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Description
March 29, 2019; Bellwood

He took his time getting to the hideout, and it took even longer to calm him down after introducing him to the Tennyson trio. But once everything was back in order, he gave them what they needed to hear.

“What do you mean you can't get us in there?!” Chelsea fumed.

They hadn’t seen Dusk too much lately. If they ever got anything out of him it was usually “I’m busy” or “can’t talk right now.” Even trying to get him over here had been a hassle. Whatever he was working on had been wearing on him, too. He looked haggard. Tired. There were bags under his eyes and he hadn’t shaved in a while. He yawned and rubbed his eyes.

“Look, guys,” he told them. “Yeah, I’m working directly under Berg. But just because I’m near the top doesn’t mean I can do everything. Area 51 is one of our most exclusive research labs.”

“Wait what do you mean one?” Chelsea yelled.

“It’s called fifty-one for a reason, Chels. Keep up,” he snarked, before continuing. “Berg’s not even supposed to be able to go there. If it wasn’t for being part of the Inner Sanctum, he wouldn’t even have access. The way he put it is that if you don’t already work there, you’re not getting in. If the whole Inner Sanctum gave me permission, it would be weeks before I would even be allowed in, and I’d still be only allowed in certain areas. If the war is in the dark to civilians, then these are in the dark to us. Area 51 being common knowledge was a disaster they’ve been paying for ever since.” He shrugged his shoulders, leaning back. “There’s no way I can get you guys inside. That’s out of my hands.”

“Well damn,” Ruby crossed her arms.

“You came all this way just to tell us you can't help?” Chelsea growled.

“All I told you was that I couldn’t get you in legally. I didn’t say anything breaking about breaking the law.” He smiled.

Kevin started laughing. “I like the way this guy thinks,” he said.

“Oh no,” sighed Gwen and Chelsea in unison.

Jacob’s smile only seemed to widen. “I can’t get inside, but I can access most of the schematics for the place, guard schedules, maybe even a few locations and whatnot. Won’t be easy, but should give us a little edge.”

“That should work fine,” Ava nodded. “Ruby will need to find a spot to park the van as close as possible without being detected so that we can get the Hands of Armageddon in the trunk and take off as soon as possible.”

Then Jacob suddenly let out a yell, almost falling out of his chair.

“Oh,” Cathy said blankly.

“Woah woah woah wait what did you just say?!” Jacob asked, obviously upset, leaning forward.

“The… Hands of Armageddon?” Ben repeated.

“Otherworldly disk, unintelligible markings, can rip a hole in the space-time continuum?” He sounded spooked. And disturbingly spot-on.

“How did… you…?” Jess stuttered.

He leaned back in his chair, holding his chest. “I thought the guy was just a crackpot. Uh…” He cleared his throat, straightening. “Okay, so. This just got a lot more interesting. I’ll tell you how I know later.”

“Uhh… alright,” Ruby shrugged.

“Less exposition we have to repeat,” Catherine laughed.

“This is not okay!” Chelsea snarled.

“We should probably get going then,” Gwen said, standing. “The sooner we get the Hands of Armageddon the sooner we'll have an advantage over Eon.”

The others nodded save for Chelsea, and they made their way to the garage. Chelsea eventually pouted and followed along, and soon their van was packed and ready. Ruby hopped into the driver's seat, and once the garage door had creaked open, the gang took off into the desert, speeding off to break into one of the most secure military bases in the country for the heist of the century.

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

February 26, 2019; Area 51, Nevada

“Abstergo's definitely upgraded this place since 1957, that's for sure,” Ava observed as she peaked down at the base through a pair of binoculars. From their vantage point, they could already see how much fortification had been added to the base since Bromden's time. Barbed wire and concrete walls, armored patrol cars piloted by equally armored guards all emblazoned with the Templar cross.

“Shouldn't be too much of a problem,” Kevin figured. He reached down to the ground, placing his hand on a large stone. The material began to seep up his skin, coating him in rock-hard armor.

“Can we go easy on the super-powers, guys?” Dusk asked. “At least until there’s no other option.” He leaned forward. “I’d love to see you go all out, but too much insanity, and Berg’s going to know I was involved. Right now there’s only a suspicion.”

“Call it a precaution,” Kevin grinned.

“Understandable.”

“We’ll keep low for as long as we can,” Ben agreed.

“Let's get going,” Ava said, standing and pulling up her hood. “I'll lead the way. I've got Bromden's route memorized.”

“Let's just hope the underground base is still the same layout,” Chelsea said.

“Hopefully.”

The team stood from their vantage point, and they began to slink their way down into the basin. They pressed up against one of the outer walls, quickly helping one another over into the base. They went into crouches, carefully making their way into the tangled maze of buildings and terminals. They could hear the sound of patrol vehicles rumbling around the roads, and every now and then they'd hear jets taking off from the runways.

“You wouldn't happen to have something in that watch that could turn us all invisible do ya?” Ruby whispered to Ben.

“Wish I did,” Ben whispered back. “I've got a few ghosts but those are kinda user exclusive.”

“Well damn,” Jess chuckled.

“We're almost there,” Ava said as she peaked around a corner. “This way.”

The team followed her close behind, trying to avoid getting anywhere near any guards, not wanting to risk raising suspicion by leaving bodies. Ava led them to the enormous entrance to one of the hangers, raising a hand to tell them to wait until the guards passed by their hiding spot. They slipped inside, and used the crates and machinery to hide their movements.

“It has to be around here somewhere…” Ava said, looking all around the walls for the old door.

“Is that it?” Gwen asked, pointing in front of them. They all turned their heads, and low and behold, there was a large steel door with a red light shining above it, smack where it was in Bromden's memories.

“That's it,” Kevin agreed.

“Awesome! Let's go!” Catherine cheered. The others nodded, and they scurried over. Carter and Jess stayed on the edge of the group, keeping watch around the corners for guards while Ava quickly poked the code into the little number panel on the side.

And was immediately met with a chastising little bleep.

“Dammit,” she cursed under her breath. “The code’s been changed.”

“I mean it has been 60 years,” Ben pointed out.

“Here. Let me.” Dusk pushed past the group up to the door. It was then that the others finally registered the Walmart bag he’d been carrying under one arm. He shuffled around in it for a second, pulled out a piece of paper, and smiled. “Okay… if it hasn’t changed then it should be…” He punched in a few numbers, and there was a slight click as the door popped open.

Chelsea shoved everyone out of the way, snatching the bag from Dusk’s hands. She opened it and peered inside. The bag was full of various devices and slips of paper. Among which were earbuds, fake ID cards, a potato, and a map of the facility. She looked to Dusk with fire in her eyes. He met it with a shrug.

“I brought this with me to the hideout. No one asked. Did you really think I’d show up with nothing? This is our research lab after all.”

Catherine, Ava, and Ruby were barely successful in stopping Chelsea’s flying leap at Dusk’s throat. She had some very choice words for him, which he took in stride, waving everyone through the door.

Ava hid a smile with her palm and led the front charge down into the depths. As soon as they were all inside and the door creaked shut behind them, a row of lights came on to guide their path down the secret hallway.

“So far so good,” Jess commented.

“Don't jinx it,” Cathy told her.

The group made their way down the hall, still able to hear the occasional aircraft landing on the surface world. Some of them seemed surprisingly loud.

They reached the elevator and stairwell that they had seen in Bromden's memories. It was definitely more polished than before.

“Don't think we’ll all be able to take the elevator roof route,” Ava observed. “We’ll have to take our chances with the stairs.”

The team followed her lead, beginning the trek down the stairwell.

“So like… what's the plan when we actually get down there?” Cathy asked.

“Sneak around until we find the Hands of Armageddon I guess,” Ruby shrugged.

“Oh is that all?”

“Ben can probably handle getting it back to the surface once we find it,” Ava pointed out.

“I mean I have a map,” Dusk said. “It won’t tell us where the Hands are, but isu artifacts is written dow- Chelsea wait!”

Chelsea tore the map from Dusk’s hands, shredding it and glaring at him. He hung his head and sighed. “You never asked. Did you at least see where the vault was?”

She glared at him for a second more, before forcing three words through gritted teeth. “I. Hate. You.”

“So that’s a yes.”

“Can you guys please stop with the dick measuring competition for five seconds?” Jess pleaded.

“Even Ben and I never got this passive aggressive,” Gwen quipped.

“Yeah. I mean, she did try to kill me,” Dusk said, smiling at Chelsea.

“Guys!” Ava groaned.

She shook her head and continued down the path, keeping an ear open for any footsteps. Thankfully, their route was silent the entire way, and it wasn't long before they arrived on the first floor of the underground facility, taking in the sheer size of the place for a moment before quickly finding a hiding spot. They heard another rumble from a jet from top side.

“I always hated airports,” Ruby joked.

Ava looked out into the room, darting her eyes around. She closed her eyes for a moment, deciding their search needed a little extra assistance from here. She focused all her senses into one spot, and soon her vision was encased in a blue shimmering hue. She cast another look around the room, her Eagle Vision helping her find the path. She caught a faint glimpse of a bright golden shine flicking through the maze of technology. She smiled, and flicked off her Sixth Sense. “That way,” she pointed, ushering her friends to follow.

As they ducked and slinked around every desk and corner they could hide behind as they pressed forward, they continued to hear rumbling noises coming from above. Ava could've sworn she heard faint shouting.

“Did a plane crash or something?” Catherine pondered.

“Either that or someone else is breaking in without as much regard for stealth as we have,” Jess shrugged.

“Let's just hope it's the former,” Chelsea said.

They kept trekking, following Ava’s lead, until eventually they finally came in sight of the massive door that they marked as their target. They watched from their cover as a scientist approached the door and punched in the keycode. And just as the team had hoped, when the doors whooshed open, inside lay the artifact they were after. The monumental metal disk from beyond the stars. The Hands of Armageddon.

“Alright,” Ava whispered, nodding to Ben. “Now you just need to use one of your guys to slip on in and-"

Another vicious rumble from above, one much louder and much stronger than before, as if caused by an explosion. The team could actually feel the rumble of that quake, as could all the scientists around the lab. Ava could definitely hear screaming coming from above. “What the hell is…?” she began to ask.

But her answer came before she could finish her question. The ceiling of the facility suddenly erupted into a cloud of smoke and shrapnel that caused the entire room to start panicking and shouting. The gang held their arms up to block the debris from falling down on them, and they joined the scientists in looking up in fear at the figure that suddenly descended like a demon from the smoke cloud. His deep purple cloak billowed behind him, and his eyes seethed behind his glowing helmet. He balled his fists, and crackling balls of purple lightning surged at his fingertips.

“The Hands of Armageddon!” he demanded, his raspy mechanical voice booming throughout the chamber. “Bring it to me now, or else!”

He extended his hands and the energy shot out of his palms, raining hell down upon the people scrambling in terror below.

“You jinxed it,” Cathy moaned to Jess.

“I'm going to take a wild guess and say that's Eon?” Chelsea asked.

The Tennysons nodded, and the Assassins started cocking their guns while Eon continued his attacks from above. Ava noticed the machines his beams were hitting, how they suddenly buckled and rusted as if being crushed by age.

“Time rays…” she moaned. “Definitely don't want to get hit by those.”

“It looks like he's just out to scare right now,” Ben said. He rolled up his sleeve and twisted the dial on his watch. Gwen spawned a few of her manna spheres from her fists, and Kevin touched a control panel to exchange his stone armor for steel. “You guys scatter around and try to get him from all angles,” Ben continued. “We'll be your brute force.”

The Assassins nodded, and they quickly ran to various cover points around the room. Ben stood tall, and he brought his palm down hard onto the dial of his watch. A bright flash of green light radiated from his person, and when Ava lowered her arm from shielding her eyes, she caught a glimpse at his newest brand of monster. It reminded her of the other stone monster they had seen during the fight, but with more of a crystalline base and muscular build, and turquoise highlights instead of pink. He raised his arm up at Eon, just as the villain was spinning to see what the cause of the sudden flash of light was. From Ben's crystalline hands, narrow shards ejected from his fingertips, and many of the first volley hit Eon straight in the torso. The cloaked man in the sky seemed to fume behind his helmet.

“Tennyson?” he snarled. “That's impossible! This universe is supposed to be void of you!”

“What can I say, Eon?” Ben shrugged. “I have a knack for following trouble around.”

Eon growled, balling his fists and surging up his energy blasts. “It doesn't matter!” he declared. “Soon I will destroy you all and claim the Hands of Armageddon!”

“Not while we're here,” Gwen taunted, tossing her manna spheres up at him. One of them landed its mark and Eon growled in pain while dodging the rest. He tightened his fists and aimed it at the Tennyson crew. A bolt of purple lightning shot out, and they dodged out of the way.

The Assassins had started moving as soon as the light had faded, each making their way to a different vantage point in the room. As long as Eon was focused on the trio, those beams wouldn’t be after them. Their first hits would have to count. Ava cocked her pistol and took steady aim at Eon’s fishbowl of a face. She pulled the trigger, and was thankful to hear a volley of gunshots from her friends join in. Her bullet smacked Eon in the side of his helmet, but to Ava’s dismay, it only seemed to jerk his head a little and piss him off. He spun around, his glowing purple eyes clearly displaying his irritation.

“Ah! The Assassin girl and her little band of misfit friends!” he observed. “I was wondering when we would get the chance to meet. I've been told a lot about you.”

“Then you should know the best option for you right now is to run away with your tail between your legs,” Chelsea taunted, firing a bullet of her own into his armored torso.

“Or at least shut up and fight” Dusk chided, jumping up behind Eon and releasing his baton straight into Eon’s back. The six feet of steel propelled Dusk away from Eon as well as knocking him off balance for a brief moment. Eon immediately retaliated his brashness by spinning around and thrusting forward, decking Dusk off the balcony.

“Just as arrogant as I was told,” Eon mocked.

“I mean for me it's more of a defense mechanism to be honest,” Catherine said before immediately dodging the blast that followed.

Eon fired blast after blast, but the Assassins had strength in numbers, and the maze of destroyed tech made their scattering even more of a challenge for him. While their weapons couldn’t cause too much harm, the crystals and magic smacking into him were another story. His concentration was broken, and he turned to attack the Tennyson crew in retaliation.

“Why are you even after the Hands of Armageddon, Eon?” Ben asked as he attacked and dodged. “I thought you wanted to get your hands on that Apple of Eden thing? To try and take over this universe or something?”

“This universe is of no use to me. It's a bidding chip, and nothing more. Once I have the Apple, I'll use it to conquer the multiverse and take my revenge while this dimension burns in cinder!”

“Why don’t you ask the last guy who tried that how it worked out? Oh wait,” Dusk said, pretending like he just remembered he was asking for an impossible task. He started resorting to throwing things rather than get up close and personal.

“Gotta give him credit,” Jess said. “He's taking the whole destroy this universe plan one step further than Lucy did.”

There was another rumble from above, and Eon suddenly grinned behind the rim of his helmet visor.

“Oh that's always a good sign,” Gwen said.

“You children really must learn not to talk ill of people behind their backs,” Eon said. “You never know when they might be listening.”

“What are you talking about, fishbowl?” Ruby demanded.

Eon simply smirked, and he hovered slightly out of the way of the smoke cloud still fuming from the ceiling. Ava and her friends heard a pounding growing louder and louder, followed by the sudden increasing whir of what sounded like a jet engine. Then suddenly something large and heavy exploded out of the billowing smoke, landing in a firm crash on the cracking concrete floor below.

And as soon as she saw what it was, who it was, Ava’s heart dropped like a stone into her stomach.

He slowly straightened his back, the dark steel of his armor creaking like bones as he stood up and turned to look Ava directly in the eyes. His scarred face broke out into a grin, the blood red lights radiating from his outstretched wings highlighting his wrinkles. Ava had never felt a colder chill run down her spine in her life.

“Hey kids,” he rasped menacingly. “Guess who's back?”

“Lucifer…” Ruby croaked.

“Ding ding ding! And you have no idea how much I have missed our little talks.”

He jerked up his palm, aiming it directly at the Assassins and firing a pulse of crackling red energy. The team lunged out of the way, scattering like terrified cockroaches as they tried to get their weapons in order. Lucifer activated his suit's thrusters and sprang up into the air to hover next to Eon.

“Friend of yours?” Kevin asked the Assassins, taking cover with his friends.

“You guy’s got religion in your world? Meet literally Satan.” Dusk called out.

“Or as I like to call him, a bastard that should be dead,” Ava snarled, firing a few shots up at the villains before taking cover from another volley of energy blasts.

“You get used to feelings like that,” Ben said.

“Please tell me this is actually just another nightmare…” Ava moaned.

“He is very real, Ms. Arlie,” Eon taunted. “And now together we will be able to carry out both our plans!”

“I don't need you to speak for me, fishbowl,” Lucifer frowned at him. Eon simply responded with a confused look, then huffed and went back to attacking.

“But yes, you've got the pleasure of seeing me back in the flesh thanks to this Darth Vader wannabe,” Lucy continued. “And once we get that Apple and the Hands, I'm going to detonate this garbage plane of reality and make sure you meddling kids feel every single atom in your body ripping apart when it happens!”

“Still working on those anger issues then, ey Lucy?” Catherine quipped.

“Is he like Paradise Lost daddy issues Satan?” Gwen asked. “Or just biblical embodiment of evil Satan?”

“I mean I always imagined it was a little bit of both,” Ruby shrugged.

“Enough!” Eon demanded. “I'm tired of this chatter!” He turned his head towards the room holding the Hands of Armageddon, and made an immediate dash for it while Lucifer pelted the Assassins and their friends below. But Ben made sure his way was blocked, slamming his fist into the ground and summoning a massive wall of diamond to seal the door.

“No!” Eon snarled, turning to fight. Ben started charging towards him, slamming his hand against the hourglass symbol on his chest. There was another flash as he transformed once again, this time into the blue moth creature that he used to fight Ava earlier.

He flew up and decked Eon across the face, sending him flying back towards the other end of the room, into Lucifer's side. The brief moment of distraction gave the two sides the chance to call to one another.

“Keep them busy!” Ben called, going intangible as he did. “I'll get the Hands of Armageddon to the van!”

The Assassins nodded, and reloaded their guns. After Eon and Lucifer untangled themselves and stopped shouting obscenities at each other, they were met again with the volley of bullets and manna spheres, and even the occasional computer terminal that Kevin tossed up at them.

Ava managed to catch a glimpse of Ben phasing through the diamond wall out of the corner of her eye. He grabbed the Hands of Armageddon, turning it intangible at his fingertips. Ava meanwhile was frantically looking around for a way to cover their escape. Her eyes landed on the slight glow of what looked like a pipe. Experience told her right away that something that small and seemingly innocent had to be built to explode or fire or something, and so she ran for it, ducking and dodging over and under energy blasts and shredded machinery to get to it. Her fingers clamped around it, and she lunged around a corner, peeking out just long enough to see Ben fly his way up through the ceiling with the Hands in hand.

“Gwen!” she called as she began to fiddle with the isu device. “Got any way to ground them? At least for a few minutes?”

“I can try, hold up!” Gwen nodded. She help up her hands, and from her palms sprang beams of pink that wrapped around their hovering foes like snakes. They struggled and cursed, and then grunted in pain when Gwen brought them slamming into the concrete floor. Extensions wormed out from their manna chains and hooked into the ground, leaving them stuck struggling on the floor.

“No!” Lucifer snarled. “You won't get away with this, Arlie!”

“I hate to disappoint,” Ava said, as she pressed something that made her device start beeping, faster and faster, “But I think we're about to.”

Ava chucked her makeshift bomb into the middle of the lab, and called for her friends to start sprinting back towards the stairs. They all nodded in agreement and followed her lead, ignoring the strained swears of their enemies behind them as they booked it for the surface and back towards their van. To their relief, Ben was sitting outside waiting, getting the last rope secures tied down on the Hands of Armageddon in the trunk. Ava frantically waved for everyone to hop in the van, and by the time Ruby's foot slammed on the accelerator, their ears were assaulted with a massive boom that erupted behind them as they drove off. Some of them poked their heads out the window, turning to watch the fireball plume into the sky over Area 51, and then they all sat back in their seats, letting out sighs as they drove into the desert horizon.

“I am so getting blamed for this,” Dusk moaned.

Description
March 29, 2019; Bellwood

He took his time getting to the hideout, and it took even longer to calm him down after introducing him to the Tennyson trio. But once everything was back in order, he gave them what they needed to hear.

“What do you mean you can't get us in there?!” Chelsea fumed.

They hadn’t seen Dusk too much lately. If they ever got anything out of him it was usually “I’m busy” or “can’t talk right now.” Even trying to get him over here had been a hassle. Whatever he was working on had been wearing on him, too. He looked haggard. Tired. There were bags under his eyes and he hadn’t shaved in a while. He yawned and rubbed his eyes.

“Look, guys,” he told them. “Yeah, I’m working directly under Berg. But just because I’m near the top doesn’t mean I can do everything. Area 51 is one of our most exclusive research labs.”

“Wait what do you mean one?” Chelsea yelled.

“It’s called fifty-one for a reason, Chels. Keep up,” he snarked, before continuing. “Berg’s not even supposed to be able to go there. If it wasn’t for being part of the Inner Sanctum, he wouldn’t even have access. The way he put it is that if you don’t already work there, you’re not getting in. If the whole Inner Sanctum gave me permission, it would be weeks before I would even be allowed in, and I’d still be only allowed in certain areas. If the war is in the dark to civilians, then these are in the dark to us. Area 51 being common knowledge was a disaster they’ve been paying for ever since.” He shrugged his shoulders, leaning back. “There’s no way I can get you guys inside. That’s out of my hands.”

“Well damn,” Ruby crossed her arms.

“You came all this way just to tell us you can't help?” Chelsea growled.

“All I told you was that I couldn’t get you in legally. I didn’t say anything breaking about breaking the law.” He smiled.

Kevin started laughing. “I like the way this guy thinks,” he said.

“Oh no,” sighed Gwen and Chelsea in unison.

Jacob’s smile only seemed to widen. “I can’t get inside, but I can access most of the schematics for the place, guard schedules, maybe even a few locations and whatnot. Won’t be easy, but should give us a little edge.”

“That should work fine,” Ava nodded. “Ruby will need to find a spot to park the van as close as possible without being detected so that we can get the Hands of Armageddon in the trunk and take off as soon as possible.”

Then Jacob suddenly let out a yell, almost falling out of his chair.

“Oh,” Cathy said blankly.

“Woah woah woah wait what did you just say?!” Jacob asked, obviously upset, leaning forward.

“The… Hands of Armageddon?” Ben repeated.

“Otherworldly disk, unintelligible markings, can rip a hole in the space-time continuum?” He sounded spooked. And disturbingly spot-on.

“How did… you…?” Jess stuttered.

He leaned back in his chair, holding his chest. “I thought the guy was just a crackpot. Uh…” He cleared his throat, straightening. “Okay, so. This just got a lot more interesting. I’ll tell you how I know later.”

“Uhh… alright,” Ruby shrugged.

“Less exposition we have to repeat,” Catherine laughed.

“This is not okay!” Chelsea snarled.

“We should probably get going then,” Gwen said, standing. “The sooner we get the Hands of Armageddon the sooner we'll have an advantage over Eon.”

The others nodded save for Chelsea, and they made their way to the garage. Chelsea eventually pouted and followed along, and soon their van was packed and ready. Ruby hopped into the driver's seat, and once the garage door had creaked open, the gang took off into the desert, speeding off to break into one of the most secure military bases in the country for the heist of the century.

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February 26, 2019; Area 51, Nevada

“Abstergo's definitely upgraded this place since 1957, that's for sure,” Ava observed as she peaked down at the base through a pair of binoculars. From their vantage point, they could already see how much fortification had been added to the base since Bromden's time. Barbed wire and concrete walls, armored patrol cars piloted by equally armored guards all emblazoned with the Templar cross.

“Shouldn't be too much of a problem,” Kevin figured. He reached down to the ground, placing his hand on a large stone. The material began to seep up his skin, coating him in rock-hard armor.

“Can we go easy on the super-powers, guys?” Dusk asked. “At least until there’s no other option.” He leaned forward. “I’d love to see you go all out, but too much insanity, and Berg’s going to know I was involved. Right now there’s only a suspicion.”

“Call it a precaution,” Kevin grinned.

“Understandable.”

“We’ll keep low for as long as we can,” Ben agreed.

“Let's get going,” Ava said, standing and pulling up her hood. “I'll lead the way. I've got Bromden's route memorized.”

“Let's just hope the underground base is still the same layout,” Chelsea said.

“Hopefully.”

The team stood from their vantage point, and they began to slink their way down into the basin. They pressed up against one of the outer walls, quickly helping one another over into the base. They went into crouches, carefully making their way into the tangled maze of buildings and terminals. They could hear the sound of patrol vehicles rumbling around the roads, and every now and then they'd hear jets taking off from the runways.

“You wouldn't happen to have something in that watch that could turn us all invisible do ya?” Ruby whispered to Ben.

“Wish I did,” Ben whispered back. “I've got a few ghosts but those are kinda user exclusive.”

“Well damn,” Jess chuckled.

“We're almost there,” Ava said as she peaked around a corner. “This way.”

The team followed her close behind, trying to avoid getting anywhere near any guards, not wanting to risk raising suspicion by leaving bodies. Ava led them to the enormous entrance to one of the hangers, raising a hand to tell them to wait until the guards passed by their hiding spot. They slipped inside, and used the crates and machinery to hide their movements.

“It has to be around here somewhere…” Ava said, looking all around the walls for the old door.

“Is that it?” Gwen asked, pointing in front of them. They all turned their heads, and low and behold, there was a large steel door with a red light shining above it, smack where it was in Bromden's memories.

“That's it,” Kevin agreed.

“Awesome! Let's go!” Catherine cheered. The others nodded, and they scurried over. Carter and Jess stayed on the edge of the group, keeping watch around the corners for guards while Ava quickly poked the code into the little number panel on the side.

And was immediately met with a chastising little bleep.

“Dammit,” she cursed under her breath. “The code’s been changed.”

“I mean it has been 60 years,” Ben pointed out.

“Here. Let me.” Dusk pushed past the group up to the door. It was then that the others finally registered the Walmart bag he’d been carrying under one arm. He shuffled around in it for a second, pulled out a piece of paper, and smiled. “Okay… if it hasn’t changed then it should be…” He punched in a few numbers, and there was a slight click as the door popped open.

Chelsea shoved everyone out of the way, snatching the bag from Dusk’s hands. She opened it and peered inside. The bag was full of various devices and slips of paper. Among which were earbuds, fake ID cards, a potato, and a map of the facility. She looked to Dusk with fire in her eyes. He met it with a shrug.

“I brought this with me to the hideout. No one asked. Did you really think I’d show up with nothing? This is our research lab after all.”

Catherine, Ava, and Ruby were barely successful in stopping Chelsea’s flying leap at Dusk’s throat. She had some very choice words for him, which he took in stride, waving everyone through the door.

Ava hid a smile with her palm and led the front charge down into the depths. As soon as they were all inside and the door creaked shut behind them, a row of lights came on to guide their path down the secret hallway.

“So far so good,” Jess commented.

“Don't jinx it,” Cathy told her.

The group made their way down the hall, still able to hear the occasional aircraft landing on the surface world. Some of them seemed surprisingly loud.

They reached the elevator and stairwell that they had seen in Bromden's memories. It was definitely more polished than before.

“Don't think we’ll all be able to take the elevator roof route,” Ava observed. “We’ll have to take our chances with the stairs.”

The team followed her lead, beginning the trek down the stairwell.

“So like… what's the plan when we actually get down there?” Cathy asked.

“Sneak around until we find the Hands of Armageddon I guess,” Ruby shrugged.

“Oh is that all?”

“Ben can probably handle getting it back to the surface once we find it,” Ava pointed out.

“I mean I have a map,” Dusk said. “It won’t tell us where the Hands are, but isu artifacts is written dow- Chelsea wait!”

Chelsea tore the map from Dusk’s hands, shredding it and glaring at him. He hung his head and sighed. “You never asked. Did you at least see where the vault was?”

She glared at him for a second more, before forcing three words through gritted teeth. “I. Hate. You.”

“So that’s a yes.”

“Can you guys please stop with the dick measuring competition for five seconds?” Jess pleaded.

“Even Ben and I never got this passive aggressive,” Gwen quipped.

“Yeah. I mean, she did try to kill me,” Dusk said, smiling at Chelsea.

“Guys!” Ava groaned.

She shook her head and continued down the path, keeping an ear open for any footsteps. Thankfully, their route was silent the entire way, and it wasn't long before they arrived on the first floor of the underground facility, taking in the sheer size of the place for a moment before quickly finding a hiding spot. They heard another rumble from a jet from top side.

“I always hated airports,” Ruby joked.

Ava looked out into the room, darting her eyes around. She closed her eyes for a moment, deciding their search needed a little extra assistance from here. She focused all her senses into one spot, and soon her vision was encased in a blue shimmering hue. She cast another look around the room, her Eagle Vision helping her find the path. She caught a faint glimpse of a bright golden shine flicking through the maze of technology. She smiled, and flicked off her Sixth Sense. “That way,” she pointed, ushering her friends to follow.

As they ducked and slinked around every desk and corner they could hide behind as they pressed forward, they continued to hear rumbling noises coming from above. Ava could've sworn she heard faint shouting.

“Did a plane crash or something?” Catherine pondered.

“Either that or someone else is breaking in without as much regard for stealth as we have,” Jess shrugged.

“Let's just hope it's the former,” Chelsea said.

They kept trekking, following Ava’s lead, until eventually they finally came in sight of the massive door that they marked as their target. They watched from their cover as a scientist approached the door and punched in the keycode. And just as the team had hoped, when the doors whooshed open, inside lay the artifact they were after. The monumental metal disk from beyond the stars. The Hands of Armageddon.

“Alright,” Ava whispered, nodding to Ben. “Now you just need to use one of your guys to slip on in and-"

Another vicious rumble from above, one much louder and much stronger than before, as if caused by an explosion. The team could actually feel the rumble of that quake, as could all the scientists around the lab. Ava could definitely hear screaming coming from above. “What the hell is…?” she began to ask.

But her answer came before she could finish her question. The ceiling of the facility suddenly erupted into a cloud of smoke and shrapnel that caused the entire room to start panicking and shouting. The gang held their arms up to block the debris from falling down on them, and they joined the scientists in looking up in fear at the figure that suddenly descended like a demon from the smoke cloud. His deep purple cloak billowed behind him, and his eyes seethed behind his glowing helmet. He balled his fists, and crackling balls of purple lightning surged at his fingertips.

“The Hands of Armageddon!” he demanded, his raspy mechanical voice booming throughout the chamber. “Bring it to me now, or else!”

He extended his hands and the energy shot out of his palms, raining hell down upon the people scrambling in terror below.

“You jinxed it,” Cathy moaned to Jess.

“I'm going to take a wild guess and say that's Eon?” Chelsea asked.

The Tennysons nodded, and the Assassins started cocking their guns while Eon continued his attacks from above. Ava noticed the machines his beams were hitting, how they suddenly buckled and rusted as if being crushed by age.

“Time rays…” she moaned. “Definitely don't want to get hit by those.”

“It looks like he's just out to scare right now,” Ben said. He rolled up his sleeve and twisted the dial on his watch. Gwen spawned a few of her manna spheres from her fists, and Kevin touched a control panel to exchange his stone armor for steel. “You guys scatter around and try to get him from all angles,” Ben continued. “We'll be your brute force.”

The Assassins nodded, and they quickly ran to various cover points around the room. Ben stood tall, and he brought his palm down hard onto the dial of his watch. A bright flash of green light radiated from his person, and when Ava lowered her arm from shielding her eyes, she caught a glimpse at his newest brand of monster. It reminded her of the other stone monster they had seen during the fight, but with more of a crystalline base and muscular build, and turquoise highlights instead of pink. He raised his arm up at Eon, just as the villain was spinning to see what the cause of the sudden flash of light was. From Ben's crystalline hands, narrow shards ejected from his fingertips, and many of the first volley hit Eon straight in the torso. The cloaked man in the sky seemed to fume behind his helmet.

“Tennyson?” he snarled. “That's impossible! This universe is supposed to be void of you!”

“What can I say, Eon?” Ben shrugged. “I have a knack for following trouble around.”

Eon growled, balling his fists and surging up his energy blasts. “It doesn't matter!” he declared. “Soon I will destroy you all and claim the Hands of Armageddon!”

“Not while we're here,” Gwen taunted, tossing her manna spheres up at him. One of them landed its mark and Eon growled in pain while dodging the rest. He tightened his fists and aimed it at the Tennyson crew. A bolt of purple lightning shot out, and they dodged out of the way.

The Assassins had started moving as soon as the light had faded, each making their way to a different vantage point in the room. As long as Eon was focused on the trio, those beams wouldn’t be after them. Their first hits would have to count. Ava cocked her pistol and took steady aim at Eon’s fishbowl of a face. She pulled the trigger, and was thankful to hear a volley of gunshots from her friends join in. Her bullet smacked Eon in the side of his helmet, but to Ava’s dismay, it only seemed to jerk his head a little and piss him off. He spun around, his glowing purple eyes clearly displaying his irritation.

“Ah! The Assassin girl and her little band of misfit friends!” he observed. “I was wondering when we would get the chance to meet. I've been told a lot about you.”

“Then you should know the best option for you right now is to run away with your tail between your legs,” Chelsea taunted, firing a bullet of her own into his armored torso.

“Or at least shut up and fight” Dusk chided, jumping up behind Eon and releasing his baton straight into Eon’s back. The six feet of steel propelled Dusk away from Eon as well as knocking him off balance for a brief moment. Eon immediately retaliated his brashness by spinning around and thrusting forward, decking Dusk off the balcony.

“Just as arrogant as I was told,” Eon mocked.

“I mean for me it's more of a defense mechanism to be honest,” Catherine said before immediately dodging the blast that followed.

Eon fired blast after blast, but the Assassins had strength in numbers, and the maze of destroyed tech made their scattering even more of a challenge for him. While their weapons couldn’t cause too much harm, the crystals and magic smacking into him were another story. His concentration was broken, and he turned to attack the Tennyson crew in retaliation.

“Why are you even after the Hands of Armageddon, Eon?” Ben asked as he attacked and dodged. “I thought you wanted to get your hands on that Apple of Eden thing? To try and take over this universe or something?”

“This universe is of no use to me. It's a bidding chip, and nothing more. Once I have the Apple, I'll use it to conquer the multiverse and take my revenge while this dimension burns in cinder!”

“Why don’t you ask the last guy who tried that how it worked out? Oh wait,” Dusk said, pretending like he just remembered he was asking for an impossible task. He started resorting to throwing things rather than get up close and personal.

“Gotta give him credit,” Jess said. “He's taking the whole destroy this universe plan one step further than Lucy did.”

There was another rumble from above, and Eon suddenly grinned behind the rim of his helmet visor.

“Oh that's always a good sign,” Gwen said.

“You children really must learn not to talk ill of people behind their backs,” Eon said. “You never know when they might be listening.”

“What are you talking about, fishbowl?” Ruby demanded.

Eon simply smirked, and he hovered slightly out of the way of the smoke cloud still fuming from the ceiling. Ava and her friends heard a pounding growing louder and louder, followed by the sudden increasing whir of what sounded like a jet engine. Then suddenly something large and heavy exploded out of the billowing smoke, landing in a firm crash on the cracking concrete floor below.

And as soon as she saw what it was, who it was, Ava’s heart dropped like a stone into her stomach.

He slowly straightened his back, the dark steel of his armor creaking like bones as he stood up and turned to look Ava directly in the eyes. His scarred face broke out into a grin, the blood red lights radiating from his outstretched wings highlighting his wrinkles. Ava had never felt a colder chill run down her spine in her life.

“Hey kids,” he rasped menacingly. “Guess who's back?”

“Lucifer…” Ruby croaked.

“Ding ding ding! And you have no idea how much I have missed our little talks.”

He jerked up his palm, aiming it directly at the Assassins and firing a pulse of crackling red energy. The team lunged out of the way, scattering like terrified cockroaches as they tried to get their weapons in order. Lucifer activated his suit's thrusters and sprang up into the air to hover next to Eon.

“Friend of yours?” Kevin asked the Assassins, taking cover with his friends.

“You guy’s got religion in your world? Meet literally Satan.” Dusk called out.

“Or as I like to call him, a bastard that should be dead,” Ava snarled, firing a few shots up at the villains before taking cover from another volley of energy blasts.

“You get used to feelings like that,” Ben said.

“Please tell me this is actually just another nightmare…” Ava moaned.

“He is very real, Ms. Arlie,” Eon taunted. “And now together we will be able to carry out both our plans!”

“I don't need you to speak for me, fishbowl,” Lucifer frowned at him. Eon simply responded with a confused look, then huffed and went back to attacking.

“But yes, you've got the pleasure of seeing me back in the flesh thanks to this Darth Vader wannabe,” Lucy continued. “And once we get that Apple and the Hands, I'm going to detonate this garbage plane of reality and make sure you meddling kids feel every single atom in your body ripping apart when it happens!”

“Still working on those anger issues then, ey Lucy?” Catherine quipped.

“Is he like Paradise Lost daddy issues Satan?” Gwen asked. “Or just biblical embodiment of evil Satan?”

“I mean I always imagined it was a little bit of both,” Ruby shrugged.

“Enough!” Eon demanded. “I'm tired of this chatter!” He turned his head towards the room holding the Hands of Armageddon, and made an immediate dash for it while Lucifer pelted the Assassins and their friends below. But Ben made sure his way was blocked, slamming his fist into the ground and summoning a massive wall of diamond to seal the door.

“No!” Eon snarled, turning to fight. Ben started charging towards him, slamming his hand against the hourglass symbol on his chest. There was another flash as he transformed once again, this time into the blue moth creature that he used to fight Ava earlier.

He flew up and decked Eon across the face, sending him flying back towards the other end of the room, into Lucifer's side. The brief moment of distraction gave the two sides the chance to call to one another.

“Keep them busy!” Ben called, going intangible as he did. “I'll get the Hands of Armageddon to the van!”

The Assassins nodded, and reloaded their guns. After Eon and Lucifer untangled themselves and stopped shouting obscenities at each other, they were met again with the volley of bullets and manna spheres, and even the occasional computer terminal that Kevin tossed up at them.

Ava managed to catch a glimpse of Ben phasing through the diamond wall out of the corner of her eye. He grabbed the Hands of Armageddon, turning it intangible at his fingertips. Ava meanwhile was frantically looking around for a way to cover their escape. Her eyes landed on the slight glow of what looked like a pipe. Experience told her right away that something that small and seemingly innocent had to be built to explode or fire or something, and so she ran for it, ducking and dodging over and under energy blasts and shredded machinery to get to it. Her fingers clamped around it, and she lunged around a corner, peeking out just long enough to see Ben fly his way up through the ceiling with the Hands in hand.

“Gwen!” she called as she began to fiddle with the isu device. “Got any way to ground them? At least for a few minutes?”

“I can try, hold up!” Gwen nodded. She help up her hands, and from her palms sprang beams of pink that wrapped around their hovering foes like snakes. They struggled and cursed, and then grunted in pain when Gwen brought them slamming into the concrete floor. Extensions wormed out from their manna chains and hooked into the ground, leaving them stuck struggling on the floor.

“No!” Lucifer snarled. “You won't get away with this, Arlie!”

“I hate to disappoint,” Ava said, as she pressed something that made her device start beeping, faster and faster, “But I think we're about to.”

Ava chucked her makeshift bomb into the middle of the lab, and called for her friends to start sprinting back towards the stairs. They all nodded in agreement and followed her lead, ignoring the strained swears of their enemies behind them as they booked it for the surface and back towards their van. To their relief, Ben was sitting outside waiting, getting the last rope secures tied down on the Hands of Armageddon in the trunk. Ava frantically waved for everyone to hop in the van, and by the time Ruby's foot slammed on the accelerator, their ears were assaulted with a massive boom that erupted behind them as they drove off. Some of them poked their heads out the window, turning to watch the fireball plume into the sky over Area 51, and then they all sat back in their seats, letting out sighs as they drove into the desert horizon.

“I am so getting blamed for this,” Dusk moaned.