She walked through the halls surveying the destruction wrought by the army. There were no people around and no bodies. Faye assumed that the people had all evacuated, but she suspected it wasn’t so much an evacuation as it was an escape. Smith’s psychopathic nature would preclude anything else.

She saw a suspicious-looking doorway, took out the last of the grenades and threw them into the room.

After the explosion, she took off the now-useless bandoleer across her chest and peeked into the room. She was right – there were several men inside.

She continued on.

After a while, Faye passed by another door and peeked inside – it was a big room, with drapes and fixtures that made it look and feel like a woman’s boudoir, dressed up and appointed in a Greco-Roman style.

Curious, she stepped inside, A four-post canopy bed dominated the room, and nearby was a dresser and closet. No mirrors, though.

She looked through the closet, and it was full of suits, shirts, and pants, but in gigantic sizes. “After all,” Faye giggled and thought, “Smith can’t wear anything below a size 20XL.”

But hanging at the very end of the closet’s pole, she saw some clothes, also of the same dimensions, but they were all more appropriate for women. Nothing fancy – just everyday clothes, but what were they doing there, and why in Smith’s sizes?

She looked through the dressers, and all of the drawers were full of men’s clothes in the same sizes, but in the bottom drawer of one of the dressers, it was full of women’s clothes, also in the same sizes. She rifled through them and found a bunch of pictures. It was Smith when he was still Erin…

Faye sighed. “Poor Erin…” She had an inkling of what Smith had gone through now. For Faye, changing from a boy to a girl wasn’t a bad thing at all. She had family and friends supporting her. And she was now very happy. But for Erin… The world had not been kind to her. But at this point, it’s too late. If he isn’t stopped… At the very least, Faye could end his suffering.

She went out and continued on. She encountered no one else and heard some commotion at the end of the passage. She looked up and there were breaks in the roof letting in shafts of sunlight. It seemed this part of the castle got the worst of the bombing.

There was a pair of double doors at the end of the hall. The noise was coming from inside.

Faye put one of her pistols into her shorts’ waistband and freed up one of her hands to slowly swing open one of the doors. Inside, she saw “Hercules” Smith raging and throwing around chairs and tables.

It was a kind of meeting hall, with many arches and, through them, many doors leading to where Faye didn’t know. There were steps below the arches, like steps in a stairway, making the room appear like an Ekklesiasterion - where the ancient Greek senate would meet, or perhaps the Curia – the ancient Romans’ version.

The bombs had shredded the meeting hall’s roof, as well, shafts of sunlight breaking through. There were also fires still burning, and in the middle, like an out-of-control bear or lion, was “Hercules,” in full ancient Greek uniform, roaring and raging and throwing around broken tables and chairs. He had lost his prize and was venting his rage at no one.

“You should cool it, dude,” Faye said.

Smith stopped. His head snapped around, his eyes focusing on Faye.

“I’m Faye,” she said. “I think you were looking for me? Sorry if we had to tear down your castle around you.”

Smith dropped the table he was holding in mid-throw.

“So,” Smith boomed, “the Endowment’s god is actually a goddess… Come closer little goddess – let me look at you.”

“Your so-called kingdom is in ruins now, Smith,” Faye said, slowly walking down the steps to the sunken oval in the middle where Smith was. She kept her pistols at the ready. “You should give up your plans and turn yourself in.”

“I am a god!” he boomed. “The humans should kneel before me and grovel!”

“You’re psychotic, you know? We aren’t really gods. We’re just humans, too – maybe more finely tuned but we are nevertheless still humans.”

“Tell me, my little goddess, can any human do this?” He stooped and ripped a big, fifteen-foot portion of the oval. He then threw it to towards Faye, making her duck behind a pile of rubble.

“You cower, little goddess,” Smith said. “Maybe you’re not a god like me.”

“Let me clue you in, psychopath – sure, you can call yourself a god, but we aren’t literally gods. The ancients weren’t really gods. Like I said, we are just humans.”

“No! We embody the return of the ancient times! We are destined to rule the world! We are destined to rule mortal men!”

What – you think you’re immortal?”

I am! I must be…” He trailed.

The sound of his lost voice made her change her tone.

“It must have been really bad, for you,” Faye said, “changing into a boy with no explanation… I’m sorry…”

“What? It was glorious! I became a god!”

Faye shook her head. “No. What was your Kodikos score again?”

“Does it matter?”

“You only have an eighty-five score. How can you be?”

“It doesn’t matter!” he grated. ”An eighty-five percent match is enough! I don’t need anything higher!”

“Dr. Castellanos has an eighty-five score, too. Is she a god?”

“She could have been. But she has thrown her lot with the mortals.”

“Do you know my score?”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. Eighty? Eighty-one?”

“Mine is one hundred.”

He looked at me. “You lie.”

“Nope!” she said, feigning nonchalance just to irritate him.

“You lie!” He picked up another piece of broken furniture and hurled it at her. She brought her arm up and batted it away. Unbelievable pain exploded in her forearm, but she was able to clamp down on it. She knew that it was broken but the damage should have been more severe. She also knew it would be fixed. But she needed to get this over with, broken arm or not.

Smith looked at her in shock, that she just batted the big table away. He looked around and found his helmet, Hoplon shield, Xiphos sword, and Doru spear. He put on the helmet, picked up the shield and sword, and started walking towards Faye. Faye fired at him but he blocked it with his shield. The thin brass overlay was punctured by the bullet but the plastic and Kevlar stopped it.

Smith snickered. “Try again, little goddess.”

Faye, using both guns, fired repeatedly, walking the bullets over his shield in a diagonal straight line. She finished off her bullets, and then rapidly switched out the used-up clips for fresh ones. She changed the clips of both her guns at least three times firing at the shield in the same place over and over again.

Kevlar was good armor material, but unlike metal, it was the stretching of the individual fibers of the aramid material that absorbed the kinetic energy of the bullets, but being hit in the same place over and over, it would rupture.

In less than fifteen seconds, Smith’s shield fell apart into two pieces. He looked at Faye in shock.

With a rebel yell, he rushed at her.

Calmly, Faye shot him five times in the middle of his face, in the so-called “T-Box.” Smith fell to the floor, instantaneously dead.

Faye, with silent tears flowing down her face, walked to the now-dead Hercules Smith. She sat beside him and cradled his head on her lap. It wasn’t that she had become cold-blooded, but she knew with full certainty that what she had to do was necessary. Nevertheless, she felt for the troubled now-dead demigod. It was necessary to end him. For the Endowment, the schools, for her, her family, and her friends. For the world.

“I’m so sorry, Erin,” she whispered. “Rest now. It’s all over.”

After a few minutes, Director Hall and his soldiers, with Penny and Maia, rushed in. Penny saw Faye and the now-dead Hercules Smith.

“Oh, Faye…” Penny said.

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