As stealthily as possible we all sneak from the room we were hiding in, to the room Clark's being held captive in. We line up, Charles and I on one side of the door and Declan and Clarence on the other side. Amber has already shape-shifted into her chickadee and is holding the bobby-pin in her beak behind my legs.

The plan is for Charles to go in first, try get Gareth to see what he's doing and get him to stop. Because the probability of Gareth actually listening is painfully low, Declan standing next to the door. As soon as we hear Charles's plan failing, Declan will sprint in and give a couple of well deserved punches to whoever will most likely be trying to kill him.

In this time, where they will be most distracted and surprised, the rest of us will slip in. Amber will go to Clark, Clarence will help out whoever needs help and I'll put up some fire barriers to block hogmers off. We all know that backup is going to be coming pretty quickly.

"I'm going in," Charles whispers while peaking his head into the half-open door. He looks at us all as if saying "this is it" before stepping into the confinements of Gareths stone walls. Whatever's about to happen from here-nobody's going to walk out the same as they walked in, for better or for worse, we're all about to be changed forever.

I carefully inch forward, trying not be seen but filling the space where Charles was before. When I'm satisfied of where I am, I press my ear against the wall to do some casual eavesdropping. "Charles well isn't this a surprise! I haven't seen you in a while buddy! How've you been keeping?" The calmness in Gareth's voice is well beyond disturbing.

Slowly Clark's screams fade out. At least Gareth has the decency to pause his torturing so he can have a "catch-up-chat" with Charles. With Clark no longer yelling, it's a fair bit easier to hear what's being said. "Gareth, you're quite right, it has been awhile since I last visited. I hear you got the lavapick. Congratulations! But why may I ask are you hitting this poor young lad?" I can tell Charles is talking about Clark. What interests me the most though, is that Gareth seems to think that he and Charles are still the best of buddies.

"Oh yeah, this here is Clark. You know, the guy Clarence felt sorry for? Yeah, well he so happens to be the controller. Unfortunately he's refusing to cooperate. I'm hoping to loosen him up a bit before getting the prisoners up here. Giving them a shot of pain will no doubt crack him. Actually you're just in time. I was about to call them up here now."

"You couldn't of just got him drunk? People never think clearly when they're drunk you know," Charles plays his role of being allies with Gareth, to perfection, "Maybe he's right, you know. About not using the lavapick for total denomination. Technically speaking, the people haven't done anything wrong. Isn't using this weapon of destruction just a little excessive?"

"What are you talking about?!" Uh-oh Gareth seems annoyed, angry and suspicious all at once, "Don't tell me you've gone soft now too? This is what we've worked so hard on for so long. The people in this world are monsters! Always rebelling! Always eager to be jumping into the next war! Always trying to scale to the top of the crazy politic pyramid! They're dumb, Charles!! Dumb! Stupid! Petty! They need to be taught discipline! Think of those fools at the Homestead, Charles! Running around like they owned the world! Like they're better then everyone else! I'm doing-no, we're-doing the world a favour!"

"If you truly believe that then you're a hypocrite! How can you not see that you're part of this world? How can you not see that you're the one who is rebelling against the world-our world-your home. You're the one who's the fool that thinks he is better than everyone else! I don't know what delusion you're operating under, but I do know one thing; you're not doing any world any favour. Sure our society might have a few cracks in it, but you're trying to blow it to smithereens and replace it with you're mistakes. How can you not see that nothing good will come of this?"

There's a pause before Gareth speaks again, this time he's calm although his voice gives away the fact that he's shaken up, "I believed you Charles. From when we were kids, I honestly believed that you were with me. I believed you were my friend. I guess I should've known from the moment you expressed your concern in Vertango, when I first informed you about my recruitment of the kids, you were always wary. I should've known that you'd take trying to stop me to a whole new level." Wait what? Charles is Mr. Anonymous?!

"I talked to Clarence and Marco after our chat that day. Clarence knows that, that weapon is too powerful for any of us. Marco on the other hand, agreed with your need for power. Except for one slight glitch; the lavapick only controls hogmers. Nobody wants this except you, Gareth. Give it up. You're alone in this battle."

Gareth releases a dry chuckle which sounds more like a cackle, "Oh really? You keep believing that. You know, the most amazing thing about creating a living creature, is that you get to control how it acts. Actually, now that you mention it, I've got you to thank for them being able to think. Now they can work out the most efficient way to do what I want and protect me. My friend, I'm afraid you've already lost the battle."

"Well, we'll just have to see about that won't-AARRGGHH!!" The second Charles starts to scream, Declan dashes in. That's our cue to start moving.

Within seconds of Declan's entrance, the rest of us barge in. Charles had been hit with the whip that was and is in Gareth's hand from his torture session with Clark. Clark's only half conscious in the chair. Blood's pouring out of all his many cuts and nasty spots where he's missing his flesh. All in all, he looks like a mess.

Clarence doesn't hesitate when he sees what's going on. Jumping into action mode he charges at one of the two guards that are hitting Charles and Declan when they manage to see where he is. Amber, who hasn't yet been seen by anyone, manages to make her way to Clark.

"What's happening?" Clark mumbles stupidly to Amber who still looks like a tiny bird. I guess his 'half conscious' self doesn't use his brain.

I had been helping the guys out with the two guards and Gareth but when I hear Clark who's going to attract some unwanted attention if the hogmers see that he's escaping, I make my way over there. "We're rescuing you, knocking Gareth out and grabbing the lavapick and then we're gonna get as far away from here as possible. So just sit back and try to not get spotted. The last thing we need is for them to be trying to get you away from here." I tell him quietly. Amber nods her tiny head along with me.

I get up from where I had crouched down next to Clark who's sitting with his back up against the corner of the wall. Turning around, I'm about to join the fight but freeze in my tracks when I hear the squealing of the alarm for the first floor followed by the clamp of leather boots. Hogmer Backup Squad A, has arrived.

I train my eyes on the doorway, counting the bodies that stomp in. There's eight of them. I watch as the first two in the line break off and stand by Gareth, who's doing nothing, to protect him. The next two come up behind Clark, ready to fight him. The hogmer guards that were taking a fair beating from Declan leave the room while two of the backup hogmers replace them. Finally, the last two hogmers spot Clark and I and head over to us.

Thinking quickly, I move forward and cast a huge wall of burning fire in front of Clark. He's protected in the back of the room and no one can hurt him. One less thing for us all to be worrying about. However, when the hogmers see the giant barriers of flickering flame, they immediately transform into the deadly grey phantoms.

POP!! WHIZZ!! CRACK!!

Without thinking I dive onto my stomach to miss the swirling green globs of hogmer spit that had been fired in my direction. They land somewhere behind my head, creating an ugly black hole in the wall. I twist my neck up on funny angle so I can get a view of the hogmers that are leaning their heads back up like they're about to spit at me again.

I manage to free one of my arms that was trapped underneath me in time and send a burst of fire in their direction before they could get the poison ball out of their mouth. Howling out in pain, they hurry back out the door in the direction that they had come in. They'll be sending for help soon no doubt.

I make use of the spare time I have where I'm not being attacked or attacking anything, and look around to see how the others are going. Declan's standing next to the body of an unconscious hogmer, at least I think it's unconscious not dead. He's stopped running around is having your typical punch-up with the last hogmer that's still standing-aside from Clarence that is. Amber's helping him by giving the hogmer a vicious bite from her sharp beak while being careful to not get captured.

Although it's not the best scene to look at, I'm not to worried about them. The hogmer is putting up a fair fight, I'll give it that, but it's still losing. A couple minutes later and it'll probably be knocked out like its buddy on the floor. I may not be worried about them but I am worried about Charles and Clark. They've decided to take on Gareth and they're not doing so well.

Gareth's grabbed a blow torch that was on the table with the assorted collection of weapons and has heated up the whip so it's a dull red colour. I wince just thinking of what sort of mark that would leave on your skin if you were unlucky to be hit by it. Charles is still stupidly trying to calm Gareth down by slowly walking up to him with his hands outstretched in an I-mean-no-harm manner. I feel like yelling at Charles to stop. Gareth is a psycho serial killer who's trying to take over the earth who has just been betrayed by his childhood best friend, in his eyes at least, the last thing he's going to do is put down the whip and not hurt his betrayer.

Thankfully Clarence has a bit more sense then his boss, but not by much. Instead of trying to get him to stop fighting he's walking up behind him, trying to grab one of the weapons and use it against Gareth. Once again I feel like pointing out to him that when you're in the mind frame that Gareth is in now, you're definitely gonna notice the man in the blue suit that's covered in blood, who's not doing a very good job of sneaking up on him.

I make a mental note to myself to give them both a lesson on the "do's and don'ts" of fighting once we get out of this. I guess I've just got to cross my fingers and hope with everything I've got that we do get out of this.

Deciding that it's time to go help the amateurs, I roll onto my back and quickly jump up on my feet, keeping my eyes trained on Charles, Clarence and Gareth the whole time. Just as I take my first step in their direction, I hear the distinctive THWACK of a whip cracking against flesh. I gasp when I realise what had happened. Gareth had spotted Clarence heading towards the table full of weapons and had wasted no time to show us all the consequences of trying to injure him.

I stop breathing when I catch sight of a ragged red mark on Clarence's skin from where his suit jacket had ripped and burnt. Blood seeps out from the wound in a steady current and gradually soaks into the blazer's fabric. Clarence gasps as his uninjured hand shoots out and grasps his shoulder. He sways softly and for a moment I'm worried that he's going to collapse. I want to run over to help him, but I can't. As much as I don't want to, I can just stand and stare.

My fears of Clarence falling shatter when I see him manage to stabilise himself. Slowly his head lifts up to Gareth. From the angle I'm at I can just see his eyes and the look he's giving Gareth now is sending chills down my own spine. It's the look someone gives you when you know you just did something really horrible and you're about to pay. It's the look that screams run! And it's the look that promises your doom.

A second later and Clarence does something that I kind of forgot he could do. He transforms into a hogmer—the creature that underneath all his good manners and gentlemanly behaviour, that he really is. On the spot that Clarence,  in the blue suit and neat moustache was standing, now stands a ghostly grey phantom. He looks the same as any other hogmer, just as scary and just as deathly looking. Compared to the other hogmers that have also transformed out of their human shell and are lying unconscious on the ground, Clarence looks identical.

In a flash of movement Clarence has Gareth pinned up against the wall with a hand wrapped around his neck. Gareth thrashes around, his hands clawing against Clarence's steel grip, desperately trying to get a breath of oxygen into his thirsty lungs.

"Clarence! Stop! This isn't the answer to our problems!" Charles yells frantically as he runs up to Clarence and tries but to no avail to get him off Gareth. I can tell that he's saying this because deep down he believes that Gareth still has a good heart somewhere. Charles and him were the best of best friends for a couple of centuries until Gareth managed to get his brain fried.

If Charles took a step back and looked at our problem, he'd know that there's nothing for Gareth to do except sit in a cold prison for the rest of his life and rot. Even then, he'd probably find a way to create more problems for the world to try and fix up somehow. I'm not saying that Gareth should die, I just think that Charles needs to realise who the victim really is here. Clarence who got whipped with a whip that got heated by a blow torch, or Gareth who's just got his air supply cut off?

Angry hogmers are a force to be reckoned with though, especially when they've had there whole lives to be angry at them. Clarence is well beyond the stage of going back now. His vision is red and he's got one target on his radar. He's not going to stop choking Gareth any time soon.

For awhile I just stand there and stare at the scene in front of me, this could very well be the tipping point in time for our society, how could I not be captivated by it? But when I hear the thump of more heavy duty combat boots coming down the hallway towards our direction, I finally snap back into reality. Gareth said that because the hogmers had tiny brains, he could now make them be able to work out the best way to rescue and protect him.

When they finally enter into our room, I first notice how many of them there are. Unlike the last batch that came through that door, this lot must be around fifteen, twenty, maybe more, hogmer soldiers. All of them change into their phantoms when they see Clarence and Gareth.

I look back at Clarence and Gareth to see Gareth wheezing what could be his last breaths. Clarence looks up from his prey to spot the large, angry heard of hogmers all approaching him. My breath catches in my throat when Clarence turns  his back around to see Gareth before tipping his back. He couldn't be about to—no, Clarence wouldn't spit on his face would he? No he woul-

WHIZZ!! CRACK!! POP!!

Clarence finally drops Gareth to the floor. The corpse drops with a loud bang, leaving his cracked and blackened face to twist awkwardly. Someway to go—a hogmer spit ball to your face while being choked to death. All that I can hope for now is that Clarence calms down and won't snap at any of us.

As for the heroic hogmer herd that have half crossed the room, they look lost for what to do. They don't appear angry or like they're about to try and kill any of us. A part of me wonders if some of them have just died as well. A part like their hatred and need for power has left them.

I look back from them to Clarence, whether he likes it or not, Gareth was as much as his creator as he was the rest of them. I notice that he's transformed back into his human form and is staring blankly at the blood on his hands. His shoulder is still running with blood, but he takes no notice. He doesn't exactly look angry like he was a couple of seconds ago like I was expecting him too, if anything he looks relieved. Relieved that he's finally gone? Relieved that the battle they've been fighting for the last century or two has at long last ended?

Slowly I allow my gaze to swing over to Charles; he looks shocked. Who knows why he is, whether it's the fact that Clarence actually killed Gerath or because he's realised that it's all over? It's a mystery but I don't really care at the moment, I'm just happy that he actually is gone for good.

I look back over to Declan and Amber who are now standing over two unconscious hogmer bodies, and are mirroring Charles and probably my one, as well, shocked faces. The funny thing about this situation though, is that we're all standing here completely peacefully. Okay so maybe peacefully was a bit of an exaggeration, but the point is that we're in a room packed with hogmers and none of us are fighting at all.

With a flick of my hand I remove all the fires in the room so Clark, who's probably wondering what's going on, can now see for himself. I feel his eyes scanning over the room and somehow I know that they've stopped on Gareth. A second later and he speaks the unbelievable question, "Is he—oh my goodness! Is he dead?"

Clarence lifts his head at last to look at Clark, "Yeah . . . yeah I killed him. Shocker, eh? But right now we're in a room full of hogmers in shock, we need you to get the lavapick before we're all dead, okay?" Clarence taking charge of the situation surprises me, I guess he's the only one that's not in some stage of shock at the moment. I know that later on it'll hit him though. I can't help but wonder whether or not this is the first life he's taken?

Clark doesn't argue, only numbly nods his agreement. Slowly, the six of us start to file out, past the other hogmers. Declan and Amber join the line behind me. We all stop at the same time. "You know what this means, right?" Declan starts excitedly, "We're about to get the homestead back—we're about to go home!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N:

Okay, first off I'd just like to say that this chapter did take me awhile to write, for what reason I don't know, it just was. Because of that I'd like to say a big sorry to everyone. I'd also like to make the point of saying that this was THE LAST CHAPTER OF SMOKING POWER!!!! (Also another reason for why it took so long in coming out). I will be writing an epilogue though to finish things up.

My book being the way it is, I realise that there could be some things that have been left unclear or you don't fully understand. If there is then just ask in the comments and I'll answer them for you ;) Another huge thank you to everyone who's taken the time to vote, comment or read my book! I appreciate it heaps and it has really made my day to know that somewhere out there someone has liked a piece of work that I did myself, so thank you!