*BANG*

In a fit of danger, I decided not to be sensible and hand Cooper—the police officer—the gun as he would've died long before due to Napoleon's sword. However, it's also worth mentioning that I cannot fire accurately as I have not really handed a gun before. I really should've taken Uncle Augustus up on his firearm lessons.

"Agh! Ma main!" Napoleon shouts in pain and drops his sword as a new bullet-sized hole is punched through his hand.

"Uhh…Nice shot!" Cooper gives me a thumbs up before hooking his arm into Napoleon's jaw and knocking him out.

I gingerly hand Cooper the gun, making sure to point it away from anyone and keeping away from the trigger. "I— Uh— I was aiming for his head." Cooper freezes and looks down at the undead whom does not have a bullet in his head.

"Huh…shit. Ya could've killed me," Cooper mumbles with a blank stare at the still unmoving, undead not-corpse. He then looks at me with the same penetrating gaze. "Take my advice, stick to your fists."

Someone bumps into me. Oh, hi there, Dr. Crime. I imitate one of Thomas's stances and swing my fist into the Doctor's jaw, with full hip rotation for that added strength.

With my power basically double of the human male, Dr. Crime goes out like a light.

"I had him," Sophia whines, completely unbecoming of her age. Wait, how old is Sophia?

"Did you though?" I mock her with a smile, one that is completely covered by my mask. We chuckle for a bit before the head of Genghis Khan lands on my feet, splattering blood all over my boots.

"Eh—ah…" Sophia drones to the sudden rolling head. A familiar crimson sword impales the head, and we both look at Rose whom is holding the head like her sword is a pike.

"What?" Disregarding the blood, she's very nonchalant about the whole thing; especially the castration she also seems to have performed. "Guys, Graves is getting away."

With that statement, I go into sniffer-dog mode and sniff down the scent of Graves. He smells kinda like dirt, jewelry, and sadness. The scent of a morning fog in a forest, too. Oh, and it seems he had tacos for lunch—beef tacos with extra cheese and lettuce.

I run out of the blanket fort, past all of the spasming Nazis. Why they're spasming? I don't know. I'm not a necromancer.

One of the soldiers stationed guard outside, grabs my right leg. "H-Help…m-m-me…" He croaks die out as black and purple cracks streak across his convulsing face. His rosy skin tone turns deathly pale, his eyes lose their whites and become black orbs, his skin itself begins to flake.

Then he freezes, as if coming to an epiphany. "Oh," he gasps. His last word as he soon turned into a sparking pile of black soot and white salt. A calcium-like smell emanates from the remains.

That was…something. Did he just die? I mean, did he die again? That, out of everything I've seen today, was probably the worst way I've seen someone die.

Let's just slowly back away from this mess. And…go back to chasing Graves.

As I jump over the discount bins, I smell…him, and other things? He seems to have not left, probably due to the police sirens I can hear outside, and has hidden himself away in the store-brand pizza place.

I hop over the countertop, slowing my pace as I sniff around. The sound of clattering metal draws me to the kitchen. Where is he? There's not many places he could hide at this point. Their walk-in freezer is the only place left. Why a pizza place has a walk-in freezer? I don't know. I don't work here.

I open the steel door with just a tug. Frigid air wafts around me with the sudden movement. Graves, even in the freezer air, is sweating visibly through his buttoned, white shirt as he tinkers with some blinking device.

Let's see…Wires, some blinking lights, a timer, a barrel, weird purple orb that the aforementioned wires lead into. I'm going to take a wild guess and say bomb.

I summon a water ball and have it hover in front of my palm. Aiming it towards Graves like a gun, I say, "Hands up, Graves! You're under arrest for, uh…I don't know the Miranda rights, or what exactly you're under arrest for, but I know it's nefarious."

His face gains an improper calm compared to his face just ten seconds ago. He slowly stands up while staring at a random corner of the room. "You've pushed me to do this." His head snaps to me, dilating pupils visible. "And…it's Dr. Graves."

The device begins beeping. Slowly at first, but it quickly quickens in rhythm and tempo. The purple orb pulsates and glows with each beep. Little strands of light circulate in an orbit around the orb, feeding into it. Wait, I recognize these lights.

It's mana.

The orb begins to darken in color, inverse to the glow that it was doing previously. Graves silently, solemnly puts his hand on the orb. His face contorts in pain. A milk-curdling scream fills the echoing, steel freezer; all from a man with graying hairs.

Light itself seems to contort around the sphere as the freezer lights flow into it. Graves' hand itself also contorts and stretches around the orb. It's essentially pulling him apart like pork.

He kneels on the ground in visible pain. I break out of my stupor and run over to him. I grab his arm that isn't grasping the orb and try to pull. The water I had summoned flies straight towards the ball.

"—op it." I hear a faint whisper. I stare into the terrified yet serene face of Graves. This face…I've seen this face before. On Natalie. It's the face of someone that knows they are going to die, but will do what they have to anyway. For what they love.

It's acceptance.

"Stop it," he says, much clearer this time. The orb is growing now. "It's too far gone now. I…miscalculated." He takes a deep breath with the orb taking upon an orange hue in the background. Illuminating the freezer in an ominous glow.

"The basis of every portal is—" he groans in pain for a moment. "Every portal needs…a black hole." The distortion is at his elbow. "I bought this…thing! For millions!" His anger is short-lived and he just calms down again.

"I planned to portal out of here. Make a grand escape. Live another day." A tear goes down his eye. "Guess this is what I deserve for buying a portal device from a fishy, Chinese website." It's at his shoulder. "Of course it destabilizes instantly. Don't know if anything except a very, very painful death awaits me past the event horizon."

He glances down at my arm interlocked with his, futilely attempting to save him. "I appreciate you trying to be a hero. Much more than others. However," he glances at the or- black hole, "nothing can resist the pull of a black hole. Well, unless you're well versed in dimensional magic. Maybe you can get away with spatial, but it's a gamble. Stabilizing it would be a pain either way."

He swings a knife out of nowhere, right into my palm. A yelp is let out as Graves is let go. Before he becomes atomized, I see mouth, 'Thank you.'

Huh, I guess he got a redemption arc? Wasn't he in debt though? I think he just escaped from debt through death.

*BANG!* I turn to find that the gravitational pull of the black hole has pulled the freezer door shut. I attempt to push against the door, but I can't fight the pressure. I think the air is becoming low too.

The cheap device beneath the black hole sparks, and the orange hue around the black hole turns blue. Nothing about the pitch-black emptiness changes though. Shit, now I'm floating!

The only thing remaining in my sight is the steel melting and the circle disappearing.