Becca and I went up the stairs - or at least we tried to until I remembered that I had accidently destroyed the only set of stairs leading up to the surface. That took a bit of problem solving on my part, and by that I mean I just blasted a hole the size of an elephant into the ceiling.

“Damn Boss!” Becca screamed, “Warn me next time you’re about to incinerate the whole damn ceiling!”

Huh, that was unexpected, I hadn’t meant to use that much force. In fact, when I willed the fireball into existence, I noticed that I had practically no control over it, and the size and intensity of the flames were on a level that I had never experienced before. I could chalk this up to my fatigue, but I’m not naive enough to not make the connection between that feeling of wrongness and my new found lack of control.

“Sorry Becca,” I answered half heartedly, “Must still be a bit tense.”

I’ll have to limit what I do, at least until I figure out exactly what’s wrong with me. If I used even a little more power into that last blast of fire, I’d have probably immolated Becca by accident.

“Yeah, no kidding, boss. Think all the fighting’s over?”

I strained my ears for a second, trying to pick up any residual sounds of combat, “I hear something, too quiet to be anything major, but don’t let your guard down.”

“Got it boss.” Becca answered solemnly.

And she quickly put the sword back into its sheath once we came to the conclusion that actually getting up into the giant hole in the ceiling was a little more challenging than we thought. I managed to jump up, but Becca was another story. Frankenstein’s basement was built abnormally tall, probably to house some of his larger equipment, and the height from the floor to the next floor reached at least 10ft. That meant that I couldn’t quite reach Becca’s outstretched hands to pull her up, and she couldn’t quite jump high enough to reach me.

That meant that we took another half hour or so piling random objects in the basement to make a makeshift platform for her to climb on, and by the time we were finished and ready for combat, the noises in the building came to an abrupt halt, followed by loud cheering.

Becca and I were still cautious, but when we arrived at the source of the commotion, we noticed Irina and the gang sitting around in one of Frankenstein’s couches - they were a little battered, but otherwise ok - cheering on a hulk of a man practicing pro wrestling moves on the beefed up version of Frankenstein.

It was surreal.

The man-beast thing was at least 8 feet tall, Just imagine the Hulk, but less green, and wearing crappier clothing, and you’ll have a good idea of what I was looking at. A felt a rumble as the man-beast suplexed a battered looking Frankenstein, before giving the audience a low bow of appreciation.

“Uh… what the fuck is going on here?” Becca finally said, still not lowering her weapon.

Her voice momentarily broke the audience’s trance, and they looked at the new girl in the room.

“It’s Becca! You’re alive! Give me a hug!” A loud voice boomed.

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Alexi all but bolted from his position, before being slapped by his wife and forced to sit back down. I could tell he was still injured, but given Alexi’s constitution, he’d be fine after some rest.

“Um, hi?”

“What my idiot husband meant to say is that it’s good to have you back.” Irina smiled, “Have some popcorn, Mike’s just about to perform his finishing move, the Weed Buster 420 degree spin.”

“I really wish my son would have named that particular move with more thought…” Another voice answered, “or gotten a less embarrassing hobby, for that matter.”

“I’m sorry, but do I know you?” Becca said, still looking a little dubious at the new woman.

Cait smiled and offered Becca a hand in greeting, “Where are my manors! I’m Cihuacoatl, but call me Cait. I’m that idiot’s mother.”

“Yeah, about that…” I chimed in, pointing at the man-beast thing, “That’s not Mike, is it?”

“Was it the 420 weed buster name that gave it away?” Hel sighed.

Her comment must have been heard, because a low rumble of a reply followed, “It’s Weed Buster 420 degree tailspin, mom!”

“That’s Mike.” I muttered.

Becca just nodded her head.

“Do I even want to know what happened?” I asked.

“Well, my friend, we are not dead!” Alexi answered, “Which means that you succeeded! Where is that nice girl Sara, by the way?”

I told my friends about what happened, about Sara and her ambiguous future, and what happened to me in the basement. Well, I told them most of it, I left out the parts where I almost died, or that bit at the end and that unease I’m still feeling. My friends have enough on their minds as is.

They took the news well, they didn’t judge any of my actions, nor did they congratulate me any more than was necessary - although I certainly can’t say the same about their attitudes towards Becca. You should have seen Cait and Alexei when they heard how she saved my ass from certain death. The sheer amount of praise she garnered was stagger. I mean, I did save the entire universe, and all I get is a pat on the back, and Alexi’s promise of beer. Talk about double standards.

Mike did manage to wrap up his little wrestling performance soon after, and loath as I am to admit it, his finishing move was a sight to see. Just the fact that he can lift the massive Frankenstein by the legs and spin him around - I did check, it actually was exactly 420 degrees of rotation - was impressive, but that when Mike slammed Frankenstein’s head into the ground sealed the deal for me. I don’t think it’s quite possible to kill the monster, even with Mike’s admittedly impressive performance, but it should keep him down for a long time at least.

With that done, we left the place and met up with the people Irina hired.

The front law was an absolute disaster, it looked like a warzone. Well, mainly because it was one. The Scathes, or what’s left of them, littered the floor along with dozens of bodies that I couldn’t begin to identify. I have no idea what kind of magic Irina managed to pull, but there were no signs of the local police around, or any other living being for that matter.

The mercenaries that we hired were all huddled near the exit, drinking beer and having an altogether good time. Some were a little more solemn, most likely from the loss of some of their members, but the mood was pretty uplifting altogether.

Irina said a few things to them, and they quickly backed their belongings and left the scene. It didn’t take more than 10 minutes, which speaks volumes about their efficiency and professionalism. All that’s left was for me to call it a day and just pass out for the next century or two.

Shortly after that, Cait said her goodbyes, and dragged a very reluctant looking Mike away, and Hel disappeared some time after exiting the building. I never understood where she goes, but I don’t think I really want to know. That just left me, Becca, Irina and Alexi after all the chaos was settled.

“Good job everyone!” Alexi boomed, “I am glad that we got all of that sorted out. Let’s go back to my place to celebrate with some beer!”

Irina stared daggers into her husband, “I think it would be a better idea if you had some rest, my dear husband. Without alcohol.” She then looked at me and Becca, “And I’m sure that these two wouldn't’ mind spending some time alone together.”

Alexei smiled nervously, “Ah, of course. You are always right! We will leave you with one of the cars, in fact, you can just keep it. Think of it as an… early wedding gift, if you man.”

I just shook my head at that comment. Even when he’s half dead, the man never changes.

Alexi and Irina left shortly after, and with that, the once busy battlefield has finally quieted down, and the only souls left there was Becca and I.

“So, um, boss…” Becca said, blushing, “About what we talked about before?”

“I know.” I answered.

“So that means…”

“Yeah.” I said, smiling for once.

Becca smiled back, and inched herself closer to hold my hands.

It was nice. I missed this.

“Thanks, boss.” Becca whispered, “But uh, we should probably get out of here, what with the dead bodies and shit.”

I laughed, and all but dragged Becca into the car.

It’ll be an interesting future, but one that I’ll embrace with pleasure.

THE END