This is definitely, most positively the last part to this fanfic.  Like
before, I cut this part in half, sort of, because to leave it in one
piece would make it too big for notepad to handle.  Hell, I don't mind.
Anything to build the suspense, really.


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


Hell's Fury



The trio watched the events from the street.  At first they thought
they were dead, but Steph explained that it took time for a god to
reach full power, so they had a little time, but not much.

"Hey, what the hell is going on?!" a voice shouted from the sky.  Eric
landed a few seconds later, staring at the light in the sky all the
way.  "Let me guess:  You didn't find the book."

"We were...sidetracked," Mewtwo explained.

"Yeah, what he said," Maggie muttered.  "Come on, let's go!  We don't
have much time!"

"About ten minutes, to be exact," Steph informed them.

"What?!"

"There's gotta be more time than that!" Eric exclaimed.

"Hey, I'm a computer, not a clockmaker."

He sighed heavily.  "I hate time limits."  He floated into the air,
then looked back at the others.  "You coming?"

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Maggie replied, just before flying after him.
Mewtwo quickly followed.  Like she said, 'why not?'  It wasn't like he
had anything to do before the world ended.

***

It took them less than a minute to reach the warehouse, but that wasn't
their real problem.  They didn't know how to stop the god from being
brought back, and they had to contend with over two-thousand vampires
out for blood.  Still, they pressed on.  For Eric and Maggie, it was
their job.  For Mewtwo, he just wanted some excitement.  Like there
wasn't enough of it here.

The light that stretched into the sky from the pentagram held another
surprise.  The trenches of blood pulsed with energy, creating a red-
white portal just a few feet in the air above them.  Je'kala had reared
his head into the mortal world, looking all the while like a minion of
death and destruction.  His head alone was over ten feet tall, which
meant the rest of him would be bigger than hell.  His skin was a deep
brown, off-set by the red light being emitted by a pentagram.  He
sported a pair of curled horns on his head, much like a goat's horns.
Teeth that were as long as an arm filled his mouth, and he seemed very
eager to use them.

They landed easily on the south end of the warehouse near where the
entrance used to be.  As soon as their feet touched the stone, four
thousand pairs of eyes turned to them.  Eric fell back into a fighting
stance, and Maggie pulled a small, two-inch long rod from behind her.
She tapped the end of the rod, and it extended downward into a three-
foot long steel pole, little more than an inch in diameter.  A bright,
metal double-edged blade rose out of the other end, one that was just
as long as the pole.  "Gotta be prepared," she explained.  Mewtwo
nodded, and began gathering psychic energy.

"So nice of you to come," a familiar voice said.  They all looked in
the direction of the voice, and saw the mage.  Eric didn't recognize
him, but Maggie and Mewtwo were very familiar with him.  "Now you can
have the honor of being the first victims of Lord Je'kala."

Maggie stepped forward, the blade on her weapon glistening in the red
light.  "How about you die first?"  He raised his arm and prepared to
fire a lightning bolt, but she rushed forward and beheaded him.  The
bolt fizzled out in midair while his body burst into flames and was
quickly incinerated.

"I wish you hadn't done that," Kicel said slowly.  He picked up a
yellowed page from the frozen hands of the mage and placed it inside
his coat.  "I sort of liked him."

"Too bad for you."  She made a wide slash and tried to behead him as
well, but he ducked and motioned for the masses to attack.

They charged the trio as one, becoming a wave of force.  Mewtwo
finished collecting the energy he needed and fired a beam of power into
the crowd, completely disintegrating everyone near the middle of the
throng.  Now they separated into groups and attacked the three
individually.

Eric held up a palm, which began to glow brightly.  A ball of energy
formed, then he threw it up into the air like a baseball.  "Get down!"
he shouted to Maggie, just before the ball began firing small bolts of
energy down at the vampires.  They hit the warehouse floor and
exploded, knocking down whatever vampires were in their proximity.  He
charged into the remaining vampires and engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
He was more skilled, Mewtwo observed, but he was dangerously
outnumbered.

"So, you're the new guy?" Kicel said from beside Mewtwo.

"Wha-"  He turned suddenly, not sure how the man managed to get near
him without his knowledge.  "I suppose you could call me that, yes."

"Look at them."  He motioned toward the two Agents, deep into battle.
They fought with fury, killing vampires with almost every swing.
"You don't even know what those two are capable of."

Mewtwo backed away slowly, then began gathering energy...  "I think I'd
rather just kill you."  He was hit with a sudden explosion of pain, and
the next thing he knew, he was on the ground.

"Please.  That's so crude."  He reared up and brought his foot down
over Mewtwo's head, trying to crush his skull, but he moved out of the
way and floated up into the air and to his feet.  "Nice.  But you have
no fighting skill.  Sure, you can use energy and destroy my comrades,
but you certainly can't fight hand-to-hand."  He smashed his fist into
Mewtwo's face, knocking him back a few feet, and off the warehouse.
"Heh.  Looks like you're not ready, newboy."  He leapt off the edge
after Mewtwo, energy building up in his fists.  Spectre had taught
him well.

***

On the warehouse platform, the two Agents were still up to their necks
in vampires.  Maggie made a wide arc with her staff and beheaded a good
number of vampires at once.  They turned to dust, then to their great
surprise, several red bolts of energy shot out from the pentagram.
They struck the piles of dust, then they melted together and the
vampires were regenerated.

"You ever get a feeling of dŽja-vu?" she asked just before killing
another swarm of vampires, only to have them regenerate.

"Vaguely," he answered.  His body was suddenly engulfed in flames, then
a shock wave of fire shot out and consumed the surrounding vampires.
They regenerated within a few seconds and again moved in to attack.
"This is ridiculous!"  He focused his mind, concentrating on one
objective...  "STOP!!!"  A flash of light burst out and engulfed the
entire platform.  "Whoa...I can't believe that worked."

"Why, what'd you do?"  She looked around, and saw that every last
vampire had frozen in place, most in mid-regeneration.  "Wow...how'd
you do that?"

He shrugged.  "I don't know.  Same way I do this."  He held out his
hand, and a .45 automatic appeared in his hand.  It worked on the same
principle, only he had no idea what it was.  He looked around at the
frozen figures.  Je'kala was the only thing that hadn't been affected,
which meant they still had work to do.  "Hey, can these guys fly?"

"What?"  At the time, it was a strange question.  "I don't think so,
why?"

"Push them over the edge!" he suddenly shouted, then ran over and
slammed into a vampire, knocking it over the edge of the platform and
down to the city.  "If they can't fly, then they can't get back up,
right?"

"Then all we have to deal with is Je'kala.  Fucking brilliant!"

"Thanks!"  They hurried and began picking up the living statues and
throwing them off the edge.  The bodies fell to the ground, landing in
the streets and through the roofs of the surrounding buildings.  A
deafening roar stopped them before they could finish, one that came
from Je'kala.

"Hey, what do we do about him?" she asked.

He shrugged again.  "I'll think of something."

***

Somewhere below the warehouse, Kicel hit Mewtwo with a roundhouse kick
and slammed him into a nearby building.  He rushed forward and hit him
with a backhanded punch, flew in front of him and elbowed him in the
face.  A ball of energy formed in his fist, and he threw it at him, but
Mewtwo blocked it with a well-timed force field.

"You are so predictable," the vampire sneered.  He threw another ball
of energy, but vanished before it hit, reappeared behind Mewtwo and
buried his fist in Mewtwo's spine.  "Well, you know what they say:  Old
fighters can't learn new tricks."

"I'm...not a fighter," Mewtwo gasped.  The pain in his back was like
fire.

"Then you're dead."  He spun around and kicked him in the head, then
the mighty psychic fell to the ground, and stopped moving.  "Geez, you
certainly don't know how to fight.  I'm sorry I wasted my time with
you."  He floated down to the street where Mewtwo lay, then slowly
raised his foot and positioned it above his opponent's head.  "You
really don't know anything, do you?"

Down it came, fast as a bullet, down toward Mewtwo's head.  One death,
then a whole lot more.  Then, wham! his foot stopped.  "No, but I'm a
quick study," Mewtwo snarled.

He blocked Kicel's foot with his paw, then gripped it with his claws
and tripped him in an instant.  He quickly teleported to his feet, then
jumped up, pulled his legs back, then sprang them forward, hitting him
with the force of a sledgehammer.  Kicel flew through the air across
three city blocks, then fell, tumbling and rolling across the street,
then Mewtwo teleported again, right in front of him.  He fired a wave
of psychic energy at Kicel, virtually burying him in the street.

Now he was pissed.  Kicel leapt out of his artificial grave, but Mewtwo
was waiting with a clawed fist, headed straight for his head.  Kicel
was faster, but Mewtwo never failed to hit his mark.  Kicel hit the
ground again, his face bleeding from the long claws.  Mewtwo teleported
once more, and stood over the deformed figure of the vampire.  "I may
not have the proper training, but I know how to win a fight."  With
that, he raised his foot and stomped on Kicel's head, turning it into
mush.  The rest of his body disintegrated soon after, leaving only a
yellowed page of parchment.  "Hmm.  Looks like a present for me.  How
thoughtful."  He picked it up and placed it under his arm.  He would
have to read it later.  Right now, he had things to do.

***

Somewhere far in the darkness of Limbo, two beings conversed.  One was
standing over the fallen form of another.  The other was just looking
for something far off...

"This is not a good thing," the first one said.

"No, it isn't," the second replied lazily.

"Are you sure he's dead?"

"I'm positive.  I'm a computer."

"No...he can't be dead."

"He's dead.  Get over it."

"No!!  I will not 'get over it', as you so tactfully put it."

"So what the hell do you think you can do, Michael?  Just waltz into
the Agency and say, 'Hey, sorry to burst in, but that last operation
you guys pulled really pissed me off.  Can I have someone's head, or
something?'"

"Please.  All I want are a few souls."

"Then go right ahead.  See if I care."  She vanished soon after,
leaving Michael alone in complete darkness.

The body at Michael's feet was battered and broken, the result of a
fight that nearly killed them both.  The Agency was the cause of that
battle.  He didn't blame the Agency, really.  Just the one who had
beated his comrade so.  The one who would soon come after him.

***

Michael awoke, his vision bathed in red.  At first he didn't know where
he was; his first thought was that he was dead and now in hell, but he
allowed his eyes to clear, and saw a horned figure floating above him.
Now he remembered!  Spectre!  It was she who put him here...but why?
Ah, to bring back a dead god!  Je'kala, if he recalled correctly.  If
he also recalled correctly, the demi-power subject - namely him - had
to be positioned exactly in the center of the pentagram, or else the
whole thing would go to shit.  Well then...

He couldn't move, but he could call on the powers of flame to aid him.
A cloud of fire engulfed him, heating up by the second.  All he needed
was a few minutes, and the fire would be hot enough to melt the stone
floor of the warehouse.  Then Je'kala would be banished back to Hell
and he could get out of this gods-forsaken world.

***

"We have a major problem."

"You think?"

Outside of the pentagram, Eric and Maggie watched nervously as Je'kala
slowly pulled himself out of the pentagram's field.  If they didn't do
something soon, they would have a full-power god on their hands, and
that was not part of their current job description.

"Where's Mewtwo?" Eric asked.

"Beats me," Maggie mumbled.

"Up here," Mewtwo called from above them.  He dropped down onto the
platform near them, giving an idle glance towards the pentagram.  "You
still haven't stopped the god?"

"We're brainstorming," Eric said cheerfully, trying to lighten the
mood.  It didn't work very well.  "Hey, what's that?" he asked,
pointing to the piece of parchment under Mewtwo's arm.

He pulled it out and looked it over for the first time.  "I took it
from a vampire."

"What does it say?"

"It says, 'He shall be held steady in this world by the unbreaking
chain of blood.  The scent of death shall be rich in the streets of the
city of-"

"Forget it, it's just a legend."

"Perhaps not.  I think I have an idea."

Maggie gestured toward the pentagram.  "Go right ahead, buddy.  You're
the smart guy."

Mewtwo stepped toward the pentagram, keeping one eye on the piece of
paper in his paw.  He concentrated on the calculations for the problem.
M = mass, V = velocity, E = energy, F = force.  F + E times V minus M
equals X, which was, right now, an unknown.  He ran through the
variables in the time it took a human being to blink.  He gathered
psychic energy and directed it at a section of the pentagram, then
fired it in the form of a massive beam of energy.  It cut through the
stone between the deep trenches of blood, connecting the red rivers at
separate points and althering the symbol's form.

***

Michael felt the heat of the energy beam coming toward him, but it was
too late for that.  The fire around him had melted the rock, and
subsequentially his skin and clothes, but he was through!  He fell like
a stone, through the hole and down to the street.  Hah!  Like Spectre
could really use him to summon a god!  Hmph.  He would definitely have
to kill her.  She may be more powerful now, but he was immortal, and
the more times they fought, the more he learned just how strong she
was, and just how to defeat her.  All he had to do was wait...

Suddenly, a blast of red light exploded from the hole he had created,
heading toward him faster than he could dodge.  It hit him full-force,
smashing him through a building below and down into the street.  His
vision faded as the energy expoded, sending shock waves throughout the
city.

***

On the platform, everyone watched in awe as Je'kala writhed and twisted
in his red prison.  The trenches of blood glowed brighter, then red
lightning bolts arced out and hit Je'kala and the surrounding area.

"I think you made him mad," Eric said to Mewtwo.

"According to the legend, the pentagram has to be kept whole to keep
the god in this world," he explained.  "Break the pentagram, and he
will return to where he came from."  A lightning bolt struck less than
two inches from his foot.  "Of course, there's always the problem of us
getting killed."

"Always.  That's what makes this job so fun."

"Agents..." a voice growled.  It was Je'kala.  He finally managed to
reach a massive clawed hand out and rake the floor, leaving deep cuts
in the stone.  "I will not leave so easily.  With my last breath, you
shall join me in death."  A wave of energy exploded from the pentagram,
throwing the trio into the air and down toward the city.  "Spectre...
you fool...  Nrraaargghhhhh..."  He was sucked back through the portal
the pentagram had provided, and the conflicting energy exploded,
completely shattering the stone platform into pebbles.  Every last
window in the city exploded, and the buildings were hit with an energy
wave that disintegrated everything it touched.

***

Spectre looked on from space, watching the energy destroy the city.
Even from this altitude, the explosion was so intense, she could see it
with perfect acuity.  Je'kala hadn't risen.  The power she so wanted
was lost.  "Oh, well," she muttered, "There's always more gods."

She raised a hand and pointed to a spot in front of her, then a blue
beam of energy emitted from her finger.  It pooled in a single spot,
creating a portal.  She melted into a black cloud and quickly slipped
through the portal, the recent setbacks already far from her mind.  All
she had to focus on now was where to go next.  Power was everywhere;
she just had to find it.

***

Darkness.  Pain.  Blood.  Nothingness.  Mewtwo's mind suddenly snapped
back into consciousness, and he suddenly realized there was something
pressing against his back.  Even before he opened his eyes he assessed
his situation.  Nothing broken, minor wounds, some slighy bleeding.  He
activated his healing powers and closed up the cuts, then opened his
eyes slowly.  At first everything was blurry, probably a secondary
result of the blast.  Then the world came into focus, and he saw the
sky once more.  It was blue now, a sign that all was right with the
world.

He teleported himself to his feet and looked around.  The sky may have
been blue, but that didn't mean that they had saved the city.  The area
underneath the warehouse and everything within at least half a mile was
gone.  What was in its place was a crater.  Nothing else.  The people,
buildings, streets, everything was gone.  It hit him just then that he
could sense Eric and Maggie close by.  All of a sudden he saw Maggie,
waving at him from atop a crumbled building.  She stood on a piece of
stone that had been torn from one of the offices and blown across the
city, then hopped down and floated to the street.  "What the hell
happened?!" she shouted.

"I think we lost," Mewtwo said somewhat quieter.

She noticed the crater just then.  "Damn."

"My sentiments exactly."

She slowly walked over to him, her eyes always on the crater.  Suddenly
she noticed a shift in the rubble near the edge of the hole in the
earth, then spotted a hand pushing a large rock away.  "Hey, look!"
She ran over to the hand and yanked on it, pulling out a very
disheveled Eric.

He emitted a low moan.  "Ohhh...stop the universe, I want to get off."

"Well, at least he's alive," she offered.

At that moment, a bright flash of light turned their attention away
from the crater.  "What the hell did you do?!" a rather pissed voice
screamed.  It was Steph, naturally.  "I leave you three alone for ten
fucking minutes, and you blow up a whole fucking city!!"

"It wasn't our fault," Eric groaned, "Je'kala did it."

"Oh, fuck you!  Geez, I can't take you guys anywhere!"

"I would say we failed in our mission," Mewtwo said with a tone of
sorrow.  He didn't care much about the mission, per say, but he felt
saddened by the loss of life.  He felt more saddened by the fact that
it was his plan that caused this.

"Oh, don't go soft, okay?"  Steph closed her eyes for a few seconds,
then opened them, slightly less angry-looking than before.  "Look,
don't worry too much about the people who died here, okay?  You guys
won a big victory, regardless of the fact that you BLEW UP THE CITY!!"
She took a moment to compose herself.  It took a little while.  "Forget
that, there wasn't much loss of life anyway.  There's been so much
violence and death in this city already that most of the population has
already emigrated.  I can read a total body count of less than five
hundred."

Mewtwo looked at her curiously.  "How can you tell that?  There are no
bodies."

"I can track their souls."

"Their what?!"

"Never mind, I'll explain later.  Oh, yeah, as of now, you guys are
officially finished.  You're out of here."  She waved her arm, and a
portal appeared near them.  "Although, if you'd rather stay..."

"No thanks," Eric sighed.  "We're out.  I don't want to spend one more
minute here."  He walked through the portal, and Maggie quickly
followed.

"How can you justify all these deaths?" Mewtwo asked Steph.

"I don't," she answered simply.  "Then again, think about what might've
happened if Je'kala had gotten out.  Gods in their true form can travel
through space as easily as walking down the street.  There are more
than ten quadrillion people in this quadrant alone.  If he had gotten
out, they would be dead.  Now, compare five hundred to ten quadrillion.
Not a pretty picture, is it?"

He didn't even have to think about it.  He had an acute understanding
of numbers; no doubt about it, the deaths here were more acceptable.
"Still, it's not a pleasant thought..."

"Hey, you win some, you lose some.  Don't worry about it too much.
It'll just make you feel guilty, and that's never pleasant."  She
vanished, and he took one last look at the city, then went through the
portal.  Gods, demons, and strange legends...this life certainly was
eventful.

***

Near the center of the crater, the battered form of what used to be a
human layed there, looking all the while like a charcoal briquette.
Suddenly, the burn marks slowly dissolved, falling off the body like
flecks of dead skin.  The wounds healed themselves, and the body began
to move.

Michael slowly stood up and looked around.  All he saw was...nothing.
Good.  That meant there wasn't a god, and he didn't have any more
competition, other than Spectre, of course.  He reached into his coat
and pulled out a remote, then opened a portal and stepped through.  All
he had to do now was tie up a few loose ends, then his plans would be
completed.

***

Somewhere in Limbo, Steph stood around, waiting for someone.  Finally,
a portal opened near her, and Michael stepped out.  "What took you so
long?" she snapped.

"I was busy," he snapped back.  "Do you have the book?"

She held up the brown tome.  "Yep.  What do you want me to do with it?"

"Just keep it safe for now.  I'll be needing it later."

"Okay.  See ya."

"Hmph."  He walked through the same portal that took him here, then
it vanished, leaving her alone again.

Although not for long.  Another portal opened, and two figures stepped
out.  "Hey, Steph," Eric greeted.

"Hey guys."

"Do you have the book?" Maggie asked.

"Yeah.  Right here."

She handed it to Eric, who held it up for all to see.  "And Michael
still doesn't know?" he asked.

"Nope."

"Good.  One more mission, and we'll be able to solve all our problems.
Even Spectre."

"Heh.  Good luck."  With that, she disappeared, and they returned
through the portal.  Like he said, just one more mission.

Just one more...

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

No, I'm not going to write only one more fanfic.  Hell, I like writing
these things too much to stop.  I've got...let's see...how many
planned?  Let me put it this way:  These things would go a lot faster
if they were a weekly TV show.  And by that I mean if I keep writing
like I've been, I'll be busy till the next millennium, and by that I
mean the real millennium, 2001.  And don't worry, my laptop's Y2K
compliant, so I'll keep the stories coming.

Oh, and have a Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year!


The Master of Eternal Darkness,

Shadow