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Manipulating the Manipulator "I wonder how Vince is doing?" Stephanie asked. She and Alice were still in the closet on the first floor, watching over Robert. "Vince is a really tough guy," Alice replied. "I'm sure he's all right." "I don't know," Stephanie said, fear in her voice. "But there's nothing we can do, though. We'll just have to wait and see what happens." The Quantum Saviors control room was in ruins. The Dark Fiend of the Inferno and Thalloric Motarius were held immobile by twisted black vines. Brian Mandragon, wearing his brand new red and black Zeromega Battle Armor, was tied to a nearby Cobalt Bomb by some more black vines. Stacie Smith stood in the middle of the control room, wearing a blood red cloak. Slowly, a light from the east brightened up the room. "Ah, the sunrise," Stacie said as she walked to the window. "It's always been so beautiful. It's one of the best things about living on Earth. I'm lucky to be able to see it." "Stacie!" Brian shouted. "Why are you betraying me?" Stacie smiled viciously. "I was never working for the Quantum Saviors. On the contrary, you guys have been working to forward my plans. When a powerful sorcerer dies, his magical energy is gradually released into his surroundings. Enough of the Quantum Savior sorcerers' energies have appeared so that I can proceed with my plans." "What do you mean 'plans'?" Brian shouted. "Brian, did you actually believe that we recruited the sorcerers so they could defend the Headquarters during the siege?" Stacie asked. "No, of course not. It was so I could gather a decent amount of magic. You see, I knew that we would be attacked, so I made sure that the sorcerers would be in the way, but not for defense. When they were killed, and I knew you would kill them, it would release their magical energies for me." "What?" Vince exclaimed. "You mean..." "Yes, my dear Inferno Fiend," Stacie answered. "By attacking--by killing off the sorcerers for us, you and your Mystic friend actually helped me, but that's not the only thing you helped me with. Do you remember the Veiliij Artifacts? Oh, Brian, I must thank you for collecting them for me, but I never told you what they were for." "You told me about the Golem," Brian responded. "And I wasn't impressed." "That's because the Veiliij Golem was never the primary purpose of the Veiliij Artifacts," Stacie explained. "The Veiliij is the key to opening a portal to Hell, and the Golem was the guardian. I must thank you, Vince, for defeating it for me. That was quite kind of you to run two errands for me." Vince growled. "Now, I'll need a certain amount of magic to unseal the barrier between Earth and Hell. Those sorcerers that Vince and Motarius killed will provide more than enough." Stacie walked over to a box by the wall and opened it. Then, she scattered the contents--the Veiliij Artifacts--all over the floor. Waving her hands, she began chanting in a strange language Vince did not recognize. The Artifacts gradually began to glow. Then, they hovered into the air and began spinning rapidly. Lines of energy connected the various Artifacts, forming a large web. Then, after a moment, the energy web faded away, the glow slowly stopped, and the Artifacts came to a rest on the floor. "Um, what just happened?" Vince asked. "The barrier between Earth and Hell has been broken," Stacie explained. "Now, for the second phase. Now, I'll open the portal to Hell and unleash Hades' Demon Army. I'll need a lot of energy, but I don't need much magic for this. The detonation of thirty-five Cobalt Bombs will do. Don't looked so shocked, Brian. The nukes were never meant to threaten the government. I meant to use them for this all along." "Damn you!" Brian shouted. "Why, Stacie? Why would you betray me? What's so great about opening a portal to Hell anyway?" "Because I'm not Stacie," the girl replied. "Stacie is no longer in control of this body. I am Persephone, the Queen of Hell." "Persephone!" Motarius said, apparently shocked and in recognition of the name. "What?" Brian shouted. "How?" "When you met Stacie six years ago, my dear Brian, she was still in control," Persephone explained. "But then, four years ago, you found out she had magical abilities. You found out she was a sorceress, so you decided to bring her into the Quantum Saviors, but this overwhelmed her with power, information, and choices. This sudden information overload made her nervous, fearful, insecure. When you gave her power over the Quantum Saviors, you put an enormous amount of pressure on her. Every decision she made was vital. Every choice she had to take might have cost hundreds of lives. Such an important role unnerved her. She cried out for guidance, and luckily, I found her, and I calmed her. I guided her through her role as a Quantum Saviors advisor." "You used her for your own twisted purposes!" Brian shouted. "You deceived her, tricked her, manipulated her." "No!" Persephone replied just as forcefully. "Stacie opened herself to me. She accepted me. She asked for my advice and I gave it. Eventually, she simply gave me control, so that I could take care of the Quantum Saviors for her, because she was afraid to do it by herself. She gave me control, and within a year, I had full control of her body." "She would never have wanted you to kill me!" Brian yelled. "Of course, she doesn't," Persephone replied. "It's the only thing she regrets. Right now, her soul is begging me to spare your life, but there's nothing she can do. She still lives in this body, but she's has no control, and there's no way she can take it back." "Damn you!" Brian shouted with more anger than ever. "I'll kill you!" "And just how do you expect to do that?" Persephone asked. "Haven't you been paying any attention to girlfriend's body and voice? In order to get the energy from the thirty-five Cobalt Bombs, I'll need to detonate them, and since you're tied to one of them, you'll be instantly vaporized. So tell me, how do you expect to kill me, then?" "Damn you!" Brian yelled. "Damn you, bitch!" "Oh, no," Vince gasped. "What about all the people in Gehenna? You trapped them all inside. The exploding nukes will kill them all." "Obviously," Persephone simply replied. "Come out of there!" someone shouted at the door. Stephanie, Alice, and Robert were still hiding in the ground floor closet. Now, someone was banging at the locked door, demanding that they come out. Alice pulled out her gun. Robert tried to lift his, but suddenly groaned and grabbed his belly. "Robert, you'll need rest," Stephanie whispered. "I might have sealed the wound, but you'll still need a little time to recover from your injury." "But I have to help," Robert groaned. "Robert, you've already helped us more than enough," Alice said kindly. "I don't want you to get yourself hurt. Just get some rest, okay? I'll protect you this time." Alice looked to Stephanie, who looked back at her. As Alice readied her particle blaster, Steph raised her staff. They nodded at each other and waited. The door broke open and black-armored soldiers came in, pointing their guns. "Freeze!" a soldier yelled. "Throw down your weapons." Neither Stephanie nor Alice moved. "I said throw down your weapons, all three of you!" Suddenly, Stephanie blasted the soldier with a bolt of Holy energy, knocking him to the floor. As the rest of the soldiers started firing, she quickly cast a Holy shield to defend herself and her friends. Alice began firing back. Persephone slowly walked over to one of the control panels. Carefully and meticulously, she pressed a series of buttons. "Nuclear detonation in ten seconds," a computerized voice announced. Then, it began counting down. "Nine..." Slowly, the Queen of Hell walked into the middle of the room. "Eight..." Persephone waved her arms, and a red energy shield appeared around her. "Seven..." Vince and Motarius needed to put up their own shields if they were to survive the blast, but the ensnaring vines made it difficult to cast any spells. "Six..." Motarius dropped his silver blade. "Five..." Immediately, Ophelia emerged from the blade and thrashed away the vines holding Motarius in place. "Four..." Ophelia returned to her sword form and returned to Motarius. "Three..." Seeing Motarius free himself, Vince concentrated hard, concentrating on his inner flame. Then, he let loose a shockwave of flame, which tore through the black vines. "Two..." The Mystic put up a shield of Holy energy, and at the same time, the Inferno Fiend put up a shield of flame. "One..." "Damn you, Persephone!" Brian Mandragon shouted at the top of his lungs. There was a flash of light. Vince closed his eyes. He felt warm. Then, he suddenly had a sensation as though he were falling. No, he really was falling. The floor beneath him had been destroyed, but Vince maintained his concentration over his shield. Even when he slammed into the ground, he focused only on keeping his shield up. The soldiers were still firing at Stephanie, Alice, and Robert, who were hiding behind Stephanie's Holy shield. Suddenly, there was a sudden flash of light. Stephanie heard twisted, agonized screams. Vince opened his eyes again, but instead of seeing the metal walls of the Quantum Saviors Headquarters, he saw nothing. All the other city buildings of Gehenna were gone, too. All around him, other than Motarius and Persephone, he could see nothing but dust. "No," Vince gasped. "Everything... destroyed?" He was about to drop his fire shield, but Motarius shouted at him, "Not yet! Keep the shield up! Radiation, remember?" Vince nodded. Ahead, he saw Persephone waving her arms in the air. Masses upon masses of energy focused into a point in front of her. Then, she chanted again. Slowly, the orb of energy stretched to form an arch, about fifty feet high and twenty feet wide. Suddenly, the arch filled in with a red glow, then with a view of a place full of stone, magma, and flames. Strange creatures Vince didn't recognize began stepping through the arch to the field that had been Gehenna. Some of them were massive, and some of them were tiny. Motarius swore. "What?" Vince asked. "Demons!" Motarius replied. "Let's get out of here!" Motarius didn't wait. He simply ran off, still maintaining his Holy shield. Vince looked back at the arch. Demons were swarming in in force. Not hesitating any longer, Vince turned and ran. Motarius was out of sight already, but Vince didn't care. He simply ran. Soon, he saw a white sphere in the distance with three dark spots in it. Upon coming closer, he saw it was Stephanie, Alice, and Robert, all hiding inside a Holy shield. "Stephanie!" Vince shouted. "Thank Heavens you're alive!" "Vince!" Stephanie cried excitedly. She turned toward him, but Vince yelled, "No, run! Get to the hovercraft!" "What's going on?" Stephanie shouted. "Demons are coming!" Vince shouted back. "I'll explain later!" Stephanie, Alice, Robert, and Vince, the four people and the two shields, ran across the desolate fields. As they ran, they gradually passed more and more debris. Soon, they came across ruins of buildings. Finally, they came to the outer wall, and they continued running until they made their way back to the hovercraft. "Wait!" Vince shouted, just as Stephanie and the others were about to climb in. "We need to check if it's been covered with radioactive fallout. It'd be pretty bad to ride in a radioactive hovercraft." "Wait, I can purify it with a spell," Stephanie said. Still maintaining her Holy shield, Stephanie closed her eyes and began a prayer. The red sky opened and shined a bright light down on the hovercraft. For a moment, the hovercraft glowed brightly. "There," Stephanie said. "If there was any radioactive dust on the hovercraft, it's all gone now." "All right," Vince said. "I think we're far enough from the center of the explosion, so radiation won't be a problem. We can drop our shields and climb in the hovercraft." Steph's Holy shield disappeared, and she, Alice, and Robert climbed into the hovercraft. The Inferno Fiend's armor melted into magma, then drained off his body. His black hide became skin again and his long, red hair became short and black. Human again, Vince climbed into the driver seat. He quickly twiddled the controls, and the hovercraft took off. As they flew away, they looked down at what had been the city of Gehenna. The demons had already spread throughout most of the city, and still more were coming out of the portal. "Vince, what happened back there?" Stephanie asked. "Stacie, Brian Mandragon's girlfriend, she was actually Persephone," Vince said. "Who's Persephone?" Alice asked. "The Queen of Hell," Vince replied deliberately. Stephanie and Alice gasped. "Hell?" Robert asked. "She manipulated all of us," Vince explained. "She had her own agenda all along, and she manipulated us into carrying out her plans. Remember how we all thought the Quantum Saviors were in control? They controlled the Alliatus, Shadow, Ragnarok, even the Mercenary Camps, but Persephone had the real control. She tricked the Quantum Saviors into staging a nuclear siege, except it was just a setup to open a portal to Hell. She even manipulated us. She wanted us to kill the sorcerers for her. She wanted us to attack. She knew we were going to attack, and in the end, we ended up helping her open the portal to Hell. She played all of us, and we did exactly as she wanted us to." "Oh, my!" Steph said. "Brian Mandragon is dead," Vince said. "Persephone killed him. There isn't going to be a nuclear launch, but that doesn't matter anymore. The Demon Army is loose." There was a pause. "You're going to fight them, aren't you, Vince?" Robert asked. "Of course," Vince replied. "Then, I'll fight with you," Robert said. "So will I," Stephanie added. "Me, too," Alice said. "Thanks, guys," Vince said. Vince thought about what had happened in the last several months. The Dark Fiends were rampaging. There was a war between Alliatus and the Shadow. The Quantum Saviors had been manipulating the world into doing their bidding. These last three things had thrown the world into chaos, but the Demon Army would prove to be the biggest problem yet. Persephone was a crafty, clever character. She had manipulated the manipulator, and there was no way to tell what other tricks she had up her sleeves. Yet, Vince wanted to fight, and despite the odds, he was determined to win. |