Krampus worked carefully at his station. The ruby was now three parts, all the shards were combined to these three. He used special tools to push two of the sections together. When they met, the blending process began and the cracks between them slowly sealed.
“How goes the battle?” Krampus asked.
Chase, standing at the monitor, watched dozens of videos. “They have taken down most of the enemies. I think only that big serpent remains, and he’s not going down.”
Krampus chuckled, “Midgardsormr at his fullest strength is more than a match for Earth’s heroes. They should have sealed him away long ago.”
Chase looked back at him with a timid worry on her face. “But... they will stop him?”
“I don’t know, I don’t care. If they fail to bring him down, she will.” He nodded toward Strange Quark.
Chase was about to respond to that when she caught the mistake. “She?”
Krampus didn’t respond to that. He merely held out his claw and his sack flew over to him. “It is almost ready. Keep your eyes on that battle. I want this done while they are still fighting.”
Chase turned back and watched the monitor. The heroes were teaming up on the giant serpent.
Furious Squirrel used a pair of blasters to shoot at Midgard from the ground. He slid under a swoop of a giant tail and then threw a snaring rope at the monster’s arm. The rope wrapped Midgard’s wrist and then two powerful magnets stuck his right arm to the ground. Midgard roared and swiped at Furious with his left hand.
Krystal Fae blasted Midgard’s wrist, causing it to miss Furious by a few inches. She then pushed both hands down and used that same magic to hold Midgard’s left hand in place. Other heroes fired at him and threw objects at his head.
Fiero led a team of telepathic heroes to the roof of a building. Several heroes with telekinetic powers flew by, taking up positions near the raging serpent.
“Ground team, you ready?” She spoke into her communicator.
Kid Chaos answered, “We’re ready. Better get this show on the road, I don’t know how long the others can hold him.”
Fiero tapped a new command and then spoke so that every communicator in range could hear. “GO!”
All the psychic heroes blasted Midgard in the head with their unified attack. The one thought conveyed was to suppress the alien power controlling him. For a moment he stopped writhing and looked like he was coming around. However, at the wrong moment, he freed his right hand, hit Krystal with a well-placed strike, and then slapped five heroes out of the air. Two flung right into the group of psychic heroes. The distraction was too much, and their attempt failed.
Kid Chaos’s voice came through to Fiero. “It didn’t work. He stopped us too soon.”
“We can’t do it.” Fiero admitted. “I saw his mind. This isn’t entirely the foreign power in him. This has tapped that dangerous part of him. We have to beat him down further.”
“We... AHH!” Kid Chaos and his team had to run when two buses sailed toward them. He came back through, huffing as he ran. “We.. can’t... he’s too... strong. We... might have to... destroy him...”
“That may not be possible.” Fiero admitted.
Chase watched this battle, her heart in her throat. She did not understand what they were doing, but she knew it was a failure. If Midgard wins this battle, he won’t stop with Tokyo. She wanted to do something, to go help, to warn BADGE, but she didn’t have the ability to do this. One wrong move and Krampus will end her right there.
There came that thumping again. Under the floor, something was fighting hard. She had been hearing this for some time. Krampus refused to explain what was down there. But she knew it had to be important. He had gone down there when they first arrived and prepared… whatever this was.
Turning away from the monitors, she causally walked down the computers and examined them like she was strolling through the park looking at flowers. When she happened upon the schematics of the base, she took a moment to check all the cameras. The last image was that of a cave with artificial lights planted in the rock. A creature slithered under the ground, flailing around, slamming into the walls and the metal ceiling. There were small devices emitting an energy net over the room. Chase had seen these before, back when she last broke into BADGE’s main vault. Arcane suppressors.
“What are you doing? How goes the battle!” Krampus looked at her.
She turned, her heart racing. “Oh, it’s still raging as you planned. Nothing new to report. Don’t worry, if it ends or something big happens, I’ll let you know.”
“See that you do.” He held the remaining two parts of the whole ruby and put them inside his sack. Then he continued working with his head and arms inside the sack.
With him covered, this gave her an opportunity. She tried the authorization code he had given her, but it didn’t turn off the suppressors. With a trembling gulp, she checked the systems down there and traced the power back to the main junction on the second floor. It was her only hope, and she wasn’t even sure if this would do anything to stop Midgardsormr or Krampus. She flicked a switch, put in the code, and the power on two levels shut down, including all the power to the cave. The camera stopped sending the signal, and the thumping stopped.
“IT’S DONE!” Krampus called out as he sat back.
Chase turned, terrified of what he was about to do to her for what she had just done. Yet, he was thrilled. A red beam of light burst from inside the bag, making a strange noise. He grabbed it quickly and tied it shut.
At the same time, outside, the nearby volcano erupted with a small spout of fire and smoke as a Dragon blasted upward into the sky.
“What was that?” Krampus looked around.
Chase, failing to appear casual, said, “how..how should I know?”
Krampus glared at her, “what have you done?”
“Nothing.” She stepped back, palming a blade hidden inside her sleeve.
He was nearly on her when he looked up at the screens, a rage filling his eyes. “What! THIS ISN’T POSSIBLE!”
Midgardsormr tore through downtown Tokyo, wrecking every building he got near. Heroes attempted to mitigate his destruction by fighting him, but it was a futile battle. Some heroes had used their fullest strength, bent on killing this creature. Some remained hopeful they could subdue him and bring him to his senses. Both sides were losing the battle.
Shinobi landed on a rooftop near Fiero and Krystal. “We can’t stop him. He’s getting stronger.”
Fiero said, “His mind is more shadowed than the others. Whatever was done to mess with them was three times as strong on Midgard.”
Krystal added, “added to that is his already volatile temperament.”
Shinobi readied his blades, “we will have to take him down, if possible. I... what is that?”
They all looked up to see a Dragon flying toward Midgard. Five balls of magical fire were unleashed and plowed into the serpent. Midgard stumbled back and then roared. As he was about to grab something to throw at the dragon, it slammed him in the chest and pushed him back two city blocks.
“Maleficent!” Krystal gasped.
“Who?” Fiero and Shinobi said.
Krystal laughed, “The Wizard has a pet dragon... or really, he’s her pet most of the time. Anyway, that’s her. If anything can go toe to toe with Midgard, it’s Maleficent. And, by the looks of it, she’s pissed.”
Shinobi clicked on his communicator. “HEROES! HELP THE DRAGON, GET MIDGARD DOWN.”
Fiero clicked her communicator, “Psychic heroes, get ready. We might have one more chance at this.”
Maleficent and Midgardsormr fought an epic battle of magic and might. Maleficent’s power and pure rage matched Midgard’s fury and power. He threw her into a building; she slammed him into a bridge. With one well-placed attack, Maleficent got Midgard by the arm and threw him over and slammed him face first into the pavement of a street. Dozens of heroes blasted him. Several used sticky substances to glue his hands down. One wrapped her entire body around his neck and squeezed. Maleficent slammed hard against his back. Finally, after all the punishment, Midgard began to fade.
Fiero and the team of Psychic heroes launched their mental attack one more time. For a moment, Midgard lashed about in resistance. However, this time, he could not fight back. His eyes closed, and he fell asleep. Finally, his body shrank back to the human size he normally attained and a special set of the arcane cuffs were slapped on him.
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