We emerged in the mechanical guts of the mothership, as expected. Alarms sounded as soon as we did.

Very unexpectedly, however, four people appeared out of thin air as if they had dropped an invisibility cloak.

"Get in here!" a young Asian man in a black military jumper suit whisper-yelled.

We rushed over to them. The elderly crimson-skinned man and another Asian man raised their arms in an arc above us in opposite directions. The old woman pressed a few buttons on a glass Statusin.

Move! the military man yelled into our minds.

The four of us moved forward with them as they attempted to avoid being caught.

"Who are you?" the elderly man asked. His beard was fully white but he sounded and looked tough.

"We're the kids from Earth!" Grady answered.

The elderly woman turned to look at us with a grin, "Nice to meet you! I'm Triumvir Wilma Ivonne Bell. We're somewhat busy right now, but maybe you can help us?"

"We were planning on taking down the Liadan leader as well, kinda," I said.

"That's great!" She exclaimed, "What's the plan?"

"We didn't have one," Marco grunted.

"We don't either! Ha!" she laughed, "Someone here didn't consider that this would happen at all!"

She gave the shadiest smile ever to the red man.

"Wilma, this is no time for games," he retorted, "Focus on finding the command center."

"Well, Oriys," she said with a perfect smile, "Why don't you focus on keeping this shield intact. There's a hole right here!" she pointed at a coin-sized spot where the air shimmered.

He waved his arms in an arc over his head again and the patch went away.

"Merlin, what's our status?" the youngest man asked.

"Clearly," he said with his eyes shut in disappointment, "I have no idea where we are."

"I do," Grady interjected, "I can't feel their auras, but I can feel them moving around. I'm an extrasensor. Um, I can feel a whole bunch of them moving up...there."

She pointed forward and up.

Merlin's face lit up, "Lead us there."

"Okay, we're standing right next to an elevator that's going to open in literally seconds. Let's stand on the other side of the hallway. I don't want to get trampled," Grady ushered us ahead a few feet.

The seamless wall opened and let through dozens of uniformed androgynous androids. Their facial features were feminine but their bodies were muscular and built masculinely. They had no hair and their skin was perfectly black. Their white eyes contrasted with their coloring. They didn't have mouths or noses or even ears, but they had the outlines of them as if they might have had them at some point. They all were identical.

The Liadan soldiers ran in perfect unison towards where we were before.

The eight of us rode the elevator to the floor Grady said the control room was on. The doors opened again and I could see the bustling of hundreds of androids as far as the eye could see. The control room was probably on the whole floor.

At the center of the hub there was an android with a white hologram halo above its head.

"That's Eminent Hyos Joachin of Federated Liada," Merlin said, "As the Triumvir of State I have only ever spoken to them on video calls."

"And we are to assassinate him?" Triumvir Bell asked solemnly, "Is this the path the Triumvirs choose to take? Oriys Eutos, are you sure about this?"

This man was the King of Promethea. He wasn't the nice one of the Triumvirate.

"They are killing our people," Triumvir Eutos grimaced with hatred in his eyes, "So we must kill their Eminent."

"Capture and execute with a trial is the method to do this," Merlin proposed.

"We don't have long," the young one said, "They are preparing a coup de grâce."

"Merius, can you teleport the nine of us down to the bunkers once we're done?" Merlin asked.

"I think I can," he responded, "but I reiterate that we can't linger any longer. It's light bombs they're going to start releasing. I don't understand why they didn't do it earlier, but they're going to do it now."

"Let's go!" Merlin yelled, "Circle formation."

They dropped the stealth shields.

Immediately all the androids turned to see us and swarmed around us. Some of them shot lasers from cannons on their palms while others charged at us with newly shape-shifted blade arms.

The Energy Modulator sent power through me. I blasted some of the ones on my side with telekinetic bursts. I saw their metal bodies bend and crumple at my will.

I turned momentarily to see the Eminent still sitting at the main control panel. This was not very interesting, apparently.

We were using the knowledge we had to the best of our ability. Grady was protecting her side of the circle with an auric force field. Eutos and Marco gracefully launched flamethrowers that licked at the androids and melted their external panels. Merlin was casting spells that left them paralyzed with jittery sigils hovering around each one he froze. Merius was attacking each android head on, impaling his energy sword into the head of every opponent that challenged him.

Wilma did her best on her glass panel to force the Eminent via code to surrender.

Sabine stood still. She didn't do anything. I turned to her. There was someone else with us.

It was me. Just as I suspected the first time Grady and I were in the End. He stood behind Wilma in the center and behind Sabine, who had only survived the onslaught because was protected by Grady's shield.

I took the few seconds he was there to look at him, me. He was older, a bit more muscular, and slightly taller. His hair was longer and it was in a different style, something I would have to try now. He wore ripped-up black clothes and he was grimy and visibly tired.

He glanced at me for a second and then put his arm on Sabine's shoulder.

"But, also, I'm sorry, but I think I have to take her with me, byyeee," Future Me said in my my signature awkward way of phrasing things.

Then he and Sabine warped away.

"Carlos!" Grady yelled. I flung a telekinetic force as I spun back to my position and hit a Liadan who was just about to kill me with its blade arms.

Then other Liadans began to show up, except they were different. These ones weren't cold and calculating. Their eyes were colored and they had colorful markings on their skin. Their clothes were civilian and varied. Most importantly, they were fighting against the soldiers.

The path to Hyos Joachin opened up, and Merlin took the opportunity to attempt to encase the Eminent in paralysis magic. The Eminent spun the swivel chair to face us and rose.

Hyos Joachin raised their hands and made a complex series of magical digit contortions. Then they pushed their hands forward and the pain spell showered all over us.

I fell to the cold metal floor and I saw Grady, Marco, and Wilma on the floor as well. Merius, Merlin, and Oriys fought through the pain.

It was horrible, it really was. My arms and legs were on fire and it felt like someone had driven a spike through my chest. That was apart from the blade arm that was impaled through my abdomen now that I was defenseless. Merius killed the soldier who impaled me but didn't have the time to get the arm out. Maybe it was for the better, that way the exsanguination would be slower.

So this is it, at least. I thought, I die fighting. Not that I wanted to go this way.

I wish that was what I thought in that moment. I was too busy screaming because the pain enchantment was still actively trying to kill me.

Either way, I never expected things to go down like that. I had always been afraid of dying. To this day, death terrorizes me. It takes me a while to regulate my breathing and calm my mind after thoughts of it invade my regular processes. The void that follows death is too much for me to just be okay with it. This was not good for me, on more levels than just physical.

I screamed this time out of fear and not pain. I let my aura flow freely, and somehow the enchantment dissolved away. With the last of my willpower, I pushed the soldier away from me, and the blade left my body with an ugly slurping sound.

Grady, still screaming, reached for me. Whatever it was that cured me cured her, too, and I grabbed Marco. She knew what to do. We crudely bound our auras together and, of course, wasted a lot of energy, but we managed to heal my wound. I was not going to let myself die like that.

She got up and so did I. Marco laid on the floor.

The Eminent was doing an excellent job of fighting off Merius hand to hand and evading Oriys' and Merlin's magical offense.

The free Liadans had taken down most of the soldiers. Grady and I held off the remaining soldiers who tried to attack us.

"You have to attack!" I yelled at her. She had gone back to defense.

I put my hands together and jutted them outwards at a soldier. They stopped in their tracks. I flipped my hands so the backs were touching one another and I pulled as if I were trying to spread window bars apart. Their metal body ripped open and sparks flew out.

It dawned on me that I was killing people. They were most likely unaware of what they were doing, but their consciousnesses would be irretrievable with the damage I was doing to them.

"Grady!" I grunted as I held back two soldiers, "You don't have to kill them! Just disable them!"

"I cant!" She strained from the effort it took to keep the shield up as the androids pounded on it.

"Push the shield!" I said as I shot the soldiers I was holding into the floor.

Her elbows bumped me in the back and I knew she had done it. I focused on another soldier who was about to take a shot at me. A civilian Liadan stabbed the soldier in the back and the long blade poked out through their chest. The light in its eyes didn't die out but it was definitely left immobile.

Then they were all down. Only the Eminent remained. The elevators were probably locked to keep the rest out. Wilma was unconscious on the floor with blood dripping slowly from her nose.

The halo-headed leader was fighting tirelessly and was keeping up effortlessly with the other three.

None of Merlin and Oriys' collaboration spells were working. I could see the magic fizzle out whenever they reached crucial points.

The civilian Liadans began shooting at the Eminent, but their lasers bounced right off him.

The Eminent is about to teleport! Some of the Liadans simultaneously broadcast telepathically.

The three men made contact with the Eminent and they disappeared with him.

"What now?" I asked aloud.

I took a moment to catch my breath. I could see the screens of the war room displaying images of the fighter squadrons returning to the mothership.

Not returning.

Aiming at.

"Everyone!" I yelled, "Evacuate!"

The others saw the images of the planes returning. The first impact was just a slight jolt. The rest piled up and rocked the mothership.

A Liadan ran over to Grady and me.

Hold on, they said, We'll get them, too.

Suddenly we were in a vast concrete room with endless bunk beds and just as many people occupying them.

"Bunkers," Grady explained, "We're underground."

The colorful Liadan spoke wordlessly, The danger will be over soon, and you have helped very much. Stay here. It should not be long before the authorities return everyone aboveground.

Then they teleported away.

We waited down there for hours. Neither of us could sleep or keep still. Adrenaline still ran through my veins, and I realized my age-old habit of grinding my teeth until my jaw permanently ached had made a return for this. I lay in the lightly padded mattress and I cried.

Marco and Wilma never came down.

Millions, if not billions, of people were down here, feeling the exact same emotions. There was nothing I could do. There was nothing any of us could do except sit and wait.