Week Seven

Thursday June 1st, 2043, 2000 hours

After jumping into the frame, Bug (and after, the others) felt surrounded by blackness; ahead there was a single point of red light, growing larger as she moved forward involuntarily. She then emerged in an octagonal room, where ProPres Hammond, DefenseSec Benjamin Fisk, and CommerceSec Jeanne Brennan sat around a large meeting table. The three of them, and a single NERCC sentry, immediately rushed forward to attack.

As they ran, Hammond and his two cabinet members began changing, Hammond growing larger and more African looking, Fisk becoming a mantis In-Betweener, and Brennan's eyes transforming into two extra mouths. The battle was joined.

Bug fought alone until Derek arrived, with Drake following close behind. The battle raged fiercely, but the team was ultimately victorious. Bug and Drake suffered only light wounds, but Derek was blinded (Brennan caused his eyes to explode inside his helmet, with a "spell"). Once Hammond was killed, the entire team found themselves in the DreamWorld.

There they saw an enormous African warrior, Mbua, 40 feet tall, holding a sword in one hand and a net in the other. Hammond was in the net, and was killed when Mbua slammed it violently into the ground. An old man, normal sized, then walked up to Mbua and addressed him.

"Mbua, cannibal spirit, eater of souls, the time of your destruction is upon you. May those who have suffered at your hand and at the hands of your followers now enjoy their revenge."

Hundreds then thousands of figures reached up from the ground, all pulling Mbua down and tearing his flesh. Two energy serpents (one silver, one rainbow hued) coiled about Mbua's legs, and then he was gone, screaming with rage and anguish even as he disappeared under the ground. And then all was silent...

Bug and Derek left the DreamWorld at this point, but Drake, Kiyana, and the old man remained. Kiyana whispered something to the old man, and he gave her a thin silver dagger before turning to leave. "Are you ready?" she asked Drake. Drake hesitantly agreed, and Kiyana plunged the silver dagger deep into Drake's chest.

The pain was immense, but quickly subsided as body after body "fell out" of Drake- drug dealers, serial killers, pirates, rapists, evil men and women from all across history, all former lives she had lived, many of whom had even been followers of Mbua. When it was done Kiyana comforted her, telling Drake that she was "clean now", and was going to "start fresh". Her past had been completely wiped away, and she too returned to the scene of the team's victory.

The vever on the station was no longer of Mbua, but was rather now a vever of Legba. The team returned, with Hammond's severed head, to the NORAD complex below and explained to Jaffrey and the men (most of) what had occurred. Derek then addressed the nation once more, after suggesting to Jaffrey that he would be a good candidate for the next President.

Derek told the country that ProPres Hammond had been killed, and showed them his head. He said that the last few pockets of NERCC should be relatively easy to seize, and that, as of today, the people of America were free once more. ProGov had been toppled, and the constitution was once again in effect.

The team boarded a cargo plane, piloted by Block, and flew off into the sunset.

THE END