Cyberpath held his energy pistol at the ready as he looked from epsilon to epsilon. Athena refused to take his eyes off him. His betrayal still stung her, but she refused to focus on it. Flint was down, maybe dead, and she knew any weapon that could do that was a dire threat to the rest of her students.

“Let’s not do anything irrational, Sid. We can talk about this.”

“Don’t treat me like a fool, Athena. I’ve been playing you punks for years. So don’t act like you know me. And don’t act like you understand me. None of you pathetic fools will ever understand me.”

“All right, Sid. Just tell us what you want.”

Sid smiled. He waved the gun over the rest of the gathered team. “I want to decide which one of you I’m going to off next. Unfortunately, I’m not going to have time for that.”

“Why?” Athena said. “What do you have planned next?”

“Oh, not me. Them.” He waved the gun towards the room behind her.

A swirl of energy filled the back wall of the bunker. The energy formed in to a warp portal. Ripples of energy cut out in to the air around them. The first of Nephthys’ apostles stepped through the portal. His entire form was golden, and his face and frame were that of a massive insect. Another flew out immediately after, his head and arms covered by metal barbs. A fox-girl with flaming fur followed by a degen made of decomposing plant mass. A speedster flashed by, his skin devoid of any exterior feature. A massive black-winged monstrosity which oozed red hot lava from its pores came next. A massive t-rex came a second later. Blaine Dresden, a young dark haired girl, and a regal woman in gold and jewels were the last of the arrivals.

“Destroy them.”

The woman’s words caused the Order to immediately leap in to action.

“Defensive positions,” Athena said. She turned and unleashed a burst of golden energy towards Cyberpath. The blast hit the traitorous dwarf square in the chest and drove him back in to the far wall. As she turned to face the rest of the Order, Epsilon already moved in to action.

Balloon Boy and Alter worked together against the tyrannosaur, while Psalm flew through the air against the spike-headed boy. Thief flashed in and out of view as he worked his way around the Order.

She knew the odds were already against them. Without their heaviest hitters, she doubted they could find any hope in this conflict.

But none of her charges backed down, and for that she was proud. She joined the fray. Win or lose, Epsilon would not give up the fight.

*****

Thief’s vision ran red as he swung his escrima sticks at the head of the golden bug. The bug cried out as his exoskeleton crumpled at the impact. He fell away grasping at his injured cranium. Thief turned away and moved on to attack a flaming fox-woman. He blinked in and out of view as he swung the escrimas in wild arc attacks. The fox-woman avoided them as he continued past her. He didn’t care. His goal wasn’t her. He wanted her boss.

Nephthys stood to one side of the battle and took the entire spectacle in. She wore a haughty grin as she watched her minions at work. The portal whisked open behind her again. Thief cried out in fury. She can’t get away. I won’t let her get away.

Hordes of African children poured through the portal to Nephthys’ side. She laughed maniacally as they threatened to fill the room. They rolled out and covered Balloon Boy and Psalm in a matter of seconds. A burst of energy from Psalm’s hand freed them, but did nothing to stop the flow of the monstrous little creatures.

Thief’s hope for victory vanished as he saw the last of the Little Weapons flood from the portal. They formed in to four groups. Each stood around a large cross. Each cross held someone bound tightly to it. He didn’t recognize their two human victims, but he did know the epsilons. If as tenacious fighters as Bagheera and Feud fell, what chance do we have?

The Little Weapons turned on him. He dropped out of sight, but even invisible they still homed in on his location. He negated his detection on all spectrums as he worked his way through the horde. The ravenous child-creatures seemed confused as he weaved his way through the edges of their pack.

The room started to shake around them. Thief looked up as the shake grew in to a rumble. Plaster and mortar fell from the ceiling in chunks. The metal of the launch roof rippled as something struck it. The blows rained down again and again. The room rang with the sound of the impacts. The launch door buckled farther and farther downward. After nearly a minute, the metal tore with a shriek. The battered, pulverized body of a cyber-soldier fell through the opening, even as more of the metal sheered away.

Cyber-soldiers poured from the growing opening. First one or two, than a small trickle, followed by a dozen more. Every inch of the room seemed filled with Little Weapons and cyber-soldiers. And at their tail came Air Raid. As he entered the battlefield, Thief could detect the sudden increase in his compatriots’ morale.

It ended quickly as Air Raid hurled an energy projectile in to Mindset’s chest. Mindset dropped to one knee as the Little Weapons closed on her.

First Cyberpath, now Air Raid? How can people I thought were friends betray me like this? How could they let Devil Boy die?

The questions racing through his mind only angered Thief further. He solidified in the midst of the Little Weapons and drove both escrima down hard on two beasts’ craniums. He twisted immediately and cracked the skull of another pair of Weapons. He dropped back down to full invisibility and ran to Mindset’s side. He struck another Weapon as he returned to visibility at her side. He quickly helped her to the feet.

With Mindset safe, he turned his attention back to Air Raid. The traitor stayed airborne and away from the fight. He needed a way to bring him down. He turned to Mindset. “Bobbi, I need you to bring Air Raid down.”

Mindset shook her head. “He was one of us, Thief. I can’t hurt him.”

“He’s one of them now. And it’s them or us now. Bring him down!”

Mindset grimaced, but she did turn her attention to their flying former teammate. Air Raid suddenly seized in midair and clutched at his forehead. He plummeted to the floor just a few feet from where Mindset and Thief stood.

Thief ran forward. He struck another Weapon with a staff as he moved straight towards Air Raid. Air Raid rose up just in time to feel the impact of an escrima against the side of his jaw.

Air Raid toppled back to the floor. He looked up as Thief stood over him.

“You killed him, you bastard!”

Air Raid threw a hand up between them. “Please, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t want to fight you.”

“Your Apostles killed Devil Boy. Do you understand what I’m saying? Your friends killed the only man I ever loved!”

“I’m sorry. Thief, I’m sorry. If I could take it back, I would. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. I don’t even know what I’m doing here. But I have to help. I have to.”

Thief pushed his hand away with the escrima. “You have to? Well, I have to take you out. I have to make you pay for killing my friend. I have to make you all pay!”

“MacDonald, stop!”

Thief knew the voice, but he still couldn’t believe his ears. He turned to look at a twelve year old mixed girl. She stood at Nephthys’ side as she spoke to him.

“Emma?”

His sister gave him an imploring look. “Mac, please don’t hurt him.”

“But they told me—” She lied, he thought. My sister was alive and I trusted a madwoman. I left her in the hands of a monster.

The explosion caught Thief in the small of the back. As he crumpled forward to the floor, he didn’t take his eyes off his younger sister.

Air Raid rose to his feet, another explosive charge in his hand. “I’m sorry, Thief. I really am.” He hurled the charge directly in to Thief’s back.

Thief’s eyes never left his sister as the world faded away around him.

*****

Athena tried her best to keep the others out of harm’s way, but she could see everything falling apart around her. The arrival of the child-like predators known as Little Weapons placed the numbers game against them. Despite her best efforts, her students were falling and she didn’t know how long she could help them.

She could do nothing but watch as Blaine Dresden led the Apostles of Nephthys as they attacked with a religious fervor. He barked out an order to Spearhead, who crashed in to Balloon Boy from above. Balloon Boy seemed to deflate before he fell to the ground. Dresden ordered Detritus, the decaying plant man, in to strike. As he touched Balloon Boy, some kind of spore spread out across the corpulent young epsilon. He fell to the ground as the plant matter found roots in the floor itself.

The massive winged lava beast struck Alter, now covered in solid steel. Alter’s body melted under a blast of the creature’s breath, and he stopped in mid-step, a motionless piece of slag.

Athena hurled a blast of force towards the winged degen and it struck it in its extended temple. The t-rex turned and cried out “Balrog!” in a distinctly feminine voice before it stomped towards Athena.

“Dinosaur, pull back!” But Dinosaur didn’t hear Dresden’s command. Instead the tyrannosaur lunged towards Athena. Athena watched as the tyrannosaur’s massive jaws closed around her. Instantly Dinosaur cried out in pain as her teeth cracked on Athena’s force shield.

Athena shaped a carjack out of her energy that forced the Dinosaur’s mouth opened. She left it in place long enough to unleash a burst straight down Dinosaur’s throat before flying away.

Cheetangus and Spree, the Apostles’ speedster, shot through the holes between the other combatants. They struck every few seconds, but both continued on their paths after each blow.

Mindset was surrounded on all sides by the cyber-soldiers. Psalm was at her side, but her force blasts could only eliminate so many of their foes. They were under pressure, and the danger of it could easily be seen on Mindset’s face. She clutched at her as she grimaced. “Please it’s too much.” She staggered forward and screamed. “Too many minds. Too much hate. I can’t take their misery.”

Athena felt Mindset’s psychic backlash flow across the room. It dropped the cyber-soldiers in front of her. The static feedback somehow ran through every other cyber-soldier in the room. Within seconds all the cyborgs fell to the floo and lie twitching.

But the blast also sent Mindset and Psalm sprawling to the floor. Athena formed a wedge of force to shove the Little Weapons that moved towards their unconscious forms.

Athena looked for Cheetangus again. She found him sprawled out at the feet of Goldbug. The degen hissed and clicked as he drooled on Cheetangus’s prone form. Spree flashed to a stop to push him away. “No killing, remember!”

Goldbug just hissed.

Athena realized she was all alone. Despite her best efforts, Nephthys had overcome them. Epsilon was beaten. They had lost.

She had failed them.

I’m not done yet. This isn’t over until the last of us fall.

She looked at the smiling dark-skinned woman ordained in silk and jewels. “This isn’t over until I’ve sent you back where you come from, Nephthys!”

She unleashed a burst of pure energy towards the smiling goddess.

*****

A blinding flash filled the room just as Wave blew the door from its hinges. Solid streaked past Wave in to the room. She immediately struck Foxfire. The fox-girl screamed in pain as her flesh sliced open and her blood burned on her fiery skin. Wave struck her with a burst of water that smothered her flames. Foxfire collapsed to the floor. Wave hurried past her.

Solid struck Spearhead as the flying degen dive-bombed her. The blow sent him in to a rotation that drove him straight in to the floor of the room. He hit head first and didn’t move.

The speedster flashed towards Wave. Wave dropped his viscosity in to pure liquid and splashed to the ground beneath him. He solidified just enough of his body to reach up and block Spree’s feet. It was just enough to trip the super-fast degen. He crashed head first to the ground and slid several yards to a stop.

Nephthys raised a hand skyward. A burst of purple-red energy caught Athena as she flew over their heads. Her scream pierced the room before she plummeted to the ground. Wave couldn’t help but feel a chill at the sound of her agony.

His distraction was only momentary, but it was enough for the so-called Little Weapons to surround him. He counted over a dozen of them. He struck out with hardened bursts of water, but the blows barely fazed the monstrous creatures. For every one he knocked back, another took its place within seconds. They slowly closed on him.

Solid fared little better. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see her clash with Goldbug. Her blows shot up sparks as they left gashes in the bug-man’s skin. Goldbug sprayed bursts of acid from his mandibles that burned her diamond-hard skin in return.

“Solid!”

Nephthys turned at Wave’s voice. She looked at Solid and again raised her hand.

“Solid, run!”

Solid looked up in time to see the burst of energy fly towards her. Wave could see little more, as the Little Weapons fell upon him and dragged him to the ground.

He let his body turn to liquid beneath them, but it did nothing to force the Little Weapons away. He could only watch as they slashed through his form at the ground again and again. Only watch as the massive beast known as Balrog stomped towards him. He felt the heat flow off the creature even before it got near. He could do nothing as the lava burst from Balrog’s mouth and over both him and the Weapons.

The Weapons screamed as their body burned away, but Wave could do or say nothing as his body melted away in to steam.

His senses faded as something ripped through the ceiling above. Someone had arrived, but he could no longer remain conscious to see if it was friend or foe.