for me, hun!" Max yelled, as Verdona opened up her hands and blinded the Black Hand. Max barreled through the group and ran after the figure.

"HEY!" he yelled. "GET BACK HERE!"

The figure bolted into another building, and Max followed him there. The building was a lab of sorts, the scattered remains of test tubes and beakers on rusting metal tables. The figure had vanished down into the basement, given the hurried sounds of electricity sparking from down that way.

Max didn't know what to expect, walking down into the basement. All he knew was the danger lurking in the air, and his one intent.

To kill Viktor before he enacted his plan.

This is my only chance, he thought as he heard the heavy footsteps of Dr. Elias Viktor pacing around down the staircase. Max froze before the last few steps and peered around the corner. Viktor was more focused on the portal, moving around the last few components before his masterpiece was finally complete.

Max quitely cocked his weapon, and-

Viktor spoke. "Leave this place, Max Tennyson."

Max froze in terror, but for the sake of his mission, kept a brave face. "I refuse."

"If you walk out from that staircase," Viktor continued, "you will die."

"Yeah?" Max scoffed. "Good luck with that."

Max fired his gun at Viktor...and hit the table. Max paused; a second ago, Viktor was standing right at the table, back turned. He couldn't have avoided that blast, especially a tachyon laser. Unless-

A giant fist suddenly grabbed Max's arm, causing him to yell out in shock. Viktor grinned as he peered around the corner, revealing his horrifying mutation. He resembled Frankenstein's Monster, except he was a more cyborg-like. His robotic parts were dark brown, his right eye was small, purple, and had no pupil, while his left eye was bigger, had a scar and a pupil. The lower part of his arms were a little lighter than the rest of his body.

"Gaze upon the beauty my lord has bestowed upon me," Viktor crowed.

And then, Max's arm snapped clean off. He screamed as he clutched the bloody stump.

Viktor laughed uproariously as he threw the arm away. "Poor, puny Max Tennyson. No special powers to protect him. No fancy watch to transform him. And no one to come and save him." His hands began to crackle and spark with electricity as he lifted Max up and released a powerful shock.

The shock was the pure 'direct current' type of shock; the extremely intense kind that causes horrible muscular contraction, to the point it felt like every muscle in Max's aging body squeezed itself a million times a second. And that was only a brief shock.

Max groaned as Viktor dragged him over to the portal, leaving a bloody trail. "Your mission was pointless," Viktor taunted. "I already freed my master. I was actually preparing a little something just for you."

Max grunted as he weakly lifted his head up. He saw a quartz construct shaped into a portal.

"Thanks to the knowledge bestowed upon me, I know a perfect place for you, since you dared to interfere with the master," Viktor said as he charged up the portal. "I believe you would send the more 'dangerous' criminals here back in the glory days. I wonder if they still remember you?"

And Max felt nothing but fear. He tried to free himself from Viktor's iron grip, but it was useless in the end. Viktor had already fired up the portal. Defeated, Max just slumped over and waited for it all to end. Viktor set him down on the ground and walked off.

"Any last words, Max Tennyson? Not that they'll matter, in the end," Viktor told him.

"Your time will come," he grunted. "And I'll be there to see it through."

"If you say so," Viktor said ever so casually. And he walked up the stairs, leaving Max to die.

Max sighed, feeling the energy of the portal getting warmer. It felt strange; Max always pictured himself dying in a warm hospital bed, surrounded by the sad eyes of his friends and family. Ben and Ruby would be one side, while Gwen and Kevin would be on the other. He would pass on a few last words of wisdom, and smile as Ben held his hand and he drifted away...If he closed his eyes hard enough, he could imagine being there.

"You'll have to take it from here, Ben," he said in his fantasy. "I know you can do it, son. I believe in you. In all of you."

He could imagine those four kids carrying on his legacy pretty damn well. Max smiled as the portal started to get warmer and warmer-

Hiss day ended peacefully, with a smile on his face. There were tears in his eyes, but despite everything, Max could smile...

"I love all of you...so much..."

There was the sound of a bomb going off, followed by a blistering light.

And then, there was nothing.


Ben was numb by the end of it.

The explosion took out a fourth of Los Soledad, from what Servantis could tell. They had felt the heat, had ducked for cover as that blistering light scoured over them. Ben had a few blisters on his arms, but they all did, really.

Ben was sluggish as he walked. He had wondered before how in movies and books, certain characters just knew something terrible had happened. But now he knew:

It was the sickly sweet stench of burning flesh in the air. It was how the dust settled inside what used to be a basement. It was the moment right before they went down the stairs, right before they opened the door, that one last gasp of innocence being snuffed out because you knew something was wrong.

It was in the way Verdona wailed, that long, drawn out sound of pure despair that was too genuine to be faked. It was in the way Ruby broke down crying, sobbing into her sister's chest. It was in how Kevin and Kylie clutched at each other, staring in horror. It was in how Blake and Weiss and Rook stood there, shell shocked and uncomprehending.

Ben understood. He saw the same severed arm.

Everything felt like it was underwater, every sound muffled and far away. His limbs grew heavy, and he stumbled back awkwardly, right into Ceres's arms. He stared at her, watched as her mouth said, 'Ben, are you with me? You aren't breathing' but couldn't hear the words.

He stumbled out of her arms, and Ceres motioned to hug him but stopped. Like touching him would set him off. But it didn't work like that.

Ben just looked at the arm again. Allowed the realization to truly set in.

And then he just screamed.


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA MERRY CHRISTMAS YOU FILTHY ANIMALS!