After Gemma and I recovered from her near drowning, we all began to quietly hike towards Titan's castle. Or what appeared to be one. The closer we got, the more it resembled a modern-day building, with castle like features. Perhaps it was because of how run down it was. As we walked, the twins stayed in front of us, Pluto was in the middle with Gemma and I, and Neptune held our defenses in the back with Jupiter.
If it had been a better time, I would've made a point of apologizing to Jupiter for doubting him. If he really was a traitor, I doubt he would've dove off that bridge for Gemma and I'm sure those Drifters wouldn't have come. Other then the lightening bolt tattoo, there really was no solid evidence he was a traitor. Neptune was right, I had been jumping to conclusions and acting upon them without thinking them through. I'd have to work on that, because with everything that's happened it's more important now than ever before, that we remain a team.
We couldn't defeat Titan unless we were unified.
Hopefully, he had no idea we were coming, and we would truly catch him by surprise.
Once we were close enough to the entrance to get a clear view of the guards patrolling outside, we took a knee behind some bushes. "What's the plan?" Gemma whispered as the twins began to unload their bag of weapons.
"Since Titan had little reaction to electric volts, and I doubt the high frequency will weaken him, we're going to have to weaken him manually." Mars pulled out a container of liquid. "If our plan to catch Titan off guard succeeds, we're all going to swarm him and overpower him. Once we have him on his knees, I'm going to pour this Accu Freeze down his throat and it'll clog his gasoline chambers. That'll weaken him long enough for us to kill him and rescue your siblings." He explained and we all shared wary glances.
"First though we need to take out the guards, then Gemma will have to lead us to the throne room." Pluto added, weakly grabbing a gun from Mars.
"Are you sure you're all strong enough to pin him down?" I asked nervously as Mercury passed me my sledgehammer.
"Yes, but we won't be able to hold him for long, so we'll have to act fast," Neptune said, taking a deep breath as she drew her sword. "Abigail, I need you to promise us something." All eyes then drifted to me.
"Yes?"
Neptune then rested a hand on my shoulder. "There's no guarantee we're all going to make it out alive. If worst comes to worst and this plan fails, I need you to promise me that you'll escape and find Venus. No matter the cost." Shaking my head, I rested my hand over hers.
"If worst comes to worst Neptune, I'm not leaving you guys in there. I'm planning on taking all of you and my family home with me." I insisted. I couldn't leave them, any of them. It was an unbearable thought that I wouldn't even hypothetically entertain. I wouldn't be able to do this without them.
"You have to promise Abigail, we need to know we have a backup plan in case we fail." Pluto insisted and I felt all their eyes bear down on me.
"I can't promise that. I'm not strong enough to leave you guys and I'm sure as hell not strong enough to find Venus by myself." I breathed, tightening my grip on Neptune's hand as Mercury shook her head.
"You are strong enough Abigail; you have to promise. If we don't make it out, you need to get yourself out. It's the only way to stop Titan if we can't kill him."
"But I—"
Gemma interrupted. "They're right Abigail, you need to promise. Its you he wants, he won't kill us if you're still out there and alive because he needs leverage," She said, making my whole-body ache. I didn't want to make a promise like that, but I knew deep down it was the right thing to do.
"I..I promise." I finally said, before crushing Neptune in a hug. In a tender moment then, everyone joined in and my hug turned into a group hug. When we all pulled apart, Neptune brushed some hair out of my face.
"I'm proud of you Abigail, you did good." She then turned to the rest of our weary group. "This is it crew, this is the moment we've all dreamed about. Let's take this automaton devil down!" She shouted, and with a battle cry we all rose up from behind the bushes with our weapons in the air before charging.
The twins had their flame throwers, Neptune had her electric sword, Pluto had his frequency box, Jupiter ha his handguns, Gemma had a gun and I had my sledgehammer. When they saw us coming, the guards quickly pulled out their weapons but froze in their tracks when Pluto turned on the high-pitched frequency and threw it in their direction. As we covered our ears, the frequency went off, crippling them long enough for Jupiter to gun them down and tear them to shreds.
"Was ripping them apart really necessary?" Neptune asked as Pluto turned off the frequency and we all stormed the entrance. With a burst of flames from their flame throwers, the twins busted in the front door and mischievous grins crossed their faces.
"Hey Titan! We thought we'd just let ourselves in!" Mercury sang down the halls as her, and Mars blasted the droids rushing down the hallway. If their blast of flames missed one, Neptune took them out with her sword or I swung at them with my sledgehammer, giving Pluto a chance to get a good shot. We both may have been injured but we made a hell of a team. With ease we fought our way down the hall with little to no injury, and without having a run in with drifters.
Once we made it to the end of the hall, Neptune turned back to us. "Gemma! Which way?" She asked, and Gemma took a moment to look left and right before pointing to the right.
"This way! I recognize the artwork!" She yelled, and we all charged to the right with fury. We could do this, I firmly believed we could. After everything Titan took away from us, after all the loved ones he harmed, after all the games he played, and after all the terror we were finally going to relieve ourselves of him. I would have my family back and the droids would be free of him. The Minds would be so overjoyed, it would excuse Neptune from going against them, and things could go back to normal for all of us. No more fear, no more anger, no more hurt.
The thought of it made me run down the hallway incredibly faster and as we neared the throne room doors my rage and adrenaline began to burn in my chest. Titan was going down. When we burst through the doors with a blast of fire and yells, we immediately took out the guards in the room before turning towards the throne. It was as terrifying as Gemma had described it, maybe even more so. It was indeed made of broken automaton parts and along the walls was every kind of horrendous weapon you could think of, most of which were stained brown and red.
Swallowing thickly, I did a full circle around the throne room, trying to soak it all in as everyone grouped together. "Titan isn't here, he must've heard us coming," Neptune said as their grips tightened on their weapons.
"He couldn't have gone far; we stormed the only entrance. He's in this building somewhere." Mars growled as Mercury nodded towards the throne room doors.
"Let's go find him then," She said, and we all started towards the doors but stopped in our tracks when they slammed shut. "What the hell?" Mercury gasped as Neptune and Pluto ran forward to open them, but they wouldn't budge.
"Their sealed shut! Someone locked us in here!" Pluto yelled as the twins frantically ran over to the door and began to body slam it with all their might alongside Neptune. It didn't budge. Paling, Gemma dropped her weapon with a shaky breath as she looked at me in terror. "He knows we're here, he trapped us," She said, scarcely above a whisper.
"That doesn't make sense though. He would've sent more guards after us, when we went down to his hideout in the city, they all swarmed us. It was almost impossible getting in and out. This time it was easy." Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I gripped my sledgehammer. "Right?" I managed to choke out, as the other struggled to get the door open.
Jupiter then cleared his throat, "Maybe it was a little to easy getting in Abigail," He said, and all of us turned our attention to him.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Pluto shot back as the others caught their breath.
"What I mean is, don't you think Titan's ultimate hideout would've been better protected, especially with the risk of intruders like yourselves showing up." Walking over to the throne he ran his fingers over it. "Unless, he wanted you to think you were strong enough to defeat him." A deafening silence then fell over the room as we all shared glances. Neptune then stepped bravely towards him.
"Abigail was right, wasn't she Jupiter? You are a traitor?" She asked, and when she received no response, she swung her sword in his direction. "Answer me!" She yelled as he turned and caught the blade before ripping it from her hands.
"I'm not just a traitor sweet Neptune, I'm more then just a little spy for Titan." He then threw her sword aside as everyone else pulled out their weapons. Feeling my eyes well with tears, I tried hard to fight against my trembling knees.
"You lied to me Jupiter! You actually made me believe I could trust you and that I was wrong about you!" I screamed at him, charging with the intent of killing him, but Pluto stopped me before I could.
"No Abigail, you weren't wrong about me. I am on your side. I'm just very misunderstood thanks to the lies your friends have planted about me and my wrong doings." A dark look then crossed Jupiter's face as a wide grin spread across it. "I only hope its not to late fix that damage that's been done." He then sighed heavily as he kicked Neptune's sword. "I'll confess, I didn't want things to go the way they did, but you all are so persistent on getting your way."
Mercury pointed her flame thrower at Jupiter, with a trembling finger over the trigger. "What are you talking about Jupiter!" She yelled, a fearful disposition settling over the group.
"Maybe it'd be easier to show you, then to tell you." Jupiter said as he then tilted back his head and stretched out his arms. As he did, a scream left his throat as the cracks and screeches of his body changing were heard.
"What's going on?" Mars yelled, backing away as we watched.
Jupiter then began to grow taller; his dark hair faded into a brilliant blonde and grew down to his shoulders, his dark brown eyes turned to a silver blue and his voice dropped a couple of octaves deeper. Dropping my sledgehammer, I backed into Pluto as we all cowered towards the door, watching the brilliant transition unfold. Once he finished, he crouched down for a moment before standing tall and smiling at us.
"I think it's time I properly introduced myself. My name's Titan and I've quite enjoyed our journey together. I'm sad it has to come to an end."
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Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you've all enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did writing it. Hopefully none of you saw this coming, but those of you that did--
WOW YOU'RE SMART.
-Mari.