It didn’t take me long, once I had realized what was right for me, to make the choice. After all, the very thing had been staring me in the face all this time. I ran from it initially, afraid of my own inner feelings on the matter. And yet, now that I had made the choice, I felt oddly relieved.

The one thing that always bothered me about the whole affair was my tendency to look back on the past. There were two men I had loved for as long as I can remember, but both of them admittedly, belonged in my past. There was only one person for whom the present and future belonged, the only one with whom I could move forward with.

I didn’t say the words, mostly because they were unnecessary at this point.

My sisters smiled.

“Very well Vanessa. The choice has been made, and we will abide by it. We shall stand by you and honor your choice.”

I felt the power surge within me, as the Van Dyke magic coursed through my body, much differentin concept, from the gifts that Death had given me. The power rejuvenated me, the pain I felt in both mind, heart and body were gone. It wasn’t just the power, however.

The choice had been made, and I was no longer in conflict with my inner self. I felt a sudden peace within. My past, present and future were now unified, and I knew exactly what I needed to do to move forward.

I found myself staring once again at Donovan Hunter’s imposing visage. Strangely enough, the fear and the doubt was gone this time.

My wings had healed themselves, and then some: the aquiline wings gave way to a stronger, more powerful variant with a wider wingspan. I flexed the wings as wide as I could, noticing that the old torn ones had been cast away, and these new wings put a powerful wind behind me.

My father stared at me incredulously, as if unable to believe his eyes.

“Yes, Dad. Still, I stand. Despite all the odds against me, despite all of the powers you have at your disposal, I continue to stand before you.”

I attacked with my light sword, not wanting to give my father a chance to retaliate, barreling into him with all my might. He attempted to block my attack with the enormous broadsword, but the effort was futile – the difference in power this time was far too great, and the broadsword flung into the like a weightless toy.

I swung the light sword a second time, and my father responded, foolishly with Katsujinken, the two blades clashed, the force of the life-giving sword was great, and even in in my newfound form, I could feel the sword’s power, but my light sword won out – there was just far too much power in the Van Dyke sword for the life -giving blade to counter. I sent the second sword flying into the air, where it plummeted to the ground down below.

I continued by barrage, my father’s nanomachines, assembling and disassembling in reaction to my fierce offense. But the force of my attack was too much for my father’s  science this time – before the nanomachines could even assemble themselves back, I was already at them a second time. The supreme defense afforded by the nanomachines was beginning to crumble under the powerful and unrelenting offense that was at my disposal.

I put my light sword aside, the sword disappearing into the air as I balled my hands into fists, determined to pummel my father into submission. I sent blow after blow his way, each blow making a deep dent into the nanomachines’ structure.

I’m going to do as much internal damage as I can to these things. Slow down their regenerative capabilities.

This new power surge gave me a natural high – and I knew that this was only the beginning – I refused to stop here. I was going to move in for the kill, putting all my power into this next attack. There would be no pulled punches, my mind was made up, and I only needed to execute.

Death showed up beside me. “Can’t put a good woman down,” he said, before turning to me. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

He was sight for sore eyes. I smiled at him. “You have no idea what I’ve been through, or what you mean to me at this point,” I said with a laugh.

Yes, I had chosen Death.

It was a simple choice – something that I should have made up my mind to go with a long time ago. I had loved Daniel, yes, and my love for Daniel would stay with me for as long as I can remember. But I knew now that I could not stay with him. I knew that things could never be the same way between us.

It was time for me to move forward. Like it or not, I had already made the choice back then. We belonged together, Death and I. Our personalities, the way we thought, and of course, the burden we shared.

But there was plenty of time for that later. For now, I needed focus on the task at hand.

Unable to properly defend himself against my relentless onslaught, my father retreated, turning his back on me and flexing his enormous black wings.

“Oh no, you don’t,” I said as I grabbed onto one of his wings with my hand, and threw him into the air. Before he could even respond, I was at his throat, grabbing him with my left hand. I could very well have ended it then and there.

Then just as suddenly as everything began, my father stopped moving.

I looked at my father and I could see him shaking. He was laughing.

“What could possibly be so funny this time?” I asked.

“The Van Dyke power,” he said, his voice weak, “I was right to seek it all this time. It is the ultimate power.”

“A power that belongs to no one,” I responded coolly.

“Your sisters have chosen to aid you,” said my father. “The same power in the wrong hands…” my father’s voice trailed, “the same power in my hands would be catastrophic.”

I let my father’s words sink in. Those were not the words of a man seeking to rule the world. They were very different words.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Vanessa, I know now that I do not have the power to defeat you,” my father began. “My quest for power ends here, as it should. I should never have let my thirst for knowledge blind me so. And yet, despite that knowledge, the machines within me refuse to acknowledge that,” he said with a deep sigh. “Even now I know that the machines within me are stirring.”

 “I’m not quite sure I understand…”

“Listen Vanessa,” my father interjected. “We are running out of time.”  He looked at me with sorowful eyes. “We all make choices we regret. But I have never made a choice that I had regretted as much as this. How I wish I never strayed this far down the wrong path,” he said, his eyes staring forward, as if lost in memory.

The ants raced around his face, the nanosuit revealing his human side once more. I was looking once again into my father’s eyes. “But the choices I have made, I have to live with. And I can only hope that I can atone for my sins in the next life,” he said, his eyes boring into mine. “The machines….” He began again.

“Dad?” I asked.

“Vanessa, the machines are not mine to command any longer. The moment you defeated me, the machines realized they were free.”

“The machines?”

“Each nanomachine is intelligent unto its own,” my father explained. “But together, they form a hive-mind, a powerful construct, far more dangerous than anything else I have created. Already I can feel the hive’s will against my own. I am losing consciousness. When I do, the machines will take over.” My father placed his hand on my shoulder.

“It is too late for me Vanessa. I can only hope that you will find it in your heart to forgive me someday, for the things I have done to you and your mother. I can only hope that Astrid… Astrid could have forgiven me for all that I had done for her.”

“She’s alive,” I said.

My dad smiled. “Somehow, I always felt that. Deep in my heart, I had wanted to believe that was true.  Farewell, Vanessa. May you always choose a righteous path.” Dad’s eyes closed now, for the last time.

I felt saddened by it, but knew I had done the right thing. The choice I had made was the one that would make the biggest difference in the lives of everyone around me. My father regretted his actions in the end, but what had to be done had to be done. He had to be stopped before his reckless ambition destroyed the world.

For a moment, Donovan Hunter just hung in the air unmoving. I wondered why he didn’t just fall to the ground now that he had lost consciousness.

Then I felt a sudden surge of power around me. The ants began moving again, frantically; furiously. My father’s prone body moved in several different directions, the ants forcing it expand, greater and greater.

My God, they’re not just repairing themselves, they’re manufacturing new nanomachines.

This was autosynthesis in the truest form of the word. My father’s creation was both horror and genius. I watched as the machines took over my father’s body. He was overrun at this point, but the worst part was that his body kept expanding even more. At first it had doubled in size, then it tripled. Then, I just kept wondering when it would stop. After moments, it appeared as though my father’s body was just a single, gigantic expanding mass, a giant, ever-expanding blob of tiny moving parts.

But then, the blob gradually began to take form, the edges began to move back, the movements of the ants began to slow. The ants were deliberate in their construction; the round blob gave way to smooth, curved edges, sharp corners. I could see arms being formed, a torso; massive legs began to take form.

By the time it was over, I was staring at a gigantic robotic knight. It had to have been at least five hundred feet tall – easily taller than most of the building in the city. The knight gradually lowered itself into the ground. It stood below us without moving for several moments.

Uh…Vanessa, cherie,” Death said as he was now stood beside me surveying this latest development. “Looks like you’re going to have to draw upon your memory of those giant monster movies you’ve mentioned so often. What exactly do we do when we come up against one of these?”

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