John sat at the head of the long wooden table. Along its length sat an assortment of federal officials, cabinet members, and military officers, each and every one tense and unmoving. None of them spoke a word as they watched the screen on the opposite wall with a mixture of fear and anticipation.

The room was too warm, stuffy from the sheer number of people present. That, alongside the tension, threatened to suffocate him. Yet John didn't so much as pull at his collar. His eyes, too, were glued to the scene unfolding before him.

A group of soldiers charged up a white spiral staircase, a mass of cats acting as their rearguard. Monstrous forms of every shape, size, and description swirled around them, aiming at a single central figure. They were singing as they fought, though perhaps singing was a generous term for it.

Then, just as the "music" reached its peak, a grotesquely lopsided man his fist forward, slamming it into the massive red portal in the sky.

The world went white. A flash so bright that it made John wince obscured everything on the screen.

They all held their breaths.

A moment passed. Then another. Then another. Eventually, John wondered if they'd lost connection. But just as he turned to ask, the faintest hint of something appeared on screen.

Motes of red glitter like powdered rubies floated through the scene. A few people rubbed their eyes and blinked as though it was a trick of the light. But as seconds passed and the dust became denser, it quickly became clear that it wasn't.

The light finally receded. The man – Chadwick Gaines Armstrong – stood there, panting with exertion. Around him sprawled fallen figures, both friend and foe. His chin was tilted upward, eyes gazing up at the blue sky above.

"He… he did it."

Someone's disbelieving voice broke the silence. The gathered people all looked around at each other in wonder.

"He actually did it, didn't he?"

The tension disappeared, replaced with shouts of victory and triumph through the room. People stood and hugged each other as they celebrated.

John slumped back in his seat with abject relief. They had done it. He had done it. They had figured out a way to close those damn portals for good. Finally, there was hope.

John looked over to see General Matthews in a similar position. For once, the man's legendary stoicism had been replaced with a far more human exhaustion. He, too, was just as relieved as the rest of them.

John turned to the man, unable to suppress a wide grin on his face. "Matthews?"

The general glanced over with a tired smile of his own. "Yessir?"

"That was the stupidest shit I've ever seen," John said. "But I'll be damned if it didn't work. I owe that man a drink."

***

Chad had thought his ears were ringing from all the gunfire in the battle before. As it turned out, that was child's play next to this.

The last thing he heard was a cracking sound. After that, everything went silent except for a high-pitched keening that bounced around his skull incessantly. It was accompanied by a sudden burst of white light that threatened to blind him, laughing at his closed eyelids.

He couldn't see whether the punch had worked. But he had felt the sudden lack of resistance that followed the blow. And the shockwave that came after.

It better have worked. I don't think I can do that again.

He realized that he was on the ground, the corner of the stairs digging painfully into his ribs. With a groan, he tried to push himself up to a sitting position. His arms didn't respond. Both hung limply at his sides, useless. A trickle of something warm ran down his left in particular. He was fairly sure he knew what it was.

Carefully, he struggled to get his feet beneath him as the spots slowly faded from his vision. After what felt like far too long, he was able to just make out his surroundings. Chad found his gaze drawn above his head, half expecting the ominous red disk to hang there still.

Blue sky stretched out above his head. Not a swirling mass of extradimensional energy. Not a swarm of enemies. Clear, blue sky. The only evidence that the thing had ever existed was the staircase he stood on and the sparkling red debris that rained down from above. It fluttered through the air and coated everything in a fine dust.

Chad sneezed. He tried to rub his nose before recognizing the futility of his efforts.

Right. My arms… He grimaced. I'm gonna need a lot of healing before trying something like that again.

But aside from the pain, the exhaustion, and the lack of hearing… Chad smiled. It had worked. They had done it.

A jolt of panic shot through him. Wait. The others. Are they ok?!

As he looked around, he noticed the soldiers around him groaning soundlessly and rolling onto their sides. A quick check revealed that everyone who he'd expected was still there, thankfully. No one had been thrown off the staircase entirely. Not even the enemies.

Chad's eyes widened as the demonic figure heaved itself to its feet. With a herculean effort, it stood, red eyes sweeping the area. The ringing in Chad's ears receded just enough for him to hear its hiss.

"You… what have you done?"

Chad raised an eyebrow and nodded to the sky. "See for yourself."

Suspiciously, the creature glanced over its shoulder. Its eyes widened as it saw the end of the gleaming staircase, now leading to nowhere. Slowly, it turned back. "What…? No… How…?!"

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Chad grimaced at the volatile mix of emotions in the demon's voice, disbelief chief among them. As he was, he didn't stand a chance against the thing. All of his skills were spent, his arms were useless, and his allies were still struggling to recover themselves. He also couldn't outrun the thing, based on what he'd seen. So if it decided to kill him…

It clenched and unclenched its fists, but remained still. The creature seemed… uncertain. Almost like it didn't know what to do either.

"Yeah, Nick didn't think it would work, either." Chad decided he might as well say something. "But it did. So…"

The demon's gaze snapped to meet his own. All around them, Chad saw the others beginning to regain their bearings and struggle to their feet as well. After a long moment, the creature's face broke into a wide grin.

"Nih'iquel'zan did indeed do well for himself." The ebony-armored form chuckled. "Well indeed, to meet one of such strength…"

The blue skinned elf still lay on the stairs, unconscious from the blast. Chad stepped to the side slightly to protect him. Even if there wasn't much he could really do, it was the thought that counted.

"I will go."

Chad blinked. "Pardon?"

The demon heaved its remaining allies to their feet, then pulled a long tube from his belt. "Your name. What is it?"

"Uh…" He paused. "Chad. Chad Armstrong."

The creature nodded, its dark horns already coated with a fine layer of red dust. "I am Muren. May we meet again some day, under better terms."

"What do–"

With that, Muren blew into the tube. A high-pitched whistle emitted from its end. A moment later, a swarm of black-scaled stingrays began to rise shakily from the ground below. Without hesitation, Muren and his now-recovering buddies leapt off the stairs and onto their backs. They sailed off into the distance as Chad watched, open-mouthed.

Well… that was fucking weird.

He watched as the others around him began to rise themselves, clutching their heads and muttering darkly. Evidently, the impact really had done a number on everyone.

The surrounding area, which had fallen quiet for a few minutes, slowly began to return to life. Monsters began to take flight once again as gunfire starters up anew from below. Only, this time, there was no open faucet of reinforcements to contend with. Now, the military was just on cleanup duty.

"Ch…Chad…?"

Squawkers shook himself nearby, his feathers sticking out at odd angles all over as he stumbled about in a daze. Chad knelt on the ground by him. "Hey, buddy. We did it."

"We did?" The bird's eyes locked on his arms. "What… what happened to you…?"

At that moment, he heard a crack. A small one, like the shifting of ice as water was poured over it. But it didn't stop. It just intensified, growing louder and more insistent.

The bird looked up in alarm. "Wha…? Gah! The stairs!!"

Looking up, Chad saw the source of his alarm. The top of the white stairs was beginning to crack and crumble, bit by bit.

"Run!"

He didn't need to be told twice. In a moment, everyone – cats, soldiers, Jerry, and Nick – all were moving down the stairs at a dead sprint. Behind them, they heard alarmed screams as some of the creatures that had still been on the stairs fell through the air below.

The cats cleared the way, taking care of any stragglers in their path. Unfortunately, Chad's limply swinging limbs betrayed him. He tripped, nearly falling forward on his face until the men around him held him up. Together, they ran and ran.

"It's getting closer!" Jerry squeaked, a hint of hysteria entering his voice. "What do we do?!"

A helicopter pulled up beside them, its door wide open. Annie reached out with her hand extended. "Jump!"

Chad, for multiple reasons, didn't want to do that. Mostly because he couldn't actually grab her hand. But before he could object, a vine sprouted from the helicopter and lashed around his torso. With a cry of surprise and a bit of help from Geoffries and Annie, it dragged him inside.

Chad lay on the floor of the helicopter panting. A moment later, the process was repeated for more and more soldiers and helicopters, people throwing our rope as Nick continued to use vines. It didn't take long to get everyone airborne, and soon after they turned to sail away from the chaos of the city.

Once they'd made it a fair distance away, Annie knelt beside Chad. "Damn, you look like shit. What happened up there?! We couldn't see anythin'…"

Chad looked up toward Annie with a grin. "We did it. That's what happened. We won."

***

They made it out of the city with far less trouble than they'd made it in. Most of the aliens and creatures around were still recovering from the shock and the impact of the portal's explosion. The ones that weren't were easy enough to take down en route.

As they traveled, they took stock of the damages. They had taken losses, as expected. A few helicopters, soldiers, and cats hadn't made it back for the return trip. Considering what they'd gotten done, the losses were minimal. But they still stung.

As they headed back to Gram Gram's bunker, Chad allowed himself a long moment to rest. Nick and Annie tended to his wounds as best they could – which was to say, they made the pain go away. His arms themselves weren't exactly functional still, not by any stretch of the imagination.

"Good job, everyone." Major Geoffries stepped forward. "The mission was a success. But it's not over yet. We've got more where that came from. Now that we know this works…"

"We've gotta close up the rest. Right." Chad agreed.

"Exactly." Geoffries nodded. "You just became the most valuable asset we've got. And you'd better believe we're gonna get you to these things as fast as possible."

"Oh, no." Annie pushed Chad down. "You're not goin' anywhere till you're fixed. We'll talk about all that once his arm's not torn up and useless. I mean, look at this…"

She wasn't exaggerating. Chad's arms were in awful shape. His left looked worse than his right on account of literally being chewed up, but his right felt somehow worse. It felt as though every muscle he had was torn and aching.

"Eh. It's not that bad." He plastered a grin on his face. "I'll just stick in some constitution…"

He brought up his system menu. He'd gained a few levels from that last encounter, which made sense. They'd put holes in a lot of monsters. With a quick thought, he tossed a point of constitution into each of his arms.

They knitted together with a series of disquieting cracks and pops. To his surprise, neither arm repaired itself fully. Apparently, the damage was too much for that. But it did mean he was able to move them again.

Nick froze as he was applying an ointment to Chad's various cuts and bruises. After a moment, he just shook his head. "I should no longer be surprised. You are the most abnormal being I've ever met, in this world or any other."

Chad shrugged apologetically, then winced. The motion still sent a twinge of pain through his neck. "It does seem kinda unfair, doesn't it?"

"Very."

He laid his head back down with a sigh. All of this talk about the future made him even more tired. The future could wait. For now, all Chad wanted was a hot shower, a soft bed, and a nice home-cooked meal.

That, and maybe…

"What's that look for?"

Annie looked at him with an amused expression. He realized he was grinning like an idiot. "Nothing. Just laughing at how we ended up back where we started. Me getting a nice massage."

She snorted. "Right. You being an absolute idiot who doesn't take care of himself, too."

"Hey! It worked!"

"It did…" She fell silent for a second before speaking again. "I'm glad you're ok, Chad."

Chad's smile sobered slightly. "Yeah. I'm glad you're ok, too."

The moment was interrupted by Squawkers's surprised caw. "Only two levels?! For all of that?! I got scammed! Scammed, I tell you!"

The arm wrestler let out a hearty chuckle as the helicopter continued flying, headed homeward. There was still plenty to do, but not today. Today, it was time to rest and celebrate.

I owe Gram Gram a big hug.

***

End