27th December 2004
22:20 GMT -5
I-
Wall!
-
just about keep my grip on the Sword of the Fallen, but my construct needler and supply of needles are gone. No immediate follow-.
I see the gun muzzle and
interpose a construct shield just before it fires, energy washing over it. The shield
survives, but it's so heavily abraded that I abandon the construct as the gun retreats.
Would Kanto keep attacking if I killed Grayven? Can't really see the New God of Assassins
stopping just because his sponsor is killed. On the other hand…
Is he the New God of Assassins? I shouldn't assume that just because he's a New God who works as an assassin. He might well be God of Intrigue or something and Darkseid found him most useful as an assassin. If
that's true, he wouldn't kill me unless there was some sort of payoff for doing so.
Grayven 50 is still standing, but there's a slight shaking in the damaged parts of his armour that suggests to me that it's taking an effort for him to maintain the front. Rayner is fighting the handful of Dog Soldiers who came through the boom tube before Scott shut it down while Barda and Stompa are whaling on each other with abandon, blood seeping from a dozen wounds on each. Scott and Doctor Impossible are.. dancing around one another
, although I dimly get the impression that there's more going on than that.
Lashina has made her way over to the injured Grayven, her son floating protectively above them. Looks like they've made a few alterations to his helmet. I suppose that even in times of hardship the elite can generally get hold of what they need in order to remain effective.
"Lashina. Apokolips is a dung heap. I will offer you and your son sanctuary and a
far higher quality of life than you presently receive if you'll step aside."
Majestic Generosity.
"You.. killed Granny."
"I think
he-" I point to Grayven. "-got in there ahead of me."
I remember in the comics that
Parademon rather liked being tortured by Granny Goodness, and slept better after being seriously hurt than he did usually. With both Darkseid and Granny Goodness dead, Lashina… Probably doesn't know what she's supposed to be doing.
"There's no one to tell me what to do anymore."
I glance at Bernadeth. "Except Bernadeth, Desaad and… Kalibak? Look, even if you win… How do you benefit? You get the same position under Grayven that you had under Darkseid, only he's
far weaker. The gordanians won't follow you, I doubt that you have the knowledge to control or repair this ship. Be
sensible." I spread out my hands. "Heck." I toss Granny Goodness's Mother Box to her. "Feel free to just take off. Go somewhere nice."
"Ping."
"I…"
"Lashina." Grayven 50 pulls himself to his feet, left eye managing a weak and sporadic glow. "Obey me or be unmade."
I Command Here!
The response is immediate and obvious. Lashina attaches the Mother Box to her… Belt-thing, then adopts a combat pose. "Kill him, my son."
I
generate a reflective shield just in time to catch his heat vision, the thin line of wavering air bouncing off and striking Lashina's right shoulder. She winces and sidesteps to avoid it, but doesn't cry out or otherwise react. But I know what's coming next.
Inertia shield. The boy spots what I'm doing an instant later and cuts it out-.
And he's in my face again, punching-! The shield soaks it again, but this time he's not committing to individual strikes so much and his hand doesn't get caught. Just a volley-.
There's a flicker of red from behind him and I throw out my legs, falling onto my arse as the omega beam blasts into the wall just above me. The boy kicks at my head but he's sufficiently distracted that I'm able to catch hold of his leg with my right hand. I grip it as tightly as I can but some combination of the armour and his innate toughness means that my grip doesn't do any damage. I get my feet back under me as he attempts to use his innate flight to loosen my hold.
Not a good plan: experience tells me that he'd do better manually prying my fingers off. I use the opportunity to exert myself and
smash him into the deck. Then
stamp-.
Darn, he dodged! He kicks my left leg-. Ow, armour holds, but he's strong enough to hurt me anyway. How do-? Air, his armour doesn't have an air supply. Purification filters?
Gold kryptonite dust, transmute it. He kicks again, and my leg goes out from under me. I don't fall thanks to my rings, but it's-.
Ur
agh! Do-wd! Nugh!
R-
right!
Cold zone! Let's see how well
insulated that armou-!
The kryptonian stops, falling to the floor a short distance away from me, a film of hoarfrost covering his left side. I-.
Shit, how do I breach his armour? My daiklave is.. over
there, there's-.
I
snatch a dart and
stab it into the jaw area of his helmet. It penetrates, and I see a small amount of blood-.
More gold kryptonite!
Gold kryptonite laser!
"
No!"
Lashina darts towards me and I take a step back, dismissing my constructs. "He'll be fine. I don't like killing children.
Yield."
She slows to a stop next to her son, her
eyes darting from me to him and back again. Then she picks him up and flees.
"O
kay." I float slowly towards Grayven 50. The flesh on my face is now just about covering all of the bone, there's a wobbliness in my left leg which suggests that the bone's broken and I think I'll wait until my torso is healed up before returning to the Mountain-. Before confirming Sunset's death. "That it?"
His eyes are both flickering now. I think that cold beam did more damage than I was expecting.
"No."
"There's always another layer."
"Desaad as we-?"
There's a flare of light as the palm of my left hand evaporates in a blast of radion.
Mmmm! My fingers and my ring drop to the deck and then the muzzle appears in front of my face.
"Humans know how to
resurrect your wife."
The tube aperture moves backwards revealing the lithe form of Kanto, his gun pointed carefully at my head. "I doubt that."
"Lazarus Pits, cloning combined with a séance, there are plenty of ways to manage it. I'll help you if you help me. She was killed by your predecessor, wasn't she? By an essentially conventional weapon? What has my alter ego even offered you?"
"A return to normalcy on Apokolips."
"I'm pretty sure I can match that."
"Impress me."
"An alliance of convenience until it is no longer convenient."
He vanishes again, taking his gun with him. Fine. I'll need to cut off my stump later so it will regenerate, but I can function like this. I
call the ring to my right hand instead, then look at Grayven.
"And now?"
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
