“You know. Now that I think of it. This isn’t really that bad.” Grandpa said offhandedly.

  “I mean, the house is nice. We have enough food and water to last us a few months and we’re all safe and together.”

  He leaned over to dad and offered him a cup of orange juice.

  “Honestly Reggie. It really isn’t that bad. I mean, you saw the same memories I did. These things deserve whatever it is that they’re getting.”

  He stopped for a second as dad grabbed the cup of juice. Then he swiftly leaned over to glance out the window that allowed the people inside to see the street.

  The one where Vince, Thunder Fist. Mittens and I were frolicking about. Holding hands.

  “Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La! Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La!”

  None of the gnomes nailed to the posts had eyes anymore. Their faces empty of expression as they gazed down at us. Silent as the grave.

  “Vince is having so much fun!” Vince said amidst giggles. “Finally, the gnomes have been dealt with forever!”

  “Mittens says yay!” Anezka’s possessed body answered. Raising her arms as Mittens controlled her from the deepest levels of her mind.

  “Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La! Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La!”

  “We should all celebrate this momentous occasion!” Thunder Fist roared with laughter. “A great evil has been cleansed from the world! Finally! Goodness has triumphed over the darkness!”

  “Mittens approves! Mittens improves! Mittens is here!”

  “Yes indeed Mittens! Why, I’m almost to the point where I have my own Tier 5 ability! I’m so looking forward to having a title and being able to help even more!”

  “Oh come now.” I said in between mirthful laughter. “You two were doing just fine on your own before we came here. It was just a matter of time until you wiped them out.”

  “Oh don’t be so modest friend.” Thunder Fist chided in good humor. “We only did as well as we did because of the help you gave us back there in that gnome-filled town. We would have been struggling if it weren’t for you. Don’t think all that help isn’t appreciated.”

  He nodded to himself. Looking at me in a fatherly sort of way.

  “I’ve seen far too many of my juniors being completely obsessed with fame and riches and their own celebrity status. Wasting their great power in giving themselves even more power in a social sense. You…”

  He paused.

  “You are a true hero. The kind that goes out of their way to do good and justice without asking for anything in return.”

  He choked on his words for a moment.

  “You remind me of my sons. They… they tried so hard to be like you. To be like me. They looked up to me and they tried to help these ladies that came with them. And the gnomes… the gnomes….”

  His throat began to release half strangled sobs.

  “They’re at peace now.” I said. Soberly.

  Gripping his hand more tightly.

  “Yes.” He confirmed. “They are at peace now. They have been avenged.”

  “Vince doesn’t want Thunder Fist to cry.” Vince spoke immediately after. “Vince wants Thunder Fist to know he did all he could. Vince and all the others did all they could. Vince will keep doing it all too. Vince will stab gnomes and bite gnomes and set gnomes on fire. Stomp on gnomes and crush gnomes and destroy all gnomes desire. Gut gnomes. Break gnome fingers. Break gnome toes. Poke gnome eyes and poke gnomes with spears. Bleed gnomes out in the wind. Nail gnomes to boards. Nail gnomes to trees. Pelt gnomes with stones and pelt gnomes with weeds. Steal gnome cars. Steal gnome trains. Steal gnome planes. Crash gnome planes in towers.”

  “Oh yeah.” Thunder Fist answered. His head snapping up as if waking from a dream. “That was you huh? Heh. I remember being around the corner when the gnomes were running from the crash. They were all like: Ah! The plane hit the second tower!”

  “Vince did it by killing all the gnomes on board before hand and then teleporting between planes! Vince used to love flying simulators! Vince now has great aim!”

  “Mittens complains! Mittens wants to crash gnome planes in second tower too!”

  “All in good time Mittens.” I said with a calm satisfaction. “There are still plenty of gnomes out there for us to get and gut and maim. Give it time.”

  “Yes! Mittens will gut all the gnomes in good time!”

  The others laughed again.

  “Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La! Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La!”

  Grandpa pulled on the curtains and closed them. Then he sat back down opposite dad and mom and kept his silence.

  My mind tracking them through [Limited Omniscience].

  Now, I could have pretended that I wasn’t as thrilled as I was. I could have put a bunch of Psy into [Social Hunter] and kept pretending that I didn’t despise gnomes as much as I did. But the gains I’d made over the past six hours were just too good.

  For whatever reason, letting go of all my Shifter abilities for a little while and letting go of all my inhibitions were having a fantastic effect on my Telepath abilities.

  ‘Though that really begs the question. Why? Is it because I was holding myself back for so long? That’s odd, because it has only been a few days since the disciplinary action thing. And I was pretty loose in that case. And I was brutal when I fought against the Kaiju in Dusty’s world. Maybe it’s because I’m fulfilling all my desires? Maybe it’s because I’m saturating the world with Psy in the same way Sarcophagus Solom used to do when all he had was himself? Maybe it’s because I’m not holding back for the sake of anyone?’

  Those were all possibilities, but they didn’t quite account for the sudden spike in growth.

  Sarcophagus Solomon had enough knowledge and intrinsic understanding of Telepathy to stand a decent chance against the Drake. He would probably have stood a pretty good chance at stopping Hazimon too. Yet me absorbing him completely had kind of stunted the growth he, or I, was supposed to have experienced normally if Telepath was our only Type.

  ‘My [Limited Omniscience] accounted for it, but it didn’t give me the reason. Perhaps meeting Hazimon and learning about how old masters improved their Types at the higher Tiers helped, but my ability can’t make predictions that involve him. Nor the things he taught me. My future sight keeps telling me I should not have gained more levels in Telepath for a few more weeks, and yet here they are.’

  [Limited Omniscience] was proving to be a bit too limited in this case. What with it being significantly more defective than the version Sarcophagus Solomon had been walking around in.

  ‘Makes you wonder if I’ve taken some things for granted.’ I mused. ‘Really should take care to second guess the predictions I’ve made so far. A lot of them have been right, but the Dragon should have been enough of a surprise to wake me from this stupor of overconfidence. Not just that, but I saw myself, both as the Sarcophagus and my new dual-Type self, defeating the Drake in some outcomes. Without help. The strategy seems workable and even simple. And the Drake’s memories don’t suggest that he has any way to deal with me collapsing an entire sub-dimension with Intruders. But that could just as well be Hubris. If I can’t read the Dragon, then I shouldn’t assume I can read the Drake.’

  Well, whatever. I was growing again. And that was all for the good. Not only that, but the walls of the current Instance were still popping out gnomes like mushrooms. Birthing them into the waiting, loving arms of all my Intruders.

  All while the skies burned and the seas remained frozen and the very air buzzed with crackling purple lightning.

  All while reality undid itself and my Solomonlings sang.

  “Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La! Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La!”

  The gnomes that spawned into the Instance did not look overly pleased with the situation.

  In fact, their faces were a mask of confusion and they remained that way right up until the Intruders grabbed them and brought out the knives.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  ‘But I guess that’s just how the cookie crumbles.’

  I allowed my attention to go back to grandpa and dad and mom.

  “So, our world is gonna get invaded.” Dad spoke without emotion.

  “As far as I know, yes.” Grandpa confirmed.

  “And there is no one who can stop it other than Sully?” Mom asked. Not for the first time.

  “That’s correct. Again, as far as I know.” Grandpa said again.

  “Are you sure?” Dad asked again. “Dad, you… you’re so strong now. You and Puffin. She’s not the same girl she was when we met. She doesn’t need to be protected. Not anymore. I saw her fighting that (Sully)ing thing Mittens and she left this massive crater on the earth when her kick landed. Then she leapt up and she flew like… like a (Sully)ing jet. Not like our modern heroes, but like the old heroes in comic books. She’s (Sully)ing broken. And she can do all kinds of things. Even while flying and…”

  His hands went to his face.

  “You’re telling me neither of you can do anything instead of Sully?”

  “Well, I’m not saying I can’t do anything.” Grandpa responded half-heartedly. “I never got too far training on my own. Only to level 20 or so with constant grinding and training until I dropped from exhaustion. I also don’t think I’m going to get any more levels anytime soon either. That said, I do think I could destroy a few hundred thousand gnomes. Over the course of a small guerilla campaign.”

  He sighed.

  “That said, I don’t know what those spaceships can do. Given what our own world’s prototype space weapons could do, I’m not thrilled about the idea. Even if I myself could keep teleporting around and dodging everything they throw at me, I don’t know how everyone else is going to fare.”

  “You say that, but the people back home didn’t seem weak to me.” Mom snapped. “Mrs. McGill used to barely get around on her scooter. I remember helping her get her groceries. While she went on and on about that grandson of hers. The one who got himself into skydiving and survived that nasty fall.”

  Mom grimaced.

  “Now that grandson is off his wheelchair and doing freaking loops around the neighbourhood all the way up in the sky and Mrs. McGill is flying right next to him.”

  Mom grimaced again.

  “That creep was bad enough before the interview. After the interview he and a thousand other wackos started stalking us and taking photos whenever they could.”

  “A few broke in and started sniffing our shoes.” Dad piled on.

  “Yes Reggie. I know. I was there.” Grandpa allowed.

  “They broke into Sully’s old room and started sniffing the carpets and the drapes too.”

  “Yes Reggie. I know. I was there.” Grandpa repeated.

  “Sully hasn’t even lived in that room for years!”

  “Well, he did come home over the summer and for the holidays.” Mom interrupted.

  “That doesn’t mean the sheets smell like him! And that doesn’t mean we should allow whack jobs in our house at all hours of the night to come sniff our sheets like some deranged group of (Sully)ing perverts!”

  Dad turned to grandpa.

  “We can’t keep living like this when we get back!”

  “Yes Reggie. I know. I was there.” Grandpa repeated once more. Then he massaged his eyes and groaned loudly.

  “Look, I know this situation is messed up. Okay? I know. And I know I didn’t explain the… the degree to which things had gone wrong.”

  “You shot my wife!”

  “Yeah!” Mom followed up. “In the head! I always thought you liked me as your daughter in law!”

  “Of course I love you Bonnie.” Grandpa retorted at once. “I love both of you. And I know Reggie’s loved you since you two met in school. You’re one of the few people I’ve ever known who made it all work. And I’ve always known you two were something special.”

  He took a deep breath and glanced sideways at the close curtains. Then back at them.

  “That’s why I had to do what I did. Again, you all saw Sully’s memories. The Labyrinth was all kinds of (Gnome)ed up as a concept before Sully came into the equation. I sure as (Gnome) don’t have to tell you that with what happened with that degenerate Halkon.”

  Dad and mom nodded. Begrudgingly so. Puffin didn’t, but her mind softened somewhat.

  “Sully went through worse and he later found out that things were even more messed up for him before he even went there. You’ve seen the gnomes. I’ve seen the gnomes. Only I’ve been inside their heads for longer. Sully was vulnerable from the start and the gnomes only pushed him way over the edge.”

  Grandpa downed a glass of juice in one go.

  “In all honesty, compared to what happened back when he was six, things turned out pretty alright. I mean, yeah, he’s got an obscene amount of power that no person should ever have. And yes. He could absolutely [Dominate] us all into mindless slaves. And yes. He did mindwipe everyone in our world to forget the fact that he sank Australia on accident…”

  “You know dad, you’re really bad at motivational speeches.”

  “Yeah.” Mom agreed. “How did you get promoted as far as you did if you talked to your employees like that?”

  “I shot a lot of young protesters when no one else wanted to and so I didn’t get purged with the rest of the department heads. But that’s neither here nor there. The point I’m trying to make is that the fact that things turned out as well as they did means you two did an excellent job raising Sully into a good, caring kid and later into a good, caring person. I mean…”

  “Wait, what was that about the young protesters again?” Dad interrupted.

  “Never mind that.” Grandpa cut him off. “I mean that Sully turning out as well as he did was the best-case scenario. You know what teen boys are like? How most of your classmates were when you were in high-school? While you two were being all nice and shy and wholesome, half your classmates were out getting blackout drunk behind a Burger Fool dumpster or doing mushrooms under bridges.”

  “That’s a really dim view of things Gus.” Mom chided.

  “Didn’t your brother get three girls pregnant when he was 16? Before then getting caught knocking up his English teacher?”

  Mom blushed.

  “Okay, I guess I kinda see your point. But comparing Sully to Rick isn’t exactly a high bar to clear.”

  She was right.

  Uncle Rick had become a local scandal when he was young as a very handsome, very suave, very virile minor celebrity. He’d had a somewhat successful, if short-lived music career in an alternative rock band for a few years after high-school. After that, he’d ended up in prison a couple of times for lesser felonies. Mostly DUIs. Before then running a cryptocurrency scam back when the tech was just getting started.

  I’d never gotten to know him of course. Mostly because mom and her side of the family disowned him after a particularly bad stunt with a rental car that took out her parent’s house. But I did look up a few of his songs out of curiosity back in the day.

  None of them were particularly good.

  ‘Now that I think of it, Uncle Rick turned out to be a Telepath too when I blasted the entire world. So did all my cousins. All my cousins. And it turned out that I had a lot more cousins than I ever knew. Grandpa and Dad are Telepaths too. Maybe there’s something in the genes?’

  I sighed internally.

  ‘Great, now I’m sounding like Dusty and Slab’s dad. What with all the cuckoo eugenics nonsense.’

  “My point is that Sully definitely had the means to do whatever the (Gnome) he wanted with no checks and balances. You’re a history buff Reggie. Tell me, do child kings or child celebrities usually turn out well?”

  “That’s not exactly the same.” Dad countered.

  “Yeah. You’re right. It isn’t. Sully, at the tender age of six, was an undisputed king of everything you’ve ever known and his first priority was to make a child’s version of an ideal world where nothing bad ever happened and where everyone could be happy. Yeah he (Gnome)ed up. But he was six and had unlimited power. I’d say things went pretty well. Especially when you consider what someone like your brother-in-law might have done in his place. Or in his teenage years.”

  Grandpa stared mom down.

  “Tell me your brother wouldn’t have turned our world into a planet-sized brothel and I’ll name you a liar. If he or any number of people off the street had the kind of power Sully had when…”

  “Okay! Okay! I get it!” Dad interrupted. Sighing and massaging his own eyes.

  “But we’re going off track. There has to be someone else who can do what Sully is trying to do. There has to be someone else who can stop the alien gnome invasion… Gosh I can’t believe I just said that… and keep our own world safe. Thunder Fist is just as strong as Puffin now. Right? Just like this kid Vince? That means all of you are several times stronger and more versatile than S-Ranks like Shatter Storm or Sirocco back home. AND, there are all these other people with powers back home to consider. None of them have the System, as far as I know, but a lot of them were doing cartwheels above our home. Enough that I’m pretty sure you could throw a rock in any random direction and accidentally pelt a newly minted A-Rank. Or better. Again, no System so no frame of reference aside from monsters being hunted. And all the Rift-Spawn had been driven well and truly into (Sully)ing extinction by the time we got back. I mean, (Sully) me!”

  Dad swallowed a gulp of air before redoubling his rant.

  “Even Rick was going around flying and being a massively powerful Telepath! More powerful than me at least. Which would have been absolutely horrifying if it weren’t for the fact that he was also a presence addict. He’s started a brand-new cult following this Serpent-Tongue freak and I do not approve of the stuff they’re saying about Sully! So, I ask again. What’s stopping you all from forming a team and keeping the gnomes out?”

  “Well, nothing.” Monique piped up for the first time in a while. “But I will say that Periwig mentioned having someone of their Tier would be a deterrence to pirates and reaving bands from lesser factions. The gnomes and Periwig in particular apparently have a reputation for bombing the people they can’t directly rob from orbit and then relying on their own Masters back home to kill people trying to get revenge. We might be able to kill Periwig ourselves, if we get him off his ship, but that’s a lot of maybes. There are no maybes with Sully. Anyone going up against him is straight-up (Gnome)d in the (Gnome).”

  “Weren’t you the one who tried to mug him with a shotgun when you two met in the Maze?” Mom asked suddenly.

  “Yes Mrs. Carter. I was. Though it wasn’t anything personal. I was just starving and confused and trying to get back to my kids.” Monique said apprehensively.

  Then she too sighed.

  “If it makes you feel better, I never would have even talked to him if I knew what he was capable of.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel better.” Mom bit back.

  “No. I guess it doesn’t. Sorry. I guess I’m not being as sensitive as I should be.” Monique’s sigh deepened.

  “Let me try again. Your son is the only one I can think of when it comes to saving planets from alien invaders without suffering massive casualties.”

  She stopped to lean back with a groan of frustration.

  “Okay. My bad. Let me start again.” Monique grimaced, but stood a bit taller now. “Sully chose to help my world. Even after he… rediscovered some things about himself. Even when he stood to gain nothing. I know he’s sick in the head, but my kids wouldn’t be alive right now if it weren’t for him. I owe him more than either of you know. And even if he is messed up and even if he scares me… well… he’s not a bad person. At least, Gus here is right that anyone else with that kind of power would have made a world I wouldn’t want to live in.”

  “Be that as it may.” Dad countered. “We know Sully’s done… his best. But we can all agree that he is sick and he needs professional help.”

  “Oh absolutely.” Monique agreed at once. “In fact. I know a few good therapists back home. I would recommend them, if any were still alive after the zombies.”

  “Okay!” Dad stood up. “So, we’re finally getting somewhere! Can we all at least agree to keep Sully nice and calm until we can get him the help he needs?”

  “You don’t have to convince me sir.” Charlie spoke immediately. “Keep Sully nice and calm until we can get him help has been our motto since the day we freed the Warehouse and he shared the visions with us. I… I appreciate everything he’s done for me and for the rest of us. And I would call him a friend and even a good guy, but even without knowing what a therapist was, I was always very vocal that he needed all the help he could get. Frankly I offered up the idea that he should talk to the sisters over by the temple back home. They’re really good at listening and making the proper pious noises every once in a while. Never been much of a Saturn-lover myself, but people like him tend to feel much better afterwards.”

  “I think you’re all blowing this out of proportion.” Dusty interjected. “Yes, he has his issues. Everyone does. But you’re all forgetting that Sully has chosen to sacrifice himself for others at every single chance he’s been given.”

  She stood up and faced my parents.

  “He saved me and my brother. When we couldn’t give him anything in return. He saved my father and my village and my world. When he stood to gain nothing from it. He never even asked for anything. The idea didn’t even occur to him. I think that says something about his character and I think you’re all being very judgemental for a bunch of people who aren’t warriors. A bunch of people whom he saved.”

  “He ripped my guts out and turned them into tentacles!” Luigi snapped. “Then he brainwashed me and forced me to hunt people by falling on top of them and strangling them to death!”

  Dusty scoffed. So did Slab.

  “He thought you were a gnome.” She said condescendingly.

  “Honestly, we killed ourselves the second we saw that. If you were too stupid to do so, that’s kind of on you.” Slab followed up.

  “That doesn’t make it better!” Luigi cried out. Now standing up too.

  “Being a gnome should not be an excuse for torturing….!”

  A crack of purple lightning tore through the ceiling and into the house. Disintegrating wood and masonry to leave a black, sizzling hole next to Luigi.

  Above him, the very skies roiled in anger and anguish. Screaming bloody murder as my own feelings twisted reality itself into a form of Intruder. The world bleeding through the edges and allowing more and more of Pandemonium to stain the cobweb.

  In the clouds, my angels frolicked about.

  Singing.

  “Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La! Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La!”

  Henry grabbed Luigi and dragged him back down. Almost ripping the scrawnier, half-starved man in two as he did so.

  “What he meant to say is that all gnomes are the epitome of evil and that we will stop at nothing to flay them alive and wear the skins as capes! Because that’s what good people do!”

  The angels giggled above, before gently floating away. My words still echoing in their lips and all across this dimension.

  “Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La! Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La!”

  “Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La! Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La!”

  “Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La! Crucifixion! Crucifixion! La! La! La!”