The soldiers were leaving the house when Faust caught sight of the little hands on the stairs.

"Bingo, Bango, come down," Faust called out.

The twins rushed down the stairs and jumped into a hug, crying softly into his legs.

"Don’t go again, Faust," Bryan complained. "You never stay."

"You haven’t even played chess or hide-and-seek," Bonnie managed through her tears.

Five-year-olds were so clingy. To think he had been adamant on ignoring them when he was younger. He brushed his hand over the shiny black hair gently, worried about his strength for once.

"I’ll be back, and you’ll join me there," Faust reassured. "And then I’ll spend an entire day playing with you guys, I promise."

"Make sure you don’t break that promise," Vicky said behind him. He pulled her into a hug as she cried into his shoulder. "I’ll be angry if you do."

"Faust doesn’t break promises!" the twins chanted.

Finally, he took one last look at his dad. He could see through that stoic demeanor now. He smelled the sadness in his father. It smelled like rain.

They shared another awkward hug and Arthur said, "Don’t stress them too much, Tiger. Always make sure you put your interests first and—"

"Never be afraid to take a risk," Faust completed. "I’ve been listening, Dad."

Arthur brought their foreheads together. "I know."

Faust slinked out of the house naturally, completely unbothered by the soldiers in black camo surrounding him. A man was handed his modified sniper rifle and he glared at Faust, who winked back at him.

A line of black sedans and military vehicles stretched far down the street. People peeked out from the blinds in interest, but were too scared to come out.

Faust sighed and watched his misty breath drift up into the chilly night. A lot had changed. More would change, and if people didn’t fight, they would be swept away in that change.

It was the uncomfortable fact of life.

Swim or drown.

A particularly good shark met him at Larson’s sedan, leaning against the driver’s door with a white grin. Faust didn’t know how, but he read the man’s stance, demeanor, and energy and just knew who it was.

Raid, the squad captain that cornered him in the forest outside the school.

"So that’s how they knew I was here so quickly," Faust muttered.

Raid waved him off. "You’re giving me too much credit. They would have known eventually."

"I hope they pay you well, friend."

"Things don’t end well for people that cheat me, Red God." Raid chuckled and slipped into the driver’s seat, starting the car. "I think I’m going to enjoy knowing you."

Faust turned back to his family for a moment. They were standing on the porch, his parents holding on to the crying twins, worried looks on their faces. He offered them an excited grin, and an exasperated look formed on their faces.

"I also never get cheated, Raid, and I never forget the people that interest me. Though most of them wish I would."

◇◇◇

The drive to Compound Zeta was long and quiet. They drifted from the suburbs into the highways, then out of the city. Faust watched the city pass by and noted how much had changed.

Collapsed skyscrapers. Shops riddled with bullet holes. People just wandering the streets, unsure what to do.

It was the quietest apocalypse.

No one could have expected things to end like this. The loss of meaning that came with knowing humanity was no longer the master of its own destiny.

At any moment the system could decide we were too boring and just blow up the planet.

’Or maybe not. It’s tied to this planet, so destroying it would be a waste. Probably a worldwide genocide would be smarter.’

"What are you thinking about, champ," Raid said from the front seat, looking through the rearview mirror.

It was Raid as the driver, a random man whose body was fully covered up beside him, and Larson and Faust in the back. The car seats were heated against the night’s chill, but Faust still had his window down.

Larson was texting someone while occasionally taking sips from a strange yogurt drink brand Faust didn’t recognize. He placed it in a cup holder and faced Faust, clicking the phone off.

"So what’s wrong?"

"Nothing." Faust stared out into the empty city. "Who’s the guy in front of me? Why is he shivering?"

The guy sat up front with Raid but hadn’t said a single word this time. The fourth member of their small group. His body shook under his black camo; fear and a strange resolve radiated from him like a fire.

"Is he wearing a bomb vest?" Faust asked. He had been wondering why they allowed Larson to be in this car alone with him.

It was a pretty obvious security risk.

Larson glanced at the soldier in the passenger seat like he was inconsequential. "Yes. Technically. He’s our secondary contingency."

The old fool must have been a psycho. The soldier had been shaking and trembling this whole time like the slightly chill car was a freezer.

"That’s insensitive," Faust muttered. He reached forward and patted the man on the shoulder, causing him to jolt up. "Don’t worry, mate, your sacrifice will barely hurt me, but I’ll remember it."

"Stop trying to psych him out," Raid complained, batting Faust’s hand off the man’s shoulder.

Larson turned to him fully. "He’s not technically a suicide bomber. He’s an avatar for one of the fourteen New Gods."

Faust immediately smiled, focus shifting entirely to this. "So he can channel the power of a god to crush me? Will he be fast enough though? I can cause a lot of damage in just a second."

Raid grinned, turning at an intersection. "Trust me, our guy’s the fastest."

Faust was looking forward to testing that. His full body twitched violently. But before he could even move an inch, golden light filled the room and froze everything.

Maybe not really freezing, because he was still moving, but everything was so slowed it almost seemed stationary.

Faust looked out the window and saw a pair of glorious golden eyes looking down at them from the sky.

So that was one of the New Gods?