"Xemf is in Athens already. And it's headed for the Pantheon right now."
...
"We can't let Xemf get to the Acropolis," Moone reminded everyone needlessly; they'd all already been very well-briefed. The plane touched down on the tarmac and the team rushed out the jet's door almost as soon as it opened for them; if Moone hadn't been a known enemy of the state he would have already called in a motorcade of SUVs waiting for them at the airport, and Unwin's men still technically worked for Overneath and had no foreign jurisdiction. So they had to improvise.
They improvised.
Five minutes later four of the team were piled into a humvee and rushing down [road name,] speeding toward Xemf's location as Xemf made its way down the same highway to the Pantheon. Tor Orson was at the wheel, Moone in the passenger seat, with the Pontifex and Larry in the back.
"What are we looking for exactly?" Tor asked, eyes firmly on the road.
"Well, [explanation,]" Moone explained. There was a construction project [etc, explain Athenian infrastructure projects of late 80s and early 90s] which meant that traffic was [not as bad as it would have been etc, but rerouted etc do research on specific dates and projects.]
Larry, the sharpshooter, got on the humvee's roof through the [humvee sunroof] and set up a sniper's perch, them traveling down the [highway] at 55 miles per hour. He wielded a [gun] with silver bullets, which would certainly do the trick against Xemf if cold iron was effective against it.
Moone scooted into the backseat to see the sniper off. "Alright, Larry," he said up through the [sunroof.] "Take out Xemf. But MacBeth is mine. They're probably going to meet up at the Parthenon; I'll bet anything that MacBeth is there already."
"I thought you said he'd be out of the picture?"
"Not if you do your job."
Larry paused. "You think Xemf is going to kill MacBeth, don't you? Sort of punishment for failing the conspiracy, letting you onto them."
Moone nodded, squinting in the wind as they blew down the highway. "There's more to it than that, but yes."
"What?"
"Well, it's just a theory, but... Xemf needs to access the dreamtime, specifically at the Parthenon in order to [activate the Necronomicon.]" [or wherever; maybe somewhere else at the acropolis with more mythological significance, like seriously it's not the only temple to Athena, and what would Athena have to do with the NOC list? research! and then once we've figured it out foreshadow!]
"Yes..."
"And opening up the Dreamtime would kill Xemf."
"So... Xemf is going to kill MacBeth instead, so that it doesn't have to be the one to die? Somehow?"
"That's what I think, yes. Xemf is a shapeshifter, who has the ability to bestow its own aura on others now. I think it's possible that Xemf can shapeshift its aura off of itself, the two auras syncretizing, so that it doesn't need to be the host when the aura compounds in on itself to create the portal."
"And MacBeth would be the portal, very clever."
"But he doesn't need to be. It could be any of us, or even a random tourist. So your job right now is a lot more essential than mine."
"Got it," said Larry.
"Target spotted," said Tor. "[whatever] o'clock."
Moone shifted back into the passenger seat and looked in the direction Orson had indicated. There was a [vehicle.] Driving it was Xemf, in the form of Himsters Keepses. They were about [distance] away from the Acropolis, and beginning to make their way through more urbanized areas. Moone reached up a fist and bumped on the humvee's ceiling. "Take him out, Larry."
And something smashed through Moone's window, shattering safety glass all over the inside of the front [cabin.] What the...?
Moone turned.
And was face-to-face with the final assassin. Slice.
The most dangerous of the three.
...
"Take out this guy, take out this guy!" Moone shrieked up to Larry, as Slice slashed a sword through the air, plunging it into the car's interior and missing Moone by centimeters. It was a wakizashi, like a shorter, one-handed katana; the katana accompanying it was sheathed in a sling along Slice's back. Larry swung his rifle around to shoot at the assassin, but Slice sprung off of the side of the car, flipping spectacularly through the air and executing a perfect three-point landing on the roof of another car with a crunch.
Slice's cape, draped over his sheathed katana, fluttered in the breeze, his outstretched wakizashi glinting wickedly. He stood up in a crouching position on the vehicle, which was beginning to brake, and leaped off the roof of that car. Slice bounced like a pinball from vehicle to vehicle, zagging too fast for Larry to get a bead on him. He flipped acrobatically over the humvee, landing on the roof of a truck to their right, and launched himself straight at Moone, slashing his blade through the air and extending psychic tentacles outward again to rip Moone's boon off for good.
Moone opened the car door right as Slice got to him, knocking the man down and causing him to roll on the cobble-paved road. The assassin used the momentum of the roll to roll back onto his feet, and was springing after the humvee again within seconds.
"Right," said Moone, having closed the door and watching the assassin gain on them in the side view mirror. "Um. Larry, you take out Xemf, and I'll head this guy off."
Orson gave Moone a sidelong glance.
"He's after me. Xemf is the target. There are two objectives, remember. Two objectives." Moone reached for the door handle again, and held it firm, as if to steady himself. "And we achieve them whatever the necessary sacrifice." Moone threw the door open, and climbed onto the outside of the still-speeding humvee.
"Um," Moone said. His boon was still intact, but he wasn't sure how much it would help him if he launched himself off of a moving vehicle. The danger was coming from himself, so would that be enough to qualify as supernatural?
Moone jumped, flailed his legs through the air, and landed with a thump and a groan, in the oncoming path of a transportation truck for a major consumer brand. Moone realized his mistake as the truck barreled down on him. He was supernatural, and the supernatural danger was from himself, yes, but the way to have avoided that particular danger was not to have jumped in the first place. Right.
The clearing underneath the truck was enough such that Moone merely lay down flat to have it pass above him safely. He hitched a ride underneath the truck using supernatural means, and crawled up its [back.]
Slice was waiting for him on the [hood of the car behind for some reason., maybe he leaps onto it from a nearby building.] Moone launched himself off of the back of the truck, using the [supernatural means] as a bolo to thrust himself onto the car hood, grappling with Slice, who cut the bolo in two pieces effortlessly as he leapt, catching Moone in the arc and both of them landing on top of the truck in front again.
Slice reached out with his tentacles again, as he swept the blade through the air. Moone honestly still didn't know the source of the three assassins' power. Something gained from working with the conspiracy, with their ability to manipulate mind, body, and soul?
[Slice attacks Moone but Larry covers him, saving Moone's life with Moone's boon temporarily down from the attack, instead of trying to take out Xemf.] The humvee turned, following Xemf's vehicle to the Acropolis, and Moone was without backup again, his boon barely hanging on. But it did hang on; there was still a way out of this.
Slice jabbed his blade down through the roof of the truck, right next to Moone's head as he dodged. It cut through easily. Moone had to find a way to disarm Slice if he could. Wakizashi, one of the blades favored by the samurai of feudal Japan, were incredibly sharp and made out of incredibly hard steel.
And, as Unwin had reminded Moone back at the Tower of Babel, hard meant brittle.
Moone headbutted the blade before Slice had the chance to withdraw it; it shattered, cutting Moone all over his head and face, but eliminating one of Slice's weapons. Head wounds tend to bleed profusely, and Moone was nearly blinded by the blood streaming down into his eyes, but he steeled himself and focused on disarming Slice of his remaining daisho blade.
Slice whipped his sling around, attempting to draw his katana out of its koshirae fitting, but Moone sprung up and grabbed onto the sheath, pulling the sling around Slice's neck in an attempt to strangle the assassin. The assassin kicked Moone in the jaw with one foot, launching Moone back to the front of the truck with the powerful spring he had on the bottom of each heel; in the same motion, Slice spun on his other heel and pulled the katana out of its sheath. Katana are two-handed weapons, but Slice adopted a one-handed grip briefly to reach out with his hand and psychic tentacles, to finally jar the last of Moone's boon loose as Moone stood up and began to rush blindly toward Slice again.
Moone paused as he felt his boon seep out its last, and grinned, a little blood getting into his mouth. Plan C it was, then. Even with his boon gone, Moone still had his bane, which now shone out as a naked beacon beckoning to all who'd wish to do Moone harm. And it had been a great long while since Moone's bane had been properly triggered...
"YOU!" a voice boomed from above their heads. A great black oily shape with enormous wings swooped around their heads. Kissifer. Last seen abandoned in a Babelian death trap. "It's been thousands of years, but you've finally reared your head again, Finnegan Michael Moone!" Kissifer landed on top of the trailer with a boom, and the driver slowed down at the commotion.
Slice paled, the top of his bald head going almost bone-white. He'd been there back in Babel, had seen a little bit, hadn't he? He should know what's going on.
[Moone somehow manages to get Kissifer to take out Slice, somehow regains his boon (maybe somehow through the phylactery? waters of youth?) and dodges Kissifer himself. Final assassin taken out and demon dealt with (trapped back in phylactery?) Moone is victorious, and maybe uses Slice's spring-heels to travel back quickly to the Acropolis.]
Moone arrived just in time, to see Larry dead, and MacBeth imploding in a rash of rainbow light, Xemf's claw on his forehead. Xemf, necronomicon in the crook of its arm, stepped through the portal.
And Moone followed.
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