We all met up in one of Alexei's living rooms – apparently he uses it as his war room whenever there's a major dispute. Irina and her husband were sitting down, appearing pretty calm, but I knew that underneath the surface, they were deadly focused. Lilith was back, looking pretty much the same as usual, with Hel by her side. Looks like they've become fast friends over the last few days, since they were chatting away pleasantly with another woman that I didn't know.

This new person was also pretty, but in more of a disturbing kind of way. Like those ghost girls in those japanese horror movies, but instead of being of an Asian heritage, she looked more South American. Her features were hard and strong, unlike the delicate features of Lilith, but there was a grace to it nonetheless, even if her proportions looked a little off. She was wearing a long, black dress, and her brown hair was neatly braided. She didn't look to be a day over 30 or so, but I'd bet my left testicle that she's a whole lot older. She turned towards me when I approached.

“You must be Mark, correct?” The woman said, her voice pleasantly warm and motherly, which was quite the contrast from her appearance. I could imagine her baking cookies on the weekends if she didn't look so creepy. “I'm that idiot Mixcoatl's mother, Cihuacoatl. But call me Cait.”

Another goddess, I wasn't expecting that, “Pleased to meet you, although I'm sorry it had to happen in these circumstances.”

The woman sighed, “I know. You can only imagine the embarrassment I'm suffering through right now; my son is a so called god of the hunt, and he gets himself trapped like some kind of... prey. And by a mortal as well! Oh, the other goddesses will never let it go. My husband's going to go ballistic when he hears this.”

Oh... well, that wasn't exactly what I meant by a bad time, but who am I to question the goddess. I guess Mike really wasn't kidding about his mother.

“Well, he is helping us with finding the girl that's tearing up the fabric of reality.” I reminded her. With what Mike's going through right now, I thought it only fair that I defend him a little.

“Yes, and screwing it up as well.” She replied, still looking forlorn. “I'm sorry that you had to deal with him. And to think, he's finally found some nice, respectable friends, and he's already managed to mess it up. If only he were like that young man Thor. Now that's what a proper god should be like.”

I didn't mention that Thor had a bigger ego than an entire army of Pride Demons, but I did add, “Mike's honestly been a great help so far, it's really no big deal, ma'am.”

“Oh, I know you're just saying that for me, and don't go calling me ma'am now, it makes me feel old.” Cihuacoatl said, “Everyone here's about the same age, if not older than me!”

Well, that certainly was true. In fact, I'm probably the oldest one here. I guess that really puts things into perspective.

“Of course, Cait.” I answered with a smile. Although I didn't agree with her assessment of her son, I can't say that the woman herself was all that unpleasant. She was quiet a pleasant woman, if it were not for her opinions on Mike. “So what are you doing here anyway?”

She sighed again, “I'm here to rescue my idiot son's sorry behind. Although he is a failure, I am still technically his mother after all. And I wouldn't want you nice folk to think ill of his family. He's finally made some proper friends, and I'm not going to let him ruin it. I swear, some day he'll be the death of me.”

“You're pretty hung out about him being friends with us,” I asked, curious why she brought that up twice, “Does he not have any other ones?”

Cait shook her head, “Oh no, he has quite a few.”

“Then what's the issue?”

“They're mortals is what the issue is!” She said, exasperated, “Humans! They should be worshiping him, not having beers and smoking that stupid grass of his with him. I swear, I thought I finally talked some sense into him when that darling Hel called, but look at the mess now. I'm just thankful y'all are nice enough to even bother rescuing him.”

This woman's certainly something. I kind of pity Mike now, since I call quite a few humans a friend as well. I took a glance at Lilith, seeing if she thought this woman as as nuts as I did, and she just shrugged. Guess most immortal entities viewed Cait's attitude as normal.

“I'm surprised that you approve of us being his friends at all.” I said, “Most people aren't too big into death goddesses, demons from Hell, and mind eating Nightmares.”

“Please, Mark, those are just rumours that the humans have. I've known Hel for more than five hundred years, and she's been an absolute dear.” Cait said, smiling at Hel, “And don't get me started on Lilith there, she's practically a super star among certain crowds. You should see Aphrodite when we even mention her name around the other Love Goddesses!”

I gave Lilith another glance. I honestly didn't know that she was so well known among the other Pantheons. Heck, I didn't even how she managed to get out of Hell so often, but I guess there were a lot of idioic summoners who wanted a taste of Lilith over the years, and she does tend to stick around afterwards longer than most.

“If the introductions are over, should we get started with the planing?” Alexei inturrupted.

“We might as well get that sorry excuse of a son back.” Cait said, “Are you sure we won't be able to just go in and make ruckus?”

Well, if two goddess and Lilith decided to help out, I don't think that I would have to worry too much about Frankenstein's defences. But he's able to trap a god, then he must be prepared for the absolute worst. Plus, even if everyone went all out, and decided to raise hell, the machine in Frankenstein's basement wouldn't make it out in one piece.

Even so, I wasn't too worried this time. If you haven't noticed by now, gods and goddesses, no matter how minor they are, are seriously powerful. Real big leagues stuff. Lilith is no slouch either, and the only reason Irina and Alexei's had such a hard time is because they're primarily beings of manipulation. They deal with mental side of magic; on base urges and irrational fears of the mind. They prey on the mental, not the physical. Which is, sadly, completely useless when the things we were fighting against had no mind to speak of. Of course, that doesn't mean that those two can't take care of themselves in a fight, even if they were never designed for that.

Realistically speaking, I was probably the weakest link in the group. But then again, I have no idea how much of a boon my heavenly ability will be. I've only tested out the waters ever since Uriel gave her little speech, so I have no idea how much stronger I've gotten. Either way, I won't be such a push-over. Frankenstein probably has no idea exactly what kind of foe he's pissed off.

“No can do.” I said, “The key to saving the whole universe is inside the building. We can't be blowing everything to pieces.”

“Right, and Frankenstein's bound to have defences up that'll make it difficult to do that, even if we could.” Irina added.

“Oh, I don't think it'll be too much trouble.” Cait smiled, “But if the fate of the universe is in that house of his, I guess we have to do this more subtly.”

I turned to Alexei and his wife and asked, “Do you think those big, mean things in the yard will be back?”

Irina thought for a moment, “Most of them should be destroyed from the last assault, and I don't think Frankestein's had the time to remake enough of them to matter.”

“And we don't know what else he has cooking in that mansion of his.”

“Correct.”

“Then we just get rid of everything that gets in the way.” Lilith said with a wicked smile.

“Wait.” I said, I realized that something was amiss, “Why are you helping us through this, Hel?”

After all, she didn't bother much last time we assaulted Frankenstein's place, and she's been quiet on the sidelines for a while longer. It wasn't like her to directly intervene in all of this.

Hel shrugged, “I suppose I never intended to in the first place, hence the need to hide my name.”

“And what changed?” I questioned.

“Well, I can't exactly just go away now. Loath as I am to admit it,” She continued, gesturing to everyone in the room, “this little party of interesting individuals are my friends, and I can't just sit back and watch the end of the Universe unravel without doing a thing. Plus, this might be quite a bit of fun, but don't expect my help in the future.”

“Wouldn't dream of it.” I answered, “Let's get on with it then.”

This was serious. I discarded my human guise, and took the shape that I made with. Instead of ashen wings, my feathers were pure and white. They didn't shine like they used to when I was in heaven, but they weren't the horrible grey that I had in Hell. My hair was brown and clean, and my skin a healthy pink. It wasn't a look I was used to, but it was one that felt just as comfortable as any. I guess this time, it wasn't the Fallen Angel Barbas, nor the Archangel Barbiel that left the building that day. It was simply Mark Bastion, and I didn't feel all too bad that day.

* * *

I knew that Frankenstein would be waiting for us when we came to him, which meant that he would have his defences up and ready, but what I didn't understand is why he would bother hiring humans. To slow us down, perhaps? Make us waste as much energy as possible? It wouldn't work, but I guess I can't fault the man for trying. If only he knew that having this many able bodied, and more importantly, able minded people only made my job easier.

Outside his yard was a small army of men and women dressed in combat gear, and scattered around them were the remnants of those big, centipede-leech things. There were only about five of them left, and even those few looked utterly battered from the beating they took from last time. Some of them were missing an appendage or two, and the fact that Frankenstein didn't fix them all immediately probably meant that they were seriously hard to make.

I saw Irina's eyes light up as she grinned at the scene, and the calm and collected woman that I've known for the last few weeks disappeared. “Humans,” Irina intoned, her voice dark, “Now this is better; this I can work with. Husband, let me take care of Frakenstein's pet soldiers. I have some steam I need to let off.”

That's the Irina that I was familiar with. When I first met her, all those years back, Alexei's future wife was known for her hatred of humans, and the cruelty she would inflict upon them. It wasn't until I hooked her up with Alexei that I realized why she detested them as much as she did, and I would be angry as well if humans were responsible for slaughtering my entire family. She's gotten softer over the years, mainly because Alexei's managed to calm her down, but when there's people to be slaughtered, I don't have a doubt in the world that the old Irina would resurface.

And you honestly do not want to get in Irina's way when she's like this. She might not be all that tough last time, since her foes were the brainless sort, but when she works her magic, it's one hell of a sight to behold.

Irina let out a deafening howl that would make even the meanest banshees envious, and disappeared into the crowd of soldiers. I couldn't even hear the sound of bullets fly over her screech, not that those sounds lasted long. She was on the first group within seconds, just passing through them in her incorporeal form. She didn't touch a single hair on any of the men and women, because she didn't have to.

I knew from experience of the damage that she could inflict on the mind from just a passing glance, and I'm pretty sure the men and women working under Frankenstein was getting to know how bad of a time that is personally. The first few that she passed through started to scream in ways that human throats were not designed for, before they clawed their own eyes out with their hands. I didn't want to know what Irina showed them to make a man do that.

The next batch turned on their fellow soldiers with mad blood-lust, abandoning their guns altogether in favour of fists and knees. They were attacking the first thing in sight with the savagery of a dying animal. Even Frankenstein's pet monsters were caught in the fray, although I can't say that the humans did any damage to his monstrosities.

It did, however, make for a very good opportunity for the rest of my crew to finish off the five leech things. They were still as tough as nails, but when each one had a few dozen people scrambling on top of it, they couldn't do a whole lot to retaliate. It barely took five minutes for us to completely destroy the last of Frankenstein's nightmares, combined, and only a few minutes after that for the last of the soldiers to go down. All of that, and Irina had hardly broken a sweat. I think I understood why Alexei lets his wife walk all over him now.

“Feeling better, my wife?” Alexei said as the last dying man left this world.

“Much.” Irina answered. She straighten her shirt, and bid us join her into Frankenstein's manor.