He doth bleed…

The diamond king stands shaking. Shivering. The madness. He can’t stand it. To be alive again. Everything was so boring. He was snoring. Now this. This catastrophe?! He’s alive. He’s angry. Nothing can defeat me?!  

He thinks of his plans. He thinks of the device tucked under the castle. Stupid demon. Missed it. The castle is just the wrapping paper. It’s not where I’m keeping it. Hahaha he laughs maniacally. Finally, a challenge. He’s back. A new realm to put into order. Their disorder deserves a helping hand. A guiding light. You might say his mercy. Anyone who can’t won’t. Not a shame not to blame. It’s just the facts. Jack. 

He’s so giddy dancing on top of his castle debri. 

I’ve seen her eyes and I know it’s there. I’ll get it. I swear he tells himself.

————————

The party has begun. The dubstep is pounding and the armies are astounding. Trying to push their way into the door. A bit of a bandwidth problem at the moment. Head is laughing. Lashing out at anything getting too close for comfort. Lobing heads and what not. Reanimating them and sending the corpses back at them. She’ll build an entire new army out of them in no time. 

————————-

“It’s time to go.” Tye declares as he drops out of the hatch. He’d have been instantly skewered by head’s tendrils if it weren’t for Feralis, I mean Bob blocking it. Brent tumbles in unforgiving.  Head basically ignores him. 

——————

Nora, Corin, and Locke push through the masses. Blocking the lashes of heads tendrils with Nora's Magically empowered shield just barely.  Dodging and ducking. Corin has sent pudge away and his wolves too. They’ve gone back to where they’ve been. Released. 

Corin turns to Nora 

“Now us.” Corin states. 

“What? No! You’ve gotta beat that first!” Nora demands. 

“You remember what she said. We don’t have the power right now. We gotta go back. You didn’t forget did you?” Corin reminds her. 

“She’s a demon, she tells lies.” Nora retorts. 

“Oh I’m sure. Yeah right. I believe it. Send us back. Come with us. I’m sure it’ll make sense in the end.” Corin states. Hiding behind a bed. The bed Feralis and Tetters are supposed to you know….

Tye and Brent crash into them. Bob too…

“Good I found you.” Corin states. 

“You didn’t find shit. Holy heck man this is ridiculous!” Tye shouts. Ducking behind the bed too. 

“You think she sees us?” Corin asks. 

Eyes open from the back of head. They’re on fire and crying at the same time. 

“Yes.” Tye replies. 

“We’ve gotta get the hell outta here.” Corin states standing up to look for a place to make escape before being pierced through. And everything slows to a grinding halt. The tendril cutting inches deep into Corin’s chest. Hitting the magnetism that holds the atoms of the cells of her heart and it was rejected.

She appears and holds it back. Azeal can be heard screaming in lunging at She. 

Make use of it. This time I’ve bought you. Think about it. How you got here. Use your magic. 

My magic? Corin thinks. Her heart beats. She’s alive. Creation! Her eyes begin to glow and from the point where head should have made her meet her demise an orb begins to spin. White hole. Sucking in. 

A hand reaches out and grabs Corin. Pulling them through it. Atom is there on the other side in the middle of some Nevada valley canyon. He’s surrounded by blackout ops specter types and the general. The general is the one who grabbed Corin himself. 

“You idiots have really done it. I’ll have words with you yet. Just sit there.” He commands. Throwing Corin into one of his men’s arms. Then steps through into the portal. 

On the other side he spots the crew. 

“I am General Nimitz of the United States of America’s black ops special forces. For interdimensional beings. I’m here for you.” He points to Nora, Locke, Tye and Brent. Locke is being carried by Brent at the moment. “Come with me if you want to live.”

“Uh….” Tye protests pointing at the demon. 

“Oh how bought you hand her that. Tell her it’s a present from the president. It should only take like thirty seconds. I wouldn’t touch it without these gloves though. Wouldn’t want to die of radiation.” The general states dropping a device to the floor. 

The crew jumps to their feet. Nora means to protest but Tye ain’t hearing it. He grabs her and they jump into the portal and they land back onto the land of Nevada.

“Time to use that device Atom.” The general states. He’s the last one through. He claps his hands as if washing them of this mess. 

Atom hits the button on his mcguffin and electricity sparks and the portal is absorbed. 

“Haha that’ll teach em.” The general states. Then looks at the gang who are blue. “Oh don’t worry it’s tactical. I’m a practical kinda guy.” He winks. He moves his wrist and checks his watch. “Should be right about…. Now.”

There is a ripple where the portal used to be a flash bright enough to illuminate the space but nothing more and nothing less. 

“Did you just nuke those magic things?” Atom inquires. 

“Quiet son. We’ve business to get too.” The general states. 

“Lady Nora, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’d be honored to offer you citizenship and sanctuary in The United States.” The general states coming down to a knee before grasping her hand. “We’ve got everything under control so don’t do anything stupid while you’re here. We’ll get you back there lickety-split.”  

“But the demon and my clan.. my family.” Nora states. 

“Yes yes. I know. Don’t worry. Time works differently here. They’ll still be there. We’ve just gotta translate the coordinates. Which we can do with these idiots you’ve brought with you.” He points to them. “You’ve just got to promise me you won’t go telling everyone you see about your world and all the magic stuff. It’s a secret here. We don’t do magic here.” 

“Okay.” She affirms. 

“I’m glad you agree because you really don’t have a choice. Now then.” He stands up and brushes off his legs. “We’ll get to debriefing. Catch and release. Get them back to were they came from and remind them they didn’t see anything.” 

“We’ve got eyes on all of you now. So don’t think you’re clever. We’ll know and I’ll be the hammer. Judge. Jury. Jail. Executioner. You read me?” 

They all nod. 

“Good. We’re all gonna have a real good time!” The general saunters off. As the black ops team throws black bags over their heads. 

“You know you’re lucky. In the old days we’d just shoot you for doing something like this. But we’re progressive now. Supposed to go with the flow. I think it’s bullshit. Needlessly dangerous.” One of the members of the ops team whispers into Corin’s ear. “Consider this one of your nine lives. 

“Oh brother.” Corin laments. I hate cats. It’s always cats. 

“Lady summoner Nora nebula. I’d like to welcome you to the United States of America. And you’ve been conscripted. “ the general munches on his cigar. His mustache aching to catch a flame. 

“You’ll be useful and I’ll be using you.”  He cackles.