Adam burst onto the roof, the wind slashing his face as he staggered forward. A soft golden light rained down from the sky, bathing the surroundings in a gentle bronze glow. The rooftop was massive; the expanse dotted with scattered scaffolding and abandoned machinery. Ventilation ducts snaked across the surface like metallic veins, appearing to pulse in the warm light. Near the edge sat a half-finished radio tower, its form jutting up from the rooftop like a broken finger.

  Above, the sky churned in a war of color. Molten gray clouds battled with neon green lightning, while threads of pulsing gold raced between them.

  Adam steadied himself, wrapping his mind in a cage of weary defiance, and forced his gaze upward.

  A sickly purple tear gouged the sky above the tower, burrowing into the clouds like a festering wound. At the very center of the rend, she sat. Her single lidless eye loomed in the void like a blister of rotten gold.

  Thousands of writhing appendages flailed outward from the eye, their whip-like ends tearing and lashing at the sky. Each strike flared with lightning as she slowly forced her way into the world.

  The eye twisted in the void, fixing its gaze on the top of the tower. Adam felt its weight settle over him, pressing down like the gravity of a dying star. He squared his shoulders and met her alien stare. There was nothing in that stare. No recognition, no understanding, and nothing remotely of his world.

  After a handful of seconds the eye moved on, the weight vanishing from his shoulders as the golden light faded.

  After everything… that’s it? That’s IT?!

  Adam felt a surge of anger as the alien god looked away. "HEY!" he shouted up at the sky. "HEY!" He waved his arms, jumping up and down while the others turned to look at him.

  “You don’t get to ignore us!” he roared, pouring the remnants of his will into his hand. He concentrated, adding in every ounce of fury and frustration he had in him, until his fingertips crackled with potential. Blood leaked from his eyes and ears as the power overtook him, the energy flooding down his arm until his heart stuttered under the strain.

  The blood clouded his vision until only one eye remained clear. He pushed, and pushed and pushed until his sight tunneled down to a pin point and he'd siphoned every drop of his reserves into one final act of defiance.

  You don't get to ignore me.

  You don't get to look away.

  I am here.

  I am alive.

  I AM.

  He aimed every ounce of himself at the center of that terrible pupil.

  And he let go.

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  Thunder cracked from his palm as the lightning screamed upward, a lance of brilliant white that tore through the storm. It struck the eye dead center. For a heartbeat, the impact bloomed in silence, then a second peal of thunder rolled out, shaking the rooftop.

  Veins of electricity danced across the eye's surface, glowing white-hot. A wave of green rippled across the sky as every tendril slammed down in unison. The massive pupils contracted, shivering, as the last of the energy dissipated into its void.

  Adam let his steaming hand fall limply to his side. His shoulders slumped and he fought to keep his knees from buckling. "Let's see her ignore that," he said, grinning like a madman.

  Hector turned and shook his head in disbelief. “That was something."

  "Kill the Princess?" Jessica asked.

  "Kill the Princess," Natalie confirmed.

  The sky shook and the rooftop trembled.

  The eye was upon them.

  Its golden gaze slammed down like a falling star, driving Adam into the rooftop. He looked up, staring into the black alien pupil as its terrible weight crushed the breath from his lungs.

  His chest spasmed. His heart seized once, then again, faltering under the gravity of the eye's focus.

  The world broke into fragments. A sound, the wind, tremors and light. So much light.

  The torrent of light poured down, and down... and then it was gone.

  Hector stood over him, one hand raised high, clutching his pendant. The light warped around them and crashed into the rooftop on all sides. Adam's ears popped as his blood surged back into the hollows it had fled. He fought his way back to his feet for what felt like the millionth time.

  "I hope… you have… a clever idea," Hector gasped, sweat already pouring off of his forehead as he held back the tide. "I can't… hold this forever."

  The building quaked as the eye convulsed in the sky. Rage radiated from it in oily waves, rippling the clouds as a bone-deep vibration rattled Adam's teeth. The sound faded slowly, leaving the gold-washed rooftop eerily silent.

  Pieces of debris began to rise. Planks, rebar, and broken scaffolding shooting upward as if falling up instead of down. A chain on the radio tower snapped upright, shivering in the wind.

  His bat tugged at his shoulder, straining against its sheath as if trying to join the growing storm of debris orbiting the eye.

  "Adam!" Hector shouted. "ADAM! FUCKING MOVE!"

  A boot slammed into his chest and Adam stumbled backward just as the eye sent a pulse of light crashing down through the glowing pillar. It tried to follow Adam, but Hector stepped into its path, his arm bending under the strain as he fought to keep it overhead. He bared his teeth, and the beam began to bend, tapering and narrowing until it focused into his upraised palm.

  Adam gaped, watching Hector wrestle with the force that had nearly crushed him. His mind reeled, ticking backward, rewinding until the moment the Salesman pointed them at the tower.

  Tools, he thought. He wouldn't have sent us without the right tools! He knew. HE KNEW.

  His eyes swept the rooftop. There had to be something. Something they were missing.

  Hector stood firm, a blooming star of light spilling from his upraised hand. The others shielded their faces, recoiling from the blinding radiance.

  "What are we doing?!" Natalie yelled, her voice barely carrying over the rising wind.

  "Tools!" Adam shouted back, still scanning the rooftop.

  "What?!" Samantha called, followed his gaze as it flickered between Hector and the debris.

  Adam stepped closer, cupping his hands to drive his voice through the howling wind. "He wouldn't have sent us here if we couldn't do it! He knew! He gave us what we needed to get here, but he knew we could finish it!"

  Samantha spun, eyes scanning the rooftop with sudden urgency as Natalie and Jessica looked on in confusion. She locked eyes on the radio tower, grabbing Adam's arm and pointing. "Look!"

  The tower jutted skyward in a series of jagged points, right beneath the watching eye. Adam's breath caught. It wasn't a tower; it was a goddamn weapon.

  And they were going to use it.