Chapter 165: Battle in the Base

Guards rushed in. Twenty. Thirty. Forty. All armed. All shooting.

We fought back. Hard. Fast.

Cole shifted. Huge wolf. Tearing through guards.

Sarah and Maya shifted. Silver wolves. Quick. Deadly.

Nina grabbed a gun. Shot back. Perfect aim.

Thomas used magic. Shields. Blasts. Everything.

I shifted. Led the attack. Silver Luna. Powerful.

Through the bond Sarah and Maya connected. Our powers joined. Three Lunas as one.

We pushed forward. Fighting through hallways. Going deeper.

"Where's the command center?" I grabbed a wounded guard.

"Level five. Bottom level. You'll never make it." He coughed. Bleeding.

"Watch us." I dropped him. Kept moving.

We found stairs. Went down. Fighting all the way.

More guards. More weapons. More fighting.

"They're throwing everything at us." Cole fought beside me.

"Good. We'll destroy them all." I was pure fighting mode.

We reached level five. The command center door. Sealed. Locked.

"Thomas. Open it." I said.

"It's protected against magic. Made to stop me." Thomas tried. Failed.

"Then we break it with force. Everyone together." Cole got ready.

We all pushed. All our strength. All our power.

The door bent. Cracked. Broke.

We burst in. Found Patricia. Twenty officers. Huge screens showing fifty cities. Fifty attack plans.

"You're too late. Attacks start in thirty minutes. Nothing stops them now." Patricia pressed buttons. Starting systems.

"Stop it. Shut it down." I demanded.

"Can't. The system runs from many places. Even if you kill me the attacks keep going." Patricia smiled. "We win."

"Thomas. Can you stop it?" I looked at him.

Thomas ran to computers. Typing. Checking.

"She's right. Servers in fifty places. All need to stop at the same time. I can't stop fifty at once. I'm not strong enough." Thomas looked defeated.

Through the bond I felt Sarah and Maya. Their fear. Their will.

"Then we find another way." I refused to quit.

"There is no other way. In twenty eight minutes supernatural beings start dying. You failed." Patricia looked happy.

Then a voice spoke. Behind us.

"She's right. You can't stop fifty servers alone. But you're not alone."

We turned. Aria. The expelled Guardian. Standing there. Glowing.

"Aria? How did you get here?" I was shocked.

"I've been following. Waiting for when you'd need me. This is that time." Aria walked to the computers. Stood beside Thomas. "Together we can do it. Guardian and hybrid. Working as one."

"You'd help us? After everything?" Thomas senior looked at her. Guilty.

"I help because it's right. Because killing everyone is wrong." Aria looked at him. Pain in her eyes. "And because maybe this prevents another child from dying."

She turned to young Thomas. "Ready?"

"Ready." Thomas took her hand.

Together they worked. Magic flowing. Power joining.

The screens showed servers stopping. One. Two. Five. Ten. Twenty.

"No! Stop them!" Patricia screamed. Guards rushed forward.

We fought them back. Protected Aria and Thomas.

Thirty servers down. Forty. Forty five.

"Almost there. Just five more." Aria was sweating. Struggling.

Forty eight. Forty nine.

One server left. The hardest one.

"It's protected. I can't break it." Thomas tried. Failing.

"Then we break it together. All of us." Aria reached out. Connected to Thomas senior. To me. To Sarah. To Maya.

Power flowed. Huge. Combined. United.

Luna power. Guardian power. Hybrid power. All together.

The final server fought back. Resisted.

Then it cracked. Broke. Stopped.

All fifty servers offline. All attacks stopped. All supernatural beings saved.

The screens went dark. The countdown ended.

"No! We planned for years!" Patricia grabbed a gun. Aimed at Aria and Thomas.

I was faster. Shifted. Jumped. Knocked her down.

The gun fired. Missed.

I pinned Patricia. Looked in her eyes.

"It's over. The Erasers lost. You failed." I said.

Patricia laughed. Broken. Crazy.

"You think this is over? There are more. Always more. You'll never be safe." Patricia was bitter.

"Maybe. But today we won. Today we saved millions. That's enough." I stood. Let guards take her.

Aria collapsed. Tired. Drained.

"Thank you. You saved everyone." I helped her.

"I saved my soul." Aria smiled weakly. "Now I can rest."

Thomas senior knelt beside her. "I'm sorry. For everything. For your child. For all of it."

"I don't blame you. I never did." Aria touched his face. Forgiving. "But thank you."

Young Thomas hugged her. "You're a hero."

"Then be better than me. Be the Guardian who changes things. Who saves children." Aria hugged back.

The base was secure. All Erasers captured. Patricia arrested. Systems destroyed.

We found the teams sent to kill Mei. Stopped them. Saved her.

Mei arrived hours later.

"You saved me. Saved everything." Mei bowed.

"We saved each other. That's what family does." I meant it.

The Eraser organization was destroyed. Their plans revealed. Their members arrested.

It was over. Really over.

We flew home. Tired. Hurt. Victorious.

The pack celebrated. The world was saved.

Again. Always. Forever.

I was forty two. Tired. Scarred. But alive.

And finally we had peace. Real peace.

The battles were over. The enemies defeated.

We could rest. Could live. Could be family.

Finally. After everything.

We were home. We were safe. We were free.

And that was enough.