RETURN OF THE PHANTOM // A KISS fanfiction (completed)

Chapter 10: Finale

The next morning Demon awoke first and looked over at the clock on the wall. It was 10 am.

"That's strange..." He thought to himself, as they would usually wake around 7 am, yet everyone was still fast asleep.

On the other side of the room, Space Ace stirred.

"Ah, my head...it feels all fuzzy..." Space Ace looked up at Demon who was on top of his cupboard in a sense that he thought something was wrong with him.

"Are you sure it's not the beer?" Demon questioned.

"Yeah, it's different...like I've been asleep for eternity," Space Ace replied.

Now that he mentioned it, Demon noticed he didn't feel 100% either.

"Let's wake the others." He told his spaced-out bandmate, trying to sound calmer than his thoughts. Ever since he woke, Demon could sense a part of him was missing.

Space Ace just nodded as he got up and shook Starchild and Catman awake. They both were reluctant to get up at first but eventually did. Starchild went in and woke up Melissa and Sam, who both told him they felt sick. Within 20 minutes they were all sitting on bean bags in the main room.

"It's so strange, I feel like I've been knocked out," exclaimed Starchild while rubbing his head. "We must've all caught something..."

"No, we've been drugged," Catman stated matter of factly.

"Excuse me," Demon said alarmed, as he was passionate about keeping any substance of the sort out of his body.

"Believe me, I know this feeling... must've been given to us while we slept, which is why it knocked us out!" Catman exclaimed

"Makes sense... Abner must have done this," Sam told him "But why?"

Suddenly realisation hit the Demon, and everything about his missing piece made sense.

"THE TALISMAN!" He screamed, jumping up onto his feet and leaping over to the table, scaring the living daylights out of Melissa.

Demon lifted the red cloth to reveal nothing. It was gone.

Everyone sat there, eyes wide open, too shocked to say a word. Starchild was on the verge of tears, while Demon could feel his anger rising.

"Well what are we waiting for then?" breathed Melissa. "Let's go and get them back!"

That seemed like a pretty good plan.

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Meanwhile, in the workshop, Abner sat in a chair, staring at the talisman from a distance. He prayed that his new invention would be powerful enough to destroy them once and for all. After all, without their powers, KISS were just ordinary musicians.

Carefully, he disabled the forcefield and took out his weapon from a draw. It was small, gun-like and golden. The electricity inside was enough to eliminate a city full of people.

Abner stood eagerly and went over to the exposed red box. His hands shaking with excitement, he raised the weapon and 'BAM!'

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"DAMN IT," yelled Demon as he tried to extinguish the flaming curtain.

"What was that for?" Catman asked

"I didn't do it on purpose idiot! My power glitched, which could only mean one thing..." Demon replied

"Abner..." said Starchild vaguely, "We need to move fast then...if Abner is already trying to mess with our talisman, it's only a short time until he finds a method to destroy them..."

This was untrue, however, as that was Abner's last plan. If his most powerful weapon couldn't end them, nothing could.

"I'll go tonight. I know my way around that workshop better than anyone here," announced Sam

"Agreed," said Space Ace "We'll come too, to keep a lookout for Abner and help if you need it."

"It's settled then, tonight Abner goes down!" Melissa stated

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*later that night*

"It's 11:30 pm, Abner should be asleep now," Starchild whispered.

They were all crouched outside of the entrance to the workshop.

"Did you get the key?" He asked Catman.

"Yep, whipped it from Calvin's office earlier," Catman said as he unlocked the lift. They all stepped in and it took them down to the workshop in seconds, despite it being a 150 ft drop.

To their surprise, Abner certainly was not asleep. When the doors opened, he was standing right in front of them.

"Did you really think I'd not know that you lot would be planing something... well this time you can't sto-" Abner was cut off by Demon swinging his fist into his face, knocking him out onto the floor.

"Well that was easier than expected," said Demon calmly, as he stepped over Abner's unconscious body. Everyone stared at him amazed, before following after him.

Looking around the workshop it was pretty easy to notice the protected box in the middle of the room. The six people in the room stared at it with a sense of accomplishment.

"Well, we've done it before. A little strength from our powers and we'll have our talisman back in no time!" Starchild exclaimed

The four power holders circled the forcefield cage, while Sam and Melissa kept guard to make sure Abner didn't wake up.

They reached out their hands, combining their forces, and lifting the red box up off of the platform. This then turned on its side and slid through the beams, into Space Ace's hands.

Safe at last.

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*two days later*

After placing the talisman back in its rightful place, with Abner still unconscious, the six heroes went straight to Calvin to expose him.

The shocked Calvin fired him straight away, along with notifying the local police of the dangerous man who had finally been found. Now, KISS was free to re-schedule their Halloween concert, just not on Halloween night.

Sam and Melissa decided to stay for the show, to celebrate with the band about their victory over Abner.

The four wild musicians, their two companions, and the owner of Magic Mountain watched as Abner was hauled away by police and shoved into the back of the police car.

At last, the man who caused years of disastrous damage was getting the punishment he deserved.

Abner Devereaux was gone at last...