GZ Legends 71: Every Last Breath

           

 It happened so fast, Sandstorm didn’t even realize what had happened. One second, he was floating near his partner in the form of air; the next he was speeding through life support conduits. He heard the voice of the Maker and quickly found the whole issue to be quite absurd.

            “If you don’t need a life support system, why do you even have one?” Sandstorm thought.

            The realization of the very real threat to his friends lives, struck him like a flying rock. It didn’t matter why the Maker had the system. He couldn’t allow it to be turned off. Sandstorm turned his attention to the chambers he was pulled through. At some point there would be a heart to the system. There, he hoped he could jam something and return life giving oxygen to his friends. As fast as the air withdrew, he knew he had seconds to figure something out.

            The heart of the life support system housed dozens of switches and chambers he didn’t have time to explore. Only one thing held the slightest possibility and that was electricity. The power systems to the life support carried an electrical charge. Sandstorm followed it, hoping he could find the activation system. The charge led him to a metal switch between two connectors, powered by a console just above him.

            “With all this advanced technology, I’m dealing with a stupid toggle switch?” Sandstorm thought in disbelief.

           

He surged on the system with a charge of his own and forced the switch into the “on” position. Then, before anyone could react, he fused the metal together by arc-welding it. They would have to destroy the entire console to turn off the life support system again.

            “I wonder what Mr. Genius is going to think of this?” Sandstorm thought. “Now how do I get back to Electrode?”

            In another corridor, Hypnotist breathed through the special apparatus the Maker had given him. He watched Redeagle and Atomizer sink to the floor, gasping for breath. The shock of the loss of oxygen momentarily broke Hypnotist’s hold. As Redeagle slumped to the floor, he fired the metron rifle, blasting through Hypnotist’s chest. Redeagle scrambled to the dead body of the mind controlling villain and grabbed the breather. He took a deep breath and then took it to his partner.

            Anubis’s mind reeled with inner turmoil. Maybe it would be worth it? He could summon the true spirit of Anubis, rip the whole ship in half and kill them all. In their sacrifice, the Earth would be bathed in warm sunlight once again. But then, who would stop Stormy Knight? Someone still needed to deliver that fiend a well-earned lesson. The Serpent sported a cruel grin and showed his viper-like eyes over the top of his dark glasses. One of his Death Snakes hovered just over Nightfall’s face as she lay asphyxiating. Monolith and Silvercrow moved in on Anubis.

            “You’re out of time, Dog-breath.” Monolith chuckled.

            As Nyhtwulf and Blacktide appeared in the room, the life support came back on. Blacktide put both fists forward and hit Silvercrow with a surging disintegration beam. The haunted armor tumbled backward. Monolith’s stone body was no protection against the intangible Nyhtwulf. The Twilie Demon thrust both arms into the chest of the Stone Demon with screaming results. The whole thing gave Anubis just the moment he needed.

           

The Egyptian hero smashed head on into Serpent and threw him against a far wall. As they landed, Anubis delivered a punch that shattered the dwarf’s shades.

            “Guess I will hit a guy with glasses!” Anubis said as he landed another punch with equal ferocity. One strike after another, Anubis pounded away in near mindless rage. Too many times since Ella’s death, had he seen those he cared about nearly lost. He wouldn’t tolerate it anymore.

            “Stop!”

            The voice was distant and sounded familiar.

            “Stop!” A pair of slender arms wrapped around one of his. A set of arms also grabbed around his shoulders.

            “Geez, man, you got him already!” Blacktide shouted in his ear.

            Nightfall had Anubis’s arm and finally managed to pull him away.

            “You can stop now.”

            Anubis breathed hard and leaned back against the wall. He looked at his own bloody hands in disbelief.

            “It’s okay. It’s done. I’m okay. You can calm down now.” Nightfall said as she touched his shoulder.

            Across the room, Monolith lay on the floor unconscious. Silvercrow’s armor body lay in smoldering pieces.

            “I can’t believe I just did that.” Anubis said.

            “Use your powers to clean your hands.” Nightfall said gently. “We have to get moving.”

            At the door of the gutted factory area, Electrode pulled himself to his feet. He realized that Sandstorm found a way to save his life.

            “You here?” He called out but there was no answer. “Guess I move on and hope we find each other.” He charged himself up and reached for the door controls.

           

Galose tumbled through space and inside the armor, alarms blared. Weapon systems of the ship were locking onto him. At any moment they would fire and he would be reduced to atoms. With the neural control net he used to pilot his armor, Galose worked with haste. Feverishly, he commanded power to repair systems and over-rides to save his life. Ship’s cannons were locking on, one after another. He needed more power to activate cloaking and teleportation.

Cyborians have a natural ability to learn complicated and sophisticated sciences at an accelerated rate beyond most other alien life forms. Galose sped through coding of programs in his armor that no human could possibly comprehend. Slowly, the power built towards the teleportation system. If Cyborian’s had teeth, he would have gnashed his to powder as he watched the system bar slowly rise.

From the bridge of the ship, Mechanicore watched as 12 cannons fixed on the Cyborian’s position.

“Fire.” He commanded.