They came to the front doors of Renegades HQ, but before they had a chance to enter, the doors were thrown open with a gale force that knocked all of them over except for David, who simply floated back about a meter. David raised his hand and it glowed, ready to fire a beam of energy at whomever exited the building. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light and before them stood a strange man with long brown hair and a mustache and goatee. He carried a sword and on his face he bore a grimace that looked like it had become permanent. This was Obliteration, from what Jacob could tell. He didn't know every detail about Obliteration's powers, or even his real name, but he did remember one thing. He had made it his personal quest to annihilate epics. He believed them to be aberrations of nature, and his method of destroying epics was to destroy every potential epic, meaning every living human being.

Behind him, another figure glided down to meet them, and it was one all of them recognized. David gritted his teeth, for this was High Ventus. Rose managed a confused look, as she barely recognized him, but she was certain she knew him from somewhere. Richard recognized his friend's brother, but Jacob, Cat, and Mal all knew the figure as their first companion. Before them stood Vince, confidence and cruelty written all over his face. Before them, stood not their friend, but their greatest enemy. At the moment, he was clearly Lord Xander.

Behind him followed one more figure, obviously the goal of the attack. Pyromancer raised his hand and shot a jet of flame at the group. Jacob was certain they would be destroyed instantly, but he heard a voice of another friend shout something from behind them. The fire blasted across an invisible wall that curved in front of them. Jacob turned to see a familiar face that he had not expected. There stood Cedric, his wand raised, maintaining the shield. Jacob had thought maybe it was another Epic with shielding powers, which was someone he had wanted to meet. Suddenly, Obliteration shined once again and exploded into ceramic pieces a moment later. This was his natural defense mechanism. Jacob saw what had triggered it a moment later. Two arrows had struck true right in the middle of where his chest should have been. Next to Cedric now stood two more friends. Defréndel stood with his bow held high and his arm back as he had just let an arrow fly, and next to him was Strider, lowering his bow. Obliteration reappeared a few seconds later in another brilliant flash. It seemed the gang was all there, or at least so Jacob thought. He was proved wrong as behind him came a voice he hadn't heard in months. He hadn't heard it since they last traveled.

"Hello, Brother."

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Cat watched as every single story they had visited yet collided in this one moment. A thought crossed her mind, and escaped in a whispered voice, "Every single story... Every talent..." Suddenly, much to David's surprise, she leapt forward and transformed into a cat. The others quickly caught on to the plan. Jacob reached into his pocket and pressed the button on the side of his collapsed bow. He put on his sunglasses, not caring anymore that he was revealing himself as The Archer. He slipped them on and tapped their rim. Suddenly he was in his full outfit, and arrows were flying.

Mal stood and raised her hands. Water swirled around her. She remember a scene in The Lord of the Rings that gave her an idea. She reached out her hand and grabbed onto something in the swirling vortex. Moments later she had swung herself up on horseback, riding the aquatic stallion as she charged Lyndsey, who she had singled out as her target. Cat took on Ryan once again, since his whole vendetta started back in that training yard in Minas Tirith. Jacob took on Vince, his friend turned enemy. David tried his best to take care of Obliteration, but the two both had a prime invincibility. Cedric aided his fellow Hufflepuff, while Adrian helped Cat, being her teammate. Adrian didn't become the Sentinel and the others could use their powers without revealing their identity as Watchers. Lastly Richard, Defréndel, and Aragorn aided the others where they could.

The fight raged all around them, each facing their match, but none of them ever gaining the upper hand. They found themselves in a stalemate, trapped until either side received reinforcements. Fortunately for the travelers, their backup wasn't far from there. Adrian sent out a Watchers notice as he engaged Pyromancer, and there was only one last Watcher who wasn't present.

________________

Mal rode her horse with expert skill, commanding it with her power. She felt the waters nature as it wanted to stampede and wash over her foe. Lyndsey cast what spells she could, but she evidently also had a power as well. She flicked her wrist and a branch shot through the air. She looked in surprise and realization. She smiled a wicked smile and flicked both her wrists once again. She caught the long branches in her hands and used them as weapons. She swiped at Mal's legs, but the waves splashed her away whenever she could. Lyndsey slowly seemed to wear down, and Mal was starting to feel the wear of her powers. It was time to try something risky.

Mal charged straight at Lyndsey, and just as she predicted, Lyndsey froze for a moment. Right before her water horse slammed into the wanderer, Mal allowed herself to fall backwards out of her saddle, flipping into the water that streamed behind her steed. The horse slammed into Lyndsey, enveloping her in water, and Mal shot through the water at twice the speed her horse had hit Lyndsey. She launched out of the water as she tackled Llyn. Slamming into another rock hard wall of water, the two stopped, and both shouted from the sudden stop. Mal wasn't sure she could continue the fight, but Lyndsey was beginning to stir. Mal's Gambit hadn't paid off. Lyndsey wasn't out yet. Suddenly, the two of them stood, Lyndsey fell over, out cold. There stood Nightmare, ready to deal with the threats.

They started with Pyromancer, who Nova already knew the capabilities of. He was stopped relatively fast when Mal blocked a single one of his jets of flame with a wall of water. Steam filled the air, blinding all of them but Nova and Adrian, as both had night vision capabilities in their mask and goggles. Nightmare reached out and placed her bare hand on Ryan's neck, and he collapsed in sleep.

Their next goal was not going to be so easy. With Cat free, it was now 8 on 1 in the fight with Obliteration, and yet they still could not harm him. Mal, Cat, Nova, Adrian, Cedric, Richard, David and Rose all fought as best they could without getting in each other's way. They would launch some sort of attack forcing him to teleport away, but only for him to reappear moments later. Finally, Nova managed to touch him, but he still teleport away as she pushed her power into him. Now he was somewhere in the city, asleep, waiting to be found. They had only one last threat to face. High Ventus.

The three warriors had discovered that firing any kind of arrow was useless as it was only swept away in the wind. They all had drawn their swords and tried their best to reach him, but he was practically decimating the three of them by now. Mal and Cat had no way of getting to him. None of the Renegades could get close to him. Not a single one of them could find their way anywhere near him. Adrian couldn't aim his blaster, in the intense winds that now swirled the battlefield. They all rested around him, all except David being tired out. David raised his hands, but there were too many innocents around to engage in a battle. Unlike his counterpart, Steelheart, David actually aimed to not harm the citizens that were in the battle ground. Vince looked around realizing he had essentially won, and lifted off the ground, wind swirling around him. He shot through the air and away from the travelers. It was not the last they would see of him for certain.

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Rose walked through the glass doors to the Student Center and out into the outdoor air. At first she wondered if she had somehow just dreamt everything that had happened for the past month of her life, but when she looked at the others, she knew they had actually had their adventure. They had walked back through the door to the Watchtower, only to find themselves back in their own world. They sat on the grass in silence for a moment, simply taking in the fact that they were back home. Evidently they had done everything they needed to in the story, or they had been kicked out due to all the damage to the story they had caused. Rose stood after a few minutes of their just sitting there, and turned to go back in, almost as if everything that had happened to them didn't exist. Jacob, Cat, and Mal continued to sit in silence until another of their friends came out to join them in their game of frisbee. The night just seemed too normal for them. No superpowers, no magic, and no life threatening quests. What were they supposed to do?

Unfortunately for Jacob, the night made all of them reflect on their past adventures. He remembered most of them as though they were only yesterday, and Cat clearly did too. She approached him near the end of the night, and sat down at his table. He sat there trying to roll a coin across his knuckles, a trick Tony had been teaching him, when he looked up to greet her.

"So," she started, "We made it out alive. Then we went on a few more adventures. At the Black Gate, when you were... well you know. You said you would tell me something if we got out of it alive. What were you going to say?" The coin froze as he flipped it between his fingers, and he tensed. He clearly hadn't been expecting the question, and had wanted time to prepare his answer. He opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out at first.

"Not right now," he managed after a few seconds of silence, "I want to say it on my own terms. I can't right now. Not after seeing Vince like that. I need to get him out of there. He's wandering and lost in the world of stories. We need to stop this sooner rather than later. We need to travel again." He stood after he rolled his coin back over his knuckles. He set it on the table with a tap. He slid it across the surface and walked away. She glanced down at his lucky coin, examining it. There wasn't anything special about it. It was just a Canadian coin.