Falling to the floor in a crumpled mass, Tony felt the world swirling around him as he struggled to get to his feet. Unable to move as the black sea of unconsciousness began to drown him, he felt himself succumbing to the darkness. He could hear the Creature picking up the phone and speaking in a flawless mimic of the president’s voice, ordering first the detonation of bombs in Israel and Palestine, and then the release of the nuclear warhead that would turn the desert to glass—destroying thousands of years’ worth of history in a matter of moments.

Tony’s eyes fluttered as his body went limp; Lucy’s name struggled to form on his lips but died before it could gain a whisper of breath behind it.

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