Titan smiled. “We aren’t going anywhere, Johnny.”

“Sure we are, Mister Titan. We’re flying right through the air. Like birds or airplanes or flying saucers.”

“Yes, but we aren’t going anywhere.” Titan’s grip tightened on the boy’s hand. He laughed as the energy shifted in to his body.

“You’re probably too stupid to understand this, Johnny. You don’t get as powerful as the Mighty Titan just by being any other human. It takes hundreds of years of power building to become this strong. Powers and life energy stolen from hundreds along the way. And you, my boy, are one of the juiciest morsels I have ever tasted.”

Johnny gasped as he tried to break Titan’s grip. But Titan knew it would be impossible. Johnny’s body grew emaciated as Titan drained every ounce of fluid through the giant child’s pores.

“You can’t even speak. Every ounce of fluids in your body is draining away and with it comes your power. Power that is mine now. Goodbye, son.”

Johnny’s eyes pleaded for his life.

Titan released his body. Johnny’s body was little more than a skeleton covered with skin as it crashed in to the barren ground below. The brittle bones shattered as it bounced and bounced again.

Titan flew away from the scene, back to America proper.

I’ve got everything I want from that hole. Everyone in the Divide could rot.

*****

Double Cross retrieved his motorcycle, but the half-human attackers kept a loose perimeter around them. Most of the Question soldiers were dead. The attackers continued to pick off the few remaining men and women. Jack still couldn’t figure out what role he and the others played in all this. All he knew was that they didn’t make a move towards him, Cross, or Everyman. It was almost like the monsters didn’t even recognize their existence.

Jack watched as Everyman sank to his knees. He could see the agony in the other man’s eyes. Jack could never remember seeing his comrade in such a state. The normally stoic man looked ready to weep, but no tears came to his eyes. Jack could only guess what he was going through. To lose a son….

The thought sent flashes a misery through his own being. He didn’t want to guess why. He needed to focus. He needed to find a way out of this.

The answer came down from the heavens. Or the sky at least. Two figures, cloaked in the shadows of the setting sun, floated to earth as the storm clouds deepened. One wore loose fitting rags over his frame and the whipped in the wind just as his long straggly beard did. The other man burned red with the flames coursing over his body.

Jack grimaced. He remembered the man from the assault on Mister Mayor and the Cabinet. The last thing they needed right now is another enemy.

The bearded man held aloft a gnarled staff of wood. Jack thought back to the images of wizards from a dozen movies in the past few years. The staff reminded him of something they might use.

Blasts of blue-white energy rained down from the staff. They blasted in to the meta-monsters and shook them off their feet. The bursts formed in to four streaks of light. They twirled and twisted around one another. When they reached the ground, the rotation formed a massive blue wall of pure energy.

If they weren’t trapped before, they were now.

The bearded man looked to his companion. “Are you ready?”

The other man nodded.

Pain shot through every fiber of Jack’s being. He cried out in agony, but he could see he was not alone. Everyman dropped to the ground and twitched while the other metas shook and seized like epileptics.

“Yes,” the fiery man said. “Yes, I can feel it all course through my body. For the first time, in my life I am truly Able!”

The contortions were too much, and Jack lost control of his stomach and his bowels simultaneously. Vomit spewed uncontrolled all over his shirt and the ground before he fell forward in to the pile of his own vomit and feces.

The pain subsided, but a feeling of emptiness continued. With a shutter, he rolled over and looked up at the two men floating high above.

Able’s fire burned with an almost sun-like brightness. Fear rose in Jack’s soul. He tried to summon his flames back to life.

Nothing came.

His powers were gone.

He struggled to his feet. Everyman lied face up, unmoving. His eyes were still open, frozen in pain and panic. His abilities were all that kept him alive and without them, he was only a corpse.

Double Cross seemed unharmed, but Jack knew the old man wasn’t a true meta. Where the other metas fell, only a layer of soot stained the field.

“Why?” Jack yelled the words skyward. “Why would you do this?”

“Because someone must,” Able said. “Cane and I must have your powers, all the powers we can gain, if we ever hope to be free of this city.”

The ground rumbled beneath their feet. Jack remembered the video. The images of the creatures that Double Cross showed him. He began to fathom why such power was necessary.

“But why not just ask for help? Why—”

“Enough!” Cane said. “It is not for mortals to judge the wills of gods. Begone before you feel our righteous fury!”

Jack felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned, ready to pounce, power or no.

Cross shook his head. “It’s time we listened, kid. Let’s get out of here. Our fight is over.”

“No. I just can’t—it can’t end like this.”

“We don’t have much of a choice.” He looked to his bike. “Saddle up, hoss. We’ve got to ride before this city rips itself apart.”

The ground again rumbled beneath their feet. Jack could see the first signs of fissures break through the ground.

He nodded. Without another word, he followed Cross to the bike. He closed his eyes and silently wept as he felt the engine roar to life. Cross whipped the bike out of the field at blinding speed. Jack held on for dear life.

He couldn’t open his eyes again. He couldn’t watch the Divide disappear behind them.

*****

Fox stood in the stillness of the Seat of Power. She could feel the energy ebb beneath them. She felt it reach in to her very soul and yank a bit away piece by piece.

She knew this land would not survive the fury around them. Already the ground shifted beneath her feet. Fires burst from the very earth. And she knew her masters were at fault. She knew that she lived at their whim. She knew that they held a way to end her in a matter of minutes. She knew that they held all the power over her.

She knew she no longer cared.

Live or die, she knew she could not let them complete their goals. Their dark lord would destroy not only this city, but the very world.

I will give anything to stop that.

She closed her eyes. She reached back in to the past, in to the ancient arts that her father taught her. She felt the earth pulse beneath her. She could feel the pain in what little still grew beneath the lifeless façade of society. She could feel the energies of the land turn in to a burning torrent as they were corrupted by the demon god trying to reach in to this reality.

She felt the cybernetic appendages, the alien organs, all grafted on to her skin. Her nature fought against it, but she let it ease in to her body. She let the nature flow in to the unearthly additions to her body. She felt the fox come to her.

For the first time in forever, it was no longer just a name. She could feel the fox inside her. She was one with the spirit. She closed her eyes and disappeared in to the earth.

*****

187 opened fire without saying another word. The shot caught Claude in the shoulder. The Crimson’s leader spun around at the impact. He clutched at the wound as he fell to the floor.

His other gun turned and fired towards Bob Cat. Bob dived out of the way. Petra followed him only a step behind. A single shot from 187’s pistol took out the chain holding Death Ray, Tee, Ay, and KaTanya all in their seats. Free, none of them wasted a moment.

Tee and Ay immediately went for the exit. KaTanya extended a hand towards the wall against which it sat, and her blade rushed to her hand. Death Ray charged straight for his rival.

187 shot a pair of rounds towards Ray. One caught him in the shoulder, the other in his right arm. But Ray didn’t slow. He struck a blow across 187’s jaw. The smaller man went down beneath Ray, but Ray continued to drive fists in to the other man’s jaw.

Bob rushed for cover, but Petra stayed only a few steps away. Behind them, KaTanya took the head of Elke before the Crimson could bring her own attack to the ready.

The chaos only worsened as the entire room began to shake. Petra yanked at Bob’s cowl. “This building is coming down. We need to get out of here now!”

“But Ray—”

Petra yanked him towards the door. Bob looked back at his friend. He wanted to help.

But he also wanted to live.

He followed Petra out of the building. The skies above them were red. Storm clouds brewed in the dusk. The city seemed to darken with their every step.

The building didn’t collapse. It exploded upward in a ball of fire. Petra screamed as fire and rubble suddenly rained from the sky around them. Bob watched, mouth agape, unable to move in any way.

But another burst of fire erupted from the ground several hundred meters to their north away. And another, a little farther, away to the south. The sound of other explosions shook the very earth beneath them.

“What’s happening? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Bob said. “But I think it’s time to find a way out of this hellhole. I don’t think this city has much left to give.”

*****

The mi-go floated on their diaphanous wings as she appeared in their midst. She didn’t wait for their panic to turn to defense. She reached out, and the claws on each hand elongated in to dozens of steel spikes. The spikes expanded and expanded again. Within seconds, the entire room was cut through with hundreds upon hundreds of blades. Every mi-go nearby was thoroughly skewered. Blue-green ichor oozed from their damaged wounds.

Fox summoned back her weapons. She closed her eyes, focused back on the earth. She felt the fox spirit build in her soul. It pointed the way for her. All she need do was follow it.

She could feel the heat radiating from just ahead of her. The earth shuttered. For a moment she thought the mi-go caverns would collapse under the growing tremors. But only a few loose bits of stone worked their way off the walls and ceiling. She continued towards the creature, the monster from another plane.

She felt it reach out for her. With invisible tendrils it caressed her skin, both human and cybernetic. She wanted to shutter, to cry out in revulsion. But she stood still and let its feelers move over her body. The ethereal caress touched every ounce of her body, and she did not move. Finished, it caressed the small of her back. She felt the gentle nudge, the push forward. Her creator wished to meet her. She walked towards the next chamber.

Darkness filled the room. But even in the near black, she could see the undulating mass at her feet. Great wings, bigger than any creatures in the history of this planet slowly unfurled before her.

Great Nyarlothep was awakened.

Fox shuttered at the sight of him. Revulsion shook her entire body. But the creature’s power steadied her. It flowed in to her, held her steady. She knew now what purpose brought her here.

She could never destroy this Old One. She could only serve it.

She was no avenger of her people. She was only the herald of a demon older than time.

*****

The bearded man looked to the living light. “Are you ready for this? Are you ready to fight a creature that thinks itself a god? Are you ready to become a supreme being?”

The living light only nodded.

“Good, then let it be.”

Cane raised his staff. The blue-white energy pulsed around them.

They stood in darkness so thick that even Able’s light could only burn away a few inches of it. The world seemed to pulse around them. The ground beneath their feet rolled beneath them.

“Where are we?” Able asked.

“In the belly of the beast. Quite literally. Let it begin.”

Able reached out with his powers. The flames surged around him. Once already today he had broken the limits of his powers and became something far more than any metahuman before him. When all was said and done, he would be a god.

He felt the unholy energy roll and rotate around him. It reached out and tried to steal his soul, but Cane’s staff struck the creature’s flesh. Blue-white energy roared out around them. It pulled in the monster’s attacking energies as Able drained the creature’s very life-force.

Able felt his body rend and tear. He realized the energy was too much for mortal flesh. He no longer cared. It would be his. He would be more than man. More than anything this world had ever seen.

I will be omnipotent!

The surge of power ebbed. He could feel its presence, but he knew now it was falling away from him. He cried out in agony at its loss.

“What’s happening?” Cane asked. But Able had no answer for him.

They watched as the walls around them faded. Light rose in the chambers around them as the creature vanished from beneath them. Only a blue-purple surge of energy floated around them. As they watched, it rushed upward and in to the body of a woman.

Her skin was covered in metal, but otherwise she looked like some kind of Indian savage. Her eyes were closed tight as the energies rushed in to her frame.

She reached out her hands. Blades shot from her fingertips. They struck the walls and held fast. She pulled her arms back. The walls crumbled around her.

Able tried to move but found himself frozen in place. He could see Cane in his peripheral vision, but the other man did not budge either. Something held them in place as the room crashed down around them.

*****

What once was Detroit, and later simply the Divide, was now little more than a field of still warm ash. The outlying areas still stood, reminders of what happened to the once great city, but for four square miles, nothing lived and nothing moved. Everything was at peace again with the earth.

Except for me.

Fox could feel the Old One burning in to her soul. Nyarlothep was one with her now. The god-monster was her burden to bear for good or ill. His presence changed her. She could only hope that her presence could in turn change him.

But for now, she was left to wander, no longer a human, no longer a fox.

She was Demon Fox.