"Ah,Kowalski, you recognize a friendly voice." Z drawled as the Z-Bird loomed into view.
"Friend?" Kowalski gritted his teeth,"more like traitor!"
"Now if you're not going to say anything nice, don't say anything at all," Z oozed with sarcasm, "Perhaps I should put that another way, have a nice day, Kowalski," Z punctuated his rapport with a searing blast that eliminated the last of the free source trio who only moments earlier seemed to be on their way to the final prize.
"Game Over, Game Over, Game Over", the omie cry went up throughout the complex as the event was broadcast system-wide. Wherever Z went, broadcast followed. One thing that could be said for Omnifab, they fostered loyalty like no other organization. With the millions of fighters, free source and subscription, one would imagine that Z's status as exterminator within the OmegaLux complex would be common knowledge within the game. It wasn't. Most fighters who made it to Z would do just as he imagined, give up the game, refusing to go up against a system which afforded them no chance. Those who chose to fight or tried to expose Z by getting back into the game were often ridiculed, humiliated or painted as conspiracy theorists by a marketing machine that made other product line corporations look like amateurs. Inside of Omnifab omies shared stories of all of the victories, but outside, never, and if things became too transparent to free source fighters or the rarest of subscribers, Z would be eliminated publicly in battle and simply move on to another free source core. he had been X, Flash, Flint and his own favorite, Fuse. To Z, every victory was sweet. Another opportunity to bask in his own superiority. He may as well have been Farb himself for all of the power he had. Today, however, was a special thrill. Five free source fighters eliminated including a core leader, Vinny Levito. Z gracefully banked the Z-Bird into a full 180 degree turn and cruised off in the direction from whence he came.
"Bastard", Tommy and Vinny said simultaneously as Z left the area. "Bring us out," Tommy said as he removed the vent. They quickly worked to replace the vent then turned the small craft toward the center of the area. "Let's do a little clean up and look around, Vinny," Tommy said calmly. Within moments, they found a small chunk of debris from Kowalski's vehicle and placed it in the dumpster. "Debris contained-additional debris detected," the voice said. Several minutes passed, Tommy and Vinny continued collecting debris until at last the voice said, "Debris contained - area clear."
At that point, Tommy pressed a small blue button on the comm panel. Instantly, both men were surrounded by their own personal cockpit. "Keep her steady," Tommy said as he looked over at Vinny, who now had full control of the vehicle.
"What are you up to?" asked Vinny with what could only be described as fear in his eyes.
"I'm going out," Tommy responded.
"What in Farb's name do you mean by going out?" Vinny asked incredulously.
"Out there," Tommy motioned upward with his head.
"No!", Vinny shouted, You can't, You'll die! The game will end, you will lose everything. Everyone knows, you can only exists within your craft or in a marked zone, outside your craft. This is NOT a marked zone!"
"We don't have any more time, I have to go," Tommy urged,"Z is too powerful, we won't get back into the game anyway."
"Look Tommy, we came this far to look for the crystal and it's nowhere in sight. We have to keep looking until we find it. It's hidden somewhere within this complex," Vinny pleaded.
"Vinny, you gotta trust me. It's like everything else I've been able to do, I don't know how or why but I'm pretty sure that this is the ONLY way to get the OmegaLux Crystal. Now just keep her steady and let me go, please!"
Tommy sprung a hatch just above his head and pushed off with his feet like he was diving into deep water as his body left the craft.
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