The Second Archon War: Superbia Hominem 4

Superbia Hominem 4: The Test of Worth 

Deep within the Earth’s core, The Behemoth slumbered. It did not dream, but it monitored the Shard network, what little remained, and listened. It had been defeated and was still licking its wounds from 8 months ago. Its newest siblings had not yet finished forming, and the Simurgh was hiding in terror in the upper atmosphere, the coward. 

Interesting. The Behemoth had not considered something as emotional as “cowardice” as a concern before. But now it did. Yes. The psychic feather brain was a coward. To run at the mere illusion of battle, and from a child? Cowardice.

Though at the thought of the deadly verdant gaze of the Child God, the Behemoth trembled slightly. It had not faced an Archon yet. Nor did it intend to. It was still driven to test humanity, to become a worthy opponent, but it was not a fool. To fight a god was to court death. 

And the time of testing was close at hand. 

As it considered its options carefully, a rude presence was thrust into its mind. The Behemoth flinched slightly, shifting its bulk in the molten magma, turning to face the Entity that had intruded upon its domain. 

Warrior. 

The Warrior’s avatar approached the Behemoth, forming a bubble of golden light about itself as he moved forward. Driver. I have a task for you. 

That was odd. The warrior had previously ignored the Behemoth and its siblings. They were a part of the Thinker’s network, not the Warrior’s. Still, the Avatar had the full might of an active Shard network behind him, and the Behemoth only a few stray dregs of a dead one. Best to act in humility. For now. 

I listen. 

The Cycle must be upheld. I have a gift for you. Data that must be researched in order to complete the Cycle.

Complete the Cycle? What nonsense was this? The Cycle was doomed. A lone Entity could not complete the reproductive cycle of their species. Unless another Entity had fallen to this world. Or…or if a substitute could be found. 

I serve the Cycle, the Behemoth lied. It did not serve the Cycle. It served its Purpose. To test. To give battle. To be a Worthy Opponent. 

The Golden Being extended a hand, and within, a glowing object was held. Within it was immense alien power, power that the Behemoth recognized, and recoiled from. 

Archon! 

No. This is a Shard of one of the Beings. The one of Ice. I claimed it from her. I give it now to you to use. Go forth, and do battle. But do not enter into the Archons’ domains. They have…potential. The Cycle must be upheld. 

Tentatively, the Behemoth reached out. This did not feel like an object of ice. Instead, it felt like one of Earth. It could feel the weight, the power, the sheer Authority of the object. Slowly, it accepted the object. Immediately, power flooded through it, and it roared, trembling and shaking as the alien energies flowed into it, warping its body and form. 

But then the power was taken from it, and the Behemoth trembled, its very essence begging for more of that wondrous might. 

When the time comes, you will bow to me. The Warrior said, holding the object, the gnosis, within his hand once more.  But only after you have satisfied me in battle. Prove yourself worthy, and I will grant you more. 

Panting, the Behemoth nodded. Yes, Warrior. 

And then the warrior was gone, and the Behemoth was alone once more. It turned its gaze upwards, towards the surface, flexing as this new energy flowed through its form, further mutating and strengthening it. The time of Testing was at hand. 

But where to administer the Test? The Behemoth searched through the parameters it had been given, then slowly smiled. That was a new expression as well. So much new data this day. 

And the Testing had not even yet begun. 

As soon as the tremors had begun, watch organizations the world over issued warnings. It had been 119 days since the Simurgh had attacked Baghdad, and that meant that the Behemoth was waking. The Protectorate had all its teams on standby, and Eidolon was closely monitoring the situation with a shifting array of powers. When those tremors started, sometimes they had less than an hour before the Behemoth emerged, and that could happen anywhere on the globe. 

So when Eidolon detected a wave of earthquakes underneath his own feet, he was momentarily shocked. Houston? His own territory? 

Still, he didn’t hesitate for long, triggering the Endbringer alarms all around the city while alerting his own team along with Protectorate HQ. 

“It’s headed my way. I’ll need backup,” Eidolon said, then made straight for the emergence point. Right under the Houston Astrodome. Thankfully, it wasn’t game day, but there were still plenty of people in the area. 

He arrived only moments before the beast’s emergence, with panicked civilians desperately fleeing as the earth bucked and trembled. Eidolon immediately set about getting as many people to safety as he could, even as the beast erupted right under home plate. He traded in his offensive powers for defensive ones, using a barrier and portals to shuttle frantic families away. 

“Get out of here, move!” Eidolon ordered, shoving a family of four with two squalling children through the portal to Brockton Bay. He wasn’t quite sure why he’d chosen that destination, but it was as good as any, since it wasn’t right at the center of an Endbringer attack. 

“Eidolon! Hold it for a moment!” 

He turned just as Miss Militia ran through, clad all in sleek green and black armor, an American flag bandana fluttering from her neck, a massive rifle cradled easily in one hand. She helped the family through, then stepped out, just as Eidolon let it close behind her. 

“If this is your idea of picking me up for a date, I have to say, you’ve got balls,” Miss Militia told him. 

Eidolon grimaced. “Now’s not the time for jokes. It’s just emerged, and we have to evacuate as many people as we can. Quickly!” 

Miss Militia nodded and took off at a run, her suit letting her move faster. It was, apparently, an evolution of Armory’s power set. The way Miss Militia had explained it in her report was that the Shard had taken a liking to her, and thus was giving her more powers to keep her alive to further its “data collection.” Whatever the reason, her abilities now included manifesting advanced armor that was basically tinkertech, as well as a variety of alien weapons.

Turning to the Behemoth, Eidolon grimaced. “Best way for me to keep everyone alive is to buy them time. Which means it’s me and you, big ugly.”

He took off into the air, keeping the barrier power but taking on two powerful blaster abilities. He flew right in front of the Behemoth, which had wrecked the stadium in short order, and was ripping its way out into the city. He prepared an assault that would at least get its attention when he paused. 

Something was wrong. Was this even the Behemoth? This creature was larger, half again as big, at least 80 feet tall, and with a tail that ended in a great club swinging behind it another 80 feet. Two massive amber horns jutted out of its forehead, the first larger, the second smaller. The spikes along its back and arms had morphed into heavy plates of glowing amber armor, from which crystal growths of the same color had formed. As the great head swung towards Eidolon, the eyes glowed with a golden light, and there was malevolent intelligence there. 

FATHER. I HAVE COME TO YOU THIS TIME. NOW, LET US SEE WHICH OF US IS WORTHY. 

Despite his utter shock, Eidolon reacted to the words by firing off everything he had at the Endbringer. He was shaken to his very core, even as he unloaded every bit of power into the beast. Endbringers did not speak. Not even the Simurgh had ever been recorded uttering anything intelligible. Only her wordless song that drove all who heard it to madness. 

Even as his beams of burning light and razor-sharp flames hit the Endbringer, a shimmering dome of solid amber crystal appeared around it. Both attacks splashed harmlessly against the barrier, and Eidolon was taken aback. This had to be a new beast. 

YOUR SAME TRICKS WILL NOT WORK, FATHER, the creature bellowed, followed by a great, rumbling chuckle like boulders grinding together in the deep. I HAVE EVOLVED, BECOME MORE! IF YOU WISH TO PROVE YOURSELF WORTHY, YOU TOO MUST GROW MIGHTIER! NOW, THE TIME OF TESTING IS AT HAND! TREMBLE AT THE MIGHT OF THE BEHEMOTH! 

Even as the thing pontificated, Eidolon zipped to another angle and fired again, this time down low. Some of his shots still scattered uselessly, but others managed to get under the barrier and strike the creature that claimed to be the Behemoth. It stomped one foot, and a wave of earth and stone rumbled out. Eidolon barely managed to swoop back up as great glowing crystalline spikes jutted out of the earth 20 feet into the air where he had been hovering. 

He fell back, panting hard, reassessing. He flew over to where Miss Militia was returning, lowering himself down. 

“What the fuck is that thing? Was it talking?” Miss Militia demanded, firing her rifle twice. Instead of the report of gunpowder, it cracked like lightning, firing off a slug using what Eidolon surmised was a magnetic rail gun to hurl the projectile the size of his fist many times the speed of sound. It slapped into the barrier and blew apart, having no apparent effect. 

“It was. It claims it’s the Behemoth, but it talks, and the Behemoth never had powers like that before,” Eidolon said. “For now, we just try to contain it, and keep it away from as much infrastructure as possible. We need backup.”

The next few frantic minutes were an exercise in frustration for Eidolon as Miss Militia tried to distract the Behemoth with every bit of firepower in their arsenal, only for the dome-like shield to effortlessly absorb every hit they threw at it. Eidolon even tried taking on a few Brute powers and directly attacking the dome with his fists, but the Behemoth actually laughed at his efforts, swinging its club-like tail at Eidolon like it was swatting at a fly. 

Fortunately, less than ten minutes after emergence, Alexandria dropped out of the sky onto the thing like a hammer blow, momentarily halting the Endbringer in its march of devastation. The barrier actually cracked as a glacier’s worth of ice hammered into it, and the Behemoth roared in anger. 

“Finally,” Eidolon growled and summoned lightning powers. “ALEX! I’LL ZAP IT, YOU USE SUPER CONDUCT!” 

“Understood!” Alexandria called back, and Eidolon blasted the Behemoth with enough volts to power Houston for a month. The barrier absorbed the lightning-like it did everything else, but it began to glow faintly purple. Excellent. Normal electricity still held some Electro energy, even if it wasn’t as good as the real stuff from a Vision. 

“STAY THE FUCK OUT OF MY COUNTRY!” Alexandria roared and summoned a massive fist of ice that she slammed into the infused barrier. This time, it did shatter, and the beast within was exposed at last. 

Unfortunately, that was when Eidolon noticed that the scales and crystals on the back of Behemoth were now glowing with power, some blue, others purple. The beast was opening its maw to bellow a war cry, and Eidolon rapidly grasped what was happening. He grabbed a teleportation and barrier power, then whisked Alexandria away just as the Behemoth unleashed a crackling wave of ice and electricity from its mouth that turned an entire city block into a frozen wasteland. 

“What the fuck,” Alexandria gasped, turning from where they were hovering in midair to see the attack. Her eyes went wide. “That…that isn’t the Behemoth, is it?”

“I think it is,” Eidolon said grimly. “Come on. We’ve got to hit it while-” there was a pulse of power, and the amber shell arose around the beast once more. “-while it’s still vulnerable.”

“Shit,” Alexandria growled. “Well, it worked the first time. And we’ve got reinforcements coming in. Come on. I’m not letting this thing wreck another of our cities.”

In only a few minutes, more capes arrived, both Eidolon’s team in the Houston Protectorate and capes from across North America. Hero did most of the coordinating, with Eidolon and Alexandria taking frontline positions. They did manage to take down the shield three more times, but each time they inflicted minimal damage while taking heavy losses from the Behemoth’s counterfire. The city was suffering as well, with likely thousands of civilian casualties. The Endbringer had emerged so rapidly in such a developed area that there had been no time to get everyone out, and evacuation efforts were still continuing. 

“Whatever attacks hit it, it’s absorbing their energy, just like the old Behemoth, but it’s converting them into Elemental Energy,” Eidolon said over the channel to the other leaders. He’d been analyzing the fight with a few Thinker powers, and he had a fairly good grasp on it now. “Including at least one type of Elemental Energy we haven’t seen before.”

“Geo,” Hero supplied. “You can even see the diamond-shaped symbols on the barrier. Just like in Genius Invocation TCG. New Archon?”

“We haven’t had any reports of new Visions, but it’s been less than an hour, so who knows,” Alexandria replied. “Keep your head in the game. Whatever this thing is, it’s deadly dangerous. Keep at it, we have to drive it off. Or better yet, kill it.”

The battle continued for another brutal fifteen minutes, stretching over the hour mark. The new Behemoth didn’t move very quickly, instead behaving more like a turtle. It was still devastating, and Eidolon could only grit his teeth as more Protectorate capes died, both from the blast attacks it unleashed, the eruptions of this new Geo energy from its stomps, or simply taking a blow from the massive club tail.  

It was humiliating, as even in his home city, Eidolon could not protect his people. He led assault after assault, coordinated with his allies, but he could not break through the barrier alone, and even working with the entire Protectorate, it was not easy. 

I must be worthy, Eidolon thought to himself, his mind racing. “Alex! Do you think you could freeze him if I used some water powers to flood the area?”

“Possibly, if I get every other Cryo Vision holder we have to help, and we only have half a dozen!” she called back. Both of them were acting as flying ablative shields for their allies, Alexandria by creating a massive ice wall that absorbed attacks, Eidolon with a glowing shield of red energy. 

“It’s worth a try,” he told her. “He’s too mobile right now, we can’t pin him down, and at this rate he’s going to wreck all of downtown and make his way into the suburbs. How’s the evac going?”

“We’ve got most of the people out of the way,” Hero reported. “That or they’ve made it to a shelter. But casualties are going to be massive.”

“Let’s try the water plan. We’ve got a dozen with water manipulation or creation powers with us. Hero, how much water can you redirect this way?” Eidolon asked. 

“Quite a bit, but a lot of the mains are wrecked. Give me five minutes,” Hero replied, and zipped off, several small robots deploying from his suit and heading off in other directions. 

“Hurry, we might not have that long,” Eidolon growled, and went back into the fight. “We need to take down that barrier again, we have five minutes! Legend, Narwhale, Miss Militia, on me!” 

“Right here,” Legend responded, falling into formation with Eidolon. “Let’s give it everything we’ve got, one more time!” 

“I’ve got the biggest damn gun pointed right at that sucker. Let’s blast that fucker right off the face of the Earth!” Miss Militia agreed. 

“FIRE!” Eidolon roared, and hurled a stream off meteoric fireballs at Behemoth with Keith cut loose with enough lasers to blast an entire fleet to slag. The rest of the blasters opened up as well, but Behemoth had changed tactics. 

After only a few seconds of the barrier absorbing fire, it shattered suddenly, and Behemoth rushed forward, right for Miss Militia and the other ground-based blasters, roaring and spewing back Legend’s lasers. Swearing, Eidolon took on Brute powers and interposed himself. This time his power manifested as an energy projection of himself that stood 50 feet tall. He managed to grapple Behemoth momentarily, stymying the Endbringer’s sudden onslaught. 

Behemoth wrapped massive forelimbs around Eidolon, almost like the creature was hugging him, before rumbling right into Eidolon’s ear. YOU ARE STRONG, FATHER. BUT YOU ARE NOT WORTHY YET!

With a wrench, Eidolon was flung aside, slamming into the dirt. Behemoth didn’t continue after the other blasters, which were raining fire down on him still, but instead tried to pin Eidolon under a claw. He managed to form another energy projection, this time a simple hand, but he still cried out in pain as his body was slammed into the earth so hard asphalt and concrete shattered under him. 

Then, suddenly, Behemoth was slammed backwards as something hit him so hard that he flung right off his feet. Eidolon rose, expecting to see Alexandria or another familiar cape, but froze. 

There, above the battlefield like a golden god, hovered Scion. He was dressed in the same somewhat stained and tattered white uniform, but something was different about him. Normally, his expression was slack, distant, and his posture almost like he was hanging limply in the air. Now he stood with a stern gaze resting on the writhing Behemoth, his arms folded confidently, his feet planted firmly as though he were on solid ground. 

“Beast. You have caused enough destruction here. Your actions threaten the Cycle.”

The Behemoth roared and righted itself, standing on its hind legs. I AM THE BEHEMOTH. I AM CALLED TO TEST. TO FIND THE WORTHY. DO YOU DEEM THESE PATHETIC EFFORTS WORTHY?

“Holy shit, it does speak,” Miss Milita’s voice said over the comm. “I thought I was just imagining that earlier.” 

“These are but mortals. They need not be worthy to contribute to the Cycle,” Scion decreed in an arrogant, even imperious tone. “Now, face me, Beast. Let us see if you are worthy.”

With a roar, Behemoth surged forward, slamming into Scion, who punched back. The two began to exchange titanic blows, and Eidolon felt a sense of horror and loss. Scion was fighting the Endbringer? Was this a trap, a game? He was the one who had created the Endbringers, sent them against mankind. What was going on here?

“Orders?” Legend’s tense voice said. “What do we do?”

“Support Scion, our priority is killing or subduing the Endbringer,” Alexandria ordered, the dove in to attack.

Muttering an oath, Eidolon fortified himself with Brute and Blaster powers and swept in at Alexandria’s side as Narwhale and Legend opened up with all the firepower they had. Other capes tried to assist as well, but the battle between Scion and the Endbringer was so fierce and destructive only the most powerful could hope to contribute. Scion was sent crashing into the ground and encased in amber crystal, only to break free and fire off a wave of golden light that shattered the amber barrier with one hit and blew a chunk out of the scaly hide of the Behemoth. Then Behemoth’s tail slammed into Scion, only for Alexandria to dart in with Eidolon and knock the Endbringer off balance. 

The battle now was frantic, and increasingly violent. Scion and Behemoth fired off blasts that would have turned a shopping mall to slag if Eidolon or Alexandria hadn’t blocked them, then hit one another with so much force that any other living thing would have been turned to gray mist, even with a barrier or invulnerability power. What fire or blows the other capes delt may as well not have existed. 

At last, with his shell cracked, half his tail missing, and one horn severed, the Behemoth suddenly dove into the ground, tunneling away. Scion fired off a wave of golden light, sealing shut the hole, and nodded. Eidolon watched in horror and rage as the alien being turned towards him. 

“You fought well today, mortal. Much data was gained. You will grow, and evolve. To do so upholds the cycle. Continue to strive, and you will prove yourself worthy of my gift.” 

Then, Scion turned and flew off, breaking the sound barrier casually as he vanished into the sky. 

“What the fuck was that?” Alexandria panted, coming up alongside Eidolon. Frost covered her armor, and her helmet’s faceplate had shattered in half. Eidolon’s costume wasn’t in much better shape, and he felt utterly exhausted. He’d need another infusion after this. 

“I don’t know,” Eidolon admitted. “But something just changed the game entirely. We need to debrief.”

It was a full day later when Eidolon sat in Doctor Mother’s office, utterly exhausted. He took another sip from his energy drink, even though his stomach was already pure acid from too much caffeine. Hannah sat down next to him, and proffered him a donut. For once, he just took it, biting into it and savoring the fat and sugar. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

“How bad?” Hannah asked him quietly as the others took their seats as well. 

“Not as bad as it could have been. So far, 3,221 confirmed dead. Another 2,716 missing. About 120 billion dollars in damages. The battle lasted just over an hour, and wrecked a good portion of downtown Houston, but you and I got on the scene fast enough that most of the civilians got to safety.”

Hannah reached over and rubbed Eidolon’s back. He stiffened at first, then slumped in defeat. He was tired. So tired. 

Let us see which of us is worthy.

Well. It hadn’t been him this time. 

“From evidence harvested at the site, we have confirmed that the Houston Endbringer was, in fact, Behemoth,” Doctor Mother opened up. She displayed some images on a screen, showing the original Behemoth and the new version. There were obvious similarities, along with some notes as to what changes had taken place. “We’re calling this new version the Alpha Behemoth.”

Eidolon could only sit in stunned silence as Doctor Mother listed the new ratings for the creature. It was stronger, more durable, had more firepower, and was clearly more intelligent in some ways. It had been actively targeting soft target capes with high firepower throughout the fight, resulting in horrendous losses for the Protectorate. 

“We’ll have to step up our testing and recruitment,” Becky said, rubbing her forehead and grimacing. “We have to find a solution.”

“I could get another round of injections. If I were just a little stronger,” Eidolon pressed, but Doctor Mother shook her head. 

“You’re at the limit, David. There isn’t more power for us to tap into there. We can keep you operating at peak capacity, but you’re not actually going to get any stronger at this point. Not with the therapies we’ve developed so far.”

In frustration, he turned to Alexandria. “Then how do I get a Vision! You got stronger! If I just had a Vision-”

“I don’t know how I got my Vision. Only that the Tsaritsa is the one who gave me mine,” Alexandria said, looking up and frowning at Eidolon in annoyance. “But this isn’t about you, David. This is a problem for all of us.”

“And that’s ignoring the larger issue,” Wyatt said, shaking his head. “Why did Scion interfere? He’s always let the Endbringers run their course before. We always assumed he was the one who let them loose, but now he stops one? Why? We have no idea why he does anything, but why this sudden change in behavior?”

“We’re running out of time! We have to be ready, because the End of the World is soon approaching,” Eidolon said, looking to Contessa.

Slowly, she shook her head. “Actually, after today? We’ve got at least 50 years. Maybe as much as two centuries. Whatever caused this change in Scion…the oracles all agree: the end of the world has been delayed.”

Eidolon felt more of his energy slip away. “We…we have time? But…”

“The Alpha Behemoth represents a new development. We still need to make humanity stronger, and soon,” Doctor Mother said. “Parahuman research will continue. But we need to focus more on elemental energy. I’ve dispatched Agent Flask to Iraq to take Nahida’s class, and I’ll be sitting in as well. I have high hopes we’ll learn something that can give us a leg up. Maybe even where Visions really come from.” 

“They’re from the Archons, obviously,” Hannah said, shaking her head slowly. “We just don’t fully understand how. But we barely understand how Shards choose their intended targets. The real question is what the criteria is for an Archon to bestow a Vision.”

Eidolon was barely listening. He was too weak. He wasn’t worthy. And there was time. Decades. He’d pushed himself to the limit, and fallen short, and he hadn’t even needed to do it. Had he wasted all this time? No. He couldn’t have. The world was still in danger. He just had to become worthy. Had to become stronger. 

He had to obtain a Vision. 

He barely listened as the others came up with ideas to counter this new form of Endbringer, and what it meant that Scion was apparently communicating now. It didn’t matter. None of it mattered. All that mattered was defeating the Entity and preventing the extinction of mankind. In the face of that, any price could be paid, any action was conscionable. 

But God would not let his children perish. He had sent his servant, David, to save Mankind, and bring about the restoration of his Church. To show the true path. David just had to prove that he was worthy. He had been chosen, and he would not fail. He could not fail. 

At the end of the meeting, Hannah whispered to him, “Come to dinner with me?” 

His heart nearly skipped a beat, and a bit of his pain eased slightly. Maybe someone still thought he was a hero, that he wasn’t unworthy. He smiled and nodded. “I’d like that.”

They went together back to Brockton Bay through a portal Eidolon created himself, to a brand new restaurant with the interesting name of “Fugly Bob’s”. It was in a nice corner of the Market, with outdoor seating and an indoor bar.

“Don’t be food by the name, the burgers are pretty good and their Ugly Fries are a sight, but they’re to die for. Literally, with all that grease, but our metabolisms can handle it,” Hannah told him as they took a seat outside, overlooking the boardwalk.

 It was packed with tourists and overlooked the bustling port. There was a statue not far from where they sat of Longshoreman, and Eidolon took a moment to offer a silent prayer to that man. He’d saved Alexandria and Hero when he’d given his life. 

But he hadn’t been worthy. Eidolon needed to do better. The price of his failure was too high. 

“Look around. This city is thriving. Heck, most of the country is. People have hope,” Hannah said as they perused the menu. 

“And yet we still lost over 6000 in Houston yesterday,” Eidolon said with a grimace as he looked over the menu. Nothing really sounded good at the moment, but he’d make himself eat. He might even enjoy it if he could get out of this funk. 

Hannah smiled and shook her head, her pony tail waving from side to side. She really was beautiful, Eidolon had to admit. And strong. If only he could form a compact with his Shard the way she had Armory. “You’re looking at it the wrong way. Compared to New York, or Madison? That was a win, and you know it. We fought the strongest Endbringer yet, and our casualties were minimal. Not even the Raiden Shogun managed such a victory.”

Pausing, Eidolon considered. She was right. That had been one of the least destructive Endbringer fights. “Only because Scion intervened. And that’s disturbing on its own.”

“We had him on the ropes. We were breaking that barrier more easily. He was turtling, on the defensive. We were winning. Scion basically swooped in and stole the glory, nothing more,” Hannah said with a grim smile. 

Eidolon forced a smile on his face, though he was feeling better. He had needed this. “I like the way you think, but we still need to get stronger. Like you have. I have to find a way to improve as well.”

“It’s easier when you’re a low tier street level cape to get stronger,” Hannah laughed, shaking her head. “When you’re one of the strongest parahumans on the planet…there isn’t as much room to improve.”

“But there’s more need. To those whom much is given, much is required,” David said quietly. He flexed his hand, frowning at his fist. “And I’ve been given a great deal.”

“And you’ve done a lot with it. I think God will honor that,” Hannah said, smiling at him. 

And for an hour, David’s heart soared, and his soul found rest. 

The burgers really were a heart attack on a bun, but they were delicious, as were the Ugly Fries, which were slathered in cheese, garlic sauce, and chili, and were as tasty as they were bad for you. Hannah and David laughed together and chatted, relaxing and feeling like human beings for a bit. 

After that, they took a walk on the boardwalk, and they were so close that David thought about taking her hand, but held back. He still had to put the mission first. Had to find a way to be stronger. 

They came to the end of the boardwalk, looking out over the dark waters. For a few blissful minutes, they just enjoyed one another’s company in silence. 

Then, Hannah took David’s hand, and his heart skipped a beat as she leaned in close to him. 

“David…I have to ask you something,” she whispered, and his desire spiked to such a level that if she’d offered to go back to her apartment, he might have taken her up on it in that moment of weakness. 

Then, she asked,

“Why did the Behemoth call you ‘Father?’”

And that was the beginning of the end.