GZ Legends 41: The Eye of Destruction pt1

In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Michael Robins gripped his steering wheel with whiting knuckles. How dare they lay him off! He worked for a large insurance firm and had disregarded warnings of layoffs. They said low profits were a concern. They said that they needed everyone doing their best to avoid the layoffs. Michael never worried. He felt his work far too valuable to ever lay him off. The reality came as a shock.  He pulled into the lot of a liquor store and shut off the engine. He went in and bought himself a tall bottle of cheap blended whiskey.

Mike was already a dirty mess. His shirt was half untucked and his knuckles bled from punching walls. His black hair tufted in all direction.  Mike ignored the odd looks from the store clerk as he threw the money on the counter. He stomped back out to the car, unscrewing the cap as he went. He threw his head back for a long swig and has he did, a loud crash almost made him drop the bottle. The windshield of his car lay in tiny square pieces all over the front seats.

            “AAAAAAA! You have got to be kidding me!” he smashed the bottle on the ground in a rage, “Is the world out to hex me?”

            A baseball sized red jewel glistened in the driver’s seat.

            “What a minute,” he opened the door and picked up the gem. As he turned it in his hand it glowed slightly. “What is this?”

            He lifted the jewel and looked through it for closer examination. He could see a red tinted liquor store through it and felt a rumble in the ground. The shaking increased and Mike fell back against his car. The windows of the liquor store shattered and its walls crumpled. The building collapsed in a cloud of dust.

            “No way,” Mike said. “An earthquake.” Thinking it over he went back to looking at the gem. He turned for better light and looked through it again. This time Mike gazed at a smaller building across the street. The shaking began again and yet another building crumpled to the ground. In his amazement he completely ignored the murders he had just committed.

            “Double no way!” It began to dawn on him. He aimed at a third place, a car wash and the same thing happened again. “Ha ha! Oh yeah!”

Michael grabbed a newspaper from the back seat of his car and used it to sweep away the broken glass. He got in and turned the key in the ignition. He knew just where to take his new find. With screeching tires, Mike hit the gas and peeled out of the parking lot. With his typical luck, he immediately drew the attention of a police officer. Mike groaned as he pulled over for the flashing lights. Then he looked at the gem next to him on the seat. Mike picked it up and got out of the car.

            “You need to stay in your car, sir,” the officer instructed.

            “ But look,” Mike lifted the gem toward him. A flash of red light flew from it and hit the officer. He and his squad car both launched away into the air. Mike almost couldn’t stop laughing as the officer’s body grew tiny in the distance. He laughed all the way back to work in near hysterics.

“This is so wonderful,” Mike said through tears of laughter. He pulled in at the edge of the parking lot and got out his cell phone. He dialed his ex-boss.

            “You idiots should come to the windows,” he said and hung up.

            Familiar faces soon filled the windows, some with expressions of worry at what he must be planning. He raised the gem toward the building, “Now you’re all fired,” he chuckled.

 The ground trembled, concrete cracked and the building groaned. Windows shattered and he could hear the screaming begin. It started from one side and then went across as it finally collapsed to the ground. The screams were no more. More tears streamed down Michael Robinson’s face as he laughed and went completely mad with power.

Sandstorm, Electrode, Atomizer, Dreamseer, Kyte, and Redeagle stepped through the portal to a scene of desolation and death. Red and blue lights swirled from several street corners. Sirens sounded from all directions. Buildings lay in smoldering ruins and the air was dense with smoke and dust. As much as they wanted to dive in and help find victims, they knew there would be countless more if they didn’t find the Eye of Destruction.

            Dreamseer concentrated, “I sense a mind drunk with power. That way,” she pointed down the remains of a city street.

            They moved quickly and couldn’t help but free a victim or two along the way. But they had to hurry. The longer anyone used the gem the further the range would go. It was a matter of time before Michael’s influence went state wide.

            “We need to get moving,” Sandstorm said, “Kyte and Electrode, you two come ahead with me and let’s see if we can shut this guy down. I can feel his effects. He’s about to trigger a massive quake that will take half this state with it. The rest of you catch up as fast as you can.”

            As Kyte took to the air, Sandstorm turned into a wind and gave him a push as Electrode flashed on ahead.

            At the edge of the city, Mike reached out further with the gem, “Today I become a God. Let the world tremble!”

            “That’s not very nice,” Electrode said as he paused in front of Mike.

            Mike automatically fired a force wave from the gem, easily dodged by the Nuclear Electric Man.

            “You’ve hurt and killed a lot of people,” Electrode dodged another attack and then returned fired but his bolts were stopped short by a red aura of light around Mike.

            “Okay, that’s interesting.”

            “You can’t hurt me. I’m all powerful.” Mike laughed in madness.

            Shadowy tendrils snaked down from above as Kyte tried to force through the aura to get the gem. The attempt proved futile as not even Kyte’s dark forces could move through the strange barrier. A giant stone hand rose out of the ground and tried to grab Mike, but it crumbled away at the power of the gem. Sandstorm manifested an image of himself floating in the air.

            “You have to stop now!” his voice boomed.

            Michael was too absorbed in the power of the gem. The Eye of Destruction had his mind and the madness of it made him foam slightly from the corners of his mouth.

 Sandstorm sensed elemental power couldn’t pass the barrier and found himself in a pushing match with the gem. It tried to force him away, but he held his ground. As he made it turn on him, he could feel the threat to the Earth around them lessen a bit. Still he fought to keep another earthquake from rippling out and tearing the state of South Dakota apart. The three of them battered away at the aura and Mike seemed oblivious to them. He smiled stupidly while they struggled. Then his face changed a little as Dreamseer arrived and tried to grip his mind.

            “Ahh!” she cried out holding her temple, “The gem is resisting me.”

            Redeagle dared not fire a shot for fear the bullet would bounce and hit a friend.

            “I can’t get through!” Sandstorm shouted, “It’s all I can do to keep him from ripping the whole state apart!”

GZ Legends 40: The TANK pt 3

            Anubis stopped himself flying through the air and shook his head enough to rattle his armor. He glanced below and one thought immediately took precedence over all others.

            “Nightfall!” He called as he flew to where he last saw her.  To his relief, she sat on the ground rubbing her forehead.

            “You don’t have to yell,” she said with a grimace. “That gave me a monstrous headache.”

            “I’m just glad you’re okay. You are okay right?” Anubis helped her to her feet and touched a scrape on her forehead to heal it.

            “Much better now, thanks. You better see about the rest.”

            Anubis found Blacktide next, but Nyhtwulf was already assisting him. Slowly, everyone was picking themselves up and dusting themselves off.  Aches and pains were evident in all by moaning and groaning. Dr. Vampire walked up to the group with a hand at his mid back. Anubis and Nyhtwulf used their healing abilities to bring everyone back to full capabilities.

            “It’s truly good fortune to have two healers with us today,” Dr. Vampire said. “Now we have to figure out another way to stop TANK.”

            “So far, we can’t hurt it and can’t hold it down,” Blacktide said.

            “Who decided to make that thing without an off switch anyway?” Anubis grumbled.

            “There has to be some way to stop it. It’s headed into downtown Seattle,” Lonestar said.

            “Unfortunately, fighting it just got a lot harder. It learns as it goes. It will remember us and have countermeasures ready.” Dr. Vampire explained in disdain. “Still, there may be a way to shock it, but it will be very dangerous to attempt.”

            “We’re all ears, Doc.” Anubis said.

            Moments later, the team raced to catch up with the TANK as it stomped toward downtown. It hadn’t slowed in leaving an obvious path of destruction in any way. People rushed to evacuate from the path of the machine while armored SWAT vehicles established a road block. Brave officers stood their ground with heavy artillery and assistance from the National Guard.  They waited until the TANK stomped into full view so they had the best target possible and opened fire. Assault rifle and machine gun rounds may as well have been confetti against the TANK’s mystical armor. LAW (light anti-tank weapon) rockets proved just as meaningless. Mounted energy cannons on the TANK’s shoulders flickered to life and a SWAT van exploded into a massive fireball. From the center of its three fingered hands, a larger weapon, called a Master Cannon, emitted a bright wide beam that vaporized police cars and blew another van in half. As follow up to the firepower, the TANK grabbed up a flaming wrecked car and threw it at fleeing officers. To cover escape of the soldiers and officers, a fully armed Apache helicopter hovered in and locked missiles on the TANK.

            The explosions of missile fire filled the air around the TANK in an impressive display. Unharmed, the TANK aimed its shoulder cannons and fired red beams of death. The pilot could see that he had no chance to evade. The weapons were too fast in deployment. He held his breath, expecting to burn to death in a split second from an attack that didn’t hit its mark.

            Anubis floated in the air between TANK and the helicopter. He had created a forcefield of energy that stopped the attack. He knew that it would soon fire again. Anubis looked over his shoulder to the shocked expressions on the pilot’s faces.

            “GET OUT OF HERE!” He screamed at them and the chopper veered away into the darkness without any more hesitation. “Geez, you’d think they need special instructions! Nah, let’s just pause here and stare at the flying dog!”

            Anubis charged his lance with cosmic power and unleashed a powerful blast into the front of the TANK. He held position and strained to keep the powerful energy flowing. He had to keep the TANK’s sensors focused on him. After only a few seconds, TANK returned fire and Anubis found himself dodging blasts. Anubis snatched up the smoldering engine of a police car and threw it at TANK. The machine caught the flying engine effortlessly and moved to throw it back. That’s when Nyhtwulf flew through the back of the TANK and out the front.

            Nyhtwulf and Doctor Vampire noted that Nyhtwulf passed through the arm of the TANK intangibly without additional effect earlier. This became a crucial point of a new plan of attack.  Because Nyhtwulf disrupts life force and mental energy upon passing through any living thing, the Twilie demon made sure he flew through the TANK’s hostage pilot. The disruption of the young thug’s mind passed over into the internal functions of the TANK. The machine stood and shuddered. In its internal confusion, the hatch slid open.

            Blacktide saw his cue at that moment. He disintegrated the ground behind the machine at an angle so that, once again, it would slam onto its back. It would also be easier to access the opened hatch. Lonestar and Anubis jumped into action. As they had done with the Hearse, they jammed their own indestructible weapons into the hatch mechanisms, creating a stalemate of artifacts. The hatch could not close, but that wouldn’t stop the TANK from fighting back in the split seconds left to them. Doctor Vampire flew Nightfall on top of the TANK’s chest and into the hatch with the thug. As the last part of the desperate plan, she reached out and touched his face.

            With her power to render any person unconscious by touch with a mental blackout, the TANK lost its neural connection to its pilot. The neural crown lifted away and they pulled the young man out of the cockpit. Lonestar and Anubis pulled their weapons out of the way and the hatch closed. The TANK was finally shut down. Doctor Vampire pulled out another of his large artifact transport discs and placed it on the TANK’s leg. In moments the machine was gone.

            Far behind them, ambulance and fire personnel were hard at work. More approached from the direction out front of them. Doctor Vampire beckoned them to move on through.

            Slowly, the thug came to his senses to find the six heroes looking over him.

            “You want to tell us how you wound up inside that thing?” Anubis said.

            “I don’t know, man. I don’t remember anything after breakfast this morning.”

            “Nightfall?” Doctor Vampire cued.

            “I’m afraid he’s telling the truth. His memories have been wiped and I know we didn’t cause it. They’re completely gone.” Nightfall reported.

            “The TANK wouldn’t have done that either.”

            “My power does not have such an effect,” Nyhtwulf offered.

            “No. I can tell this was done before we found him,” Nightfall said.

            The ring on Anubis’s hand shimmered without notice of anyone. It was the same ring that found its way on Anubis’s hand at the beach without his notice. It was the same ring enchanted so that he wouldn’t notice it now. Through the gem of that ring, they had an audience. Through the gem of that ring, Stormy Knight watched with a knowing smile on his face.

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GZ Legends 39: The TANK pt 2

Anubis, Nightfall, Dr. Vampire, Blacktide, Nyhtwulf, and Lonestar stepped through the portal onto a ransacked city street. Cars were overturned, crushed, and burning. The fronts of all the buildings were gaping, smoking holes. Deep cracks webbed across asphalt and concrete. Not even lamp posts remained standing. The final touch to the visual nightmare lay with the bodies of the dead strewn up and down the street.

“This is the work of the TANK armor. It’s an alien weapon and its name stands for Terminate, Attack, Negate, and Kill.” Doctor Vampire explained it with a heavy conscience bothering him from the last mission. “As before, we are facing something we cannot destroy. We have to keep it busy until we can deactivate it.”

“What am I supposed to do to it?” Nightfall said.

“You’re power can separate the neural link the armor has with its pilot. This machine was built to remove any form of conscience from its pilot so that kill missions could be completed without hesitation. Whoever climbed into the cockpit, is a fool and a victim. He or she may even be completely innocent.”

“And me?” Blacktide said. “I was totally useless against The Hearse. What do you want me to do with this?”

“You don’t have to use your powers directly on the TANK to be helpful or effective. If you think about it, I’m sure you’ll find there are other things you can do.” Doctor Vampire said.

“And the rest of us will keep it good and busy until we can send it back to the museum, Doc.” Anubis said. “So let’s get going before all of Seattle becomes a fiery memory.”

On those words, everyone broke into a run, but Doctor Vampire grabbed Anubis by the arm for one last second.

“You need to know that I’m very sorry,” Dr. Vampire said. “My greatest fear has always been hurting friends and allies.”

“Doc, it’s okay. I understand what happened. Besides, you don’t hit anywhere near as hard as The Hearse does!”

Anubis flew into the air and Doctor Vampire followed. It didn’t take long to catch up with the TANK as it took its time delivering destruction. No trail of terror could be more obvious. If that wasn’t enough, the TANK’s attacks could be heard miles away. Explosions, the screech of energy weapons fire, and the screams of innocent victims were a morbid chorus in the streets of Seattle.

Anubis and Nyhtwulf were first to get in the TANK’s way. Nyhtwulf hovered in front of it and waited. Without hesitation, it fired powerful beams of energy that vanished into the Twilie Demon’s shadowy body. Those beams came back out from Nyhtwulf’s hand as the lupine hero used his power to redirect any energy that enters his body. The force of being hit with its own weapon actually made the TANK take one step backward.

Anubis followed up with a powerful flying uppercut using his lance. Since the machine was slightly off balance, the blow delivered it the rest of the way to the ground. It landed on its back with a resounding crash. It didn’t stay there. Propulsion jets instantly brought it back to its feet. It swung a metal hand at Nyhtwulf who simply turned intangible and avoided it. Anubis had to perform aerial dodging maneuvers from energy blasts.

Dr. Vampire and the rest caught up just in time for Anubis’s aerobatic display.

“Who knew he was so agile,” Nightfall said without realizing it.

Dr. Vampire shook his head and turned to Blacktide.

“This is your chance. They brought it down once. You can do it again.”

Blacktide thought fast. How could he bring down this giant when he couldn’t hurt it. He grit his teeth and took several running steps forward. He threw his hand outward in a wide arc and a gray wave of disintegration power surged out. In a cloud of smoke, the street under the TANK’s feet vanished and it crashed to its back again. Blacktide barely rolled out of the way in time.

Lonestar jumped onto the front of the machine and tried to jam his sword into the seam where the front would open. His sword couldn’t wedge into the gap no matter how hard it was thrust. There was the loud song of metal clashing with  metal, as a giant hand swatted Lonestar away. The Starknight flew through the front of a nearby building with the crunch of brick and shattering of glass. Again, the TANK was on its feet.

Anubis dropped out of the dark sky like a missile, landing both feet square in the upper front of the machine. Such was the force of his landing that the TANK was knocked down for a third time.

“Nyhtwulf! Shield me from its energy cannons!” Doctor Vampire cried out as he took position on top of the TANK. Looking into the front visor, Dr. Vampire could see the blank face of the young gangster.

Dr. Vampire took off his sunglasses as Nyhtwulf landed between him and the TANK’s shoulder cannons. The Vampire looked the young thug in the eyes with the inherited power of hypnosis. A sudden screaming sound in his brain, made Dr. Vampire cry out and reel backwards. Nyhtwulf caught him and flew him out of the way as the TANK regained its standing again.

“I thought I could strengthen his mind against the TANK’s control,” groaned Dr. Vampire. “It’s too strong. We have to get it to open up.”

Anubis and Lonestar moved in to tackle the TANK at its broad legs while Blacktide prepared a deeper hole for it in the street. Blacktide wondered if he could make the hole so the machine would be wedged too much to just jump back up again.

The TANK shimmered with new energy on their approach and a shockwave of power exploded across the area. No one could hold their ground against it. Anubis was tossed into the blackened sky. Lonestar was thrown down a side street like an armored rag doll. Nyhtwulf and Dr. Vampire vanished into another building that collapsed on top of them. Blacktide flew through vehicles and debris in another direction. Even Nightfall, who had kept her distance, waiting for her part in the fight, was thrown back. As the monstrous TANK stomped forward, not a hero stood against it.

GZ Legends 38: The TANK pt 1

      100TH POST!!!     

       “I was useless!” Blacktide paced in the break room, clenching his fists. “I’ve never been so useless in a fight. I can’t believe it!”

            “The Hearse is indestructible, my friend,” Nyhtwulf said. “Nothing we can do could ever damage it.” The Twilie Demon was munching on cream cheese cubes, complete in their foil wrappers. This didn’t faze him when it came to talking and created a ‘nom nom’ sound with the words.

            “Could have been worse, couldn’t it?” Atomizer said, “After all, I tried my power on an alien weapon and nearly blew a whole city street away.” Atomizer popped open a soda and took a long drink.

            “I’ve never come across anything like that before. I’ve always had to worry about accidently killing people around me. If it weren’t for Nyhtwulf being my partner now, I doubt I would still be here.” Blacktide stared out a window. He instinctively wanted to punch a wall in his frustration, but knew better.

            “You saved innocent people,” Nyhtwulf said. “I saw through your eyes.”

            Blacktide remembered the fallen ceiling beams and trapped civilians. His power was instrumental in freeing them. His power literally erased key points in debris, allowing Dr. Vampire and Lonestar to use their strength freely and safely for several rescues.

            “Yeah, I did.”

            “So you weren’t useless, Man!” Atomizer said. “You did good. I’d pat you on the back, but I know you’d hate it so I’m doing it verbally, okay?”

            Blacktide couldn’t help but smirk at the idea, “I hate that too.”

            In another room, Dr. Vampire lay on a table unconscious. Dreamseer had her fingertips at the Doctor’s temples. She was completely silent. Electrode stood outside the room with Lonestar, watching the ordeal.

            “You want to tell me what happened out there?” Electrode asked.

            “Since he was turned into a vampire by Lord Dracula himself, our leader has had to contain a great darkness. There is always the chance of it coming out and it makes him very powerful. It’s a curse that none of us have found a way to break.”

            “So he could become a monster at literally anytime?”

            “No. He’s only at risk under certain forms of great stress or in places of great evil.”

            “Inside The Hearse had to be pretty evil, I imagine.” Electrode nodded. It reminded him of the struggle he saw in Blacktide.

            Up on the roof, Nightfall sat on the edge of the building with Anubis, gazing over the city lights of New York.

            “I’m telling you, I never thought it was possible to feel such pain,” Anubis said. “I think that thing could have actually killed me. And I understand Doctor Vampire’s problem, but that was quite a surprise as well.”

            “Dreamseer is taking care of him. You know, this is an important lesson for you. You have these new and wonderful powers, but you don’t know any of your own limits. Now you know that you have to be careful out there.”

            “I know. I knew I could be hurt when I got shot by one of those alien weapons. I just didn’t know I could be hurt that bad or hit that hard. I’ll sure remember next time.”

            “Sounds like you want revenge on The Hearse.” Nightfall cocked and eyebrow in disbelief.

            “Well, yeah, wouldn’t you? I want a rematch.”

            Nightfall laughed, “Oh you are such a rookie! That’s not what I meant by learning your limits. You can’t kill The Hearse.”

            “You’re only supposed to laugh when I actually tell a joke you know,” Anubis tried to show an expression of fake pouting on his jackal’s face, but it just looked like a weird snarl.

            “You’re just funnier than you realize!” Nightfall smacked him on the shoulder.

            “Careful, you’ll knock me off the roof,” Anubis teased, so she hit him some more.

            “You can fly!”

            Far across the country, a new mission unfolded. The gangs of south Seattle are well known for their violent crimes. A lot of young lives have been wasted over territorial disputes, drugs, and women. All it really takes for a gang member to get shot is the wrong color clothing, an odd hand signal, or just a bad attitude. Two small groups met over a dispute in a rundown area of buildings awaiting the wrecking ball. Posturing became words. Words became anger and shoving. Shoving turned to weapons. One brought out a knife and his opponent, a gun. A hail of gunfire took down all but one thug who dodged between the buildings on the run. He lost his way through the decrepit buildings and lost his way to the exit. High fences and barbed wire thwarted his escape attempts. His pursuers were catching up to him as he dodged behind a dumpster.  He clutched the edge of the trash container while he fought to catch his breath. The other gangsters passed him by, but it wouldn’t be for long.

            “You’re in a fix,” the smooth voice startled the young thug so he spun with his knife ready. A quick strike to the wrist from a black cane topped with a silver skull, knocked the knife away. The man in the top hat smiled at him.

“Relax, I’m here as your friend. I can help you,” Stormy said.

            “Yeah? Well you gonna help us both get killed if you don’t shut up.” He looked worriedly over the dumpster. The other thugs weren’t in sight yet.

            “How would you like to teach them a lesson?”

            “What? You got an uzi?” The thug wondered if he could dive for his knife.

            “No, I have this,” suddenly a 20 foot tall suit of mechanized armor was standing behind Stormy. It was rounded and smooth with a pair of massive metal hands. Its feet were as wide as the hood of a mid-size car. Portions of the armor played a trick on the eyes as they seemed like portals to view the universe. Stars, planets and deep space could be seen in the reflection of the arms and legs. The massive head section split open and lowered in a way that would allow a person to climb into the cockpit.

“You should climb in and take it for a spin. It’s much better than waiting to get shot.” Stormy faded away with a cruel chuckle.

            The thug could hear them getting closer. Surely they heard some of the noise that guy made. What else could he do? He climbed up into the big suit of armor and the panels closed over him. A metal halo dropped down around the top of his head and he could feel control of the whole machine. Screens appeared and he could see outside. He moved his arm, and its arm did the same. He turned to face the opening the other thugs would come through. The shooter came around first and stopped cold with a shocked expression. The thug willed the machine to step forward. It put a great metal foot on the dumpster, and crushed it flat. The other gangsters fired their guns, but bullets were useless against the mystical TANK armor.

 The thug laughed, “You still wanna shoot me?”

            The first shooter met his grisly end in the compacting grasp of a metal hand. The thug pilot laughed, delirious with power. The others turned to run but energy beam weapons fired from the armor’s shoulders. Both men were turned to charred skeletal remains.

            “Yeah!” the thug yelled. But then something felt odd. He couldn’t move his arms and legs anymore, and the TANK started moving without his commands. Scanners located the nearest populated area as the thug watched and it started walking. As his mind went blank he heard the metallic voice coming from the machine.

            “I am TANK.”

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GZ Legends 37: Roadburner pt 3

            “You dare to challenge me?” The Hearse roared at Doctor Vampire.

            “I do! Should I prove my worth, you return to the Museum on bond of the challenge.”

            “Should you fail, I absorb your soul within me and you never see the living world again.”

            “I accept!”

            The driver side door of The Hearse opened.

            “Remove your weapons,” Doctor Vampire said.

            “Are you sure this is such a good idea?” Electrode said.

            “It’s the only chance left to us. Should I fail, you will have to exhaust every effort. Perhaps lead it into the ocean?”

            The Hearse laughed as Lonestar and Anubis slowly approached to pull their weapons from the wheel wells.

            “Someday, sometime, you and I aren’t finished,” Anubis growled at the machine.

            “I look forward to it,” The Hearse rumbled in return.

            Dr. Vampire slid into the driver’s seat and the door slammed shut. He gripped the steering wheel and instantly a flood of force washed over him. Evil thoughts invaded his mind of what he could do with the power of The Hearse. Tires squealed and they raced away from the crew of friends.

            “We have to keep up and watch over this!” Electrode sped from sight.

            “It’s agreed, but I’m not fast enough,” Lonestar said. “You will have to get innocents out of the way as the Doctor struggles to gain control.”

            Anubis and Nyhtwulf nodded and both flew into the air.

            Lonestar despaired that he couldn’t keep up and help them. He looked to his blessed companion, the white falcon on his shoulder. All Starknights are blessed with a mystical animal companion to aid them. Lonestar chose a falcon. He could see through its eyes, be healed by it and it could assist him in combat. Best of all, a Starknight’s companion will not fall in battle until its master is dead. With a nod, Lonestar sent out his falcon to watch over the events.

            “There is a great evil deep within you, Vampire!” The Hearse said as it raced down a road. “You should use it more often!”

            Doctor Vampire strained in mind and body to control the direction of the great death machine.

            “You cannot control me! I will do as I wish!” The Hearse aimed itself at a man by the side of the road. “Watch him die!”

            Doctor Vampire grit his teeth and pulled at the wheel while trying to push its influence away. At the last second, the man vanished as Electrode rescued him.

            “Bah! Your foolish friends seek to help you! You will soon find that they can’t, even if they save everyone I could crush under me!”

            The Hearse turned toward a line of buildings. “No force of good can control me, Vampire!”

            Anubis saw the impending disaster and his thoughts raced. He flew down to the ground outside of the buildings. He remembered how he managed to fix things, like a baby carriage by controlling its base matter and manipulating his shape. Only one thought came to mind to save the building and anyone inside. Anubis reached out to the ground and concentrated while trying to work as fast as he could. As The Hearse drew near, the ground rose up into a high ramp and sent the machine flying over the rooftops.

            “The fools only delay the inevitable!” The Hearse roared. “By the time we reach the ground, you will have failed.”

            Doctor Vampire’s eyes began to glow red, “Because nothing good can control you?”

            The Hearse’s undercarriage broke a portion of rooftop as it came to the ground. Once all four wheels hit the dirt and rock and the bouncing stopped, Dr. Vampire yanked the wheel to the right. The Hearse spun 180 degrees to face back the other direction. The Doctor slammed his foot on the accelerator and launched them past all the buildings.

            “Impossible!” The Hearse howled.

            “Nothing good,” Doctor Vampire growled through his teeth and fangs.

            The essence of The Hearse’s self-control waned and fell against the new will of Doctor Vampire. He guided the machine back along the path they came, avoiding any innocents. As they arrived near the mall parking lot, Doctor Vampire stomped on the breaks and brought the beast to a screeching halt in a cloud of dust. The Doctor tossed the door open and stepped out into view.

            Anubis landed near him, “Wow, Doc, you did it!”

            The backhand strike was such a surprise; Anubis had no defense against it. The hero fell to the ground with a crash. Doctor Vampire put a hand against one side of his head in an effort to regain control that was lost.

             Blacktide stood back, not wanting to kill Doctor Vampire with his powers. He clenched his fists in frustration instead.

            “Hey, Doc, we can’t have you turning on us,” Electrode said as he emitted a series of low yield bolts to try and incapacitate the Vampire.

            Doctor Vampire waved his hands in a circular motion and the electricity followed suit in a beautiful swirl, obeying him. He threw the energy back to Electrode and knocked the speedster sprawling. Doctor Vampire roared with new evil power coursing through him. He formed claws at his finger tips and his fangs even seemed to grow. Then he stiffened and howled to the sky as strobes of light emitted from him. When Doctor Vampire collapsed, Nyhtwulf was left standing there. The Twilie Demon had merged a hand through the Doctor’s back. Doctor Vampire lay unconscious on the ground.

            “Ha! Your friend is fully evil now,” The Hearse laughed.

            “It doesn’t matter for you,” Lonestar said. “You lost the bargain and are now held to your word.”

            “You are correct, Knight. It doesn’t matter. Even as I obey this command, it is not permanent. I am not finished. You will see me again.” The Hearse vanished in a cloud of black mist.

            “We have to get Doctor Vampire back to New York quickly,” Lonestar said. “Only Dreamseer can help him now. Hurry, before he awakens and we have an even bigger fight on our hands.”

GZ Legends 36: Roadburner Pt 2

            Momentarily stunned from a horn blast that made the ground tremble, Electrode struggled to move. The Hearse bore down on him with savage ferocity, its shining grill seemed hungry for flesh. As the skull hood ornament was about to smash into Electrode’s mid-section, a black shadow whisked through. Nyhtwulf had arrived on scene and rescued Electrode at the last second. The Hearse didn’t miss a beat as it turned to follow the flying thief across the parking lot.

            “Are you okay?” Nyhtwulf asked.

            “Yeah, just need to clear my head. Drop me up here at the edge of the lot. I can keep ahead of it now. And thanks!”

            The Hearse was gaining on the two until a long bladed lance shot down from above, impaling the asphalt and catching The Hearse mid grill. Being stopped cold by Anubis’s lance was a bigger surprise to the death machine than anyone else. It paused as Anubis landed in front of it.

            “Well, that was easy!” Anubis laughed. “What’s it like to be stopped by a pointy stick?”

            “Stupid Hero! I am no base machine to be stopped from a single direction!” In an explosion of sound the voice echoed.  The Hearse spun its body around the lance and hit Anubis like a giant baseball bat.

            Since receiving his powers, Anubis had taken direct hits from artillery and space age weaponry. He had been punched by Cyclone, a younger brother to Death himself. In all of that, pain had not been much of an issue. For the first time in all the battles, something really hurt. Anubis realized that, until that moment, he had no idea what getting hit really hard meant. His body went through a panel van, blasting it into two pieces, and Anubis kept going. He moved through the walls of the nearby mall so fast he barely noticed the first shop was women’s apparel. The next shop was sporting goods, then a shoe store. He kept going. Two support pillars snapped like matchsticks, and he kept going. Two more shops and three walls later, he burst through the opposite side of the mall building and kept going. The oak tree shattered as he went through filled the air with a cloud of splinters. Past all of that, mercifully, was desert. A great dust cloud burst into the air, as Anubis’s body carved an 80 yard trench across the ground.

            After several long moments, Anubis put a trembling hand on the ground to try and push himself up. His first attempt found him staggering and dropping to one knee. He coughed out some dust and sand while trying to get his wits back in order. As he concentrated on taking some long deep breathes, he was surprised at his next thought.

Despite all of what he had just experienced, he heard himself mutter, “It can talk.”

Back in the parking lot, Electrode fired bolts of lightning at the machine as it charged him again. This time, Electrode was able to dodge the attack and The Hearse smashed into a closed gas station. Electrode took advantage of the situation and launched a full lightning assault, engulfing machine and building in an explosion of force and fire. He didn’t conduct this assault without care as there were no other buildings nearby. Still, The Hearse quickly emerged unscathed, though alight with burning gasoline.

Nyhtwulf, with no fear of flames, landed on The Hearse’s hood, hoping to distract it from further damage. He gripped the section where the hood came near the windshield and tried to look through the darkened barrier. The Hearse abruptly stopped. Electrode kept fair distance while watching to see what Nyhtwulf could achieve.

“You serve our master, Lord Death,” The Hearse growled.

“I served. I am free with his blessing. Let’s stop this now. No more destruction is necessary.”

“Since you carry the blessing of Death, I will not kill you. I will not obey you either.” The Hearse sounded its horn again, throwing Nyhtwulf into the air. If the lupine Twilie Demons were ever considered to have a weakness, it would be intensity of sound.

Nyhtwulf caught himself in the air, but had to shake off dizzying effects. At that moment, a bright sword spun in through the air and bounced off the body of The Hearse. Lonestar’s longsword returned to his hand as he ran in to help his friends.

The Hearse spun and charged effortlessly at Lonestar. The Starknight jumped over the machines hood and brought his sword down on the windshield. To his surprise, he was thrown backwards hard and fast. His sword, blessed as it was, didn’t even leave a scratch. Lonestar landed hard on his back 30 yards away as The Hearse kept coming. This time it was Electrode’s turn to save a partner as he dashed in and moved Lonestar out of the way. As it passed, Blacktide unleashed a wave of disintegration energy that did absolutely nothing. Blacktide looked on in shock. Nothing had ever withstood his power like that before.

While all of that was going on, Dr. Vampire found Anubis.

“Are you seriously hurt?”

“Well, that sure hurt seriously, but I don’t know about seriously hurt,” Anubis gave a pained chuckle. “I’m headed back in to stop that thing.”

“I’m afraid we aren’t doing very well on that front. We’re only keeping its attention on trying to kill us. At least that keeps it from killing innocents.”

“Well, Doc, I may just have an idea.” After Anubis’s explanation, Doctor Vampire raced back toward the fight as fast as he could go.

Anubis lifted into the air and grit his teeth. He felt power and energy surge and launched himself back toward the mall. He flew right back through the tunnel his body created across the mall and back into the parking lot. As he flew past, he grabbed his lance out of the asphalt. He could see Electrode and Lonestar standing in the street with the Hearse preparing another charge. When he saw that Dr. Vampire had arrived to spread word of his plan, it was time to attack. Anubis held back his lance and glared hard at his target. He threw hard and the bladed lance streaked with the accuracy of a guided missile. The Hearse was charging as the lance hit home deep in the front right wheel well and into the ground at an angle.

The fact that The Hearse didn’t break his lance earlier wasn’t lost on Anubis. He realized that he needed a more precise point to stop the machine in its tracks. The Hearse’s front wheel halted against the lance and gouged a long line in the asphalt. Lonestar, whose own weapon was also blessed against destruction, took his cue to dodge to the other side. He thrust his sword into the opposite wheel well hard, and created another locking point for the Hearse. Electrode dashed behind it as it was stopped. With thousands of lightning strikes, he heated the asphalt around the back tires, hoping to lock the wheels in half molten tar. Doctor Vampire brought out a small device and flew up to the hood of the monster. It was a device made to return large artifacts to the museum. He slapped it down on the hood and was thrown back as it exploded. Nyhtwulf caught the Doctor and all of them stood, wondering what to do next.

“You cannot control me with your pathetic toys!” The Hearse roared. “Your weapons may be blessed, but the ground beneath me is not! You will not hold me long enough to save your lives!”

The Hearse began to shake back and forth, cracking the street under it and throwing chunks of asphalt in all directions.

Doctor Vampire turned to Nyhtwulf, “For what I’m about to do, I need you ready for me. I need you to be ready to strike me down.”

“What?” Nyhtwulf was stunned at such a request.

“Please just trust me, you will be the only one here who can without killing me.”

Doctor Vampire turned back to the Hearse, spread his arms and shouted; “Hearse of Death and Destruction, hear me! I, Doctor Vampire, a force of darkness, wish to prove myself worthy!”

The Hearse stopped cold and the heroes stared at Doctor Vampire in shock.

GZ Legends 35: Roadburner Pt 1

            The sheriff’s cruiser sat on the edge of a lonely Nevada highway. Deputy Morton opened a sugar packet and emptied its contents into a cup of coffee. As he stirred the coffee with the miniature straw, Deputy Morton took a deep breath and slowly blew it out in a release of boredom.

            “I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” Morton said to his partner.

            Deputy Caldwell stared through his window toward the black sky. “I know what you mean.”

            “People are going nuts. If this keeps up, I won’t be far behind them.”

            “You gotta hang in there. So do I.” Caldwell took a sip of his own coffee. “Besides, they manage this okay when it happens in Alaska, don’t they?”

            “Heck if I know. I’ve never been to Alaska. Hey. What is that? Do you feel that?”

            The cruiser trembled slightly.

            “Maybe we’re having a tremor,” Caldwell said.

            The trembling slowly increased to more of a consistent shudder. Keys jangled from the ignition and coffee sloshed from the cup holders. Outside, rocks and gravel danced on the ground. Both men knew what an earthquake was, but they had never heard one make such a strange sound. It started as a low droning noise, barely audible to the human ear. As the cruiser shook harder the sound increased in volume and pitch. Both men cried out and covered their ears.

            Something long sleek and black flew past them on that deserted highway. As it did, the windows of the cruiser exploded outward from the sonic barrage that seemed like the wail of a thousand tortured souls. Both men were left with their ears ringing as if they had been in a bomb blast. Their vision blurred and dizziness overcame them. They slumped unconscious with no clue what had just passed them in the night.

            A few hours later, the portal brought Anubis, Doctor Vampire, Electrode, Blacktide, Nyhtwulf and Lonestar to Las Vegas Boulevard. Even in perpetual night, the heart of Las Vegas glowed in lights. They might have taken time to enjoy the beauty if only it weren’t mixed with such carnage. What wasn’t lit by neon, glowed from vehicle fires. Cars were thrown aside in all directions as if a great freight train had smashed through with unyielding force. Fronts of buildings were caved in by thrown debris. People lay injured or dead on sidewalks and against walls. The cries of the wounded echoed in the air. Everything stank of smoke and death. Rescue personnel hurried to do all they could with the massive disaster.

Ahead of the heroes, they could see where the path of destruction met with a large casino, and continued through it unhindered. A tunnel with hanging debris went through the building and to the next one beyond.

None of them could deny the knots in their throats and stomachs at the sight of such death.

“This is the work of The Hearse,” Dr. Vampire informed them. “You are about to face an object of insatiable evil. Try to be prepared.”

“I just want to know how to hurt it!” Electrode said with mounting anger.

“You can’t. Our best hope is to capture it. That alone will be a deadly fight. First we need to find it.”

“It is a servant of Death,” Nyhtwulf said. “I can sense it in the direction of the path it made. It is a few miles from here.”

“I’ll scout for it then,” Electrode said. He vanished before Dr. Vampire could warn him not to approach it alone.

“I’ll fly out that direction and back him up,” Anubis said. “Nyhtwulf, you with me?”

“Go quickly,” Doctor Vampire said, “The Hearse can match Electrode’s speed; at least in a straight line.”

“I’m going to follow the path and help with some of the casualties,” Lonestar said.

“I’m coming with you on that,” Dr. Vampire said. “We’ll catch up as soon as we can.”

“Sounds like a plan, Doc!” Anubis flew off with Nyhtwulf right behind him.

"Well, I can't fly, so I guess I'm coming with you guys looking for survivors," Blacktide said.

Several miles away from the Boulevard, Electrode skidded to a halt at the edge of a mall parking lot. In his anger, he shimmered with electrical power, ready for a fight. When he saw that he had arrived only a second before the beastly machine, he didn’t know if he considered himself more lucky or horrified. The Hearse raced into the parking lot filled with cars like a driver on a suicide mission. Nothing the black machine hit served to slow it in any capacity. Impacted cars flew high into the air as The Hearse smashed through with all the effort of wind in dry leaves.

In Electrode’s shock, he almost didn’t realize The Hearse was about to go right through the wall of the mall. Hundreds of innocent people were about to die for the sake of a shopping trip. There was no time to wait for back up, and less time to ponder what to do. As Electrode shifted into top speed, only he and the machine were moving. Tossed cars, hadn’t even had the chance to drop from the air yet. While The Hearse moved at high velocity, its speed was still no match for Electrode.

As he ran in front of the death machine, with less than ten feet clearance from the wall; Electrode released a barrage of lightning all across the hood and windshield. Once clear of the thing’s path, Electrode halted and turned with hope that he somehow stopped it. To his surprise, The Hearse went into a skid and slammed sideways into the brick wall. A rain of debris toppled as the wall fell and buried the mystical monster underneath it.

For all of a second, there was silence that felt like eternity. When the engine roared, Electrode darted several more yards away to ready himself for whatever was about to happen. The engine rev was powerful enough to toss bricks aside and its bright headlights glared through the debris. It revved several more times and Electrode assumed it didn’t like being interrupted. At this time, more than any other so far, Electrode felt his heart pounding in his chest. He didn’t know why, but in spite of all the horrors he’d witnessed since the darkness, this one scared him the most.

As the tires made their screeching sound for an impending charge, Electrode almost held his breath. The debris exploded to all sides and The Hearse barreled forward. It sounded its horn that made Electrode’s ears burn in pain, bringing the speeder to his knees. The machine of death held no hesitation as it raged forward, intent on running down the Nuclear Electric Man.

NOTE: I realize after the fact that I did the Hearse two different ways. Which way do you think I should do it? Head lights like up top or the one at the bottom? Pitch in your vote and be signed up for the free stuff drawing! Be sure to let me know who you are on Facebook or Google+ in case you win!

Want to get caught up on this story? Start at the beginning with GZ Legends 1