Part Nine

Sutter threw the bow rope to the deck crew of the submarine. Reynard tossed them the stern rope. The sailors held the small boat steady against the sub's hull while the commando team scampered aboard.

Once on the wet foredeck of the sub the commandos were quietly but enthusiastically welcomed by the crew. They were surprised when their rum runner boat was also pulled aboard, and maneuvered onto the cradle and back into the hangar.

"Waste not, want not," said the grinning First Mate, when he saw the members of the commando team were not expecting this. "We thought we'd have to haul you into the conning tower under fire, then crash dive. This is much better."

The members of the commando team were directed trough a deck hatch and down a ladder into the cramped confines of the of the submarine, then into the control room. There they found the Captain taking off his heavy coat, having already handed his night glasses to a rating. Once the crewmen previously on deck were inside and all the hatches confirmed closed the Captain gave the order to submerge.

"Sonar is clear," came the report. "No other screws detected."

"I can't believe we all got out alive," said The Solution, as the submarine descended and started on the long, silent trip home.

"Don't jinx it," said Molly.

"Those... things... in the ruins," said Reynard.

"Try not to think about them," said Aaron, quietly.

"Don't think about any of this mission until we are at the debriefing," said Commander Zero, the voice of experience.

"That's not even the weirdest extradimensional phenomenon we encountered in my days with that group in Chicago," said Aaron, trying to take their minds off the specific events. "By the way, actually meeting your double in an alternate universe is very unlikely. Such close travel requires very fine control. If you don't have fine control you get... that."

Okay, maybe he needed some help getting his mind off those events as well.

As it turned out, that was all he would say about the encounter in the ruins to the rest of the team. In fact, it was the last any of them would say on the subject for a long, long time.

* * *

The Integral hurried down the path towards his hidden boat. Some of the laborers and security personnel knew about this track, but it was an unpaved game and hunter trail, nearly overgrown. None of them knew about the boat. In, fact, he was the only person still alive who did.

The interdimensional gateway project had been his idea, and now it was ruined, something which had taken him over a day to learn. How had the saboteurs even known about it?! Well, he had no illusions about who would be blamed for that project failing. He was more irritated than fearful or angry. Let the others fight to the death for their country, their Führer or each other. He would escape, survive and return to his project - his dream - later.

His thoughts were interrupted as a man stepped onto the trail ahead of him, a large revolver in hand. A Webley .455. Though the two had never met, each knew the other well from photographs and reports. As well as from something else, an odd connection related to their empowered abilities.

Of course he knew I would escape, and to scout for my boat ahead of time, thought The Integral, sourly. However, why would he be here on the island himself?! Especially alone?!

"The end of the line for you," said Mastermind raising the revolver and aiming between the eyes of The Integral.

"You fool!" shouted The Integral, angrily. He was confident he knew the outcome of this encounter. "Kill me and you will die soon after! Our destinies are connected. We both know this!"

"That's something you have never understood," said Mastermind, sadly. "Sacrifice."

He pulled the trigger on his Webley.

* * *

"So, Mastermind has vanished," said Colonel Simmons, summing up after the team finally got back to the shared air base, several days later. He was Mastermind's immediate subordinate, and was tasked with handling all which the man had left behind. However, it seemed that worthy had made a major effort to clean up his messes before vanishing. Lending credence to the hypothesis that he had left deliberately. "The debriefing has been completed, and the mission declared successful. The group created for this special mission has disbanded. However, some members are staying on."

He looked expectantly at Aaron.

"I will be glad to work with you," said the American, "though on a case-by-case basis. In exchange for information to help me with my own goals."

"Fair enough."

* * *

There was far more aftermath, of course. The commando group might have been disbanded, but the members still needed to say their goodbyes. Most of those farewells involved Aaron making certain his teammates were all right, after their experience in the ruins. Of course, one of them had missed that most disturbing part of the mission.

"I think this resurrection even cured my TB!" said Tallman, happily, when Aaron met privately with him.

"You actually look younger," said Aaron, grinning.

"By the way, thank you for not telling them what was actually going on," said Tallman, looking a bit embarrassed.

"An angel telling people that someone was dead but would be resurrected? I think they might have gotten the wrong idea."

The big guy laughed at that.

"So, how are you doing after our little adventure?" said Tallman, uncharacteristically concerned. "I hear you folks had a hard time in the ruins."

"I'm going to settle down with a nice bottle of Armagnac and a good book," said Aaron. "Just to relax, mind you. I'll finish both, then get back to work."

"That bad, eh? Well, good luck."

* * *

One pair had decided to make their future relationship more formal.

"I hear you two have decided to opt out of further commando adventures and get married," said Aaron, smiling as he caught up with the now-inseparable couple. "Can't say I blame you."

"We've done enough," said Molly, firmly.

"We're going away," said Sutter, putting a comforting arm around her. "Molly knows this place, in Puerto Rico, not far from the old Spanish city where she was born but out in the country. It has this big, bowl-shaped valley. We can lie in the bottom of the bowl and watch the stars go by overhead with no interference."

"Good luck," said Aaron.