Beacons in The Dark

Chapter 22 - The Thousandth Floor

"It's hard to go astray when you cannot even see the path." - unknown

His eyes felt like embers burning away through the back of his skull. He felt a lump in the side pocket of the black nanomesh pants, larger than a laz knife, ah, yes, a laz sword, more powerful but bulkier - much like the one he had seen earlier on his queer sojourn through Star City.

"Dead, me?" Blue said, standing in the doorway, his shoulders slumped over, his head cocked forward and his eyes glowering balefully at the council before him. "Whatever gave you the idea you could kill me without my permission?"

There was a gasp from Tylux, and Fortimus and Bast were up and running at Blue in an instant, Fortimus Yedno's body itself the weapon, the other obese councilor reaching into one of the sleeves of his robe and pulling out a rod, one which quickly snapped and sprang out until he had a full sized two handed warhammer with red glowing energy surrounding the head of it. 

Fortimus was the slow one, for Bast, despite his size, moved with phenomenal augmented speed, and was the first to reach the Loremaster. His warhammer swiped horizontally at the little man, veins of anger and hate protruding from the bald councilor's face. 

"You die!"

Blue dove to the side, the weapon's head missing him by an inch, the energy field surrounding it charring his left side painfully, but not critically. Coming up to his feet, he sprinted towards Fortimus, who had his hands up and locked in a hammer maneuver that would crush Blue, flexbone or not, to a pulp.

He jumped into the air, his legs kicking into Fortimus's chest, and hurling himself away from the prodigious strength and directly back towards Mori Bast, still in the air. His hand came out of his pocket and the bulky handhold of the laz sword slammed directly into Bast's forehead, sending the man tumbling backwards a few steps, his warhammer smacking the carpeted floor, which blew a dent into the amantium floor underneath.

Depressing the activator button on the black handled grip, a red swath of greenish fire shot from the  device, looking like a three foot long kukri, straight up for a length and then bulbous and curved viciously forward at the end, a weapon best used for chopping.

Spinning on his heels, he intercepted Fortimus's hammerblow, knees buckling beneath the tremendous pressure, but holding.

Blue had never felt such stamina and rage coursing through his blades, the cyborg's polysteel arms and the laz sword sparked, each daring the other to give an inch. Suddenly, with a sickening crunch, the two metallic hands bent upwards, the grasped fingers shearing apart, a sudden cry from Fortimus as a quick cross chop from Blue clove his right leg from his body, black oil and purple plasmic fluid gushing from the wound as he fell to the floor.

Jenette Bank was looking for any other way out of the council chamber, while Tylux was fumbling with a laser pistol, wondering how to activate and aim the thing. His antennae could feel the molecular vibrations emanating from Blue, like he was thunder running amok in the room.

The sound of a cracked eggshell reverberated as Blue's boot stomped down through the flesh and metal head of Fortimus, destroying the brain canister inside - gray matter squelching as he turned back to Bast, who was just lifting his warhammer again.

Fear was etched in dark lines across his face, because for all of his augmented speed, this formerly dead man had sprang from one foe, knocked another back, amputated, and killed Fortimus in less than a second. 

What had they awoken inside the Loremaster?