Thread:FleetCaptainT/@comment-27324808-20170509192330

Forty-four

Rubbing his head, Intrepid got up looked around the new room. Here the stalactites glowed with Maelstrom and a light fog emanated from the floor. The entire room was hewn from Maelstrom Ore; now this was a mine. It was completely accidental, but acceptable, that he’d landed in it.

   He checked the vial for damage. It was unharmed, thankfully, for the mission’s sake. Intrepid tensed up loading the vial into a multipurpose blaster, a gun which he aimed at, well, the wall. Maelstrom ore was everywhere and linked to everywhere so anywhere would hit home. The antitoxin would shred the Maelstrom’s interdimensional transport from the inside, and kill any Stromling within the fog’s influence. Those connected only telepathically, the smallest degree and ‘normal’ level of Maelstrom interconnection, would still be effected. Stronger bosses would survive, but every Stromling-sized creature would die.

   Intrepid could not squeeze out his anxiety. This would kill Evelyne. Somehow their group of twenty plus had been whittled to eight, then four, and now him. He had to be the one to save his universe.

   Intrepid breathed deeply.

   He put his finger on the trigger but he couldn’t pull it. He could not kill Evelyne.

   Something growled elsewhere and Intrepid swung around to see a Stromling in the far corner, its blade-arm raised menacingly. In response Intrepid reflexively shot the Stromling clean in the chest, and it staggered to the ground, dead but not yet smashed.

   Intrepid’s chest heaved. He’d shot it with the antitoxin. He checked the clip, half a dose remained. He shook his head.

“I love you Evelyne.” Intrepid whispered. He turned and aimed the gun to a hollowed, perforated area in the rock wall where a high concentration Maelstrom ore glowed from within.

   He returned his finger to the trigger. He was about to fire when something growled nearby, closer than the last time.

   Intrepid turned around again. The Stromling he’d shot dead was back on its feet again, but now it had grown in height, stature, and danger. Spikes protruded from its spine and ribcage, its shoulders had widened and its arms thickened. Its blade-arm had morphed into a deadly curved cleaver, serrated and sharp.

“What the brick?” Intrepid threw the gun to the side and leaped in the other direction as the Stromling brought its other hand down, catching him and flinging him into the wall. He hit the rock headfirst with a loud crack, the impact silenced his ears and blacked out his vision for a few seconds.

   When he came to Intrepid got a closer look at the menacing Stromling. It reached down and yanked him to this feet, hoisting him by his neck which had the inadvertent effect of squeezing more blood into his brain, increasing his alertness. Then the Stromling prepared to smash him with the sharp edge of its blade.

   In that instant Intrepid equipped his Elite Longsword and pressed it to his body’s side, so the Stromling’s blade struck the metal and he was punted from its grasp to the other wall, but this time he rolled to his feet with only minor scuffing.

   He swung his multipurpose blaster back out and set it to bullet mode, then squeezed a series of piercing spreads that tore through the Menacer’s overgrown Stromling body. For its size and strength, it was still a Stromling with Stromling weaknesses, a lack of armor or smarts.

   Intrepid aimed slightly upwards and blew the Menacer’s head off. Then it fell and smashed for good.

   Then he raised the Paradox Antitoxin and smashed it in his fist. He threw the glass to the floor.

   It was a ruse. He had been tricked, set up.

   He heard the rush of a Transdimensional Rift opening and closing behind him.

   And he had been trapped.

   Intrepid turned around to face the girl who’d distributed to him and his teammates what was supposed to be the weapon to end the war and save the universe. The Menacing Stromling was evidence of betrayal; that, and the fact that she’d teleported in without becoming infected.

   One does not become what they already are.

“Run into a problem?” Red asked, eyeing the glass shards on the ground between them. Her eyes darted up when Intrepid leveled the Longsword at her.

“You’re not Red.” Intrepid stated. “Not my Red.”

   Her curt lips parted into a sly smile. “How do you figure that, Intrepid?” she asked, maintaining eye contact.

“Real Red doesn’t smile as liberally.” Intrepid huffed, while mentally preparing himself for a fight. She could attack from any direction. With a shield deployed he might be able to last long enough to counterattack. “You’re too happy.” he continued. “You didn’t think I’d know my own blood?”

“But you didn’t.” evil Red laughed haughtily. “Not in time to save yourself from this elaborate plot of the First Darkitect’s.”

“Bio-weapons field testing.” Intrepid said of the ‘Antitoxin,’ which had the better effect of being a steroid for Stromlings. This Red was cocky, and quite talkative. He mustered as much of his limited Imagination as he could into the Shield of Shielding in his backpack.

“Also to capture three more Nexus Figures for the Darkitect to absorb into his power.” The evil Red grinned evilly. “With each zenith of Creative Imagination corrupted, chaotic energy is distributed to our unverse breachers and hundreds more dimensions enter the reach of our influence. Soon, we will cross the divide to other universes.”

“If you destroy unverse all of reality will disappear.” Intrepid warned. “Even the Darkitect will die.”

“Not necessarily,” she batted a hand at the air like it was a problem of minuscule concern.. “I wouldn’t consider it beyond the Darkitect to survive where others cannot, but for the sake of having a world to rule over, the smartest of you may be repurposed to solve our small Unverse-longevity problem. As for the rest of you,”

   She took a step forward and Intrepid pointed the sword at the Leek Works logo on her chest. She pretended not to notice, because she advanced another step.

“It’s in my discretion whether you live or die.” She cocked her head. “I’ll let you know I’ve killed you before, so don’t try begging for mercy. You’re no better as a Stromling than any other infected. Therefore you will die, an individual unnecessary to the master plan.”

   Intrepid didn’t dare blink or shake his head. Every muscle in his body threatened to quake as he held his ground. He let her make the first move. As he expected evil Red disappeared into another Unverse rift, no doubt about to attack. He activated his Shield.

   The blue sphere saved him from a hail fire of bullets above his head, then a flying kick breached his shield. He feigned being caught off guard and allowed her boots to strike them. He was sent sprawling to ground.

“The others resisted better.” His face on the ground, Intrepid saw Evil Red approach and heard the preliminary charge-up of a blaster. Then he dove forwards and speedboosted straight for her. The blaster fired early and struck him in the shoulder, but he was too fast to be stopped.

   He would have body slammed his opponent if she’d not displaced herself to avoid the impact, but he still had his unverse manipulator and with it he entered an unverse rift of his own, right behind her. Immediately he felt the effects of the Maelstrom’s inundation in this unverse, he had to get out quickly to not be infected. In the extradimensional void between spaces he found Evil Red’s presence and mentally locked onto her. With an esoteric tug he yanked her out with him.

   They reappeared out the other side of his rift with Intrepid tackling evil Red to the ground. He hadn’t been exposed to the corrupted unverse long enough to for an infection to take hold, but its effect on evil Red was revealing. Her Leek Works disguise had degraded to typical ragged Stromling garb. Her face, hair, and limbs were mottled with infection spots, and she had a blade-arm that sliced into his left wrist.

   Intrepid screamed but couldn’t let go, so she could not escape. With his other hand he couldn’t reach the blaster on his hip, so he fumbled for the hilt of her blaster instead. He yanked it from its holster and aimed it underneath him, then he squeezed the trigger, hitting its target point-blank. Evil Red was no more.

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