Donna was drowsing in the cuddlepile when Ray approached. He caught Arwen’s eye, and got a brief nod. “Hey Duncan, I’ve got your pilot here. Want to talk about your plans for landing at Disney?”
Duncan slithered out of the pile with alacrity. “Yes! I have ideas but I don’t know what the plane is like, how much it weighs, where the safest place to add lift would be... I’m thinking a sort of magical anti-grav system.”
“Antigravity?” asked the man following behind Ray. He had a slim build and his hair was thinning to the point of near absence. A well tailored blue suit with a pilot’s wings pinned to the lapel made his role quite clear. “You want to put antigravity on my plane?”
“Is that a problem?” asked Duncan.
“Can I keep it after?” the pilot asked eagerly.
Duncan chuckled. “Sure. It’ll only work when the Moon is up, though.”
“How curious. Why is that?”
“Well, I don’t know how to create actual antigravity yet, so it’d be magic pushing up on the plane. No Moon, no magic.”
“Hence the need to know where the lift points are. Here, I brought the schematics...”
As the plans were being unrolled on the bartop, Ray cleared his throat. “Duncan, this is Sasha, Dave’s usual pilot. Dave’s covering the cost of the trip. Sasha, Duncan, also known as Donna and Dia. Savior of all mankind.”
“Uh...”
Ray raised an eyebrow at Duncan.
“Okay, fine. But putting it like that feels sacrilegious.”
Sasha was staring at Duncan. “You stopped the demons?”
“I had help. Gwen, Van...” Duncan choked on the name. “Vanessa died to make sure the demons would never return.”
Gwen snuggled up beside Duncan. “We all paid prices. That doesn’t matter now. What matters is this flight.”
“I wasn’t clear on that bit. Why is this flight so important?”
Duncan heaved a sigh. “This shit all started when my family got kidnapped by a rogue faction within the US government. They were being held at Disneyland, and things kind of... snowballed.”
Gwen snickered. “Just a bit. You scared enough people that they started trying to nuke you. Hopefully they’ve learned their lesson.”
“Hopefully.”
“You are aware that my jet is not armed, yes?”
Duncan grinned ferally. “It won’t be unarmed while I’m aboard. The Americans are on notice to leave us alone or else.”
“Or else what?”
“I didn’t specify, only that they’d lose whatever they put in our way.”
Sasha muttered, “I’d better be getting danger pay for this.”
“Name your price.”
He waved off Duncan’s offer. “Dave has been more than generous. And if I get to keep the antigrav, I’m good.”
“I’m sure we can find something else to add, if you’re interested in magical toys. We have plenty of reserves.” Duncan frowned. “I know that, but I don’t know where they are. Ray?”
Ray shrugged. “The club’s chests are... about two thirds full, I think. You had bigger stocks at home, in some kind of remotely accessible bins.”
“Oh! Right, yes...” Duncan thought for a moment. “Oh, right. I can feel where they are. So, about those structural points...”
After a pleasant half-hour of technical discussion, Sasha had signed off on Duncan’s modifications. “How soon after moonrise can you have it all ready? I’d rather not have you tinkering while we’re airborne.”
“Spoilsport. It’ll only take a few minutes to install and test. The whole design’s set in my mind, and I’m not losing current memories.”
“Good. I’ll see to getting the flight clearances we’ll need.”
That turned out to be easier said than done, so Duncan poked Agent Cooper’s crystal. He heard some muttering about another call. “Sorry, it’s crazy busy, but I can always find time for the person who saved the planet. What do you need?”
“Clearance for my flight to LA and back.” Duncan recited the details that Sasha had given him.
“Got it. I’ll get that cleared. Are you going to be on the flight yourself?”
“Absolutely. That won’t be a problem, will it?”
Agent Cooper chuckled wryly. “It’s just... the last time you were here... I’m pretty sure we’ve got things cleaned up, but be on your toes, okay?”
“Of course. How are things down there? I’m not as powerful without the full Moon, but...”
“Going remarkably well, for all the chaos. We’ll have all the evacuees out by the day after tomorrow, I think. All kinds of secondary airfields are in use, and planes are flying in from all over. Speaking of which, how are you planning to land?”
“Magic VTOL.”
Agent Cooper whistled. “Nice trick. Southwest parking lot is your safest bet, it’s the most open. We’ll have your family waiting there for you.”
“Good. It’ll be a huge help to see them again.”
“Good. Oh, there’s one other thing, since you’re sounding so chipper.”
Duncan frowned. “We are?”
“Sure. You haven’t threatened to destroy anything this entire call.”
“We’re not usually like that,” replied Duncan, chuckling.
“Which is why I feel this needs to be done now. We haven’t much time. The Israelis did some weird stuff with the portals, and they’re being cagy about how. Ancient rituals, they claim. In any case, they closed all the portals at Megiddo that were leaking Cobalt... but one of them was not. Apparently it leads to a bunker on the other side, and there is a survivor who would like to talk.”
“I don’t have much to say to a demon. Still... you say there isn’t much time?”
“They’re protected from the Cobalt storm, but imperfectly. They’re dying. They claim they are the last of their kind.”
“Fine. I’ll hear it out. Can we do this by teleconference? I’d rather not be anywhere near them. Safer for me, and anyone around me.”
“Indeed. I’ll send you the contact information.”
Duncan stared at the number for a time, until Ray sidled up beside him. “We’ve got more than enough AV gear to use the stage for the teleconference. If you want us here for it.”
“Yeah. That sounds good. No magic right now, so nothing can go too wrong if I get ragey.”
“The cuddlepile can keep you calm. Is that why you moved them into catgirl bodies?”
Duncan shrugged, but the gesture didn’t make it past their upper arms. “We weren’t thinking. It felt right and necessary at the time. Their bodies were the price of victory, and I can’t bring Vanessa back...”
“Colin said it was probably for the best,” reassured Ray. “Their bodies wasted away, worse than any Windsor Syndrome victim.”
“Ew.” That was Donna’s voice, surfacing for a moment.
“Indeed. Shall we talk to the Last Demon?”
Duncan sighed and slithered toward the stage. “Sure, set it up.”
A few minutes later, the face of an earnest Israeli man showed up on the giant screen. “Oh! There you are. I’m glad we got through to you. Duncan Faulkner, I presume?”
“Yes. Can you tell me what is going on?”
“We have a camera robot at the last gate. The demon there... he’s not the same as the others. Some kind of scientific leader, we think. He claimed his faction opposed this war.”
“Great. What did they do to oppose it?”
“Perhaps you should ask him.”
The view changed, switching to a shimmering portal. On the far side of it, bundled up in what looked much like a parka, sat a very humanoid looking demon. Duncan studied it. The skin was dark, but not beyond human norms. Unlike the other demons he’d seen, it had a very symmetric build, and if it weren’t for the horns on its forehead, it looked like one could pass it on the street and not realize what one had encountered.
“Hello?”
The eyes blinked open, startling yellow against the dark skin, and slitted like a snake’s. “Oh. You are the one.”
“One of three goddesses protecting this world. Two now. One died to end this war.”
The demon shook its head. “We never wanted this.”
“Too bad. You killed half my planet, and would have killed the rest. Are you truly the last?”
The demon coughed, and some black substance trickled over its lip. “For a few more hours, at best. Even in this deepest cave, the radiation seeps in. Why?”
Duncan snorted. “You know full well. That mountain-thing at the end made it clear you would not stop until every living thing on this planet was dead.”
“I told them it was a mistake. They would not listen. Your great wars supplied us with so much death, their greed and rapacity knew no bounds. All that death, so concentrated and pure. We grew fat on it, and when it ended...”
“Collapse. Death of old age does nothing for you. Only violent death would cross the worlds.”
The demon nodded. “Just so.” It coughed again. “It is, perhaps, better this way. We were dying. The mountain was an act of desperation, but once you were all dead, what then?”
“Two dead worlds, instead of one.”
“I never wished you ill. But I was alone in this. Thank you for looking me in the eye, at the end. Goodbye.”
The demon quaffed something from a vial, slumped in his chair, and moved no more. After a minute of silence, the video connection ended.
“Jesus,” breathed Ray. “Did he... commit suicide at you?”
“Perhaps he hoped we would regret at least one of the deaths we caused,” murmured Duncan. “We feel pity for him, at best. Remorse?” They laughed bitterly. “Fuck no. Good riddance.”
“And yet all of your fists are clenched,” observed Ray.
Duncan carefully unclenched each in turn. “We are annoyed. Not angry. Not upset.” They didn’t sound entirely convinced, themselves. “Just... it really is over, isn’t it?”
“If he was telling the truth. It does sound like you destroyed their world pretty comprehensively.”
“Good.”
Ray shook his head. “You can’t be that certain. What if they had... I don’t know... puppies and butterflies?”
Donna giggled at him. “Are you seriously trying to persuade me that the demon world had cute puppies, and not horribly mutated monstrosities in their place?” Their tone turned bitter, and their voice grew louder. “We fought these things. So, so many of them. We are glad they’re all gone, and nothing you can say will change that.”
Ray backed up a step as Donna rose above him on their coils. “Glad you don’t have magic right now.”
Donna glared at him. “Do you really think we’d...”
“As you are now? Yes.”
Donna deflated, slumping to the floor. “Fuck it, this sucks. Not able to trust we won’t... Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Showing that we can stop, if the right person asks.”
“Go cuddle the fuzzies. I’ll take care of the rest. Get some sleep if you can.”
Donna mumbled her assent as the catgirls swarmed her once again.