GZ Legends 12: Last Second Saves

Nyhtwulf's surprise

            Railroad grabbed up Blacktide and flung him through the air.

            “Man, I just love how you fall through stuff!” Railroad laughed.

            Blacktide slid to a stop after disintegrating his way through three walls. Water surrounded him on the floor and  he realized he had been thrown into a bathroom. His aura  destroyed a toilet. Blood dripped from his face and dispersed in the spreading water, giving it clouds of red. Blacktide coughed spatters of more blood.  Railroad lumbered into view and came closer.

            “So you just a crook or something else? Boss said I’m supposed to ask that of any intruders before I kill ‘em,” Railroad said as he drew closer.

            Blacktide lifted a hand and tried to concentrate to create a charged blast of disintegration energy. He never wanted to kill anyone, but this man was going to kill him. He silently cursed himself for taking off alone. The view of Railroad was starting to blur and Blacktide could have sworn the man suddenly had two shadows.

            What Blacktide couldn’t see through the haze of hurt was that this was no ordinary shadow. It moved freely and reached for the back of Railroad's head. Suddenly Railroad’s body stiffened in strange posture and Blacktide couldn’t see the long black shadow fingers reaching through Railroad’s face from behind.

            “IGG UGG IGGLSNIPPID!” Railroad uttered before falling on his face in the toilet water with a splash.

            Blacktide promptly blacked out.

*******

            Anubis landed with Nightfall on a rooftop where they could look over Times Square.

            “I wonder how we are going to find one of the supply points?” Anubis mused.

            “All we can do is look around. It would have to be a place with room to store vehicles and weapons. Sounds like a garage or storage facility; maybe a warehouse. New York is full of old buildings but they would have to be close to a precinct in order to attack so quickly, like Sandstorm said.”

            “Then let’s find another police precinct.”

            Anubis couldn’t help but enjoy the feeling of carrying Nightfall in his arms as they flew high over the city lights. If only he could get past the immediate guilt with the loss of Ella still heavy in his heart.  Nightfall stared at the side of his lupine face and admired him. He didn’t know that she liked being carried by him.

            Finding another police precinct proved easy and they dropped in on the roof of an old police building. Its archaic looks gave the impression of a castle fortress, that unfortunately didn’t save them from the attackers. Anubis scrutinized surrounding streets from their rooftop vantage. Major blast marks showed all across the face of the building and an alleyway lay across the street.

            “That looks like a nice dark approach. Not much light means the vans they drove wouldn’t be noticed until way too late,” suggested Anubis.

            “I think you’re right. Shall we fly low over it and see what we find?” Nightfall answered.

            “Yeah, lets.”

            “Just remember, when we find them, they’re already dead people.”

            “Don’t worry about me. I got that loud and clear from the last one. Get it? Loud and clear?”

            “No,” Nightfall shook her head.

            “Because he didn’t say anything, oh well.”

            “Keep trying, Mr. Comedian, keep trying.”

            Anubis kept them above the roof tops only slightly so they could see down into the alley. The block was a long one and the alley opened up to a building with three garage doors. They landed in front of those doors to an old auto shop. The windows showed no light and nothing moved. Even so, Anubis snarled,

            “Someone’s in there. I can feel them.”

            The energy firing came right through the metal garage door and both heroes ducked out of the way just in time.

            “Hey! You didn’t give me a chance to knock!” Anubis’s hands glowed fiercely and he blew the big door in with a double handed energy bolt that could have come from a cannon. Anubis spun his lance in his hand and Nightfall drew her ion pistol. Two of the leather clad killers came stumbling outside with their weapons. Nightfall shot one in roughly the forehead area. Her pistol left a score mark on the helmet, but nothing else.

            “Oh great, their helmets are fortified.”

            “Yeah? How’s this?”  Anubis threw his lance like a giant propeller that hit one in the head and bounced to the other. Both helmets shattered and she took the new opportunity to shoot them both. They fell and lay still. Anubis’s lance flew back to his hand.

            “The more I use this thing the more I love it!” Anubis said of his weapon.

Anubis's surprise

            “Don’t get cocky, we aren’t done yet,” Nightfall said as she moved forward.

            A rifle shot hit her and threw her to the ground and she didn’t move. Anubis rushed over to her. The memory of Ella flooded back and he remembered watching the life fade from her eyes. As he lifted Nightfall, there was no response and the shot was directly in the chest. Shadows in the garage moved, and more weapons glowed. Anubis took no notice as only raw emotion drowned him.

 “NOOOOOOO!” He howled in rage and glowed a bright and powerful white light.

 The new attackers were aiming at him but he suddenly vanished from sight as did Nightfall. The ground shook and the asphalt in the alleyway cracked and rose in chunks. Power poles sparked angrily and fell over, car alarms went off and lightning flashed across the black sky. The attackers approached the opening section of ground, aiming their weapons at it. The mound of broken ground exploded and threw them all backwards. A giant Egyptian sarcophagus shot up from the cracks and showered the area with earth and asphalt. It stood at least fifty feet high and it too cracked and began to crumble. Bright white light emitted from the breaking sections of the sarcophagus. And explosion of pieces revealed a giant form of Anubis who glared down on the attackers coming from the garage. Holding a scepter and lance, it crossed the two and a bright ball of light formed around them. It threw its arms out to either side and launched the light into the garage building. The explosion engulfed the building in a bright strobe that blinded out all else. The force of the blast shook nearby buildings and turned over cars parked on the other side of the garage. As it cleared, the giant form was gone and Anubis rested on one knee next to Nightfall, panting from the effort. Nightfall sat up and felt her chest. Her wound was gone.

            “Wow, Anubis, what was that?” she looked around at all the damage from ground to buildings, “Wow, really, what was that?”

“I don’t know. I saw you go down and something just snapped. I don’t know what I did, but ya know what? I like it. Seems like I have a special attack or something.”

            “Maybe you should give that a name.” Nightfall half joked, still a bit shaken by the destruction of it.

            “Yeah, something that fits me for who I am now. I think I’ll call it, Guardian of the Dead.”

            “In any case, this is the second time you’ve healed me. And look at what you did to them and the garage.”

            The building stood, a hollowed out shell, charred in its remains. Eight bodies lay within and none of them moved again.

            “Yeah, I did quite a number on them. Do you think Zombie will notice?”

            “I think it’s a good bet that half the city noticed.” Nightfall couldn’t help the awe she felt at his power, power even he didn’t understand.

            “Good, let’s go find another,” Anubis nodded.