Tak looked over the readings. “Destruction has been successfully localized to the temple grounds. Depth reading nine thousand feet of penetration of the crust. Hopefully that shatter…” she paused and double checked her display and her tone became frantic, “I’m confirming two life forms at the center of the crater, one of which is overflowing with energy. The meteor survived the blast as well.”
She tried to get the status of the emitters but all of them except the ones on Pine’s armor had been devastated. Gavin swore over the comms and Anisa spoke up, “Alright, so we can’t nuke him from space without destroying the entire planet. Sounds to me like we need to try a more personal touch.”
Katsi set the autopilot and chimed in, “We could try a few mechanical solutions too. Working with Dean helped me develop some new ideas on resonance and-“
Sai cut her off, “There is nothing about resonance that I don’t know. Trust me, breaking his will or getting him to let go of the power willingly.”
Tak nodded, “I have thousands of years of life experiences. I agree that mind games would have a better effect with what we have on hand. I guess we need to leave the heavy lifting on that to our three most inspirational talkers. I’ll change the output of the cannon to saturate the area as best I can. Gavin might have to hang back but I’ll send a message to Dean and hopefully we can get Cosmic Patrol here soon.”
——————
Katsi sat dismayed at the console. “You simply allow them to dismiss you?” She jolted and turned in surprise to see Gavin’s ex-girlfriend. “Are you not an inventor?”
Katsi laughed, “I mean, I used to build my own stuff but I wasn’t a scientist. I was just working with what I was given. We are kind of out of my expertise. Dean taught me some stuff but-“
Reijaa hissed to silence her and spoke firmly, “Your lack of experience does not dismiss your insight. Allow no one to silence you or belittle you. There is no shame in brilliance.” Katsi smiled at the reassurance but was surprised when the woman insisted, “Speak now. What were your intentions. I will help you see them through.”
Katsi cleared her throat and began explaining her idea as the ship made its way back to the impact crater.
——————
Heais withdrew the crimson curtain as the terrain around them steamed and smoked, the crust of the planet rendered to glass in moments, the ground they had been standing on mere moments ago cracked and broken from the pressure. Heais sighed, “I am sorry for that, Leithan. These heroic sorts tend to try too hard to crush the hopes of the differently moral.” He adjusted his collar as he saw them circle back around, “She sends her regards. She said you would know who I was referring to.” When Master Phoenix nodded slowly, he continued, “I don’t see any reason why you and I can’t do business. You have just been doing your job and I’ve been doing mine. We both understand the necessity of my job.”
He hesitated and replied slowly, “My distaste for your methods is immense, but you aren’t wrong.”
Heais laughed, “Yeah, I hated them too, but that’s the cost of business. Or it was. Now? With this? I don’t have to keep a lock grip on power. I can just do business. Just like I always wanted.”
“That’s actually my problem. A man should have a code. But… my usual contact will reach out later. Negotiate it with them.” As the ship arrived and the ramp dropped, Zora and the green machine arrived. The true Alabaster dropped down as the debris seemed to tint the sun, a golden light covering the area. But Master Phoenix could feel it was more than that. Prismatic manipulation of their power source for saturation. They failed to see. Abusing artificial emotions. He wondered and he pondered and before they spoke, he dispelled their illusions. His hand shone with golden light before he waved it and their fake curtain of love was pulled away, bending into a dome around them, golden chains holding the light back over the crater.
Zora looked around in surprise, but the robot didn’t blink, speaking with confidence, “Heais! You have been played. That woman is an agent of despair. I know from experience that whatever she offered you was bait, manipulating you to her own ends. She is the predator and she will never fear you!”
Heais laughed as he nodded, “I agree. I can’t even recall what she took as payment, but I don’t know how much I care. She got her pound of flesh. She has nothing left to take from me.”
Zora pointed at him and announced, “People like that are never so simple and clean. They will haunt your every step, stalking you through every nightmare and bad dream.”
Were they ignoring him? He robbed them of their little trick and they were ignoring him. Maybe it was best this way. Despite himself, he couldn’t shake it. While it was his love and mercy holding back their foolish abuse of energy they didn’t understand, his burning will wouldn’t allow him to simply fade into the background. “Green one! This one will be coming with me. If you want another lesson in why a true warrior will always best an artificial one, I’ll be more than happy to humor your foolishness.” His Crimson flames burned bright along his armor while Heais seemed emboldened as well.
The emerald replica motioned the others to stand back. “You guys work over Heais. This jackass is mine.”
The Emperor stated firmly, “No. Mr. Tun will be leaving.” The Emperor placed a hand on Heais, engulfing him in crimson flame and making him vanish. “As for you, I can imagine how a series of clumsy children like you would like to end this. That means the safest place for me is as close to you all as possible.”
Sai tried to blitz him, but he avoided the blow in the same way he had before, striking from seemingly thin air at Zora, knocking her to the ground as he reappeared in flames. Sai shone brighter as he tried again to blitz The Emperor, but was again at a loss when he vanished again, this time striking Alabaster so hard it shattered his left arm. Sai’s temper began to flare, the evil general laughing at his attempts to stop him. When The Emperor motioned him to come confront him, Sai could feel the engine in this body running at maximum force. He could feel his sense of Justice pushing his body to act. The Emperor taunted, “When the Cosmic Patrol comes to drag away your pathetic hides for sowing chaos, I’m going to enjoy stamping the paperwork myself.”
That was the last straw. Sai could feel this artificial body burning itself out but he needed to defeat this man. For the good of all that yearn for peace. For every life he has ended and damaged. For every ounce of despair he has introduced to the world. Even if this body burned out, he should be anchored by the Phoenixian Crystal. He should survive. So he will defeat this monster. He jumped high into the air. He dove in with a flying kick that shone with the power of pure justice. His enemy answered with a rising kick, courageously facing his power head on. In that moment the world was enveloped in a pillar of pure white, spiral flames of green and red chasing it into the sky. A pillar so powerful it rocked the Ziegfried a little as it departed into space.
Tak looked at her readings, terrified for her friends just to find a more concerning reading taking hold. The light wasn’t just dissipating. In the local area near the blast, it was being absorbed. Checking her readings she was surprised what she heard. “That was close. Don’t worry, Tak. Created a compressor with the tools on hand.”
She faintly heard in the background, the hissing voice of Reijaa, “Kat saved your friends.”
Tak leaned forward to double check the status when Sai’s voice came from the console, “She needs to stop running that right now. The Emperor and I had a cross flow occur. There is no telling what that kind of upheaval paired with harvesting will do. My drone was destroyed by the blast. But the others were attacked by him.”
Tak froze as she saw what ship was returning to the blast site and the voice shouting a speech over Katsi’s comm. The Falos had doubled back to finish the job, Lady Unicorn finally having found her moment.
