Everyman and Johnny followed a step behind. They crushed the degens and humans Titan missed. Double Cross and Jack brought up the rear. They both unleashed bursts of firepower to hold back any stragglers striking from the rear.

Jack didn’t know how the Antagonist knew they were coming. He just knew that he needed to end the fight as soon as possible. It hurt him to see the number of casualties rising from their attack on the Q-Zone. He knew their foes were an irrational horde of brainwashed sycophants, but it did nothing to assuage the pain the body count put on his soul.

I’m tired of fighting, he thought. I’m tired of seeing death everywhere I turn.

“You dare? You dare?”

Jack’s eyes joined the rest of his allies as they turned skyward. The Antagonist floated over the battlefield. Rage boiled from his skin and bubbled out as waves of white hot radiation. His minute bodyguards Shock and Awe hurled themselves up and over the crowd of Question goons and latched on to Everyman. Conundrum caught Double Cross from behind. He yanked the rifle from Cross’s hand as his body distended and wrapped around the older metahuman.

A pair of half naked women, their body covered in razor blades, struck out at Jack. He recognized one from pictures at Everyman’s house. With Everyman’s ex-wife here, Jack wondered where his boy might be.

He realized the other woman’s identity as well. Doctor Dawn’s face showed nothing but malice towards him.

He didn’t have long to contemplate as the women attacked.

He could see out of the corner of his eyes as Mouthpiece unleashed a burst of pure sound that sent Johnny flying. Titan was nowhere to be found as Jack dodged the suicide attacks of the two women.

Everyman hurled Shock from his shoulders and in to the air. He swung his bat around and struck the dwarvish miscreant. Shock flew through the air, a clean home run.

Everyman pulled himself towards Jack. His hand reached out and grabbed his ex by the throat. He showed no sign of any pain as the razors on her collar cut in to his hand. “Where’s my boy?”

“Eat shit, John. You won’t ever see him again.”

“Wrong answer.” He brutally smashed the woman in to the ground. “You will tell me, or I will kill you.”

She smiled through broken teeth. “Kill me, John. Prove how big a man you are. Beat me to a bloody pulp. But you won’t ever find your son.”

With a roar of frustration, Everyman hurled her away. Awe scampered up on to his shoulders and buried his teeth in to his neck.

Jack hurled a burst of flame across Everyman’s back. Awe screamed as he instantly went up in a ball of flame. He squealed as he fell to the ground and rolled around, still engulfed by the fire.

“We will find your son,” Jack said. “But I need you to stay focused right now!”

Everyman nodded. He turned and headed back towards the mob of attackers.

The entire planet seemed to shake from above. Jack looked up to see Titan and Antagonist trade blows. Neither man seemed fazed by the other’s brutal assault, but it did not stop the blows from landing again and again.

A spine-curdling scream rose up from the back of the Question’s horde. Two degens hurled up and over the rest of the crowd and crashed down in broken heaps over more Question goons.

Jack could only hear the vicious growls and the brutal liquid noise of pulverized body parts. But when the very earth shook beneath them, he knew that the new arrivals were unlike anyone he had met before. The Question goons flew in to the air and Jack saw the first sign of the new attackers.

They all looked only vaguely human, but not in the way most degens looked. They looked like something past human. Their skin seemed to glow with a strange fire, even past the wolf-man’s fur. The armored woman seemed to be the source of the tremors. The big man’s arms seemed to melt away before his very eyes. A moment later, he raised two high-caliber machine guns in their steed.

Jack want to act, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. He could just stand in horror as the gun-armed monstrosity opened fire on the Great Question’s hordes. Dozens of people, innocent or not, died in a matter of seconds.

Antagonist moved to intercept the attackers, but the wolf-man cut him off at the pass. He hurled his body on to Antagonist’s shoulders. Antagonist’s skin started to whiten, then blacken as his body was instantly chilled. The wolf-man’s claws sliced down and in to the back of the leader of the Great Question’s neck. Blood spurted everywhere as the wolf-man tore Antagonist’s head free from his body. The wolf-man rode Antagonist’s corpse to the ground where it crashed with a sickening splat.

Their leader now nothing more than a headless body, the surviving Question soldiers broke formation and started to run. The ground split after another twist of the hip and wave of the arm from the glowing woman with jet white skin. It opened beneath the fleeing Question men and women and swallowed them whole.

Jack couldn’t believe the carnage he saw before him. He tried to turn away, to escape. But he was cut off by another tremor. Titan launched in to the horizon. Johnny B. Goode dangled from his hands as they flew off. The two of them flashed away at high speed and disappeared in to the blazing sun.

Jack, Everyman, and Double Cross closed in on one another, formed up, and watched as the new metas ravaged the remaining members of the Question. None of them moved to strike. None of them could even fathom this level of destruction.

Jack could feel the tears steam off his boiling skin.

*****

Able slowly turned to face his attacker. His attacker was dressed in a black muscle shirt tucked in to black slacks tucked in to heavy leather boots. His hair hung around his head and down his back. It reached past his shoulders in wild knots. His moustache and beard were equally shaggy. His arms and hands were bare except for the three foot long wooden staff in his hands. An unholy glow radiated from the staff’s tip.

“What are you doing on my land?” The staff-wielder’s voice was little more than a growl. He stabbed the staff towards Able. “Tell me what you want.”

“I came looking for that, what you’re holding there. I wanted the Staff of One.”

The staff-wielder shocked him with a bolt of electricity. “You can’t have it. It’s mine!”

“I can see that. I didn’t expect someone to discover it before me.” Able looked the other man up and down. “But I do not plan to leave without it.”

“You wish to fight?”

Able’s lip peeled back in to a nefarious grin. “I plan to win.”

“Then die!” The staff-wielder hurled himself forward. He brought the staff up in to a high arc and a burst of energy shot towards Able. Able hurled a pair of fire bursts towards the other man. The staff whirled up and around. It absorbed the energy from both blasts before they could reach the bearded man.

Able summoned the full force of the fire energies. He cut a swathe of flame around the other man, trapping him in its midst.

“I would hate to kill you without knowing your name,” Able said as he moved in closer.

“I am called Cane.”

Able laughed out loud. “You got to be kidding me.”

Cane slowly shook his head. “I do not kid.”

“My name is Able. I can at least appreciate the humor of the situation.”

“I don’t care about your humor. I only care that you die.”

The world filled with eldritch lightning. It struck at Able with a furious crash. He staggered backwards, fell to one knee. But as he rose back to his feet he couldn’t help but laugh.

He could feel the eldritch fire burning beneath his skin. He could absorb the power of the staff, duplicate it, and make it his own. He summoned the power to his fingertips.

“I only wanted to take the power, channel it, become more than what I am. My entire life I sought to find what called out for me, the hidden message in life I seemed to be missing. When I learned of the staff, I knew that I found what I needed. And I won’t let some homeless bum stand in my way!”

Able hurled the powers towards Cane. But the bearded man only held aloft the staff. The energies quickly leeched back in to the wood.

“Bum? Bum? You think I’m some vagrant that lucked in to holding this staff? You truly are a fool. I have held this staff longer than you’ve been alive. Longer than anyone else has lived in this city. I remember your so-called world wars, the plague, the death of the so-called Christ. I have walked this earth for thousands of years. Forgive me if my grooming habits fall by the way side.”

Able didn’t want to contemplate Cane’s words. He only wanted to end this fight. He leaped forward and summoned every ounce of fire that remained in his body. The entire lot filled with the flames. The world rocketed in to massive explosions as the alphium below their feet exploded. Everything disappeared in to the fiery inferno.

Able pulled the fires back inwards.

Cane stood across from him, staff in hand, and grim determination on his face.

“You have much power, Able. You will do nicely.”

“Nicely? Do nicely? What are you talking about?”

Cane waved the staff around in front of his face. “You wish to have this staff, do you not? I need an apprentice, someone to take my place on this plane. But this is no simple exchange. You have to prove yourself first.”

“I have to prove myself? Are you insane? I will burn the world before I bow to you.”

Cane shoved the staff in to Able’s chest. Able screamed as the contact burned in to his skin. The agony shot through his body filling every pore, setting every nerve on fire. He fell to his knees as the pain consumed him.

He gasped for breath as the pain passed from his body.

“Rise, apprentice. Rise and learn at my feet.”

“Burn, you son of a bitch!” Able hurled his hands out, but the flames did not come.

Panic rose inside him. He realized with a hint of fear that he could no longer feel the presence of the metahumans in his general facility. His powers were gone.

“What the staff giveth, it also can take away.” Cane lowered the staff towards Able, an obvious offer to help him to his feet.”

Able reached out and grabbed the staff. As he pulled himself up right, he could feel a trickle of eldritch power enter his body. The rush of energy made him feel alive again, like a junkie getting a desperately needed fix.

“Are you willing to serve?”

Able could only nod his agreement.

*****

The emaciated woman cleaned her wrist blades on the clothes of Witch Queen. The sorceress did not move, her lifeless corpse stared blankly towards the ceiling.

Across the room, the smell of ozone rose from the eviscerated remains of Matrix. A viscous white ooze slipped from open veins as sparks flew from open circuitry. His head ticked to one side as if trapped in a continuous loop.

Mister Mayor couldn’t believe his eyes. His most trusted lieutenants were dead from some nobody he never saw before.

Mister Mayor let the steel flow out over his body as he walked towards the woman. “Who are you? Why are you here?”

Her eyes shot up to look at him. She said nothing in response.

Faster than he could even contemplate, the woman hurled herself towards him. His eyes went wide as her blades went up between them and sliced straight through his outer shell.

Mister Mayor looked down at the two blades buried deep in his chest. Liquid metal, like viscous mercury, ran down out of the wounds. He gasped for air as his lungs filled up with his own metallic blood.

The mystery woman licked her lips as their eyes met. Mayor staggered down to one knee. She continued to watch him as he bled out, ever weakening. The last thing he saw as consciousness faded and the dark shroud overtook him was her haunted, empty eyes.

The Wisp took another moment to look at her handy work. She disappeared in to a cloud of noxious fumes.

The Seat of Power was as silent as death.

*****

Claude stood at the head of the entrance to Venus DeMilo’s former headquarters, now a makeshift wedding chapel. Toshiro stood to his side, his blade against the back of Bob Cat. Still in costume, Bob could only look around the room. His feet were wrapped in chains. His hands were bound by rope in front of him.

The crowd made him equally nervous. He recognized Death Ray, of course. The two half-naked girls next to him looked quite angry, but he didn’t mind their presence either. But the other woman…

KaTanya was here. He didn’t know how, but she found him. Shouldn’t be a surprise, he told himself. The damn Crimson found me too.

He wanted to find a way out. It was his thing. If Bob Cat was good at anything in this world, it was finding a way out. But now it seemed like all escapes were cut off. He was trapped like a cat in a kennel.

He took a deep breath, and looked over at the final member of the wedding party. Elke glowered disapprovingly at him. Something’s never changed.

Claude, Elke, and Toshiro started to hum a strange melody. It took the appearance of his would-be bride before Bob realized it was some strange Crimson form of the wedding march.

Percival also hummed as he escorted Petra down the aisle towards the waiting wedding party. Bob forced himself to breathe deeply. His eyes darted around. Somehow there has to be a way out. There just has to be. He could find no escape.

After an interminable number of seconds, Percival and Petra joined the rest of her family in front of the “audience”. The humming melody faded away.

Claude cleared his throat before he spoke.

“Men and women, chosen of the Crimson, we are gathered today to watch the joining of Petra Garou to Robert Cat in holy matrimony. In the time honored tradition of the Crimson, we have invited guests to serve as a sacrifice to the holy in this ceremony, a great honor that stretches back hundreds of years.

“Marriage is no small step in the life of the Crimson. We hold our families as our most dearest kindred. To be chosen as the betrothed of a Crimson daughter is the most gracious of gifts any unblessed can receive. You have been given a great honor, Robert. An honor so great that even your past misdeeds are forgiven in the eyes of the holy. You should feel truly blessed.”

Bob repressed a self-deprecating grin. No need to make this any worse for myself.

Claude turned to Toshiro. “Do you have the rings?”

Toshiro’s blade didn’t budge from Bob’s back as he removed the rings from his pocket. He placed them in Claude’s outstretched hand.

Claude placed a ring on Petra. “Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to protect, to breed, to continue the name of Crimson for generations to come?”

Petra smiled broadly as she spoke. “I do.”

Claude turned to Bob. He held the ring out. Bob felt the blade grind in to his back until he outstretched his hand to receive the ring.

“Do you take Petra to be your wife, to obey and to serve, to see to her needs in everything, and to provide her with the seeds of generations of Crimson to come?”

Bob hesitated and felt the blade stab in to his back. “Yes! I do! I do! All right, I do!”

Petra smiled. Didn’t she understand that this wasn’t his choice? He couldn’t understand a woman so desperate she needed to force her love upon him.

Claude turned to Percival. “It is time to complete the ceremony. Bring the first sacrifice forward.”

Percival walked in to the audience. He grabbed Death Ray by the arm and dragged him to his feet. Ray struggled against his bonds as he was brought forward.

The room exploded with the sudden sound of a gunshot. Percival’s head exploded in a shower of blood.

187 dropped down, seemingly from nowhere. The Hispanic assassin dropped his sniper rifle and pulled a pair of pistols from their holsters.

“All right, mother fuckers. Sorry to rain on your party, but you fuckers are going to kill this guy over my goddamn dead body. Ray’s my fucking kill, and I’ll kill any bastard that gets in my way.”