Prologue

"I'm sorry it's come to this, Beatrice, but you must have known it would. He won't stop himself, so no price is too high to stop him."

Turning away from the sealed tube and its silent occupant, Xander estimated he had roughly three minutes to finish his preparations before his nemesis arrived. He'd be cutting it close, but that was acceptable. He walked briskly to the control panel for the matter relocator and started the process of sending the last selection of supplies and tech to the new base. After the months of testing, Xander was certain it would arrive safely. Keeping one eye on the dissolving cargo, he strode over to a separate control panel and input the command for his drones to place the final and most important cargo into the matter relocator's chamber. After checking that his various gadgets and equipment were all in the correct pockets and pouches on his reinforced combat suit, he set the matter relocator to send the occupied stasis pod on its way, feeling rather proud of the fact he had made it well enough that he didn't need to adjust the coordinates between every transfer in order to avoid things appearing in the same space and ruining the delicate hardware. The first few successful tests had been infuriating for how much they cost and how many machines had to be completely rebuilt. As Xander ground his teeth at the memory, he was brought back to the present by a loud boom from across the city.

Moving swiftly into position in front of his lab's main control panel, Xander made himself look busy. It would be unacceptable for his nemesis to think he wasn't ready for him. As the window behind him shattered, Xander made sure his expression was calm and gracefully turned around to begin what he hoped would be the final confrontation.

"Ah, Ultimax, how nice of you to visit. I was just thinking that I should replace that window."

As he spoke, Xander cast his eyes over the bane of his existence. Ultimax stood six and a half feet tall with his ridiculously large muscles tensed under the absurd silver costume emblazoned with red stars that he wore, and more rage in his eyes than Xander had ever seen.

"You've crossed the line this time. I knew you were scum, but to kill her to get at me, you must be suicidal as well."

Xander's expression shifted to confusion for a moment. Killed her? He'd never do something so gauche. Gathering his composure, he quickly worked out how to correct this misunderstanding while keeping control of the situation.

"Now really, Ultimax, as much as you hate me, lying was never something you'd stoop to, unlike some people. I care about human lives. I may have kidnapped her and moved her somewhere out of your reach, but killed? No, no, no, if I were that sort of person, I would just drop all decorum and call you Declan."

Ultimax twitched upon hearing the vitriol directed at his name, then began slowly advancing on Xander. Feeling that he just might have miscalculated ever so slightly, Xander carefully positioned himself in front of the matter relocator preparing to make a swift exit.

"Stop the bullshit! There is no audience to pander to or to protect you. It's time for you to disappear from this world for good."

Ultimax raised his fist as he spoke. Xander felt himself shiver - obviously due to the smashed window and definitely not because Declan actually seemed like he might kill him. Backing up into the matter relocator, he tried once more to keep things under control.

"Honestly, Ultimax, what would I stand to gain from killing her? She is much more useful alive and controlled, if you're going to give up on the small amount of reason you have then there really is no point in continuing this."

As he said this, Xander pressed the button to trigger the matter relocator, the cover slid into place and the process began, Xander went to give a smug smile to his foe, only for it to morph into a slightly panicked stare as Ultimax's fist slammed through the cover with a loud crash and the chimes of thousands of reinforced glass fragments, willing the device to finish faster Xander could merely watch as he dissolved from the feet up and the fist flew directly towards his face, just as it seemed it that death was certain, Xander's consciousness blacked out.