DAHAK DEATH
(Chapter 4)
By
Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer, and Dahak are owned by MCA/Universal. These versions of Questar, Mace, China Dragon, Billy Ray, and G.O.L.D. (Global Order of Law and Defense), Golden Girl (Apella) are owned by me under my real name since 1986 and in no way infringe on others who might have characters with similar names.
For the purists out there, this story takes place sometime after the
reconciliation of Xena and Gabrielle in an alternate reality. Due to the
events in this story, they will not journey to India, die in Rome and other
4th season happenings in this reality.
After making sure that Argo was all right they set off. Naked, the four of them had splashed and played in the shallow water. Lots of boy/girl and girl/girl washing and foreplay ensued. Xena and Gabrielle wondered what a foursome would be like. Unfortunately they had no time to find out.
Three hours later the four of them arrived in Tarlocus. Mace and Gabrielle had walked the entire way hand in hand gazing into each other's eyes. Older and more reserved, but with the same feelings, the hands of Questar and Xena kept 'accidentally' touching. Tarlocus was prosperous, but not overly large. The city walls were crumbling, and the heavy oak gates were long gone, leaving only rusted hinges.
Questar used a 'generic' faceless gold coin that he had to pay for a stable stall and extra grooming and feed for Argo. Questar and Mace carried a small fortune in such coins during time trips because they were accepted everywhere in all time periods. This also saved the time and expense of forging coins of various countries in their own time. Questar and Mace also left their spatial backpacks there so that they could move around the city easier.
"Aren't you worried that someone might try to steal those?" Gabrielle asked.
"Those backpacks weigh nearly a ton each with an electrical booby trap that has to be disarmed telekinetically," Questar smiled. "Anyone that tries it will be in for a shocking experience."
"So, we're here," Xena said. "Now what?"
"S.O.P. plan beta," Questar said," It means standard operating procedure plan beta. That's a fancy way of saying split up and search, meet back here in one hour."
"We have lots of codes like that," Mace said.
Questar pulled out a silver looking coin. On one side was the face of an old man with long hair tied back like a woman's, the other side was an eagle.
"Heads is right, tails is left. Call it, Max," Questar said as he flipped the coin.
"Tails," Mace said.
"Tails it is. Choose your part - never mind. Just try to keep your mind on the mission and your hands off each other," Questar said. "If we survive this there will be lots of time for sex games."
The young lovers went off to the left, their hands on each others butts. So lost in each other were they that Questar threw up his hands in a 'why bother' gesture. Xena smiled at his frustration. Xena knew that Questar was a good leader. Questar was a fighter and a thinker. A dangerous combination to have as an enemy, a valuable asset as a friend.
Xena and Gabrielle had been to Tarlocus many times and knew the area well. The 4 of them had seen no sign of anything in the surrounding area that was unusual. That meant that the city itself held the key to Dahak's location. Everything from the scroll to Dahak's own men seemed to confirm that.
Tarlocus was not that big however, and after only 35 minutes Questar and Xena had covered more than half the city with no results. Even talking to several people, from beggars to nobles yielded no clues. Xena smiled as she saw an outdoor pub called 'Blitta's'. Blitta was an old friend and if anyone knew local gossip it would be her.
"Blitta! Over here!" Xena called.
A plump middle-aged woman with a care-worn face from many years of a hard life looked up. Seeing Xena she immediately brightened up. Her broad honest smile took 10 years off her.
"Xena! Xena!" Blitta cried, running up and embracing the warrior princess.
After a fierce bear hug, Blitta held Xena at arms length.
"Oh Xena, it's so good to see you," Blitta happily cried, then she saw Questar. "Xena, who's the stud? Did you trade blondie in for him? He's a big one that's for sure. Is he big everywhere?"
"Blitta, this is Questar. He's a man of many talents," Xena laughed," He has centaur blood."
Xena held her hands apart a foot as Questar blushed. Blitta happily clapped her hands.
"Lucidia! Get you fat ass over here and get my friends something to drink," Blitta yelled at a fat, whore looking, barmaid. "First round's on me."
"Where's your daughter Livia?" Xena asked, as she and Questar sat down on benches at a rough looking table," I don't see her today and she's always working here."
"Livia's gone Xena," Blitta sadly said, her face lost its sparkle.
"Gone? Is she dead? Did she run away? If she was murdered I swear, I'll cut out the heart of whoever is responsible," Xena swore.
"That's just it, nobody knows what happened to her and the others. The man who was running it was very secretive," Blitta said.
"Others? We've talked to several people and heard nothing about young girls disappearing," Xena said.
"Someone running what exactly?" Questar asked smelling a very large chaotic rat.
"The girls, all of them just vanished," Blitta said, the pain making tears well up.
"I'm sorry for your loss Blitta, but please, start at the beginning. It could be very important," Questar said, carefully choosing his words. "There is a chance that your daughter is still alive."
Questar's words seemed to comfort Blitta.
"Trust me on this. If the person behind her disappearance is who I think it is, there's still a chance to save her," Questar continued.
"About a month ago, this stranger came to Tarlocus. He sought out pretty girls, promising them riches if they participated in something called a beauty pageant. He gave each girl 10 gold pieces, ordering them not to tell anyone," Blitta said.
"This man, was he named Salmoneus? Grey peppered hair and beard, heavyset, smooth talker?" Xena asked, remembering her role as Miss Amphipolis.
"No," Blitta shook her head," No one one ever knew his name. He was a young man, a short thin Persian. He gathered 20 of the prettiest girls in town, including Livia, making them agree to meet in secret. I think Livia wanted to win because things have been so bad lately. I only found out about it by accident when I saw her sneaking out the night before they all vanished. At first I thought it might be a secret lover, so I followed her. I peeked into the building she went into, a deserted warehouse. I saw all of the girls dressed in tiny outfits, practicing dancing, walking, singing and other things."
"What happened next?" Xena asked.
"I confronted Livia when she got home, but well, she cried, and begged me not to be angry," Blitta continued, "She even got me to promise not to interfere. The next night they all vanished. The Persian was found dead with a slit throat the next morning. No one except me even noticed the girls were missing because as it turned out, except for Livia they were all orphans."
"And no one would listen to you," Questar finished. "S.o.p. Chaos Lords #1. Blitta, if your daughter is still alive, and I believe she is, we'll find her. If I can't save her, I'll do my best to avenge her."
Blitta hugged Questar so hard he thought he was being squeezed by the Hulk. With some hope restored Blitta got back some of her spirit.
"That's one hell of a man you've got there, Xena," Blitta whispered in Xena's ear. "You'd better marry him fast."
Blitta moved away to tend to other business.
"Are you sure about what you said?" Xena asked concerned.
"I haven't faced Dahak, but I've been fighting Chaos Lords for 6 years," Questar said. "They never make any sacrifice without a full moon."
"And tonight's the full moon," Xena noted.
"He's here somewhere, Xena. I can feel him," Questar said.
At that time, an old crone, flanked by 2 huge bodyguards, nearly as big as Questar, waddled over. The old crone and her guards were dressed in a 'gypsy' style, obviously wealthy by the amount of gold, jewels, and silk they wore. The old woman was locally thought to be a witch. Her reputation and her guards ensured her safety even in the roughest parts of town.
The old woman was at least 80. Her guards were men in their early 20's. Long curved scimitars and kris daggers hung from their belts. The crone smelled like a sewer. The old woman walked up to Questar and felt his steel muscled arm.
"I'll give you 2000 dinar for him dearie," the crone cackled through broken rotted teeth. "I don't even need to see his stuff."
"Sorry, this one's not for sale," Xena smiled amused.
The old woman's bad breath nearly made Questar ill. I hope Sakahuro, Blaze Bolt, or Prof. Destruction never bottle her breath or we're all doomed, Questar thought.
"Such a pity. A man like this and he's already taken," the crone cackled. "If you ever get tired of him, let me know."
"Not much chance of that, but I'll keep it in mind," Xena said, trying hard not to laugh.
The old woman shuffled off allowing Questar to breathe again.
"So, the fearless Questar is afraid of something after all," Xena laughed.
"More like disgusted actually. What the hell was that all about?" Questar asked.
"The last I was here we were with some amazons from Gabrielle's tribe," Xena smiled. "There are about 20 known tribes of amazons. About 3 renegade tribes keep men as breeding slaves. Most amazon tribes simply adopt orphan girls and keep the girl children from the 10% of bi-sexual and 5 % of amazons that like men to keep their numbers up. They also trade boy children for girls from families that need sons."
"So, that means that 85% of amazons are lesbians? That means that that old woman...." Questar started.
"Is a slaver," Xena finished.
"I forgot that slavery existed in these times," Questar gritted his teeth," Slavery is one of the few things that really piss me off. Thankfully that's one of the things that's almost unknown in my time. There are a few exceptions, but slavery has been almost eradicated where I come from."
"And your country, this America you talked about?" Xena asked, giving him another point for hating slavery. Not that he needed anymore by this point.
"Not for almost 140 years. I never did like the idea of one group of people thinking that they could keep another group of people as slaves just because they have a different skin color or religion. I'm sorry to say that we still have racial and cultural divisions even in my time," Questar said. "I hope someday we'll all grow up."
"No slavery," Xena mused. "Your friends, except for this China Dragon, are they all white?"
"Hardly," Questar laughed, regaining a cheerful mood.
Xena liked hearing about Questar's friends. It was obvious that he had great affection for his team-mates. It also gave Xena insight about who he was.
"G.O.L.D. is proof that people can get along no matter what their race and background. China Dragon is actually half-Chinese, Billy Ray is black, Tara is Atlantian, Mei Wong is also Chinese, Angelique's a gypsy, Tina's Japanese, Arsenal is Chinese/Jewish, Kestrel is an Amerind/Native American, Lady Blue comes from another planet called Mechas 4. Mace and I are the only 'honkys' in the whole group," Questar said. "And to top it off, all the girls are bi-sexual."
"That's some group," Xena said, a little amazed at the diversity.
The waitress/whore finally brought their drinks before going back and flirting with 12 rough looking men at another table. Xena found the insight into Questar's world most enlightening. Questar had long since passed Hercules in points, and the fact that Questar liked women warriors added a few more. Questar was very secure about his own manhood.
Xena was getting thirsty and upending her tankard of ale, downed it in one drink. Not to be outdone, Questar upended his, and choked on the strong ale that was far more potent than the beer he was used to. Xena laughed at Questar's plight, unable to help herself. The thugs at the other table also laughed, rose and walked over, surrounding their table. The obvious leader was a man with a hideously scarred face.
"Hey baby. You should dump the pretty boy and come with some real men," Scarface sneered.
"Maybe the lady prefers pretty boys to eunuchs," Questar replied, fully recovered.
Scarface roared in rage, swinging his heavy sword downward. But Questar was no longer there. Questar had back flipped away from the clumsy swing. A 'rising leopard' punch from Questar made scarface a soprano. Questar's spin kick knocked 4 men down. Another man, a fatso, drew his sword and lunged.
Questar chopped the sword out of fatso's hand, breaking fatso's wrist, then knocked fatso out with a side kick. Xena flipped the table onto the 4 men that Questar had knocked down, jumped off of it and did a split kick that took out 2 men, before landing back on the table trapped goons.
Springing off the table, Xena did a back flip over the heads of 2 thugs. One ran into Questar's back fist and was out like a light. Xena did a back kick to one man, followed by a spinning back fist of her own to finish the man. One goon grinned as he thought he'd caught Questar's kick, only to be knocked into the next week as Questar did a somersault kick on him.
Questar and Xena were natural team-mates as they instinctively knew how to function as a team. Questar bent over so Xena could roll over his back and kick 2 men. Clasping hands, Questar then spun her around to kick out another man while Questar guarded her back with a knee kick to one goons face and an elbow smash that finished off one of the men who had finally gotten free of the table.
In the span of 2 minutes Questar and Xena had completely devastated 12 experienced mercenaries. The few still able to walk drug their comrades off as quick as they could move. Behind Questar and Xena, Blitta was clapping her hands, her smile was back full force.
"Oooooooo! He is a keeper! If I was 20 years younger, Xena, we'd be fighting in the mud," Blitta beamed.
For the first time in weeks Blitta had real hope that she might see her daughter again. Xena looked at Questar and felt her attraction to him growing stronger. Questar truly was the best man she could ever find. Hercules was a good man, but Xena's past would always be between them. Questar had all of Hercules' good qualities and a few more to boot.
"We'd better get back to the gate," Questar ginned. "Mace and Gabrielle are probably waiting for us. Unless they're playing hide the bologna in the stable."
Xena hugged Blitta, and with a 'we'll be back soon' statement Xena and Questar headed back for the gate. As they neared the temple of Aphrodite, with no love spells or arrows from Cupid needed, Questar suddenly seized Xena and passionately kissed her. Xena was surprised yet again, as she liked it and kissed back. Questar suddenly broke the kiss and stepped back.
"I-I'm sorry. No! No dammit I'm not! If loving you is a crime then I'm guilty as hell," Questar stated. "They may as well chop my head off or burn me at the stake right now. Xena, I love you."
"Questar," Xena whispered.
Questar got on one knee and pulled out a small box from his pocket. Before leaving 2000 Questar and Mace had both gotten 5 caret diamond, 24k gold rings just in case the scroll was accurate. Questar had indeed fallen in love with Xena and vice versa.
"Xena, warrior princess, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" Questar asked sincerely.
"Yes! Yes!! You just try and stop me, future man," Xena was unused to crying, but tears of joy were forming in her eyes.
Clasping their hands together they ran into the temple of Aphrodite. Hope mom doesn't mind having a pagan in the family, Questar thought. It's hard enough trying to explain Dragon the last year. A Christian who's now a Chinese demi-god.
Almost an hour earlier Mace and Gabrielle had passed this same temple, and unable to wait, had gotten married right then and there. More lost in each other than before, the lovers had nonetheless searched for clues as they covered the other side of town.
At that time the old crone, still flanked by her bodyguards saw them. The old woman had seen Gabrielle - as well as Xena - the last time they'd been in Tarlocus and knew that she was an amazon queen. The old crone waddled up to Mace to feel his steely muscles.
"Amazon Queen, I'll give you 2000 dinar for the stud. He's not quite as big as the other one, but he's younger," the crone cackled.
"Sorry, I just married this stud and I don't think I can wear this one out," Gabrielle laughed, dragging a confused Mace away.
Mace and Gabrielle finished their sweep of the left side of town, finding nothing. As they were heading back, Gabrielle leaned back against a wall and made a 'come here' gesture. Mace obliged and kissed her. The two were locked in a passionate embrace when Joxer rounded the corner and saw them. Angrily Joxer ran up, grabbed Gabrielle's wrist and pulled her away.
"Get your damn hands off my woman knave," Joxer ordered.
"Joxer, let go of me you idiot," Gabrielle said, pulling herself free.
"Gabrielle, do you know this clown?" Mace asked amazed at the man's sheer stupidity.
"Unfortunately, yes," Gabrielle sighed.
"You varlet! Stand away from my true love before I thrash you," Joxer threatened.
Mace had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing. Mace knew 348 ways to kill Joxer with a single blow and 1207 ways with various combinations. Mace was somewhat amused that this buffoon actually thought he had a chance. You and what army? Mace thought.
"Joxer! It's over! I love Mace! We're married," Gabrielle waved her ring in Joxer's face.
"No! No! You sorcerer! You've bewitched her," Joxer cried," Release her from your foul spell or face the wraith of Joxer the mighty. 'Joxer the mighty....."
Mace couldn't believe that Joxer was singing. Gabrielle put a hand over her face.
"Just don't kill the moron," Gabrielle sighed. "I want him to live knowing that he can never have me."
"With Gabby as his sidekick, fighting with her little stick," Joxer sang as he charged with sword drawn.
In one quick motion, using only his right hand, Mace chopped the sword from Joxer's hand and landed a hard 'crane strike' to Joxer's solar plexus. Joxer was doubled over with pain.
"Allow me, darling," Gabrielle said, whacking Joxer out with the end of her staff.
Mace used telekinesis to depant the fool and to hang Joxer upside down from the rafters at the temple of Dionysus. Gabrielle burst out laughing. Joxer was even more pathetic than she'd thought. Even though he was unconscious Joxer had an erection. Joxer, fully erect was 2" long and as thick as Gabrielle's pinkie.
"What a loser," Gabrielle sighed.
"Gabrielle, we have to talk. If we survive I have to return to the future. My family, my friends, everything I love is there except for you," Mace seriously said," Gabrielle, I'm needed more there. It's a far more dangerous world than here despite all our technology and progress. But Gabrielle, there are good things too. More books than you ever dreamed possible. You can be a bard there beyond anything you could ever dream of here. Because of a strange phenomenon of the time stream we'll never grow older than 30. Best of all there's no Joxer. If you stay here I don't know what will happen to you, but I know I won't want to live without you. Come with me Gabrielle. Come with me and I can show you a world beyond any that you've ever dreamed of."
"No Joxer? To Tartarus with place, I'm coming with you," Gabrielle joked, then grew serious. "Please live Max Starr. If you die, I die with you."
The young lovers embraced. For several minutes they were no longer heroic sidekicks, but simply 2 people in love. Finally they pulled apart and started walking back towards the gate, hands clutched tightly for fear of losing each other. As Mace and Gabrielle reached the temple of Aphrodite, Questar and Xena were just leaving, having just said they're vows. Mace totally lost it as he cracked up.
"I don't believe it!," Mace laughed," I finally beat you at something! We've been married for almost an hour! What the hell took you so long?"
Xena and Gabrielle beamed and embraced each other. In the span of 24 hours they had met and married 2 fantastic wonderful men who loved them completely and without hesitation. The 4 compared notes, but they were missing something. There seemed to be no clue beyond the missing girls. A search of the warehouse where Livia and the others vanished yielded nothing as well.
There were no hidden walls, hidden basement or anything. It was now 6:00 PM, an hour and a half before sunset. Another half hour until the full moon. Chaos Lords were somewhat predictable. Chaos Lords liked to wait until midnight before making a sacrifice, but on more than one occasion they had been unable to contain their foul evil lusts once the full moon was out.
Think, Questar, think. There has to be something we've missed, Questar thought. But where haven't we looked in this seaport.
"Seaport! That's it! There's one place we haven't looked," Questar said. "Underwater! But where? And how? Xena, let's go back and see your friend Blitta again. Her bar is right off the docks, and maybe she can remember something else that we missed earlier. It's a long shot, but that's the only lead we've got."
The 4 adventurer's headed back to Blitta's. The site that greeted them pissed them off. Blitta's pub was being smashed to pieces. Lucidia, the barmaid/whore was dead, her throat slashed open. Two soldiers, wearing the uniforms of Dahak 'Elite Guards' were terrorizing Blitta, aided by their 18 Dahak 'regulars.'
With a scream of rage, Xena hurled herself at the 20 soldiers with sword drawn. Xena killed 4 of them before the fanatic scum realized they were being attacked. Questar kicked right and left, taking 2 men out of the fight. Gabrielle swung her staff catching one soldier across his temple knocking him out with a concussion. Mace punched out 2 men with quick punches.
"Full force, little brother," Questar ordered, snapping a man's neck.
Xena blocked a sword slash, back kicked another man, then impaled the first man. Xena then spun around slashing a soldier's throat. Questar had 2 men by the neck and with a quick twist killed both. Mace completely smashed a soldiers face, then speared one that was going after Gabrielle with a body tackle, followed by a quick side chop to break the man's neck.
One of the Dahak elite's holding Blitta attempted to stab her when suddenly a sword protruded from his chest from behind. The other elite looked at the owner of that sword in shock just before the third man wearing a Dahak 'Elite Guard' uniform chopped his head off.
"To Tartarus with you, scum! I, Starleiger, shall have my revenge on you bastards for burning my village of Lukvillia," The surprisingly tall and handsome man called Starleiger said.
Questar and Xena had no time to question the newcomer as he slipped away while they disposed of the last 2 men. He looked very familiar, Gabrielle thought. The fight had been brief and vicious, 16 soldiers were dead, 3 unconscious, and 1 brain damaged so severely it would be no use to question him.
Xena and Gabrielle were already beside Blitta. One eye was swollen and her lips were split in 2 places, but fortunately that was all. The Dahak fanatics had only been there a few minutes before they had. Questar frisked the first unconscious man, finding only a few silver coins and the weird amulet that all the Dahak fanatics he'd fought were wearing. The uniforms they wore were damp, confirming a water hideout. Salt on the uniforms and the lack of slime ruled out the sewer.
"Oh, Xena! Gabrielle! Thank Zeus you came back," Blitta cried, she then noticed Mace and the rings both women now wore. "Well, you've been busy girls. Who's the other one?"
"That's Mace, they're brothers," Xena smiled shaking her head.
Same old Blitta, Xena thought, even after this scare.
"So, there are more like him at home? Honey, I'm packing up and moving to wherever they're from," Blitta smiled despite the pain. "Poor Lucidia, she tried to protect me when these men showed."
Xena shared Blitta's sadness. Lucidia had been a whore, but she didn't deserve to die that way.
"Nothing, Xena. They don't have anything on them except these amulets," Questar said.
"Amulets?" Xena asked, remembering. "Does it look anything like this one?"
Xena pulled out the one she'd taken the day before.
"It's the same," Mace frowned.
"I was curious about this yesterday," Xena said. "There appears to be some kind of writing on them...."
"Writing? That's it! That's the missing clue! Gabrielle is a bard and familiar with several languages," Questar said, excited.
"I can try," Gabrielle smiled meekly.
Gabrielle sat down at the only remaining table and attempted to decipher the writing on the amulets. For the next 15 minutes there was nothing. The writing seemed to be gibberish, with no form or discernible pattern. Gabrielle shook her head in frustration. Three fighters and it was coming down to her abilities as a bard and she was failing.
The light was starting to fade. Xena was behind her and had picked up a double bladed ax left by a Dahak soldier. Questar and Mace had rented a cart and had the bodies hauled away thanks to some of their coins. Xena did a quick check of the edge. The dying light reflected off the ax and onto the amulet she held.
The light flashed into Gabrielle's eyes. Annoyed and frustrated, Gabrielle turned around and saw it. Reflected in the blade was the lettering on the amulet as clear as it could be to a bard who read numerous languages.
"Xena! Hold that ax right there! Yes! Yes! I did it!" Gabrielle cried.
"What? What does it say?," Questar asked.
"It says, 'A city shall rise, Another sleep falls, From dusk to sunrise, The mist covers all'," Gabrielle read.
"Mace, that RPG video game you used to like before Pl@yst@tion came out; it had a castle rising from the sea," Questar said.
"But we questioned a lot of people and none of them mentioned anything like that," Xena said, doubting.
"A castle that comes at dark and down during the day? That would still be pretty noticeable," Mace said skeptically.
"Not if everyone's been magically put to sleep," Gabrielle chimed in, getting it.
"Right. 'Another sleep falls, the mist covers all'," Questar said. "All except for someone wearing one of these."
"Blitta! You've got to get out of the city now," Xena ordered. "You've got to hide until tomorrow. One way or the other it ends tonight!"
"Oh no, I'm not leaving too," Gabrielle said as Questar, Mace, and Xena looked at her. "If Dahak gets you guys I'm as good as dead anyway. I'm not taking any chances that one of Dahak's monsters will eat me or that some of his soldiers will capture me and use me as a hostage against you. I'm going all the way with this one."
"I don't think we could stop her if we chained her to a wall," Xena smiled, proud of the little bard.
"Okay, you're in," Questar shrugged.
At that time a somewhat revived Joxer reached the docks. Seeing Mace, Joxer drew his sword and charged angrily.
"Die, wizard! I'll make you pay for putting your evil spell on my woman!" Joxer screamed.
"Is he really this stupid?" Mace asked to no one in particular.
Mace caught Joxer with a judo throw sending the clown flying. Joxer landed hard, breaking Blitta's last table, the breath knocked from his body. Mace stepped on Joxer's hand forcing hi to let go of his sword. One handed Mace threw Joxer over his shoulder and carried the half-wit over to a sewer grate. Sensing what he had planned, Gabrielle ran over and lifted the grate.
"Why thank you, honey," Mace beamed.
"Joxer, I don't love you. I'm not even sure if I like you," Gabrielle said. "Give it up! I love Mace! I'm m-a-r-r-i-e-d, married."
Mace dropped Joxer into the sewer. The foul water cushioned his fall even as it covered him from head to toe. Joxer wretched as he had accidentally swallowed some of it.
You'll pay for this, evildoer! Joxer the might will smite thee," Joxer ranted before coughing up more slime.
"Joxer, get a life," Mace said.
"He's never going to give up you know," Xena said shaking her head.
"I knoowww," Gabrielle whined. "But, Xena, I don't love him. I could never love someone like him. At best I pity him for being such a pathetic loser."
"I suggest we put these amulets on and try to find a boat," Questar said," We've got about 30 minutes to prepare for the biggest fight of our lives."
The End - Chapter 4