Sakkara

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TEN YEARS EARLIER… (#ulink_97cfef38-85be-50e3-a076-4d860d110a20)

THE LARGE-CALIBRE bullets slammed into Paragon’s armoured chest and knocked him to the ground. He scrambled forward, took hold of Quantum’s arm and dragged him back to the shelter of the fallen tree.

“You hit?” Paragon asked.

No answer. Quantum was barely conscious, his eyes rolling, but otherwise appeared uninjured.

Paragon checked his friend’s pulse. It was strong but erratic. “Come on, man! You’ve got to stay awake!”

A voice came over his communicator. It was Josh Dalton, a member of The High Command. “We’ve got Dioxin,” Josh said. “Energy was right – the girl was able to stop him. We’ve handed him over to the marines.”

Titan’s voice said, “Are you nuts? What could the marines do to stop Dioxin? The man’s a walking acid factory!”

“True, but he’s not bullet-proof. They could shoot him in the head.”

“Enough chatter!” Paragon said. “Josh, get back here ASAP. We need to take out that tank!”

Titan yelled, “We can’t make a dent in it, Paragon! You’re the mechanical genius; any ideas on how we can stop it?”

“Find a weak spot,” Paragon replied.

“We’ve tried. Can’t find one.”

“Then we’re going to have to make a weak spot! Someone cover me – I’m going in!” Paragon activated his jetpack and soared towards Ragnarök’s battle-tank, zooming low over the ground.

Ahead, close to the hundred-metre-long machine, Paragon could see the arcs of lightning issuing from Energy’s floating body. The gun turrets on the battle-tank were firing at her, but somehow Energy remained unharmed.

Then Paragon noticed a pale blue blur zipping through the air around Energy: before the bullets could reach her, Titan was stopping them. Possibly even catching them.

Another volley of gunfire from the tank ripped into Paragon’s chest plate, knocking him off balance. He zoomed up, out of the line of fire, and activated his communicator. “All right, people…This is what we’re going to do. We need to tear a hole in that tank’s armour and get Titan inside. Energy? I’m going to take out its main cannon – you just keep me covered and Titan will cover you!”

Paragon zoomed towards the battle-tank, its heavy gun turrets swinging in his direction. Missiles and plasma bolts streaked towards him, vaporised by Energy’s powerful bolts of lightning.

He dodged left, then right, as the tank’s twin flamethrowers scorched the air around him, then tucked his feet up just as he crested the rear of the tank’s hull, the toes of his boots brushing the roof of a small jet-like pod.

There! That’s the one! Fires in twenty-second bursts, then a gap of eight seconds before firing again. He pulled his last grenade from his belt and set down on the roof of the tank next to the powerful turret. This close, few of the tank’s weapons could target him without hitting each other.

The cannon let loose with another deafening volley and Paragon counted down: Three. Two. One. The firing stopped. He rushed around the cannon towards the barrel, its heat blistering his skin even through his armour. He activated the grenade, dropped it down the barrel, then hit his jetpack’s afterburners, pulling himself from the tank as fast as possible.

Energy allowed herself a quick glance at the battle-tank as its cannon exploded, then refocussed her concentration.

All around her, she could feel the energy from the tank’s plasma bolts, the heat radiating from its engines, the light from the midday sun, even the kinetic energy from the tank’s weapons. She concentrated, channelling that energy into herself, converting it, letting it stream back out of her in the form of lightning, aimed at the ragged tear in the hull where the cannon had been.

“Come on!” she muttered through clenched teeth. “Burn!”

She sensed a sudden shift in the ambient energy levels around her. “I’m almost through!” she shouted to Titan. “It’s starting to melt!”

Energy allowed herself to float closer to the tank. From here, she could feel the heat radiating from the white-hot metal – she absorbed that heat and converted it back into lightning.

“You did it!” Titan shouted. “Get to safety! Now!”

“No, you need someone to cover you!”

Then she felt Titan’s strong hands gripping her arms, throwing her straight up into the air.

Still soaring, Energy spun about, watched as Titan rocketed towards the battle-tank and crashed his way through the weakened hull.

Seconds later, everything went cold.

A voice screamed through Paragon’s headset. “Somebody help me! I can’t fly! I’m falling!”

Paragon looked around quickly, then spotted Energy far above, tumbling down through the air.

He angled towards her and surged through the air. “Spread your arms and legs out!” he yelled. “Try to slow your descent!”

Can’t slam right into her! Got to match her speed!

He arched high into the air, above Energy’s position, then flipped over and dived head-first for the ground. He could see the ground rapidly approaching, and put on another burst of speed. I’m not going to make it! No time to be subtle about this! “Grab the line!” he shouted.

Paragon aimed his suit’s grappling gun and fired. Energy spun about and grabbed hold of the thin cable as it shot past her.

Paragon set his jetpack to hover, then reeled in the cable, slowing Energy’s descent. She’s still going to hit the ground, but she’ll live.

Energy landed feet first, tumbled once, then collapsed. Paragon dropped down next to her. “Are you OK?”

“No. I…I don’t know what happened! It was like everything was just turned off! My power…It’s gone!”