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June 15, 2016; Battle Ground, Indiana

Ava rubbed her head and sat up slowly as Ruby gently held her by the arm. “Easy there, Champ, take it slow,” she told her.

Ava nodded and stretched. “What time is it?” she asked.

“Little past midnight,” Ben said. “We uh… we figured after what happened last night, you'd want a longer session. You've been in all day.”

“Well that explains why I'm starving. Heyo Gabriel do you have any snacks in here?”

She and her friends looked over at the holographic gate where a light shined from the floor and from it formed the distinctive shape of the archangel. “Nothing that isn't 75000 years old,” Gabriel joked.

“Damn,” Ava said, laughing a bit.

Ben laughed too before reaching into his bag and passed Ava a deli sandwich. “Here Ava, I already ate.”

She smiled and nodded, gleefully taking the offering and chowing down on it. “Thanks Ben, I owe you one.”

“Ah, you don't owe me anything, Ava.”

She smiled at him. She took a few massive bites out of her sandwich before taking a look around the temple again. Everything seemed to be in order. Carter and Jess were looking over some sketches for a new and improved hideout for Indianapolis. Chelsea was sitting a distance away from everyone else, occasionally casting annoyed looks at Jacob, who simply smiled and waved back at her. Ava found herself laughing. And she thought Carter and Chelsea had a bittersweet relationship.

There was one person she didn't see in the room however. Before she went in that would've been just fine with her. But now that she’d had her chance to shut down her mind a bit and cool it off, she was a bit concerned.

“Where'd Mom go?” she asked.

“She said she had to go get something from Minneapolis a while ago,” Ruby said.

“I… really? That's a 15 hour drive there and back.”

Ruby simply shrugged and spun around in her office chair to start clacking away at her keyboard again, running her usual scans to make sure everything was going smoothly. Ava looked to Ben to see if he had an answer of any kind, but he simply shrugged as well.

“Okay then,” Ava shrugged. She stood from the chair and stretched her legs a bit. “So what other current events did I miss out on while I was in Evelyn’s head?”

“Not much,” Ben said. “It's been a quiet night.”

“Too quiet?”

Ben laughed. “It's always too quiet,” he said.

Ava chuckled. “Eh, fair enough. I'm surprised Lucy hasn't been making any noise.”

“He's busy trying to find his armor,” Gabriel told her. “We hid it where he'd never think to look.”

“Where's that?”

“I'm not gonna say where! For all we know he bugged this whole place somehow.”

“Alright fair enough. You're gonna have to tell us when we get the Scythe though.”

“I will, I promise.”

“I still don't see why we don't just go and stab him while he's just Morgenster,” Ruby said. “I mean he's a 50 year old dude with a cane right now. Not the biggest challenge ever.”

“I've checked the timelines where we take that option. None of them turn out good. He beats us back every time and the universe goes boom because we wasted our time going after him now instead of focusing on finding the Scythe. No, we gotta ride the clock up to the last minute if we have any chance to win this war once and for all.”

“Damn…” Ava said. “Should I even be taking a break then? I mean if time is that important?”

“No, you have room for this last break. After this, it should be a straight shot to the end of the Bone Wars and then you can all go grab the Scythe.”

“Cool. I hate being cooped up for so long.”

“How do you think I feel? I've been stuck in my temples for the past 75000 years! You know how boring that gets? The only company I've had was when that Daniel kid came along and I went and helped kick off Islam with Muhammad.”

Ava laughed. “I mean at least you made your mark on history I guess.”

“Eh, I guess,” Gabriel laughed back. “God, I hope I get to rest after this.”

Ava nodded. “We all do.”

“Um…” Ruby suddenly said. “Well… rest is gonna have to wait for now.”

The gang looked at her. Carter, Chelsea, Jacob, and Jess all walked up to see what she was worrying about. “What do you mean?” Ben asked.

Ruby pushed herself away from her desk and spun her laptop around to show everyone. “I uh… I just got an email from Vienna,” she said.

They all looked at the video that was attached to the email as Ruby hit play. It was camera footage from Purple Shades. About six armed men with the Abstergo logo etched into them were busting into the main dance floor and firing at civilians. The crowd started screaming and running, many making out the door and many others not. Onto the stage walked the slim figure of who else but Yolanda Sheol. She looked like she had just walked into an actual party, giant grin on her face and all. She had two machine guns in her hands, and she simply stood on stage with them held high as she fired randomly into the ceiling shouting “wooooooooooooo-!”, before one of the bullets smacked into the camera and the scene went to static.

“Crap…” Chelsea said.

“We need to get down there right now!” Ben said, pulling up his hood. “Come on, Ava, you and me.”

Ava nodded, pulling up her own hood as well and running for her karambit.

Jacob pursed his lips. “Well crap. I was hoping to kill her after Lucy. Guess it can't be helped.” He waved to Carter. “Come, Robin. The Joker's high again.” He grabbed his hat and cloak on his way to the door.

“I gotta stay here and help Jess with the plans,” Carter said before smirking. “Chelsea can go though.”

Chelsea looked at him and frowned. “Carter I swear to god.”

“Come, Robern. The Funny Man is high again!” Jacob was already out the door, yelling back to Chelsea.

“I am not going with-!” Chelsea started to say.

“Chelsea for the love of god, people are dying out there!” Ava snapped. “Now of you wanna sit here and play the bully go ahead but we've got innocent lives to save.”

The room went quiet for a long while. “I…” Chelsea stammered. “I… fine.” She silently grabbed her pistol and pulled her hood up, and then solemnly dragged herself out the door after Jacob.

“Thank you,” Ava sighed. She looked at Carter and Jess. “You guys got the fort covered here?”

“Yeah. We'll babysit your girlfriend don't worry,” Jess said.

“Hey!” Ruby remarked.

Ava chuckled. “Rad. We'll be back in a bit.” With that, she grabbed her own gun and followed after Chelsea and Jacob, Ben by her side as they all hopped in the van and sped off to save Indianapolis for the hundredth time.

------------

June 15, 2016; Indianapolis, Indiana

The four parked a little bit away from Purple Shades. They silently made their way towards the club, and gasped at the bodies of civilians and dead Assassin guards alike.

“Looks like they started the party without us,” Ben said.

“Nah.” Jacob spun his revolver in his hand. “The party don't start till we walk in. Come on, guys. Let's see what Sheol's got in store for us.” He smiled and walked to the front door.

“Whatever she has in store, I'm not buying it,” Chelsea quipped.

Jacob laughed. “That's the spirit!”

“You guys are lame,” Ava joked.

“You're lame,” Chelsea retorted.

“You all pale in comparison to moi,” Jacob said. “So far they're still in there, and we're stuck out here. I'm just gonna kick the door in if none of you are going to do anything.”

There was the sudden crack of a front door getting kicked open as Ben's foot made contact with it. He smirked at them all. “You were saying?”

“Ladies first,” Ava quipped before stroding inside with Ben following close behind.

Chelsea looked at Jacob. “Looks like you've got a competitor,” she joked. “Let's see if either of you can manage to grow bigger balls than me.”

Jacob looked at Chelsea for a brief second, his smile cracking briefly. “Unless I'm mistaken, I'm still holding yours. Let's see if you can earn them back.” He bowed, gesturing to the door. “Experience before talent, Chelsea.”

Chelsea did everything she could to keep her smirk from descending into a frown. Instead she simply nodded as if to say “well played,” and then waltzed through the door.

The team carefully made their way through the entrance hall until they reached the double doors at the end of it. They peeked inside the windows, and saw the Templar guards were still standing guard around the perimeter of the dance floor. Sheol was still up on stage, still in the same position as in the camera footage, still shooting her guns, still shouting “wooooooooooooooo-!” like she hadn't a care in the world, and in fact she probably didn't.

“Where's Vienna?” Ava asked.

“I don't know…” Ben said. “She's probably hiding somewhere trying to turn on the defenses.”

“Defenses?”

“You'll see, hopefully.”

“So what do we do now?” Chelsea asked.

Ava shrugged. “Crash the party.”

She stepped back and quickly thrust open the double doors, announcing to the whole room that the main event had just arrived.

The guards all immediately turned towards them and raised their weapons, though Sheol took a second to continue her “wooooooooooo-” before suddenly stopping and waving at the team.

“Oh hey!” she said to them. “Ava! Ben! Chelsea! Dusk mah man! Long time no see! How you guys been?”

“We were relaxing until we heard about you throwing a shindig without us,” Jacob quipped. “And come on, Sheol. Civvies? That's paperwork.” He pointed his gun lazily at her. “Don't make me shoot you for being bad.”

Sheol dropped her guns and put her hands on her chest, pulling big puppy dog eyes. “Uch! I'm hurt Dusk!” she said. “After all we've been through! I gave you bagels!”

“Yes you did. And they were delicious. Which is why I don't want to shoot you. Chelsea's kind of a stick, though. Not as fun. Right, Chels?”

“Can we just start shooting people already?!” Chelsea yelled.

Sheol gasped. “Great idea! Boys!”

The guards all aimed their rifles up and cocked them. The team all stood back to back, their own guns raised. The shootout was intense but short. Each side let their guns roar until there was nothing left but the sound of clicking empty barrels and all the Templar guards falling dead on the ground.

“Well dang I guess this makes me a side boss fight,” Sheol said. Before she could say another word, the handle of Jacob's revolver smacked her in the face.

“Bullseye! Rush her!” Jacob laughed, and then jumped the stage, releasing his staff as he landed.

“Owie owie owie ow!” Sheol whined as she rubbed her forehead. She made a childish pouting face before she looked up and saw the team rushing towards her. She quickly grabbed her baton and flicked it to full length to counter Jacob's first swing. “That was mean!” she whined. She pushed him back, sending him flying into Chelsea, who promptly began shouting profanities at everyone in the room.

Ava rushed Sheol with her karambit, spinning like a deadly ballerina as she tried and failed to land a hit. Sheol grabbed her arm on one swing and she used that to toss Ava into Ben, who also went flying.

“Oh come on guys just because I'm a side boss doesn't mean I'm not gonna be a difficult one,” Sheol joked. “Gonna take more than a few swings to-”

There was a sudden blaring noise that practically barged into the room. A reverberating brassy sound that could only be the sound of a trumpet. Sheol barely had time to look before a sudden shockwave hit her square in the chest and sent her flying back onto the dance floor. The team started standing up, looking for the source of the sound. Suddenly the speakers around the room started pumping out a deep, basey beat. Synths started humming in the background as multicolored lights started flashing all across the dance floor. Panels in the walls started opening up, with rails extending out from them like some sort of track. Ben cracked a huge smile.

“Defenses are up,” he said.

Sheol tried to stand, clearly dizzy from the fall, but suddenly another trumpet blast knocked her back off her feet.

A large panel towards the roof opened up and a blur came rolling out onto the tracks, sparks flying off of her rollerblades as the blue streaks in her hair flowed behind her. She came rolling down the rails, a weapon of sorts in her hands as it blasted shockwaves that matched the beat.

“Introducing the main attraction!” Jacob announced. “Star of the Purple Shades and wrecker of your behind, Vienna Joel!” Then he threw the microphone he'd picked up at Sheol.

Vienna came sliding down off the rails and landed gracefully between Sheol and the stage, a bit of smoke coming off her rollerblades as she came to a stop. She smiled, and tipped an imaginary hat to everyone. Sheol looked up and gawked at the glowing hunk of musical weaponry in her hands.

“Okay that! That is awesome!” she said. “I am glad that's the thing y'all are using to kick my ass!”

Vienna simply smiled bright and raised her cannon high before letting off another boom of jazz in Sheol's direction. Sheol jumped out of the way, and somersaulted towards Vienna, hoping to land a hit. Vienna quickly thrust herself back onto the tracks, however, using the higher ground to her advantage.

“Come on, we gotta help!” Ava said, ushering her friends onto the dance floor.

“Only if you promise to dance,” Jacob said, looking very serious. “We cannot kick Sheol's ass if it's not in style.”

“Given how chaotic this room is, I don't think we'll really be able to tell the difference between dancing and fighting.”

“There's a difference!” Jacob yelled jokingly, launching into the fray.

“I… okay then. Come on guys!”

The others nodded and they quickly followed Jacob, immediately dissolving into flipping and sliding as Vienna brought down her musical mayhem and everyone did their best to avoid both it and their enemy. Sheol's expression didn't shift at all. She still smiled like she was having the time of her life, moving and swinging her weapon to the beat of the music while everyone did the dance of death around her.

Ava rushed up with her karambit again, doing a flip out of the way when another of Vienna’s trumpet blasts came. Ben tried to get a few swings in, but he found himself more just limbo-ing under Sheol's baton before she twirled away and ducked under another blast. The music just kept getting louder and faster, intensifying with the fight.

“Rhythm games are my life!” Jacob was laughing as he moved. It almost looked like he was trying to get hit, each shift inches away from taking a direct hit. The moves looked familiar, and Ava finally understood his plan as he spun around Sheol’s baton, tilted his hat, and decked Sheol in the face.

Vienna came rushing down the rails, seeing what her friends were doing and seeing an opportunity. As Jacob disoriented Sheol, Vienna pointed to Ava directing her where she needed to stand. Ava nodded and rushed to the spot as Vienna came hurdling down the rails at lightning speed, fiddling with a dial on her bass cannon as she did and holding the weapon up high as soon as she reached the floor. The machine glowed bright neon colors and shook heavily as the last note of the song approached, and then Vienna punctuated the entire song and dance with a massive brassy trumpet shockwave that smacked straight into Sheol, sending her flying back towards Ava. Ava reacted quickly, flicking out her hidden blade and thrusting it forward as Sheol slammed into it. The Templar’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “...my spleen!” was all she said before she fell to the ground in a puddle of blood.

The lights dimmed and the speakers slowly went silent. The rails retracted back into the walls and Vienna kicked her rollerblades off. The Assassins stood around Sheol, looking down as she held her spleen.

“That… was awesome!” she said. “Damn guys thanks for an awesome outro!”

“You're… welcome?” Chelsea said.

Jacob knelt down next to her, smiling. “Couldn’t just take you out like a scrub. You deserved something cool.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Wish we’d taken Lucy out first, though. No fun without a rival.”

“Eh… true. Honestly I wish I had found you guys first instead of Lucy. You guys are more fun.”

“Why would you fall in with a guy like him then?” Ava asked. “He is literally the Devil!”

Jacob’s voice broke a little, and he laughed. “Lucy’s straight up,” he said. “Sheol was just bored. Nothing quite like being told you’re annoying but still being allowed to break things to really spice up life.”

“Girls just wanna have fun,” Sheol half-laughed, half-coughed. “Ugh… this whole dying thing sucks more than I thought it would.” She coughed again. “Blech. So… you guys going after Lucy now then?”

“We're going to bring him down,” Ava said. “We won't let him destroy the world.”

“Dang… there's still gonna be a world and I won't be around to cause trouble in it. That blows. Oh well… Have fun you guys. I know… I know this whole story's been a lot of fun for me. Thanks…”

“I’ll punch a few dicks for you, Sheol.” Jacob stood back up, turning away.

Sheol used her last bit of strength to nod and smile, and did a quick peace-out gesture before her arms and body finally went limp.

Ava knelt down and closed Sheol's eyes, recalling the ritual that her ancestors before her performed with their targets. “It's all fun and games until innocent people get hurt,” she said. “Rest in peace.”

She stood with her friends. They all looked at the chaotic mess that was now littering the entire club. Vienna puffed up one cheek.

“You gonna be able to clean this up alone?” Ben asked.

Vienna simply shrugged, and typed out on her phone for them to see: “Eh, I'll get my gf to help me. She owes me another favor.”

Ben laughed and nodded. “Okay good. We all need to head back to Battle Ground then.”

“Yeah, I need a rest,” Ava said. “I've got my last Animus session tomorrow before we finally close in on the Scythe and end this once and for all.”

“We're almost there,” Chelsea said. She looked over at Jacob, who still seemed upset. She battled with herself for a moment before finally walking up and putting a hand on his shoulder. “You did good, man,” she told him.

He was silent, eyes closed. He sighed again, shaking his head. “Feel like I just killed myself. And yet I’m still here. She was bored. Looking for something to do. Part of that was being nice to me. And I helped you of all people kill her. Things are getting weird.” He huffed little, smiling at Chelsea. “Thanks for trying. You and Carter.” He cracked his neck to the side and walked to some of the corpses on the ground. “Y'all mind if I tamper with evidence? I’m collecting guns.”

“Fine by me,” Ava shrugged. “We'll start heading to the van and wait for you there. Then we're heading back to Battle Ground.”

“God only knows what Ruby's gotten into on her own.”

“She's got Jess and Carter,” Chelsea said.

The other three all looked at her. She pursed her lips. “Okay yeah we better hurry.”

The others laughed and Ava and Ben started leading the way back to their ride, ready to head off to the final stretch in this race against time. There was only one last person standing in their way, one last threat to humanity looming over them.

And it was only a matter of time before Lucy fell as well.

Description
June 15, 2016; Battle Ground, Indiana

Ava rubbed her head and sat up slowly as Ruby gently held her by the arm. “Easy there, Champ, take it slow,” she told her.

Ava nodded and stretched. “What time is it?” she asked.

“Little past midnight,” Ben said. “We uh… we figured after what happened last night, you'd want a longer session. You've been in all day.”

“Well that explains why I'm starving. Heyo Gabriel do you have any snacks in here?”

She and her friends looked over at the holographic gate where a light shined from the floor and from it formed the distinctive shape of the archangel. “Nothing that isn't 75000 years old,” Gabriel joked.

“Damn,” Ava said, laughing a bit.

Ben laughed too before reaching into his bag and passed Ava a deli sandwich. “Here Ava, I already ate.”

She smiled and nodded, gleefully taking the offering and chowing down on it. “Thanks Ben, I owe you one.”

“Ah, you don't owe me anything, Ava.”

She smiled at him. She took a few massive bites out of her sandwich before taking a look around the temple again. Everything seemed to be in order. Carter and Jess were looking over some sketches for a new and improved hideout for Indianapolis. Chelsea was sitting a distance away from everyone else, occasionally casting annoyed looks at Jacob, who simply smiled and waved back at her. Ava found herself laughing. And she thought Carter and Chelsea had a bittersweet relationship.

There was one person she didn't see in the room however. Before she went in that would've been just fine with her. But now that she’d had her chance to shut down her mind a bit and cool it off, she was a bit concerned.

“Where'd Mom go?” she asked.

“She said she had to go get something from Minneapolis a while ago,” Ruby said.

“I… really? That's a 15 hour drive there and back.”

Ruby simply shrugged and spun around in her office chair to start clacking away at her keyboard again, running her usual scans to make sure everything was going smoothly. Ava looked to Ben to see if he had an answer of any kind, but he simply shrugged as well.

“Okay then,” Ava shrugged. She stood from the chair and stretched her legs a bit. “So what other current events did I miss out on while I was in Evelyn’s head?”

“Not much,” Ben said. “It's been a quiet night.”

“Too quiet?”

Ben laughed. “It's always too quiet,” he said.

Ava chuckled. “Eh, fair enough. I'm surprised Lucy hasn't been making any noise.”

“He's busy trying to find his armor,” Gabriel told her. “We hid it where he'd never think to look.”

“Where's that?”

“I'm not gonna say where! For all we know he bugged this whole place somehow.”

“Alright fair enough. You're gonna have to tell us when we get the Scythe though.”

“I will, I promise.”

“I still don't see why we don't just go and stab him while he's just Morgenster,” Ruby said. “I mean he's a 50 year old dude with a cane right now. Not the biggest challenge ever.”

“I've checked the timelines where we take that option. None of them turn out good. He beats us back every time and the universe goes boom because we wasted our time going after him now instead of focusing on finding the Scythe. No, we gotta ride the clock up to the last minute if we have any chance to win this war once and for all.”

“Damn…” Ava said. “Should I even be taking a break then? I mean if time is that important?”

“No, you have room for this last break. After this, it should be a straight shot to the end of the Bone Wars and then you can all go grab the Scythe.”

“Cool. I hate being cooped up for so long.”

“How do you think I feel? I've been stuck in my temples for the past 75000 years! You know how boring that gets? The only company I've had was when that Daniel kid came along and I went and helped kick off Islam with Muhammad.”

Ava laughed. “I mean at least you made your mark on history I guess.”

“Eh, I guess,” Gabriel laughed back. “God, I hope I get to rest after this.”

Ava nodded. “We all do.”

“Um…” Ruby suddenly said. “Well… rest is gonna have to wait for now.”

The gang looked at her. Carter, Chelsea, Jacob, and Jess all walked up to see what she was worrying about. “What do you mean?” Ben asked.

Ruby pushed herself away from her desk and spun her laptop around to show everyone. “I uh… I just got an email from Vienna,” she said.

They all looked at the video that was attached to the email as Ruby hit play. It was camera footage from Purple Shades. About six armed men with the Abstergo logo etched into them were busting into the main dance floor and firing at civilians. The crowd started screaming and running, many making out the door and many others not. Onto the stage walked the slim figure of who else but Yolanda Sheol. She looked like she had just walked into an actual party, giant grin on her face and all. She had two machine guns in her hands, and she simply stood on stage with them held high as she fired randomly into the ceiling shouting “wooooooooooooo-!”, before one of the bullets smacked into the camera and the scene went to static.

“Crap…” Chelsea said.

“We need to get down there right now!” Ben said, pulling up his hood. “Come on, Ava, you and me.”

Ava nodded, pulling up her own hood as well and running for her karambit.

Jacob pursed his lips. “Well crap. I was hoping to kill her after Lucy. Guess it can't be helped.” He waved to Carter. “Come, Robin. The Joker's high again.” He grabbed his hat and cloak on his way to the door.

“I gotta stay here and help Jess with the plans,” Carter said before smirking. “Chelsea can go though.”

Chelsea looked at him and frowned. “Carter I swear to god.”

“Come, Robern. The Funny Man is high again!” Jacob was already out the door, yelling back to Chelsea.

“I am not going with-!” Chelsea started to say.

“Chelsea for the love of god, people are dying out there!” Ava snapped. “Now of you wanna sit here and play the bully go ahead but we've got innocent lives to save.”

The room went quiet for a long while. “I…” Chelsea stammered. “I… fine.” She silently grabbed her pistol and pulled her hood up, and then solemnly dragged herself out the door after Jacob.

“Thank you,” Ava sighed. She looked at Carter and Jess. “You guys got the fort covered here?”

“Yeah. We'll babysit your girlfriend don't worry,” Jess said.

“Hey!” Ruby remarked.

Ava chuckled. “Rad. We'll be back in a bit.” With that, she grabbed her own gun and followed after Chelsea and Jacob, Ben by her side as they all hopped in the van and sped off to save Indianapolis for the hundredth time.

------------

June 15, 2016; Indianapolis, Indiana

The four parked a little bit away from Purple Shades. They silently made their way towards the club, and gasped at the bodies of civilians and dead Assassin guards alike.

“Looks like they started the party without us,” Ben said.

“Nah.” Jacob spun his revolver in his hand. “The party don't start till we walk in. Come on, guys. Let's see what Sheol's got in store for us.” He smiled and walked to the front door.

“Whatever she has in store, I'm not buying it,” Chelsea quipped.

Jacob laughed. “That's the spirit!”

“You guys are lame,” Ava joked.

“You're lame,” Chelsea retorted.

“You all pale in comparison to moi,” Jacob said. “So far they're still in there, and we're stuck out here. I'm just gonna kick the door in if none of you are going to do anything.”

There was the sudden crack of a front door getting kicked open as Ben's foot made contact with it. He smirked at them all. “You were saying?”

“Ladies first,” Ava quipped before stroding inside with Ben following close behind.

Chelsea looked at Jacob. “Looks like you've got a competitor,” she joked. “Let's see if either of you can manage to grow bigger balls than me.”

Jacob looked at Chelsea for a brief second, his smile cracking briefly. “Unless I'm mistaken, I'm still holding yours. Let's see if you can earn them back.” He bowed, gesturing to the door. “Experience before talent, Chelsea.”

Chelsea did everything she could to keep her smirk from descending into a frown. Instead she simply nodded as if to say “well played,” and then waltzed through the door.

The team carefully made their way through the entrance hall until they reached the double doors at the end of it. They peeked inside the windows, and saw the Templar guards were still standing guard around the perimeter of the dance floor. Sheol was still up on stage, still in the same position as in the camera footage, still shooting her guns, still shouting “wooooooooooooooo-!” like she hadn't a care in the world, and in fact she probably didn't.

“Where's Vienna?” Ava asked.

“I don't know…” Ben said. “She's probably hiding somewhere trying to turn on the defenses.”

“Defenses?”

“You'll see, hopefully.”

“So what do we do now?” Chelsea asked.

Ava shrugged. “Crash the party.”

She stepped back and quickly thrust open the double doors, announcing to the whole room that the main event had just arrived.

The guards all immediately turned towards them and raised their weapons, though Sheol took a second to continue her “wooooooooooo-” before suddenly stopping and waving at the team.

“Oh hey!” she said to them. “Ava! Ben! Chelsea! Dusk mah man! Long time no see! How you guys been?”

“We were relaxing until we heard about you throwing a shindig without us,” Jacob quipped. “And come on, Sheol. Civvies? That's paperwork.” He pointed his gun lazily at her. “Don't make me shoot you for being bad.”

Sheol dropped her guns and put her hands on her chest, pulling big puppy dog eyes. “Uch! I'm hurt Dusk!” she said. “After all we've been through! I gave you bagels!”

“Yes you did. And they were delicious. Which is why I don't want to shoot you. Chelsea's kind of a stick, though. Not as fun. Right, Chels?”

“Can we just start shooting people already?!” Chelsea yelled.

Sheol gasped. “Great idea! Boys!”

The guards all aimed their rifles up and cocked them. The team all stood back to back, their own guns raised. The shootout was intense but short. Each side let their guns roar until there was nothing left but the sound of clicking empty barrels and all the Templar guards falling dead on the ground.

“Well dang I guess this makes me a side boss fight,” Sheol said. Before she could say another word, the handle of Jacob's revolver smacked her in the face.

“Bullseye! Rush her!” Jacob laughed, and then jumped the stage, releasing his staff as he landed.

“Owie owie owie ow!” Sheol whined as she rubbed her forehead. She made a childish pouting face before she looked up and saw the team rushing towards her. She quickly grabbed her baton and flicked it to full length to counter Jacob's first swing. “That was mean!” she whined. She pushed him back, sending him flying into Chelsea, who promptly began shouting profanities at everyone in the room.

Ava rushed Sheol with her karambit, spinning like a deadly ballerina as she tried and failed to land a hit. Sheol grabbed her arm on one swing and she used that to toss Ava into Ben, who also went flying.

“Oh come on guys just because I'm a side boss doesn't mean I'm not gonna be a difficult one,” Sheol joked. “Gonna take more than a few swings to-”

There was a sudden blaring noise that practically barged into the room. A reverberating brassy sound that could only be the sound of a trumpet. Sheol barely had time to look before a sudden shockwave hit her square in the chest and sent her flying back onto the dance floor. The team started standing up, looking for the source of the sound. Suddenly the speakers around the room started pumping out a deep, basey beat. Synths started humming in the background as multicolored lights started flashing all across the dance floor. Panels in the walls started opening up, with rails extending out from them like some sort of track. Ben cracked a huge smile.

“Defenses are up,” he said.

Sheol tried to stand, clearly dizzy from the fall, but suddenly another trumpet blast knocked her back off her feet.

A large panel towards the roof opened up and a blur came rolling out onto the tracks, sparks flying off of her rollerblades as the blue streaks in her hair flowed behind her. She came rolling down the rails, a weapon of sorts in her hands as it blasted shockwaves that matched the beat.

“Introducing the main attraction!” Jacob announced. “Star of the Purple Shades and wrecker of your behind, Vienna Joel!” Then he threw the microphone he'd picked up at Sheol.

Vienna came sliding down off the rails and landed gracefully between Sheol and the stage, a bit of smoke coming off her rollerblades as she came to a stop. She smiled, and tipped an imaginary hat to everyone. Sheol looked up and gawked at the glowing hunk of musical weaponry in her hands.

“Okay that! That is awesome!” she said. “I am glad that's the thing y'all are using to kick my ass!”

Vienna simply smiled bright and raised her cannon high before letting off another boom of jazz in Sheol's direction. Sheol jumped out of the way, and somersaulted towards Vienna, hoping to land a hit. Vienna quickly thrust herself back onto the tracks, however, using the higher ground to her advantage.

“Come on, we gotta help!” Ava said, ushering her friends onto the dance floor.

“Only if you promise to dance,” Jacob said, looking very serious. “We cannot kick Sheol's ass if it's not in style.”

“Given how chaotic this room is, I don't think we'll really be able to tell the difference between dancing and fighting.”

“There's a difference!” Jacob yelled jokingly, launching into the fray.

“I… okay then. Come on guys!”

The others nodded and they quickly followed Jacob, immediately dissolving into flipping and sliding as Vienna brought down her musical mayhem and everyone did their best to avoid both it and their enemy. Sheol's expression didn't shift at all. She still smiled like she was having the time of her life, moving and swinging her weapon to the beat of the music while everyone did the dance of death around her.

Ava rushed up with her karambit again, doing a flip out of the way when another of Vienna’s trumpet blasts came. Ben tried to get a few swings in, but he found himself more just limbo-ing under Sheol's baton before she twirled away and ducked under another blast. The music just kept getting louder and faster, intensifying with the fight.

“Rhythm games are my life!” Jacob was laughing as he moved. It almost looked like he was trying to get hit, each shift inches away from taking a direct hit. The moves looked familiar, and Ava finally understood his plan as he spun around Sheol’s baton, tilted his hat, and decked Sheol in the face.

Vienna came rushing down the rails, seeing what her friends were doing and seeing an opportunity. As Jacob disoriented Sheol, Vienna pointed to Ava directing her where she needed to stand. Ava nodded and rushed to the spot as Vienna came hurdling down the rails at lightning speed, fiddling with a dial on her bass cannon as she did and holding the weapon up high as soon as she reached the floor. The machine glowed bright neon colors and shook heavily as the last note of the song approached, and then Vienna punctuated the entire song and dance with a massive brassy trumpet shockwave that smacked straight into Sheol, sending her flying back towards Ava. Ava reacted quickly, flicking out her hidden blade and thrusting it forward as Sheol slammed into it. The Templar’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “...my spleen!” was all she said before she fell to the ground in a puddle of blood.

The lights dimmed and the speakers slowly went silent. The rails retracted back into the walls and Vienna kicked her rollerblades off. The Assassins stood around Sheol, looking down as she held her spleen.

“That… was awesome!” she said. “Damn guys thanks for an awesome outro!”

“You're… welcome?” Chelsea said.

Jacob knelt down next to her, smiling. “Couldn’t just take you out like a scrub. You deserved something cool.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Wish we’d taken Lucy out first, though. No fun without a rival.”

“Eh… true. Honestly I wish I had found you guys first instead of Lucy. You guys are more fun.”

“Why would you fall in with a guy like him then?” Ava asked. “He is literally the Devil!”

Jacob’s voice broke a little, and he laughed. “Lucy’s straight up,” he said. “Sheol was just bored. Nothing quite like being told you’re annoying but still being allowed to break things to really spice up life.”

“Girls just wanna have fun,” Sheol half-laughed, half-coughed. “Ugh… this whole dying thing sucks more than I thought it would.” She coughed again. “Blech. So… you guys going after Lucy now then?”

“We're going to bring him down,” Ava said. “We won't let him destroy the world.”

“Dang… there's still gonna be a world and I won't be around to cause trouble in it. That blows. Oh well… Have fun you guys. I know… I know this whole story's been a lot of fun for me. Thanks…”

“I’ll punch a few dicks for you, Sheol.” Jacob stood back up, turning away.

Sheol used her last bit of strength to nod and smile, and did a quick peace-out gesture before her arms and body finally went limp.

Ava knelt down and closed Sheol's eyes, recalling the ritual that her ancestors before her performed with their targets. “It's all fun and games until innocent people get hurt,” she said. “Rest in peace.”

She stood with her friends. They all looked at the chaotic mess that was now littering the entire club. Vienna puffed up one cheek.

“You gonna be able to clean this up alone?” Ben asked.

Vienna simply shrugged, and typed out on her phone for them to see: “Eh, I'll get my gf to help me. She owes me another favor.”

Ben laughed and nodded. “Okay good. We all need to head back to Battle Ground then.”

“Yeah, I need a rest,” Ava said. “I've got my last Animus session tomorrow before we finally close in on the Scythe and end this once and for all.”

“We're almost there,” Chelsea said. She looked over at Jacob, who still seemed upset. She battled with herself for a moment before finally walking up and putting a hand on his shoulder. “You did good, man,” she told him.

He was silent, eyes closed. He sighed again, shaking his head. “Feel like I just killed myself. And yet I’m still here. She was bored. Looking for something to do. Part of that was being nice to me. And I helped you of all people kill her. Things are getting weird.” He huffed little, smiling at Chelsea. “Thanks for trying. You and Carter.” He cracked his neck to the side and walked to some of the corpses on the ground. “Y'all mind if I tamper with evidence? I’m collecting guns.”

“Fine by me,” Ava shrugged. “We'll start heading to the van and wait for you there. Then we're heading back to Battle Ground.”

“God only knows what Ruby's gotten into on her own.”

“She's got Jess and Carter,” Chelsea said.

The other three all looked at her. She pursed her lips. “Okay yeah we better hurry.”

The others laughed and Ava and Ben started leading the way back to their ride, ready to head off to the final stretch in this race against time. There was only one last person standing in their way, one last threat to humanity looming over them.

And it was only a matter of time before Lucy fell as well.