Spiral of Light

Chapter 20: Getting In Deeper

Moloch jumped off the balcony. His armor was equipped with a small anti-grav repulsion unit that softened any landings causing the impact to be as mild as jumping down from several stairs.

He landed on his feet in a slight crouch. He had his emitter pistol up in the ready position and began moving as fast as he could towards Haru.

The Golden Lion was crouched low, as the rapidly collapsing force field had started to singe off his mane. Moloch slid to a stop at the forcefield's instrument panel, and began the deactivation inputs.

He lurched hard to one side as he was struck by an emitter blast, and was relieved to hear the sound of his armor crinkle and smell the stink of it melt, as it absorbed the shot.

He held down the input button until the forcefield shut off with a snapping pop of electrical discharge. Moloch felt an instinctual prompting to side step once more, which he did, as another emitter shot went whistling past just missing his head.

With the forcefield deactivated Haru lifted up his head, and roared. The sound chilled Moloch to the bone. Down beside Haru, he was twice Moloch's size and rippled with muscle. He stood up, snarling, looking at Moloch and extended his long claws, with a flick of his wrist.

Moloch held his emitter up and kept it trained on the great beast. Haru lunged with lightning speed, blurring past Moloch, to leap on a large scorpion hybrid that had come scuttling out of the darkness under the mezzanine level.

He nimbly dodged the piercing attack from the sting of the scorpion creature, but the hybrid caught his arm in its pincer, and clenched hard, trying to crush his limb in its grip. Haru roared with anger and rage, and whirled, lifting the scrabbling insectoid into a high spin and then getting both his legs under the creature he pulled back with a mighty effort, dodging the thrusts from the stinger, as the scorpion hybrid tried to drive the poisonous barb into his chest.

Haru's combined strength and fury wrenched off the pincher and he flung it away, his legs kicking back hard against the rest of the scorpion, sending it flying off and away into the darkness that surrounded the periphery of the central den.

Two more searing emitter blasts came blazing down from the darkness above, to impact around the Golden Lion. Moloch could tell whoever was shooting at him had changed from targets to Haru. The Golden Lion stood still breathing, for a moment, not in the least bothered by the unseen sniper that was taking shots at him. He looked at Moloch.

"Thank you Centurion. I told that fool Tzreek the Legion would soon be upon him, and here you appear. I won't forget your generosity of spirit today. Now I must be off, for I have several scores to settle with these vermin."

Moloch nodded. "I figured, but you will not harm my Legionnaires. Now go, someone like you deserves to die on their feet, or paws, or whatever you call them."

Haru snorted. "Feet will do well enough. There is still enough Anoekian left in me. None of you will be harmed by me. Now die well, Centurion." He said, and with a mighty leap he was gone and off into the darkness.

Moloch could hear squeals and grunts of terror as Haru spared none of the hybrids that he found in his path. He could just imagine what an ethical review panel at the legion ziggurat would say, if they knew if he released a hybrid, from certain death but he knew in the core of his being that he had done the right thing.

He keyed the anti-grav pack on his armor and leapt into the air. The force of his leap carried him up and he sailed through the air. He grabbed the lip of the mezzanine level, and effortlessly pulled the lightweight version of himself up. Krasus and the other Legionnaires had pushed down the stairs, and had made contact with the hybrids in the tunnels on the first floor.