Chapter Seven

 

 

“Well, at least they’re happy,” Simone said. Despite her attempt to sound annoyed, the US Ranger was looking pretty fucking peachy. Liam laughed, shaking his head as he sat next to her bed. The tent was set up at the bottom of the mine, with a good view of Xapanos, Dr. Cole and Tethis. The three were pouring over a chunk of crystal that they, using Neriad’s spells, had recovered from the mine itself. Not that it was a mine. But names had a way of sticking, no matter how inaccurate they got.

“Tethis says that you should be back on your feet by tomorrow,” Liam said. “She’d have healed it completely, but she has a lot of wounded to fix. So...” He shrugged. “She has to spread her powers a bit thin. And there are people-”

“I know how triage works, Vanderbilt,” Simone said, shaking her head. She reached down to rub her chest, wincing. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been a few inches off from being dead. But this is the first time it was a laser. So...” She shrugged. “I guess they were right. This was going to be an adventure unlike any other.”

“There’s the spirit. And hey, you’ll be back on your feet sooner than me.” Liam gestured to the pair of crutches he had set against the wall of the tent. Dr. Cole and Xapanos and Tethis and even Tanye had all taken a look at his foot and all said the same thing: Not my department. Liam supposed he shouldn’t have been shocked none of them had been able to do much about it.

It still was irritating to have to hobble around on crutches. Again.

“Hows the strategic situation?” Simone asked.

“Not great,” Liam said. “Fizit reported via the blinking stars that Dr. Cole had been sent here to learn. But before Ares got curious how the mine working, do you know what he did?”

Simone frowned. “Something bad?”

“He fed captives into it,” Liam said, his voice growing grim. “And now, a new fleet is sailing out of New Athens. We don’t even need spies to know most of them are toting between five to ten steel cannons. They’re faster to make than crystal guns. You don’t need mages or divine spunk-”

“Excuse me, what?” Simone spluttered.

“Hey, I didn’t invent the magic spell!” Liam said, lifting his hands. “But now, we have a fleet that’s almost the same size as ours, with a bigger weight of guns. We have steam-ships, and those ships that have guns have more of them...” He shook his head. “Naval combat isn’t exactly what I’m an expert on. I was more of a ground combat and adventure guy.”

Simone looked at her hands. “You can say that...” she murmured, her voice oddly contemplative. Liam cocked his head.

“Huh?”

“N-Nothing!” Simone said, shaking her head as she looked back at him. Her face was all serious and focused again. “What’s the plan?”

“Well, that’s where we get to the tricky part,” Liam said. He paused. “And the awkward part.”

“Oh?” Simone asked, looking back at her hands. She seemed to be quite studiously examining them – as if she was sure that if she looked hard enough, she’d see something new and interesting. Liam had a feeling he knew why. She knew what he was going to bring up. But seeing the equipment in that chest, talking with Xapanos and Bella, it had all pointed to the one unavoidable fact.

“You guys didn’t just come for me. You wanted to make a foothold on Purgatory,” Liam said, quietly. “Healing magic, enchanted crystals. Nearly everything on Purgatory begs to be understood, then exploited. Including her people.” His arms crossed over his chest. “I’ve had to make a lot of hard decisions since I became the Lord of Babylon.” He paused. “I once decided to not break a moral code of mine...and it almost got a friend of mine killed. It nearly lost us the war, honestly, considering that friend was Tethis.”

Simone frowned. “Choices are funny like that,” she said. “You never know where they go. That’s what makes being alive a risk. You can do the right thing for the right reason and still end up totally fucked.” She looked at him. “I wouldn’t wear this uniform if I didn’t believe in America, Vanderbilt. So, yeah. Fuck yeah. Bring magic and healing and crystals and shit to America and solve every last fucking problem we have. I signed up for this mission without knowing even a fraction of what Ceres might offer.” She paused. “What Purgatory might offer.”

Liam sighed. “So, I have two choices.” He lifted one palm. “I let you guys contact Earth. I let you guys finagle a gate up. I open the floodgates and I beg for help against Ares.” He grinned, ever so slightly. “And I give Purgatory over to the 21st century. All the good parts...and the bad parts. The unfair trade deals, the exploitative capitalism, growth without regard to cost, that bullshit.”

“Wow, you really are a bleeding heart, aren’t you?” Simone muttered.

“Californian!” Liam said, putting his hand to his chest.

“I’ve met people from the Central Valley, I know for a fact that that’s bullshit,” Simone said. “They’re redder than some assholes in the Deep South.”

“Yeah, well...” Liam trailed off. “Whatever, the point is the other choice I have is we dig in to fight Ares. We fight a protracted ground campaign and drive him out of every city he has and eventually kill him for good by destroying every temple, every alter, every shrine, and finally putting a bullet through his forehead.” He shook his head. “And in the end, kill fifty times the number of people who were killed in the last war.”

Simone frowned.

Liam sighed. “It’s gotta be the less wrong option.”

“Actually, dipshit, there’s a third option.”

Simone and Liam both turned – Liam twisting his whole body, Simone just canting her head. Both of them saw Liv standing in the entrance to the tent, her arms crossed over her chest, her hair shimmering slightly in the sunlight that beat down on the mine.

“By the way, Liam,” Liv said. “I’ve managed to get the cloning facility to give me admin access. I’ve told the manufacturing nanites to calm the fuck down and retire to their hives.” She paused. “Can someone please tell me what cloning, admin, nanites and hives means exactly? I just kinda bluffed the fucking automaton.”

Liam sagged in relief. “Good, good, we have an escape route. Just in case.” He nodded to Simone, who gave him a thumbs up at that. Clearly, she liked the idea of being trapped in a fort with no escape as much as he did. Then Liam looked back at Liv.

“What third option?”

“You keep banging on about how important voting is,” she said. “And you got the fucking blinking stars. Well. Use em. Most cities have people who can read Morse now. Blink out the story, then ask them to signal using, like, fires n’ shit, count the votes, majority wins. If they say yea, we build a gate using the cloning facility nanites.”

“You can do that?” Simone asked.

“I mean, if we can’t, they can at least fucking help.” Liv shrugged. “Well, Liam? What do you think?”

Liam blinked.

Slowly, he smiled.

“I like it,” he said.

“Good. The bullshit’s out of the way,” Liv said. “Now we gotta deal with the fucking army.”

Liam hopped to one feet, grabbing a crutch and nestling it under his armpit. Despite years of being toughened and hardened to life in Purgatory, Liam found a crutch unpleasant. The reason why went beyond the reduction of mobility and into something more simple and direct: He had gotten callouses everywhere but his armpits. He winced as the padded wood dug into his soft flesh, then tried to put more of his weight on his hands. Behind him, he heard Simone shifting restlessly in the bed.

Liam looked back, grinning at her. “Lieutenant Fong, you’ve done enough for the day. Stay there. That’s an order.”

“You’re not my commander in chief,” Simone called after him. “I didn’t even vote for you. And I like what Vazt is saying about the guy who ran against you!”

 

***

 

Simone sprawled back into bed once the tent flap had closed and reflected on how quickly she had been spoiled rotten. This wasn’t the first time she had been shot. It was the first time that being shot hadn’t led to a few weeks or even months of slowly getting back to a hundred percent. Most of the bullets that had clipped her hadn’t hit anything particularly vital. But she still had vivid memories of getting to learn how to walk again after a rock had smashed her knee-cap out of alignment. And that hadn’t even been while on duty! She had been hiking in Nevada, for god’s sake.

But here on Purgatory – and it was impossible to think of it as anything else now – she had been exposed to healing magic for, what? A few weeks?

And she was already losing her ability to deal with pain, discomfort, and sheer simple boredom.

You know that’s rose tinted glasses, right? A snide voice in the back of her mind muttered. It was the same voice that had told her she’d never manage to pass as a woman, not with a disgusting man chin or freakishly huge man wrists. That voice had been shocked into silence by the ritual. Simone...actually was a bit surprised by that. Ingrained psychological issues didn’t listen to reason or common sense. Imposter syndrome, the feeling that you didn’t actually deserve anything you had accomplished or worked for and that at any moment people would point at you and exclaim ‘you’re a faker!’, reared up even after getting multiple commendations for valor.

She was pretty sure getting a magical make over wouldn’t fix her other issues.

Except it had.

Which led to a question she was going to leave to psychologists: How much of healing magic was psychological?

Because the snide voice was right. Her time spent recovering had been spent chewing holes in walls, muttering angrily, and taking her feelings out on doctors who had clearly heard it all before. But she had seen what had happened to Liam. He had gotten his arm bisected by a sword. He had been shot by the next best thing to a particle gun. And the stories she had heard only made her wonder more: Being beaten and thrown off walls and over cliffs and stabbed and knocked out and tied up and drugged and poisoned?

How the fuck was he not a walking pile of psychological issues?

She’d seen a fellow Ranger get shot in the gut and left to die. They’d found him after he had spent twelve hours in the worst pain that Simone had ever thought she’d witness (until she saw incendiary weapons in the flesh.) Dowling had never been quite able to deal with pain in the same way.

But she could see Liam, hobbling around on crutches, chatting and laughing with Dr. Cole and the black elf and Tethis.

“Which leads to an even more uncomfortable question,” Simone muttered to herself as she let herself ease back into the bed. She felt faint twinges as muscles complained about being forced to work after their partial healing. Her eyes closed as she settled into the bed. What are the spells changing about us where we can’t notice? It’s all fine and good for healing to wipe out trauma...but what if…

This is about the fact you want to fuck him, isn’t it? Snide Voice was back. And this was an all too familiar muttering to deal with.

Simone deliberately slid her arms behind her head, as casually as if she was being watched by someone. She felt incredibly stupid a few seconds later, after realizing that she was trying to psych out her own inner monologue. She took the thought and she tried to look at it nice and logically. Liam was a handsome lad. Funny. A bit of a bleeding heart liberal, but there were worse things in the world than being naive. And at least he seemed to know he was naive, so there was that. Simone opened one eye a crack and saw that Liam was gesturing to the mine with Liv.

Liv put her hands on her head, shaking her head. The effect that had on her cascading mane of white hair was rather remarkable. Simone actually had to force herself to not admire her hair and instead check Liam out. He was looking thoughtful, his brow furrowing, his eyes downcast. Simone squirmed ever so slightly in the bed, her thighs mashing together. Did he know how fucking beautiful he looked right there, with the sun shining in his hair and his chiseled body on full display?

Okay. Maybe want was a bit of an understatement, she thought.

 

***

 

“Okay, so, I don’t see the fucking problem,” Liv said. “They’re our enemy. We got it, use it.”

“Because...” Liam groped around for a reason. “Because this is my Hiroshima.”

“Use words that make sense!” Liv snapped.

Dr. Cole, who had been looking back and forth between them, spoke up. “Hiroshima is a city, uh, where the United States used an incredibly powerful weapon to end a war. The difference, Mr, er, Lord, uh-”

“Liam, please,” Liam said, shifting his stance to try and get some weight off his crutch.

“Liam,” Dr. Cole said, her arms crossing over her chest, her hands tucking under her armpits. She looked a mite chilly – something rather odd to see in the sweltering heat of a Purgatorian jungle. But some genius soul had cast an air conditioning spell on several of the tents, and Tethis had directed Neriad on how to expand it to include the entire fort. Neriad had gone slightly further than Liam would have, leaving most of the women popping obvious nipples.

Meg didn’t seem to mind. But Meg rarely minded cold and tended to take overt signs of sexual excitement as a challenge to be even more provocative. Fortunately (for Liam’s ability to concentrate, at the very least) she and the other Valks were out harrying the advanced elements of the oncoming army. Liam would have preferred being distracted by her breasts than being distracted by worrying about her.

“There are several important differences between that war and this battle,” Dr. Cole said. “Firstly, the Monodeists aren’t battered so much that they can barely fight. They’re about to try and kill us with an army that’s way bigger than this one and with a fleet nearly as big as yours.” She shook her head. “An army that teleported here.”

“I’m surprised it took them this long to get a teleporter shrine to work for them, honestly,” Tethis said. “Like, I expected them to announce that they had cracked activating a shrine by teleporting a godkiller into our house.”

“Maybe Ares doesn’t want to push us,” Liam said, frowning. “If he tried that, he’d know that we’d retaliate in kind. He wants loyal subjects, not a load of corpses.” I hope.

Tethis smiled. “I’m just sad he didn’t try. I have some...interesting spells for that kind of nonsense.”

Liam chuckled. “Well, I get that, Dr. Cole-”

“Bella,” she said, smiling. “I mean, uh, if I can call you Liam.” She paused. “Wait, no, actually, now that I think about it, I worked my ass off for that doctorate.”

Liam snorted. “Then Dr. Bella,” he said, his hands squeezing the grips of his crutches for a moment before loosening. “You’re right. This is a different situation. But we have five hellfire missiles and a platform that can launch each of them in about three minutes. We could blow apart the army, half the fleet, and still have a shot left for Ares’ temple in New Sparta.”

Liv glanced at Bella. Then she looked back at Liam. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“I mean, not exactly big on killing a few hundred people in a few seconds,” Liam said. “I know they’re coming at us, but this feels differently. It’s...” He made a face. “I didn’t come to Purgatory to kill people with technology three thousand years more advanced than theirs.”

“Weren’t you flung here by a malfunctioning cube thing?” Liv asked.

“I would like to hear more details about that,” Bella added.

“The point stands,” Liam said, rubbing his neck. “Or maybe I’m just overthinking this because I’ve got colonialism on the brain.” He shot a glance at Bella. Bella looked aside and leaned backwards ever so slightly. This ended up putting her back to Xapanos’ chest. Liam wasn’t quite sure what to make of Xapanos so far. He seemed to be reserved. Quiet. Almost too quiet, but Liam supposed he had reason enough to not feel particularly chatty, considering what Ares had done to him and how his family might even now be in danger.

Despite his grim air, Xapanos did put his hands on Bella’s shoulders, squeezing gently.

A rustle of wings filled the air. Looking up, Liam grinned despite his worries. Meg landed with a grunt, her legs absorbing the impact of her touching down none-too-gently. Her wings folded and she threw her arms around Liam’s  shoulders and hugged him tightly.

“They’re setting up long guns – steel ones. We managed to disrupt those operations, but it only bought us a little time,” she said, nodding.

“Decision time,” Tethis said, quietly.

“Fuck em up,” Liv said.

“What happened to Miss Thinking Of Others?” Liam asked.

“I am thinking of them,” she said. “And they’re dicks. Fuck em up.”

Liam felt his stomach tighten. He’d dropped munitions on people before, during the War of the False God. But that had been different – the heat shield being dropped from ‘orbit’ had been a side effect, not the intention of his landing. And even that hadn’t been nearly as destructive as the high explosive missiles could be to a tightly packed army in formation. He shook his head. There was no time to poll everyone on Purgatory. He’d need to make a call.

So…

He made it.

“Tanye!” he shouted. “Lets see what this Predator can do. I’ve got the first target picked out.”

 

***

 

Paladin Chastity hung suspended by chains of ice. Her armor had been stripped, leaving her in her sweat soaked under-shirt and leggings. Despite the fact her feet hung above the ground, she didn’t feel an ache in her shoulders, nor the pressure of having to keep herself suspended. The gobliness mage, most likely Tethis, had cast a spell on her to keep her supported while also giving her no purchase, nothing to kick off. She was as unable to move as she was when she had been encased in the brick of ice.

Just...less suffocating.

“Weaklings,” she muttered. Her blessings would have allowed her to handle the mild torture of being hung by her wrists. As it was, she could easily consider her situation and her possible options.

Most of her combat blessings required the focus of her sword and her armor. The strength could be called with the proper invocation and focus, but she had already tested herself against the might of the false god, Neriad, and found that with her powers so drained and her connection to God frayed and twisted by distance and pain...well...she had come up wanting. She closed her eyes and composed a short prayer to God, begging His forgiveness at her own failings.

And so, without her blessings to draw upon, she moved to checking the room. It was definitely the same kind of walls and ceilings as the Endless Mine, though the fact she hadn’t been turned into steel was troubling. It meant that Vanderbilt had managed to get the strange magic of this place to follow his whims. But it also had very little to offer her in terms of tools. The walls were smooth, the floor smooth, the door distant. As she regarded the door with a baleful glare, it hissed open and in came the very devil she had been thinking of.

Liam Vanderbilt hobbled in, shirtless and gleaming with the sweat that came from even moderate activity outside. He had a cheery smile on his face, which made his already boyishly handsome face more attractive.

Chastity glared at him. It was easier to not be attracted when you wanted to skin someone.

Behind Liam came another woman, one that was obviously also from Earth. If her height hadn’t given it away, her skin color would have as well. Chastity had never seen a woman as dark black as she. It was definitely more arresting than Liam’s shock of blond hair, because unlike Liam’s hair, there weren’t any in Purgatory quite like her. She was carrying a thick case of plastic and metal. Plastic. It was such a foreign word, but Chastity had learned it along with the rest of Purgatory, by poring through the tomes that Vanderbilt had given away so foolishly.

She had never seen it in the flesh before the new artifacts started literally raining down across Purgatory.

“Hello, Chastity,” Liam said. “That’s your name, right?”

Chastity glared at him.

“...right,” Liam said. “I know that you and your friends are able to track radio signals. That’s how you found Neriad’s base.” He set his crutches against the wall, then leaned against it. He groaned. “Fuck, I hate these things.”

“I could remove your arms,” Chastity offered, her voice a low growl. “That’d help.”

“I don’t suppose you’ll pull a Liv and...” Liam saw something in her face that made him trail off. “Nevermind.”

Behind him, Tethis and Meg were entering. Meg muttered to Liam – Chastity’s blessings let her hear it quite easily: “Isn’t it a bit cruel to do this here?”

“I have a method to my madness,” Liam said, cheerfully as the utterly black woman flipped open the plastic and metal case. Within, Chastity could see glowing screens, dials, knobs, and a small stick with a re button at the top. Chastity’s gut reaction screamed that it was some kind of torture device. Why else would they be here?

“Ready,” the black woman said. “Assuming your Valks can get it off the ground.”

“We once lifted an entire army into orbit,” Meg said, lifting her arm and flexing it. The bicep that showed under her pale skin was almost a match for Chastity’s. Chastity sneered. Valks were born with an unnatural advantage. She had earned her strength, by her devotion to the true God.

“That doesn’t fucking count as orbit, and nothing will convince me it is,” the black woman said, flicking switches and adjusting dials.

Meg shrugged. “Well, you don’t write our history books. So there.”

“Ladies,” Liam said, lifting up one hand. “I was in the middle of coming to my point.”

“Ladies,” Meg said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Liam poked her in the nose. Meg laughed, then chomped at his fingertip.

Chastity ratcheted up her glare to cover up the very strange feeling that squeezed in her stomach. Liam looked back at her, clapping his hands together. He shifted forward, as if he was about to start pacing, then wobbled. He leaned back in a hurry, grabbing onto the wall as he gritted his teeth. “Fuck, forgot, no foot,” he said, then shook his head. “Listen, I know that you can track radio signals. Is it a ritual? An innate magical ability Ares gave you?”

Chastity’s lip curled.

“Stick time,” Liam said, his voice very soft. The black woman turned the torture device around, showing Chastity a strange view. It looked like an image rendered in grainy black and white, nearly abstract with its utter lack of colors. But a few seconds of looking resolved the images of trees and...cannons. The glowing white, humanoid figures were easier to grasp. It was a view of an army of people. There were at least two thousand of them, streaming out of a hill, forming up into regiments. “This is an army coming to attack us. This image is being sent to us by a Predator drone, the weapon you were trying to use. It’s loaded with a twenty five hellfire missiles, each one capable of turning a huge chunk of that army into minced meat instantly.”

Chastity looked at Liam. He was lying about something.

“You’re lying,” she said, her lip curling.

“I assure you, I am not,” Liam said.

“Uh, Liam,” Meg whispered. “Remember what the cute doctor said? She can tell if you’re lying.”

“Right!” Liam snapped his fingers. “Fine. It’s loaded with five hellfire missiles. The rest’s all true.”

Chastity’s eyes narrowed. Her stomach knotted. This time it was an emotion she knew very well. Fear. She forced it down and lifted her chin. “You want me to beg? To promise my body to you? To simper and whimper and cry? Do it. You could bring out my family and slaughter them and I would never give you the satisfaction of a single solitary tear.”

Liam looked at her. For a few moments...Chastity saw pity. A deep, intense well of pity in those blue eyes. Liam felt sorry for her. Chastity almost saw red. Her hands clenched and her arms strained. The ice chains creaked and squeaked and she snarled. “Do it. Do it you pagan coward. Fucking do it!” She roared the last word, her arms tightening so much that she felt her muscles strain and almost pop. The ice groaned as f in pain around her. The walls shuddered. Meg reached for a strange weapon at her hip, but Liam lifted his hand.

One of the ice chains snapped. Fragments filled the air as the black woman cried out in fear and Meg and Tethis both leaped to Liam’s side. But Liam, rather than cowering or throwing himself flat, reached to his belt. Chastity’s left arm was still contained, but her right was free to grab at her wrist. She was about to try and tear the ice chain apart with her fingers when Liam casually under-handed something at her. She grabbed it from the air out of reflex.

“It’s a radio,” Liam said, his voice calm, his eyes unwavering. Every part of him said: I’ve faced scarier things than you.

Chastity was so thrown that she simply stood there, looking down at the heavy, chunky looking piece of equipment. She looked from it to Liam to it again.

“You, uh, push that button,” Liam said. “And if what Lt. Fong has been telling me is true, Ares will hear it. It’s literally a direct line to your god.” He grinned slightly. It was a goofy grin. Gormless. Innocent. Trusting. Seeing it on that face that, moments before, had been still in the face of her strength and rage, was another shock for Chastity. “I’d make us of it, if I were you.”

Chastity narrowed her eyes.

This was a trick…

Her thumb depressed the button. “Hello?” she asked.

Nothing but a roar of chaotic sounds – like ghosts screeching at her.

“Are you trying to scare me?” Chastity asked, her voice dripping venom. “What? Are you going to say that you’ve already killed God and this is his ghost?”

“Uh, no, that’s static.” Liam smiled. “Give it time. Maybe say hello again a few times.”

Chastity pursed her lips. “Hello?” More static. “Hello, God, this is me, Paladin Chastity.”

More static.

“Maybe we should move outside?” Meg asked.

“Chastity,” the smooth, pure sound of God’s voice came from the speaker. Chastity’s heart leaped. “Have you escaped?”

“I...” Chastity’s heart plunged as swiftly as it had rose. “No, my Lord. I’m being held captive. I have Vanderbilt right here in-front of me. We’re at the Endless Mine and they only have a token force here and they haven’t had a chance to repair the walls, and they are low on cannon.”

“Hey Ares. Hows it hanging?” Liam asked, leaning over close to speak into the radio. He was close enough that, if she dropped her radio, she could snap his neck. This fact was so shocking that Chastity simply gaped at him and his audacity. Ares voice sounded taut as he responded.

“I am not Ares, Vanderbilt and you know that. My name cannot be said by your tongue. But you may refer to me as your Lord God.”

“Sorry, A-Man,” Liam said. “But I’m not Jewish. They’re the ones who can’t say God’s real name. Now, Chastity can tell you that I’m being honest when I say that you’re going to want to evacuate everyone from your temple annex. You’ll have five minutes.”

“He’s telling the truth,” Chastity said, quickly.

God remained silent for a few moments.

Liam took the radio from her nerveless fingers. “Five minutes, A-Man. Tick. Tock.” He flicked a dial on the radio.

Chastity gaped at him. “You’re insane.”

Liam grinned. “Thanks!”

“He’ll shoot the Predator down,” Chastity said, her jaw tightening.

“Will he?” Liam asked. “Or will he do what most humans do and simply assume what he knows is possible will happen? I’ll make you a wager, Chastity.” He smiled at her, then started to hobble backwards, his crutch clacking on the ground. “If he casts a spell to redirect teleportation, then you owe me a diet pepsi. If he shoots the Predator down, I’ll let you free.”

Chastity’s lips formed the words ‘diet pepsi.’ It should have been translated if it was an actual word, but the spell Liam used to turn his foreign tongue into something a Purgatorian could understand had clearly fucked up. As she watched, Liam leaned forward and looked over the balck woman’s shoulder. His voice was firm: “Okay, fly to New Sparta and target the temple annex.”

“Right,” the woman said. Her hands went to the controls and, by craning her head, Chastity could see the view on the screen. The army had vanished in remarkable speed. The view was panning over thick jungle, then into open plains. How fast was the Predator capable of going? Liam tapped his chin as he watched, leaning against Meg, who had slipped up behind him. Tethis, though, was unable to take her eyes off Chastity. Her hands nervously twiddled her foci – the implement used to cast her magic. Chastity, though, was unable to tear her eyes from the screen.

Even in grainy black and white, she could recognize the temple annex. It had been built to honor God in all his glory. There were statues of God in each of his forms. Him as a warrior. Him as a farmer. Him as a scholar, reading a scroll. Chastity felt a dread growing in her belly – but she enfolded it in a warm blanket of faith. God was more powerful than any of the false gods that filled Purgatory. She had to believe that. And, unlike the false ones...God was wise. He didn’t wage petty wars or fuck everyone that moved…

Liam murmured. “Can we tell if it’s been evacuated?”

“We can spot a terrorist picking their nose in a fucking cave,” the black woman said. “Shit, we could spot Tony Stark building the mark 1. We could-”

“Has it been evacuated?” Liam asked, laughing. “Also, holy shit, yes. Thank you. I haven’t heard someone else make a Marvel movie reference in two years.” he leaned awkwardly forward and bumped his knuckles against the other woman’s. She lowered her hand, flicking a few switches.

She shook her head. “No good, sir. There’s still fifteen people in there, clustered there.”

The alter room. Chastity smiled. The high priests were there, praying.

“And...holy fuck what?” the black woman whispered. “Look at that.”

A glowing figure was standing before the temple. That, in and of itself, was not odd. The strange eyes of the Predator made all living people glow a brilliant white. But this figure was surrounded by another aura, one that radiated a brilliant black. The view started to flash with strange splotches and lines, creating a series of arcing lines that surrounded that figure. Chastity grinned slowly.

“Behold God,” she said.

“What’s he doing?” The black woman asked.

“Some high level superhero shit,” Liam said, quietly. “Tethis, you got a bead on this?”

“I’ve never seen a god’s powers visualized like this. This is fascinating, can you record this?” Tethis asked.

“Sure,” the woman said. “It’s all being saved for a hard drive. The other sensors are all on too. The radar’s going nuts. Same with LIDAR.” She licked her lips. “We got a lock on him, though. He’s basically sending up a signal.”

“Let him finish,” Liam said, his voice grim.

On the screen, the temple annex shimmered with a black radiance, which shifted to a throbbing pulsing that made it nearly impossible to see the heat signatures within. Tethis’ brow furrowed as she leaned forward. “All right, that definitely has signatures I recognize. It’s a teleport re-direction, with some minor architectural enhancements. I think he’s basing his powers off arcane magic...” She rubbed her chin. “Like Kailey. We should really-”

“You’re a go,” Liam said, his voice flat.

“Uh, you said you’d give em five minutes to evacuate,” the woman said.

“It’s been five minutes,” Liam said. “You’re a go.”

The black woman inclined her head.

Chastity tensed, her eyes widening.

Silently, the temple annex bust. Dust obscured the view, spreading outwards, then flaring like a wave. The temple walls were falling, tumbling away. Her God backed away, a brilliant white sphere surrounding him. That too was covered by the dust. The worst thing, though, was that there was no sound. No roar, no splintering, no crumbling of rock and no crashing of stone. As the dust started to clear, Liam breathed out a slow sigh. He pulled the radio off his belt.

“I have twenty four more of those, Ares,” he said. And Chastity was too stunned to even call out.

How could God let it happen?

How could…

Static came from the radio.

When God’s voice came from the radio, he was coughing. “Tell me your terms, Vanderbilt.” The venom in his voice was so intense that Chastity felt it, deep in her heart. A vicious, almost insane hatred poured from that radio.

Liam sagged slowly, and Chastity saw him put his hand over his face. A weight had settled on his shoulders. A heavy one. He didn’t look triumphant, like he had just pulled one over on God. He just looked tired Chastity looked away, unable to witness as Liam started to lay out the place for the meeting that would end the war before it had even started.