Antithesis pt8 - Scar the Earth part 1

Hazy light came to Dexter's eyes. His whole body was numb, as though floating in cloud. The sound in his ears echoed distantly, never quite managing to make sense. And there she was. He blinked, hoping his vision would clear. It wouldn't. His arm wouldn't move as he tried to check if his glasses were on straight. She approached and he could hear her voice. He tried to call back to his angel in the clouds.

"Blossom...!" he tried to shout, but his voice was a faraway murmur.

Still she drew closer, her chestnut hair ringed by the glaring white light, her face in silhouette. Her voice grew stronger; nearer. She was calling his name. Her hand was reaching out.

"Save... you..." Dexter moaned, still unable to hear his own words. Out came her hand. Closer. Closer. He wanted to reach it, seize it and float off into the light forever. Their arguments would be forgotten, any sins against each other absolved. The world beneath the clouds could burn in Sigma fire, for all he cared. If he had Blossom by his side, he knew his life had achieved meaning.

Her hand was inches from his face, peach fingertips ready to stroke his hair and rustle it playfully. It was already a mess, he knew. A little more wouldn't hurt. He imagined her hands caressing his cheeks as she leaned in, whispering her thanks for keeping her safe and reuniting them and how she was sorry for losing her cool with him. He'd tell her back that all was forgiven, and that everything was ok now.

He called her name one more time. And the hand moved.

Fast.

WHACK

Dexter yelped in pain and surprise, his vision clearing and his head utterly throbbing. He sat up, not cloud but cold steel floor beneath his backside. The cosmic light above became distant globes set high in a cathedral-like ceiling. And Blossom was-

"I TOLD you not to call me that!" Berserk yelled, hands on hips, making Dexter's head ring even harder.

Dexter brought a hand to his cheek, one of two places that stung viciously. The cold air of Drax's gothic laboratory made it ache harder, "You SLAPPED me?"

"You were calling out 'Blossom, Blossom' in some sort of weird trance. When the portal-thing spat you out you must have been knocked loopy or something." Berserk huffed, crossing her arms, "Guess you didn't get the job done, huh?"

Dexter glanced around as it all flooded back. That's right - Drax's lab. The other side of the dimension gate. Thrown back against his will after Drax outmaneuvered him. Drax had threatened to close the portals down, too. No way back. But before he was sucked from his own world, he'd managed to grab...!

Dexter began glancing around frantically as Berserk shuffled awkwardly. The Powerpunk didn't want to look at the boy genius direct, "You're a doofus, but... I'm glad you're still alive."

Dexter scampered to his feet, "No fun slapping a corpse."

Berserk stifled a chuckle, "Not from what Brute tells me."

"Delightful."

Dexter found it, laying on its side some twenty feet away. The inconspicuous backpack, a dull brownish-grey, with the lettered tag on the side: the one thing he'd managed to bring through with him. As he dashed toward it, his head throbbed again. This time it was higher up on his skull and he stumbled. He brought his gloved hand to where it hurt and then called out in pain.

Berserk was by his side instantly. Her face showed concern - something he hadn't expected. He went to touch the sore spot again and she grabbed his arm, not roughly but fast enough to stop the motion dead. Her crimson eyes flashed with an almost motherly warning. He'd seen the same in Blossom's lighter eyes when she was worried for him. Messy hair and strange clothes aside, for a moment Dexter thought he was staring at her again.

Berserk's voice was soft, "You're bleeding."

Dexter shook his head, "What? How?"

Berserk glanced at the fallen backpack, "That came through with you. I think it hit your head. Looks heavy - what's in it, bricks?"

"I... what?"

"You brought a heavy bag back with you, for what? Aren't you meant to be a genius?" Berserk unzipped a small pocket on the side of her tartan skirt and reached inside.

Dexter winced as his skull throbbed, "No, it's... it's something I had forgotten about until she reminded me. It's my last chance. And now I-" his voice caught in his throat as Berserk pressed a soft white handkerchief to his head, right upon the heart of the stinging. He went to wince again, but instead he watched her red eyes as they filled with concern again.

"Stop." she told him. "You can't beat him. Even I've tried, and you're no super-human. You're just a boy with a crush and a whole world to lose." Berserk scoffed, a hardness returning to her voice, "Once you watch things burn a few times, you get over it." she took his hand and pressed it upon the rag she held.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Dexter muttered, "but I didn't think you were capable of this kind of tenderne-"

"So whaddya do with this?" Berserk squeaked as she scooped up the heavy backpack with one hand and balanced it on her open palm before her.

"Wha- HEY!"

"Hmm, it's heavy," she flipped it over like a pancake in a skillet, "doesnt look like much," then she spun it on her fingertip like a basketball, "and what's this here?" she threw it skyward, caught it on the way down and peered at the tag on the side. "Pri-ddis-ton... Whozat?"

Dexter felt sweat beading on his brow, which stung his cut, "P-Please, just-"

"Can I open it!?" Berserk pleaded, before manic mischief swam across her face, "No, no, I got a better idea!" She threw it up again and swung her leg back, ready for the field goal kick.

Dexter charged at it, knocking himself and the backpack to the floor before Berserk could punt it. He cradled it in his arms, trembling. The bloodied hankie fell to the floor as red began to seep from his forehead again. Dexter turned, leering at Berserk, "Will you knock it off!?"

Berserk threw her hands behind her head, "Geez, fine, take it, it's yours, whatev."

Dexter set it upright on the cold steel again. His head was killing him. He glanced up at the towering mirror that had once formed the bridge between the worlds. Its usually vibrant face was dull and glassy, the turbulent colours behind it now very still. Even the jewels around its frame, including the one they'd smashed together, were dull and lifeless. Trapped.

Berserk wasn't even looking at him when she boredly groaned, "Aaaaare you gonna ooooopen it or nooooot?"

Dexter stood and Berserk turned. When she spun her hair danced around her shoulders, her smooth face filled with intrigue and poorly-masked playfulness. Not breaking eye contact, Dexter parted the large zipper atop the backpack. Beneath was black steel, shiny and solid. A square panel was set in its middle. Dexter slid his left glove off. His hand came down onto the panel and it lit up instantly. There was a simple beep. And then the metallic object within began to fly.

Berserk's eyes filled with wonder as she watched what happened next. She couldn't quite put the experience of seeing Dexter's body wrap itself in metal like a second layer of skin, or what it was like watching the cube object open and transform and simply BECOME something else. But when it was finished, all she could do was breathe a dumbfounded "Cooooool...!"

A suit of morphing metal had engulfed Dexter, conforming to his body like a new layer of clothing. It was obsidian black but glowed blue from between the gaps. It was like something out of a comic book. A glowing chest piece burned like a small star on his front and upon his arms, the steel segments cascaded into javelin-like appendages that Berserk couldn't really decipher although they looked like they were meant to be brought together somehow. On his back, another bright glow as extensions not unlike wings pivoted, swivelled and locked into place. Dexter never broke eye contact with Berserk. Not even once.

Berserk clapped her hands vigorously, "Drax DEFINITELY doesn't have one of those!"

Dexter smirked, "I somehow didn't think so. You need to have certain friends to get ahold of this."

"And what is it?"

Dexter stepped forward, his legs still largely uncovered by the apparatus that had swallowed his torso and arms, "The reason Blossom and I had our fight." Berserk rolled her eyes, "You really aren't good at straight answers."

Dexter stepped forward, taking in the vista broadcast on Drax's giant sensor screens. The nightmarish cloud still swirled above the twisted version of Megaville, the monolith's silver shape still protruding needle-like from below. "There's only one way I can stop him now - before he destroys my world and yours too."

"Pff, please," Berserk chuckled, "Drax is an ass but why would he wanna kill everything here?"

Dexter pierced Berserk with a cold stare, "Did he ever run through projections with you for a Sigma detonation?" Berserk blinked, "No, but-" "And did he tell you that an OPEN spatial rift is just going to allow the Sigma cascade to flow directly through it and to the other side?"

"But he wouldn't-"

"Or was his plan so grandiose and self-serving that he merely promised that you'd get me and failed to tell you about how he'd be roasting BOTH cities at once!?"

Berserk's face paled, but her fists clenched tight, "T-That bastard, no way-!"

Dexter's steel overcoat lit up from behind and he began to float. The thruster packs on his back lifted him off the floor as he looked himself over, "I've never done this before, but I'm pretty sure I know what this is capable of. I need to finish this, now, before it's too la-"

"Take me with you!" Berserk grabbed Dexter's arm, knocking his hover wonky, "Please, I have to come with." Dexter shook his head, "We went over this!"  "Yeah, and I kissed you. We do dumb things, and now I've changed my mind. I can't stay here anymore. Not if Drax is about to wipe this whole place out."

"This place is YOUR place, Berserk!" Dexter objected.

"Well I don't WANT it to be!" Berserk stamped her foot, her cheeks turning rosey, "You saw what's out there - it's chaos! And I've gotten tired of all that. Sure I've got... issues... and if I go to your world a few things might get smashed but I promise I'll control myself! Just please, this place and the people in it... they're worse than me and even worse than Drax!"

Dexter sighed, taking the Powerpunk Girl's hand in his. He spoke soft and clear, "You have a power. Deep down it's no different from the kind of power I've seen a lot of back home. What differs is how you use it. If you think this place is... is... broken, then you have the power to change all of that. You're a smart girl, in both dimensions. You have the power to do great things with these," he caressed her hands a moment, "and this." He gently tapped Berserk's forehead, much softer than she had tapped his.

Berserk wanted to fight his suggestion, "You're talking about changing the future - I can't DO that!"

"Then do something about right now." Dexter countered, his glare intense. He remembered something. He slid his glasses off. Everything became blurry to his eyes, except for Berserk's face. He could see her perfectly clearly, "Push back. Take what you have and use it. And make this place better, one day at a time."

Berserk's captivated eyes didn't leave Dexter's. A tiny word escaped her lips "O-Okay..."

Dexter let her hands go, "If this doesn't work, we're both dead. Drax has seen to that already. He was prepared to let you die to further his aims, because he's fixated on Blossom instead." Anger welled in Berserk's expression again. Dexter went on, "But if I can stop him, and he somehow makes it back here then you can start with him. He'll have a lot of explaining to do."

Berserk glowered, "He had better."

Dexter lifted off the floor again, "I'm going to fly," he pointed at the projection of the nightmare cloud, "right up into that thing. It's my only way back. This suit is a prototype for a dimensional actuator. It should generate enough of a quantum field to keep me safe from the dimensional shifts but it's too dangerous to go through unprotected. I don't know what it would do to you, and I'm fresh out of extras. You have to stay either way, I'm sorry."

Berserk huffed, "Then... don't keep her waiting, huh?"

Dexter smiled, "Thanks for understanding. Maybe we'll meet again, somehow."

"I doubt it." Berserk seemed sad.

Dexter pulled her into a hug, "Remember what I said. Get your sisters onboard. But don't think about it too long, okay?" "Okay..."

Dexter floated toward the big exit doors, where he'd first stepped outside the lab and nearly become giant cockroach food. His hoversuit would give him an extra edge this time.

"I saw explosions," Berserk muttered aloud, and Dexter paused. "I watched the screens cos... heh, well, nothing much else to do here, right? I saw explosions and debris falling down. I thought of you, and... yeah. I was worried, I suppose."

Dexter tilted his head with a wry smile, "Now, Berserk, this may be presumptuous but that sounds like you genuinely care for my wellbeing after all."

Berserk with rigid, "N-No! Don't be stupid! Worried about you!? You moron, I was worried that the show would be over and there'd be nothing fun to watch here anymore! Er... yeah! Stupid!" she folded her arms defiantly, "I mis-spoke, I wasn't worried about you. D-Don't read into that too much."

Dexter chuckled, "Whatever you say, Berserk. It's been fun."

"Yeah..." Berserk murmured as Dexter floated out the exit, "Fun..."
She sat on the floor and stared up at the massive screens as a tiny pinprick of light rose to meet the blooming clouds of death above. She sat. She thought. And she watched everything.



Drax ripped the heavy metal panel away from the inner workings of his machine and plunged his hands inside. Exposed, the metal fingers of his left hand felt cumbersome and sloppy but he proceeded anyway. Thick power cables were seized. Disconnected. He took hold of auxiliary tubes and snapped their connectors together with the mains, redirecting power flow. Sparks of yellow and blue flashed around his face as he hung half-in and half-out of the spine of his interdimensional emissary, trying feverishly to bypass the damage that the two meddlesome imbeciles had caused to his floating masterpiece.

The heavy cables dangled around his head like dark vines. The cracked lenses of his glasses didn't help. But within moments, everything lit up around him as he brought the two ends of the final redirected power lines together. Relieved and jolted by a new sense of thrill, he removed himself from the heart of his machine and turned his eyes further skyward.

Smoke billowed from the nasty gash blown through the top of the emissary, dangerously close to the precious weapon mounted at its top. The barrel down the centre, designed to drop the Sigma bomb into the heart of the vortex between both worlds had been utterly ravaged. But that no longer mattered. His genius more than prepared him for that possibility. He felt the need to gloat, even as the cause of the damage lay seemingly lifeless several feet away on the cold steel decking.

"Do you see your futility now, Blossom?" he called out as the maw of the great rift continued to storm and surge, "Your stroke of inspiration was nothing but a fleeting optimism lost to time. There's nothing you can do that I cannot undo right away."

Face-up and with gritted teeth, Blossom struggled to lift herself up, but the searing echo of pain kept her clung to the metal ground. Her arm was a blackened mess where Drax's limiter machine had burrowed itself. Scorched by a ferocious ribbon of vortex energy, the device was dead and useless now. He hoped the same wasn't the case for Blossom; he still had needs for her yet.

Drax shook his head, "With the power flow diverted the emissary will invert its quantum output on my signal. Instead of forcing the void open with its anchors, the raw energy of the dimensional rift will be drawn INTO the machine itself and channeled right into the Sigma warhead. A crude bypass, but the same effect will be achieved. You've only stalled annihilation, Powerpuff Girl."

He stood beside his fallen adversary as the storm boomed around them both. Blossom's hands repeatedly balled themselves into fists but she remained still. He wondered what righteous rigamarole would gush from her mouth if left with mere minutes until the inevitable. He'd already set their warp-out destination - the quiet capital city of a small European nation with few diplomatic tensions and even fewer financial restrictions. He'd redirect his newfound wealth there just as the exploding emissary wiped away any trace of its origin. And as the world began to forever change, he'd begin to construct his new ultra-advanced empire in peace. Governments, law enforcements, R&D, military - those he couldn't buy outright he'd sway to his side with ease. Forceful ease if necessary. This world had no idea what he was capable of - especially with a Powerpuff Girl as his second. Former Powerpuff Girl, anyway. The world she used to fight for would be gone by then. Somewhere within his grand machine, a timer was counting down. Sixty seconds, maybe less, until he and his captive super-girl were whisked away and the world was set aflame.

"I stand upon my steel throne of the heavens," Drax declared, "and all the worlds below despair! Man has spent its whole existence trying to behold the face of their God! As I am the nearest they shall come, they shall without doubt stand horrified - have no fear. Soon, the world shall share my scars. Man and God will be the same, and this world will be reborn into a new age!" Drax threw his arms wide, "The visions of the blood tide will now instead show ME! I am the most powerful force in the two worlds - and I condemn them BOTH! Humankind shall see the face of God and it is a vengeful face!"

Blossom stirred again, her eyes scrunching shut.

"People, super-people, nations and their militaries - meaningless! The world is clay in my hands," a demented grin stretched across Drax's face. The countdown was reaching zero. "This is MY world now, AND I SHALL RULE IT-" A dark shape shot out of the void behind him, spiralling upward. A bright blue light shone from it, rocketing it higher and higher toward the top of the emissary. Whatever it was, it was going for the weapon. Drax's hand was upon his blaster pistol before the scream of "NO!" could leave his lips.

Then it spun, diving at the spot where Drax stood. He leaped out of the way, the creature of shiny black slamming into the decking between himself and the machine. It had wings of deep obsidian, stretched from its back like some biblical abomination. Drax had dismissed any suggestion of creatures living in the void between realms, and he stood true as he leered at the unwanted guest. This being was not a creature of nightmares from the gaps between worlds; it was metal and artificial. A suit of advanced armor of some kind, encasing a bold infiltrator. It had come from the void - from HIS world. Patriot Warbucks was the closest individual who could match this technology and this looked NOTHING like her.

"You... what are you doing here!?" Drax demanded. The creature said nothing. Instead it turned its head. It observed Blossom. And it held its gaze there for more than a cursory glance. A spark flickered in Drax's mind as he pieced it together from that alone. Already his mouth was turning into a disbelieving sneer. And when the helmet of the birdlike armor split into three and folded back to reveal the face of the one inside, Drax began to scream.

Dexter moved fast before Drax's energy pistol could reach level with his unwanted face, which the helmet snapped shut over. He lifted the heavy arm and the first red flashes bounced and sparked off the reflective ebony steel. Flash, flash, flash again of crimson as Drax's infuriated roar continued. It was the hellish sound of a genius outplayed. Dexter bent his knees, prepaing to pounce the unguarded mad genius and keep him down for good. But more flashes of red blinded him, this time from INSIDE the suit. A schematic of the suit enlarged on the holographic visor, flashing red across the raised forearm. Bold text, silent but grave, appeared beneath it: SYSTEMS DAMAGED, EJECTING PILOT FOR AUTO-REPAIR. Dexter hissed, "No, NO-"

The suit opened wide at the torso and spat Dexter out like a cannonball, flinging him into Drax and knocking them both down. Then it closed itself and curled back into its smaller size, dormant. The air around the two boys began to crackle with a telltale familiarity as the two sprawled across the metal floor. Dexter recognised the tingle within his nostrils - a Transys system. Drax's escape plan, activating. Drax was still howling furiously, "TEN MINUTES!" he was screaming, "I send you away, NO way to come back, but HERE YOU ARE!"

Dexter batted the lasergun out of Drax's hand just as the twisted madman rolled on top of him. Drax leapt off him and pursued the metal and plastic pistol. Dexter chased. Drax's bionix hand snatched the weapon up and he spun, but Dexter smashed his own fist in an uppercut to the prosthetic's wrist. The shot went high, splashing agains the steel spine of the emisarry. The heat from the barrel was intense, less than a foot from Dexter's face. Drax tried again. The air fizzled more intensely. Dexter smashed the wrist downward, firing at the deck.  Drax retreated and tried another time. Dexter ducked this time but his hair felt like it had caught fire. He positioned himself, just as a blue nebula of light began to swirl around Drax's body. "I don't care why, I don't care how, but thank you!" Drax yelled, voice distorted by the activating Transys, "I'm taking Blossom and leaving, but I've just enough time to END you, boy genius!" There was enough distance between them that any disarming block Dexter made wouldn't reach. But he knew he stood exactly where he needed to be. "GOODBYE DEXTER!" And with that, Drax fired as the blue explosion of light took him.

Dexter jumped aside, the red bolt of energy scorching past. It kept going, unable to stop until it hit something. Behind Dexter was the open panel that Drax had ripped away. Inside, the exposed heart of the machine pulsed and throbbed. The shot of red light lanced inside, dead-centre. Even obsured by the Transys glare, Dexter could see Drax's expression of abrupt dread. As sparks flashed and components were burnt through, Dexter glared at his nemesis, "You talk too much, Drax. And you don't check your surroundings."

The blue nimbus around Drax sputtered, faded, ended. Blossom, nearby, was freed as well. Drax's pistol arm dropped limply to his side. His escape plan was ruined. And up above them, a deadly superweapon was ready to detonate and wipe any trace of them from existence. Outwitted and thoroughly not used to it, Drax did the only thing that came to him. He again began to scream.

"YOU!" He howled, mismatched fists balled, "This is NOT POSSIBLE!" Drax's body was spasming in fury, "That THING you brought with you - whatever it is  - how do I not KNOW ABOUT IT!?"

Dexter smirked, edging closer toward the sprawled Blossom, "All this time I've had one advantage you didn't take into consideration, Drax. I've got friends in this world."

"And they gave you that machine!?"

"I made it for them. It's not perfect, not even close, but it was enough to make sure you couldn't succeed here today." Dexter crouched next to Blossom, who groggily rolled onto her back. Relieved she was conscious, Dexter glared once more at Drax with renewed confidence, "You've lost, Drax. You're stuck here now. Call off your weapon and end this."

Drax's furious expression cracked, the edges of his mouth twitching upward, "I'm sorry, 'call it off'?" He backed toward the burnt-out spine of his giant machine.

Dexter's eyes were frosty, "If you set that bomb off, there's no way you or Blossom can escape anymore. I've seen enough to know you won't let that happen. You won't allow yourself to get caught here when it-"

"No."

Dexter blinked, not understanding. "What?"

Drax snarled, "No." he pressed his back to the cold steel spine, hands running across it protectively, "I'm not stopping the bomb. Not after this. You could have left well enough alone; stayed in my world and been Berserk's little lapdog. My lab is insulated; you would have survived the detonation... probably. I gave you chances, gave you warnings, but still you came back. Still you're here!" he pounded his gloved fist against a steel panel and another popped open to his side, a bright red lever nestled within. "And now you think my pride so excessive I'd abort everything that brought me this far?"

Dexter crouched over Blossom protectively, "But you CAN'T! People are going to DIE, Drax!"

"They were always going to die," Drax hissed, "I guess I'll just have to join them. You'd be indifferent to that, I'm sure. But you've ensured Blossom's stuck here in the inferno as well." Drax's tone was bitterly triumphant. Dexter looked down at the semi-conscious Powerpuff as his stomach twisted into knots. Drax yanked the lever. One by one, steel rungs extended from the side of the machine's spine. They began to ascend, one after the other, toward the distant top. Drax grabbed ahold of the motorised ladder, beginning a climb toward the peak where his precious weapon remained.

"It's not too late to stop this!" Dexter pleaded. Blossom groaned, eyes opening.

Drax shook his head, "There's no stopping this," he drew his blaster pistol in his free hand, "and I'll make sure of that." He gestured to his face, "I've already been kissed by the fire of Sigma - now I'll just embrace it with arms wide open. No point running from it anymore." As he ascended higher and higher, Drax shouted down at his helpless counterpart, "I will scar the earth! You never had a chance of stopping that, boy genius!" He began to cackle as he was lifted higher and higher, his tyrannical laugh soon lost to the howling dimension storm.

Dexter grit his teeth and cursed beneath his breath. Movement in his arms snapped him out of the bitter stupor he was entering. Blossom was trying to sit up and Dexter steadied her with a whisper of her name. She looked terrible and the entirety of her upper arm was soot-black and bruised. She groaned and formed words, "What have you done...?"

Dexter held her gently, "I thought he'd call it off. But he'd rather burn with the city than fail now. He's too invested - he's truly insane!"

Blossom grabbed his shirt, even her superhuman grip seeming light; fleeting, "No... what have YOU done? Why did you come back?" There was hurt in her exhausted voice, "Now you'll be stuck here too! S...Stupid boy!"

Dexter frowned, "I came to save you, Blossom. I had to try. I had to try that for you. I know you don't think you need my help, like yesterday, but please... at least let me try."

Blossom's eyes seemed more alert than the rest of her body. They shone in despair, "But you'll be stuck here when he sets it off, Dexter! I'd never allow that!"

Dexter glanced up at the tall spire and Drax's diminishing shape as he rose toward the top. The dimension void thundered loudly. The shiny black exoskeleton sat dormant nearby, sparks flitting through gaps in its structure. Again Dexter grit his teeth. Sure, he'd be vaporised by a rift-fuelled wave of Sigma Radiation explosion that may expand almost without limit, countless lives falling victim to Drax's sham of an experiment. The thing that sat most uneasily was that Blossom would be furious with him at the end.  He blinked, his eyes tricking him into seeing blips of light that weren't there. Blossom was trying to push away to no avail. He doubted she could stand. He grumbled - there were those flickers again. More of them.

Then he realised the light was reflecting on the INSIDE of his glasses lenses. His heart skipped a beat as the most amazing, impossible thing chose that very moment to occur. Two words ran through his mind, along with all the sudden possibilities. Blossom tried to speak again, "I really think you should-"

"Hold that thought," he cut her off. Blossom huffed. Dexter brought his finger to the side of his glasses and pressed lightly. There was a sputter, like the static on an old TV set. Then, behind his glasses, readouts and displays emerged as the long-lost link to friends he thought he'd lost was re-established. Tiny words, imposed upon the apocalyptic setting around him, flickered and scrolled. 'Uplink'. 'West Gate'. 'Storm Glass'.  'Signal output'. And then came the flurry of noise in his ear. He spoke aloud, suddenly overjoyed, "West Gate? Come in! The EMP has worn off - do you have contact?"

Blossom blinked and muttered, "EMP?"

Dexter hurriedly explained, "Drax set off an EMP to disable the entire city's power grid. I think he must have done that before I got back." Blossom remembered the terrifying image of the passenger plane falling out of the sky, still not knowing if anyone aboard survived. She merely nodded somberly, but Dexter was already continuing, "-somehow taken it out with the mini-explosives I smuggled up here from the lab! With his array offline he couldn't deliver another burst and now the effect is wearing off!"

"Then that means...?" Blossom began again, but a new voice interrupted.

"Dexter, my god, is that you!?"

The voice in his ear was as angelic as the sound a microfusion reactor starting to hum to life, "Erich! Newton's apple tree, you have NO idea how happy I am to hear your voice!" He was bouncing like a kid at a fairground. Blossom pursed her lips and freed herself from his arms, trying to stand.

The voice on the other end spoke into Dexter's ear "This may be a bad time, Dexter: we have an unknown technological incursion over Megaville and we've only just come back onli-"

"I'm there."

"What?!"

"I said I'm there, Erich!" Dexter shouted, standing upright and staring skyward at the spire's apex, "I don't have time to explain right now, but I'm ON THE DEVICE!"

"Whoa... what is it, exactly?"

"I said I don't have time! Do you have any operational hardware there?"

"Um... we're only just coming online, s-so-"

"This is VERY important - have you got anything that has enough range to reach the structure?"

There was a pause. Blossom hobbled away, only able to hear Dexter's half of the excited conversation and not feeling too pleased about any of it. She, too, cast her eyes upward. In Dexter's ear, the voice returned, "...Dreifalken is operational."

Dexter steadied himself, backing up to the railing at the edge of the void and holding on. "Patch me in, I'll do the rest." he focused on the top of the tower, the coloured section Blossom had shot through earlier. Drax was nearing it, preparing to embace the explosion head-on. It could come at any moment. Dexter planned to beat it. He again pressed the side frame of his glasses, "Sent."

"Received."

"Do it now!"

"Tactical deploy - Dreifalken!" the one named Erich declared, and Dexter heard the echo of multiple stations receiving his transmission. "Hold onto something."

Dexter held on, awaiting the light and noise. And then his eyes fell on Blossom, unsupported and unsteady. Once again his protective urge kicked in, and at once he wanted to kick himself as well. Letting go of the railing, he pounced Blossom and they crashed to the hard metal. An instant later there was a bright flash from the northwest. And then everything above their heads was engulfed in a terrific and horrifying apocalypse of light.

Blossom's yells were drowned by the rain of debris. Large chunks of metal slammed into the solid decking with resounding thuds, some smashing into the railing and toppling over the edge into the abyss. Others smashed against the glowing tanks of some kind of energy, mounted on what remained of the upper structure. They fractured. Vicious acid-green gases began hissing into the air. Dexter, still covering his head, glimpsed them and guessed they were some sort of coolant system to keep the emissary shielded from the dimensional chaos. The glare and the noise ceased, replaced only the continued slamming sounds of bits and pieces tumbling down. Blossom was squirming. Dexter sighed in relief. That meant she was unhurt.

Blossom staggered to her feet, still weak and shambling. Dexter was there in an instant but she shrugged him off. She glanced around confusedly and then looked up. Dozens of feet above, the top of the structure was completely gone. Instead there was a misshapen blackened wreck still belching a black unhealthy smoke like an old chimney. The punctured tanks just beneath kept vomiting gases into the sky. The storm seemed to surge around them as if it had found a new will to fight back against Drax's machine. "What on earth..." she mumbled.

Dexter had a content smile on his face, "I called a few friends."

Blossom pierced him with a look, "W-What kind of-"

"It doesn't matter, ok?" Dexter cut her off, placing his hands on her shoulders and staring her in the face, "What matters is you're safe. That's all I want at this point. We'll figure out the rest later."

Blossom's lip quivered, "You could have been hurt bad!"

Dexter shook his head, "Doesn't matter. I'll do anything - go to any length - to make sure you're out of danger. Do you understand? Hero or not... we need each other."

Blossom frowned. Her eyes shifted off his, then widened, "Dexter!"

Dexter spun, but it was too late. A heavy blow crashed against his face and he staggered backward. Lunging him, Drax shoved Dexter to the decking, his face and clothing in tatters and a look of pure fury upon him. "YOU!" he screamed, dropping his knee onto Dexter's chest with such force that all the air fled his lungs. Blossom tried to jump him but Drax was too fast. His bionic hand shoved Blossom in the soft of the stomach and the weakened Powerpuff stumbled backward and fell. Her head smashed against the deck and she was still.

A look of regret crossed Drax's face for just a moment. Dexter stirred beneath him. Drax swung his fist, smashing it against the other boy's face. There was a loud CRUNCH as his nose cracked and one of his lenses shattered. Dexter, dazed, looked around. He heard himself making sounds, no doubt calling for Blossom. He couldn't decipher his own words. Nearby, the solid black machine he'd flown up through the vortex began to glow again from within. Drax cared not for that, instead fixing a stare of pure hatred down into Dexter's groggy eyes.

"Everything...! I don't know how, but you destroyed EVERYTHING!" he howled, "That thing - a laser? - the explosion threw me clear! Hitting the deck didn't hurt as much as knowing you've gotten in my way YET AGAIN! I bet you wish it had vaporised me, huh? STUPID boy genius, unable to ever finish what he starts! So instead..." his grin split widely again and his horrific, ravaged face turned demonic, "I'll finish YOU, Dexter, once and for all!"

Drax locked his hands around Dexter's helpless throat and with a thrill of glee, began to squeeze.