to
conclude. Even as Zodiac was physically changing, he announced that
they shall all be one family, and gestured, drawing Kicia into the
maelstrom emanating from the being was once was a trinity and now is
one. Alec held onto her hand until her body wilted and dissolved.
Alec cried out as the woman he loved and her unborn child (which was
Zodiac's, not Alec's) were consumed by the reborn Presence. And so
Vaikuntha awoke, a dead ringer for the being that Gaunt and Zodiac
had been dreaming of. Euphrates Straw was at a loss; he had never
before encountered a Presence( few had). Vaikuntha let loose a burst
of energy from his third eye, frying Straw where he stood, even as
Vaikuntha himself was blasted from behind from the now cognizant
Shadow Baron, flanked by Lykos. Cary was toolate, however, and
Euphrates Straw's remains crumpled to the ground. Vaikuntha announced
his retreat and that this time around, Earth would be his to pleasure
himself with however he saw fit. He disappeared, and a heartbroken
Alec and his allies searched for find something to house Straw's
remains.

IV. Vaikuntha Rising

The Aggregate regrouped. A
ceremony was held in which the entire current team was there –
Bradcroft, Cowan, Lykos, Ledge, Cotton, Konchuman, Wurm, Ghost Cat,
Corona, Myrmidon, Empress Moth, Necrotica, Karibou, and Arc-Welder -
to pay respects to Straw and acknowledge the other two fallen
members, though this latter idea of Bradcroft's, in the interest of
ceremony and magnanimity, enraged several members. They grumbled that
Gaunt and Zodiac did little during their time with the team save plot
and ploy against them. As Thomas Ledge put it: “Ya don't honor a
man like