The moment Craig passed out, the demons shuddered and gave up the fight, scattering in different directions in a desperate plea to escape.

I didn’t let them….not like Craig was going anywhere without one of his legs.

One of my disks chewed through three of the Hellhounds and I angled for the other runners that had turned a corner, when a series of gunshots rang out.

Before I could move to help whoever it was fighting the demons, they rounded a corner and came into view.

My stomach flipped at the sight of them and I felt as if I were in a dream.

My team…

“Dirk!” Lacy dropped the rifle in her hands, sprinting the fifty feet to me in a flash. She threw herself into my arms, wrapping her legs around me. I was so shocked that I stumbled back, falling to the road beneath us with a oomph. Lacy didn’t even register our fall, her lips pressed so tight to mine that our teeth clicked together.

“I was so scared,” she breathed. “We thought—I thought…”

“I’m okay, Lace,” I whispered back. “I’m okay…but Red…Red is gone.”

Her eyes went wide, noticing the missing cape and then tracking up the street.

“Craig! He was running this way! We have to get him—”

She burst to her feet, turning to retrieve her rifle as the others watched us from a distance.

“Lacy…I got him. He’s still alive.” I pointed down the road where a lump of crimson cloth was stirring.

Her face hardened and she bent down to scoop up her rifle.

“What’re we waiting for? Let’s gut the bastard and get back Red!”

She stomped in that direction and I took in the sight of the others behind her.

“You guys alright?” I asked.

Jerome grunted and Byron gave a tired smile.

“Everyone’s good.” Frank adjusted his glasses and smiled as he watched Lacy stomp toward Craig. “She stepped up big time.”

I turned to watch her, admiring the way her hips swayed as she angry-marched toward the unconscious red blob.

“Doesn’t surprise me. She’s incredible.”

Jerome stepped up beside me and snorted.

“Far too good for you, white boy.”

Chuckling, I nodded. “Don’t I know it.”

She turned around, almost as if she could feel us all staring after her. When she realized no one was following to put down Craig, her brow furrowed.

“Will you dummies quit staring at my ass and help me kill this man? We’ve got shit to do.”

Jerome snorted, while Amos and I shared a belly laugh. Byron looked at me with a hint of fear in his eyes.

“I wasn’t looking at her ass, I swear.”

“Me either,” Frank said seriously.

“Oh, I definitely was,” Amos leered, turning to me with a shrug. “You blame me?”

I shrugged back. “No, I was, too.”

Lex swooped in with a triumphant honk.

“Hey, buddy,” I said with a smile. “Good work up there.”

“You too, Dirk. I’m sorry about Red, though.”

Byron’s head shot up. “Oh, yeah, your cape!” Then he looked over toward Craig with a frown. “Is that it over there?”

“Just the cape, not the person that was inside the cape.”

He arched a brow in confusion, glancing at Amos and Frank.

“I thought you were making that up the entire time. There was actually a living being inside your cape?”

I nodded and opened my Inventory. “Sure was. She was a psychotic motherfucker, but that’s what I loved about her.” Pulling out the [Paladiun Symbiotic Spirit], I held it up to study it. “But she’s not gone. I’m pretty sure she’s in this—”

Lex’s gasp cut me off.

“By Heaven’s balls, is that what I think it is!”

I was so stunned by Lex’s curse, I didn’t respond at first. He flapped up to a hover, the wind of his wings sending gusts all around as he struggled to stay at eye level with the item.

“It says it’s a Paladiun Symbiotic Spirit,” I explained with a shrug. “I assumed Red’s spirit is in this thing.”

“Set it down…so I can examine…it!” Lex was panting from the effort of remaining level, his excitement still bubbling through his obvious exhaustion. He had been flying non-stop for nearly the entire fight.

I shrugged and placed the item on the street. It was an oblong-shaped item as big as my palm. It had a opalescent sheen to it, with flecks of red swimming on its surface like drops of blood.

“This is…oh, Heavens, it is! I’ve heard of them, but never seen one!”

The way Lex was talking about it was more than just excitement that Red was potentially alive.

“This is Red, right?”

“Yes! Very much yes! But more than that.” He glanced up at me, his eyes wide. “This is better than just Red!”

I narrowed my eyes. “Damn, Lex, that’s cold. Red was part of the team.”

He shook his head fervently. “No, no! What I mean is, it can do more than bring Red back! You can give her a life! A real life! With a body and autonomy! You’ll still maintain your bond, but she can live in a creature!”

“Oooo, that sounds bad ass!” My imagination started to race through the possibilities.

“And her growth isn’t capped,” he continued. “She’ll continue to level, gain abilities, and grow along with us!”

Lacy’s voice called out, a hint of panic in it.

“Guys! He’s starting to stir!”

I looked over to see the red cloth moving, a groaning sound coming from our enemy. A flash of concern struck me. Though he was down and weakened, he still had his mind control abilities.

I turned to Frank. “Call out any threads!”

“Uh, actually—”

He cut off as Lacy grunted. I whirled around to see her straddling Craig, her fist pumping into his face.

“Fuck. You. Fuck. You.” Each word was punctuated by a right straight.

At first, I was worried he could do something to her, but he was clammed up, his hands over his head as he weathered the beating with pitiful whimpers.

We ran over together, taking in the sight of our greatest enemy, reduced to a quivering blob of battered flesh. Lacy continued to beat the man and I put a hand on her shoulder. A cathartic beatdown was one thing, but it was another thing entirely to beat a person to death. I knew from experience, that was a line you couldn’t uncross.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

She flinched at my touch, her breathing ragged as she held her fist poised over his face. Blood dripped from his mouth and nose, and his eyes were swollen welts of blue and purple.

But he was conscious and there was awareness in those his gaze as he stared up at us.

“Let me end the fucker,” Lacy growled, pulling a gun from her Inventory.

“Lace.”

She whirled on me, confusion and anger in her eyes. “He is not walking away—” She turned back to him, aiming the gun at his head. “—Not this time.”

I bent down to look her in the eye, nodding to show her I was with her.

“No, he doesn’t get away. But I think there’s someone that needs this closure more than we do. What do you think?”

I didn’t push, letting her mind turn on that question. She narrowed her eyes in thought, then they widened as realization hit her.

“Nikki?”

I nodded. “Nikki.”

Lacy looked down at Craig with regret, the eagerness to end him right there obvious in the way her pistol hand trembled.

With a sigh, she put the gun back in her Inventory and nodded. “You’re right.” A smile touched her lips as she looked at me. “And I evolved my ability. It’s area of effect now, so he can’t touch us anyway.”

We looked down at Craig together and were rewarded with the unmasked terror in his eyes.

“Time to face judgment, asshole.”

***

Rude. Inconsiderate. Annoying.

Lex’s humans treated him like one of Amos’ pigeons, sending him off to fetch Nikki because he could fly. Well, Dirk could run faster than any Earthling ever born. Heavens, even Amos could run as fast as the fastest humans with his Body Boon.

But nooooo, send the glorified scout.

“I’m a god-dang battle goose now! Put some respect on my name!”

Of course, no one heard him a thousand feet in the air, but it still felt good to shout into the wind. And it wasn’t entirely true that no one heard him—Dirk could see and hear everything through the bond and Lex wasn’t letting him off the hook emotionally.

Feel this annoyance, Dirk! Feel every last drop!

It cheered him a bit to receive back a flash of irritation, but he didn’t let off the gas. His feathers physically hurt and that wasn’t even possible!

To be fair, he was flying over the State Capitol building in less than a minute, so the task wasn’t too onerous.

It was the principle of the matter!

Down below, the cheering had stopped and the bone-deep weariness was clearly setting in for the defenders. Men who had faced certain death were slumped against walls, burned-out cars, or just laying on the road. Cries of pain and fear still rang out from the makeshift hospital tents erected away from the barricades. Those that hadn’t been face-to-face with demons used what energy they had left to ferry the injured or supplies back to those tents.

He saw all this and his irritaion withered on the vine. The aftermath of that battle put into stark contrast how much work remained to be done and just how close they had come to total defeat.

Scanning the bustling activity below, he activated one of his new abilities he hadn’t told Dirk about—for very good reasons.

I’m a battle goose, he insisted to himself. NOT a scout!

Unfortunately for him, the System didn’t seem to agree.

[Goose Eye I]

Unlike the better-known and usually more useful ability, [Eagle Eye], this ability doesn’t increase the user’s sharpness of sight or provide any magnification of any sort.

Activation Time: 120 seconds

Cooldown: 300 seconds post-deactivation

Lex paused his review of his new ability, feeling—for the tenth time—quite miffed at the description of the ability.

Why you gotta do me like that?

That isn’t to say [Goose Eye] isn’t useful! When activated, peripheral cognition is increased by 1000%, allowing the user to subconsciously identify terrain or targets in their full field-of-view, rather than the focal point.

At higher ranks, the System will highlight objects, people, or terrain of note.

He sighed, doubly annoyed at the System’s subtle shade, but also at the undeniable truth…

This ability was going to be freaking useful. For scouting. Which he didn’t want to do.

He activated the ability, feeling the internal timer begin to countdown. His vision seemed to shift, though nothing changed with regards to his field-of-view or his acuity. This ability felt more so like a cognitive enhancement, allowing his brain to catelogue things in his vision at an enhanced rate.

Three Fliers perched on the backside of that building five hundred feet southeast.

Two-hundred-and-ninety-three soldiers dead. Seven-hundred-and-eighty-nine Hellhounds. One hunred-and-twelve Overseers. Seventeen Brutes. And one Alpha.

A flash of yellow running below flagged in his mind.

Tucking his wings, he dove, quite enjoying the sensation of the wind through his feathers despite his complaints.

That wonderful feeling came to an end too soon as he banked to a stop in front of Nikki.

“Lex?” she called out in surprise. She held a box with a red cross in her arms. “Where are the others?” Her tone was desperate, frightened. “I haven’t seen them since—”

“They’re fine, dear. Everyone’s fine.”

She sighed, looking up in relief before narrowing her eyes. “What’s up? Were you looking for me?”

“Actually, yes. We, uh, caught he who shall not be named.”

He glanced around, worried that one of the big wigs or their people would be nearby. Dirk had explicitly instructed him not to let anyone but Nikki know they had Craig.

“They’ll want to do a trial,” Dirk had said. “Hell, they might even let him off the hook if they think they can control him. They’re power brokers and he represents a lot of power. We can’t risk them knowing he survived.”

Nikki dropped the box she had been carrying, her eyes tight as she walked closer.

“Craig?” she asked. “Where’s that son of a bitch!”

Lex opened his beak to quiet her, when a third voice chimed in.

“He’s alive?”

“HONK!” Lex flapped his wings in surprise, whirling around to see the president’s Climber, Bobby, just coming around the edge of the nearest hospital tent.

“Huh? What! No, of course not! Why would you even think that. What are you—I mean, no, definitely not…” He trailed over with a sigh.

Reading human emotional cues was still a weakness of his, but Bobby’s face couldn’t be clearer. He wasn’t buying it.

“Yes, he’s alive.”

Bobby pursed his lips in thought, looking between Nikki and Lex.

“You intend on killing him?”

Lex agonized over how to respond to that. On one hand, Bobby was the president’s ringer and might not be too pleased to hear they were going full Judge Dredd on Craig’s butt. On the other hand, Lex had personally witnessed Bobby fire a dozen bullets with that very intention. Saying the wrong thing here could bring a tempest down on Dirk’s head—

“Yes,” Nikki replied smoothly.

Bobby smiled. “Excellent. Can I watch?”

Nikki shrugged. “Sure.”

Huh, Lex thought, guess I was overthinking it.

“This way, guys,” he said, taking to the air, flying low and slow so they could follow.

***

We had pulled Craig into one of the nearby hotel lobbies. Partially to avoid any demon stragglers, but also to avoid any human patrols.

No one was going to take this from us.

He was tied up to a chair with electrical cords we had ripped from the lobby lamps, eyeing us with unmasked terror.

All of us stood in a semi-circle before him, except Mama G and Athena, who we agreed didn’t need to be present. Lex had brought back Bobby with him, which I didn’t mind, and he respectfully hung back a ways, reading the room and realizing that we each had a history with Craig that he wasn’t aware of.

“Okay,” Lacy said, breaking the silence. “Let’s not draw this out any longer. We all agree he deserves to die—no, needs to die, right?”

There were nods around the room and no one objected. Well, except Craig.

“I’ll give up the power! I’ll stay in my Personal Space for the rest of my life! Please, you don’t have to do this.”

“Gag him,” Lacy said with a wave toward Jerome.

The man grunted, ripping the upholstery from a nearby couch.

“No, please! Don’t do thi—mhghhhgmm.”

Lacy nodded. “Thanks, Jer’, that’s better. Now, what are we thinking here? Murder on the Orient Express style?” She looked around the group. “Each get a stab in?”

“Ghnmgmmh.”

“That’s one vote for yes from Craig.”

Amos turned on Lacy with a scowl. “Hey, spoilers, sweet-cheeks! I haven’t read that one, yet.”

She snorted. “It’s been out for a hundred years, Amy-boy.”

He shrugged. “It’s hard to find Agatha Christie in the Apocalypse.”

“Uh.” Byron looked ill, his face turning ghastly white. “I don’t wanna stab anyone.”

“I do.”

I turned to see Nikki staring at Craig with fire in her eyes.

“We could stage it like a demon ate him?” I suggested. “That way we avoid any heat if the president gets a burr up his ass about us murdering him.”

“Fuck the president,” Lacy said coldly.

Amos nodded along, while Jerome grunted agreement.

“Okay, I get it,” I said, holding my hands up in surrender. “I just thought it would be fun to capture a Hellhound and let it loose on the prick.”

Behind us, Bobby grunted. “Y’all gonna play with your food all night or what?”

“Who asked you, new guy?” Amos said with a look over his shoulder.

Bobby shrugged. “Just sayin’, there’s a lot needs doing out there, what with the world being invaded by millions of those demons and what not. But sure, take all the time you need.”

“He’s got a point,” Byron said.

I pulled out my diskslinger and held it to Craig’s face. The disks spun in place, that terrible buzzing sound making Craig flinch and shut his eyes.

“Let’s end this,” I said, feeling that cold steel run up my spine.

“Wait,” Lacy said, stepping forward. She put a hand on the handle of the diskslinger, wrapping her fingers around mine. “Okay.”

Before I could fire, Nikki came to my other side, putting a hand on the weapon. Then Jerome joined us, putting his hand on top of Lacy’s. Then Amos and Frank followed suit, with Lex flying to my shoulder, so that we were all in this together.

All but one.

“Byron? You out?”

He chewed his lip with indecision, then looked over at Craig. His eyes narrowed, his face setting with determination.

“Fuck this guy.”

Then he walked over and put his hand on top of the pile of hands.

I nodded once, then pulled the trigger.

A single disk shot forward, the sound of a buzzsaw filling the room as it sliced effortlessly through Craig’s face, right below the nose. His panicked cries cut off as the top half of his head was sent flying across the room, the rest of him secured to the chair which tipped back.

Blood spurted from his bisected face, soaking the hotel carpet in seconds. The seven of us stood there in breathless silence, each coping with the death of Craig in our own way.

Behind us, a slow clap began to sound.

We turned to see Bobby with an appraising look on his face, his clap intensifying before he cut it off.

“That was beautiful guys. Really poetic. Can you pencil me in for the next team-building exercise, because that looked fun as hell.”

Lacy and I shared an amused look.

I shrugged. “Next time we execute a mind-controlling mass murderer, your name will be at the top of the list. Promise.”