“Make way everybody!” Jimmy shouted as he and Gus left the dungeon.

Gus summoned large wooden boards and began pushing people back as he scanned the area trying to assess the situation.

“There’s thousands of them!” someone shouted before stumbling backward from the board and pushing into him.

The civilian stated the obvious. Members of both the Cartel and Eagle Empire were unleashing everything they had at a swarm of Chrotos. Many appeared to be human, but most had abandoned their facade. Spells, bullets, and bombs crashed in every direction.

“We have reinforcements coming from the dungeon, everyone needs to make room – now!” Gus yelled with authority. The crowd obeyed instantly, not daring to defy their savior.

The smell of blood in the air invaded Jimmy’s nostrils worse than the sounds of screams clashing in his ears. The drills had returned, urgently zipping through the air. Not nearly enough for the veritable army invading their streets.

Parents held their children, crying – hoping to find a safe place to hide. Despite watching the horrors of the broadcasts, they knew that this place might be the only one that could protect them.

The planks, no longer needed for crowd control, snapped together for Gus to step on and take flight. The crowd watched with a mix of hope and horror in their eyes. Hope that Gus might fight off the invading force. Horror that he might abandon them. Hundreds of faces turned to Jimmy, pleading for him to help. The crowd was mostly young families and the elderly, but he saw a lot of young men who weren’t willing to leave their children’s sides. Jimmy briefly thought that gender meant nothing in this new world when it came to power. Kara and Diane were proof of that.

“Okay, everyone back!” Jimmy shouted once more as the first of the Pest Control ships slid out of the dungeon. “Form a line - children and one parental guardian each over there,” he commanded, pointing to the sidewalk.

“What about us?” a middle-aged woman demanded. “We’ve been waiting longer!”

“Lady, if you try to get in before those kids, I’ll kill you myself. Got it?” Jimmy seethed but he didn’t have time to stand there and argue. Instead, he turned his back on her as she continued to berate him, and started running from ship to ship, pressing buttons.

This time, he felt the heels of his shoes begin to melt as he pressed the last button and fled. It wasn’t easy to maneuver between them as they rolled out of the dungeon-like bumper cars. Thankfully, the heat forced back even the loudest discontents over having to allow children inside to safety ahead of them.

The Pest Control ships launched and just like before, the doors swung open, unleashing an army of Chrotos seeking drills.

More gunfire and explosions rang out as Jimmy briefly saw Gus hurtling through the air on the back of one of the stronger variants. Something was hanging out of the alien’s small mouth that Jimmy couldn’t quite make out, but it seemed to be suffocating the creature. As the two circled back, Jimmy could see that Gus was pulling more of the substance from the air and jamming it into the Chrotos’ mouth.

They drew closer and the woman who had complained about the children getting priority let out a yelp. A chunk of her hair ripped out and flew into the alien’s mouth. That’s when Jimmy realized that he was choking the alien with hair and there was nothing it could do about it. The woman’s long hair wriggled down the creature’s throat completely just before Gus pushed off the creature's back and grabbed onto a floating piece of wood that he’d summoned.

“Quick, follow me,” Jimmy tore his attention away from the fight and urged the children in the front of the line toward the dungeon entrance. They streamed through, relief apparent on their precious faces.

The door expanded to allow more of them in. But within seconds, chaos ensued as the mob refused to wait any longer and rushed the entrance, causing children, the elderly, and themselves alike to all stumble over each other.

A quick estimate of the people fleeing inside told Jimmy that they’d never be able to fit in the Auxiliary Room. He’d need to open up another door. Surely, Rick could see it from his end as well. Biting his lip, he tried to think of where Rick would want them.

The first floor could fit them all, but he wasn’t sure how the wolves would react. Not to mention Elza had rigged the place with deadly traps.

“One of these morons would trigger them,” Jimmy grumbled, ignoring the battle and buzzing drills around him. The treasure room was far too small.

That just left Luca’s floor. He’d just have to hope that Rick would be able to get his minions away from the refugees, but it was still the most logical choice. There was more than enough room for everyone. Before he could change his mind, he flipped the door’s destination to the 2nd floor. Refugees yelled out in alarm, recognizing the dark floor or horrors. Some tried to run back out but were forced inside by the push of the mob. Despite the dangers of the floor, it was the safer option over the raging battle outside.

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Jimmy turned to assess the situation. Fighting men and women screamed in every direction as they bled out from unnatural wounds. Blasts from weapons or spells worse than anything known before the integration rang out, briefly drowning out the death rattles.

The Chrotos didn’t scream. They died silently. Jimmy couldn’t decide if it was unnerving or a blessing.

He knew that he should run inside the dungeon to safety, but something kept him outside.

That’s when he spotted Deandre’s familiar face writhing in pain half a block away. His arm was a wet stump - the shirt sleeve a soggy mess of ribbons.

Jimmy broke into a sprint, faster than he’d ever been toward Deandre. His eyes glazed over for a brief moment and he purchased the best healing potion he could find. Hopefully, the man hadn’t lost too much blood yet.

Where is the rest of his team? Jimmy wondered.

By the time Jimmy reached Deandre, the taller man was no longer writhing. His body lay still except for the shallowest of breaths.

“No way man, you’re not dying out here. I’ll get Rick to summon a pair of running shoes for ‘ya. Just hang with me,” Jimmy said as he poured the potion over Deandre’s arm. The flesh quickly stitched together, but the stump remained. He squeezed Deandre’s mouth open with one hand and poured the rest of the potion into it with the other.

The speedster didn’t swallow the magical liquid. Half of the potion just spilled out the sides of his mouth, but surely, some had to have trickled down.

A flash of movement only a few feet away startled Jimmy. A familiar scent whipped through the air.

“Kara.”

She didn’t stop but continued to blur toward a cluster of fighting. Something she carried glowed a bright green, trailing light behind her. As she dashed past him, Chrotos fell dead, but her scent lingered.

Jimmy couldn’t wait around to see what she was about to do. Deandre was dying in his arms. Despite the speedster’s larger frame, Jimmy’s new strength was able to lift the man in a cradle carry. He took one last look in Kara’s direction and was blinded by a flash of green light.

After blinking away the eye floaters and temporary blindness, he saw Gus. Not just Gus as he normally was. The old bastard was now as tall as a building, cackling with green energy.

Chrotos and humans alike looked up with a mixture of fear and awe. Thankfully, even the golfer’s clothes grew to accommodate him.

That shit-eating grin Jimmy had grown to associate Gus with spread meters across his now giant face. One of the stronger Chrotos flew by – maybe to get a better look, or maybe to distract him. In any event, it didn’t work out well for the alien. Gus’ massive hand shot out with incredible speed and crushed the Chrotos between his thumb and middle finger.

Only a few weeks ago and Jimmy would have never believed it. Even now, it was hard to believe.

A blur raced toward Jimmy, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off of the titan.

“Open the door, Jimmy!” Kara’s voice rang out. Her voice. It felt like a warm blanket soothing Jimmy’s frayed nerves.

But he couldn’t help but say his first thought, “What have you done?” How could Kara have given Gus this power? He saw her with the artifact. “Why?”

“I’ll explain everything, but we need to go. Now!” she shouted.

Gus raised a fist to the air, green energy swirled about it. Any human or Chrotos within a dozen feet of him shriveled into dust or just toppled over as if their hearts stopped. Arcs of green lightning snaked out of his hand, striking any living being in the area down. It reminded Jimmy of Marv’s terrible curse power, only much more extreme and rapidly fatal.

The light dimmed, becoming a sickly green, but spread out like a fog. Anyone caught within it withered away in moments.

“Holy shit, Kara. What have you done?” Jimmy snapped and started to run to the dungeon entrance.

She didn’t answer but grit her teeth and pulled at Jimmy to keep running.

Only seconds passed, but they were only a few more strides from the door when a lieutenant Chrotos dropped from the sky, landing like a superhero between them and safety.

“Out of our fucking way shit lips,” Kara said, drawing two thin, curved blades from her waistband. While they were as long as her forearms, they appeared to be the fangs of a snake. A similar green glow emanated from the tips.

The Chrotos tilted its head like a dog while two black holes opened in the ground on either side of him – just like Lazaro’s summoning ability. Two more identical Chrotos emerged from the holes.

Kara blurred forward, plunging her blades into the alien’s chest.

Jimmy didn’t think they’d penetrate its skin after seeing the drills fail against the lieutenants, but he was sorely mistaken. Both blades easily passed through its chest. The Chrotos was just as surprised as Jimmy as it looked down at its own chest.

Before it could react, Kara pulled the blades out and attacked the summoned Chrotos to the left. This one was ready and dodged the attacks with unnatural agility.

Kara blurred with movement once more. The Chrotos blurred with her, parrying her attacks with its forearms.

Jimmy realized that she would lose this fight and rushed to the door, setting it to the crowded Auxiliary Room. He quickly set Deandre inside and pulled out his Desert Eagle. While there was no chance he’d hit the blurring fighters, he didn’t need to. Instead, he just fired the gun at their feet, forcing them all to pause.

Kara noticed Jimmy’s distraction for what it was and bolted inside the dungeon. She pulled the still-firing Jimmy back by his neck collar before slamming the door shut on the Chrotos and green fog rolling in.