Gadget, Misto, Zo?, Trixie, Sailor, and Belladonna made their way down out of Trixie’s ship. The elevator-like device touched down against the gravel of the rooftop and Gadget stepped off of it. He didn’t know what to do or say. In less than a couple of hours’ time, his entire view of the universe had been radically altered. It was one thing for him to listen to Dizzy — or Zo? — tell him that Mechanology had an alien ship on ice. It was another thing to see — to touch — an actual alien lifeform. To talk to one. In English, no less. To stand aboard an an actual alien starship with your own two feet, and watch as its positively-amazing tech repaired the actual alien lifeform with whom you had actually touched and spoken with. Wow. Just freakin’ wow. Since meeting Dizzy, his whole life had changed. Radically. And now she was in grave danger, and they had to rescue her. Quickly. But they had no hope of doing so without the powers that his Helm afforded them. So that had to be fixed first. And fast. (Meanwhile, God in heaven, they had no idea what Ravenkroft was doing to her . . . Best to just not think of it . . .) So it was back to the hotel room, to scavenge some parts, and repair the damned thing. Quickly.

  Maybe it was fate that he had invented the Helm. Hell, maybe some cosmic force had chosen him to invent it. Maybe Trixie’s Alethiaeon had done it. Who knew.

  No sooner than did the elevator-like device touch down on the gravelly rooftop, and did Gadget and Misto step off the platform, with Trixie and company close behind, than did the Teenage Mutant Cybermechazoid Samurai attack.

  “Fuck!” yelled Misto. “Where did they come from!” He took a step back, as did Gadget and the others. But a step back wouldn’t do them any good; they were surrounded. Twelve of the nasty buggers — why did they always attack in even numbers like that? — were standing in a circle all around the platform, their arm-mounted Disruptophazers raised. Two wolf-headed, two bear-headed, four goat-headed, two fox-headed, and two snake-headed, this time. Gadget and the others quickly fell into a small circle as well, their backs all turned to each other.

  “Holy shit!” yelled Sailor. “Holy shit, shit, shit!”

  “Ohhh my God,” said Belladonna. “Oh holy Jesus . . . Mother puss bucket . . . I’m gonna die!”

  “Today is not a good day for that,” said Trixie, raising her Decimator Pistols to eye-level. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”

  Gadget switched on his Helm, felt the familiar tingling in his scalp and the sudden rise of the army of voices in the back of his mind, and said, “Astrid, activate Augmented Reality Mode!”

  No answer. Pumbaa let out a series of squeaks that sounded ended in “Ruh-roh.”

  “Astrid!” he called again. “Activate Augmented Reality Mode!”

  “Yes boss,” he heard her answer . . . but her voice was faint, distant. And scrambled with static. He felt himself grow taller and more muscular . . . and then suddenly shrink back down to his normal proportions, the material of his clothing flickering back and forth, Gadgorak Prime’s long leather duster winking in and out of existence around him. The Ray Gun on his hip materialized and then disappeared, then rematerialized —

  And he grabbed it while it was there, held on tight, turned around, dialed it to Cap’s Shield, Projected, and aimed it at his friends and fired. A translucent bubble of force appeared around them, and Gadget stepped inside it just as the Cybermechazoids opened fire — as did everyone else. The blasts from the Cybermechazoids’ weapons bounced off Gadget’s force-field, but the Cybermechazoids had force-fields of their own . . . and theirs proved tougher to get through: Apparently, they could stop physical objects. The rapid-fire bullets from Sailor’s machine gun — she sprayed bullets wildly at them; apparently, she wasn’t too good of a markswoman when she was panicked out of her skull — bounced off without even making so much as a dent, and Zo?’s serpents of flame simply divided and swirled around them. However, a few seconds after the initial wild burst of gunfire opened up, the Cybermechazoids quit firing at them, and instead drew their swords, and began marching toward them. Sailor did not quit firing her machine gun though — dammit, she was going to empty her whole clip if she wasn’t careful! — and Zo? kept on trying to use her fire-powers to assault them. But their force-fields held true. Gadget’s, meanwhile, flickered in and out as he lost concentration — the rat-at-at-at of Sailor’s machine gun was driving him fucking nuts, and the general panic of the situation had gotten to him. And oh dear gods, what if the Helm cut out for good?

  “‘Whoa, ho, ho, ho, ho! Nice shootin’ Tex!’ Hold your fire, Sailor!” he yelled.

  “Why the fuck!” screamed Sailor. “They’re almost on top of us!”

  “It’s not doing any good!” he screamed.

  “He’s right!” said Zo?. “Sailor, stop spraying bullets! You’re going to get someone freakin’ killed!”

  Gadget’s force-field flickered again, and then — it hit him. Wait a second. Telekinesis . . . and electrokinesis . . . The enemy force-fields could stop stuff aimed at them . . . but not something that transcended them. The Cybermechazoids’ swords were almost at their throats, so he had to work quickly. He put two fingers to his temple and concentrated on the Cybermechazoids’ force-fields. Concentrated on images of circuitry, of electronics, of machinery . . . and then pictured it breaking. Pictured himself pouring acid on it. Pictured himself taking an axe to it, and smashing it to pieces. Sparks flying, and smoke rising from it. Its lights going out, and it going dim forever.

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  And sure enough — the enemy force-field winked out of existence. The Cybermechazoids halted their advance and looked at one another, slightly confused.

  On his shoulder, Pumbaa let out a Viktorious “Woot!”

  “NOW!” yelled Gadget. “Everyone, attack!”

  Then, everything happened at once: Misto lunged forward and grabbed the sword belonging to the Cybermechazoid directly in front of him — a wolf-headed one, naturally. The sword cut into his furry hands, but Misto paid it no mind. He gripped the blade like a baseball bat, blood coursing down his fur, and dragged the Biomechanoid holding it like he was swinging a mace, sending it stumbling to the side and smashing into one of its comrades — a goat-headed one — who then also stumbled, and hit the one next to it, and so on, creating a wave of motion in their ranks, their swords clattering together. He then leaped forward and onto the Biomech, and into a waiting punch it had drawn back, and they began fighting. The Biomech hit him with a roundhouse right-hook in the snout, but Misto recovered and sent his left fist crashing into its skull; the creature staggered back and tried to aim its arm-mounted cannon at Misto, but, Misto reached out with his leg and kicked the thing's arm to one side, and there came the sound of bones cracking. The creature flailed in a half-circle, and Misto lunged at it again. Two more Biomechanoids leapt into the fray — a fox-headed one and a snake-headed one — aiming their arm cannons at Misto, but Sailor came to his rescue . . .

  She let loose a whoop of fury, gripped the gun's underside with her left hand and squeezed the trigger with her right. A hail of flashes and bullets sprayed out of the gun's muzzle and riddled the first Biomech just as it prepared to fire on Misto. The second one turned its arm-cannon on Sailor and switched on its force-field, but Gadget concentrated and switched the goddamned thing back off. Sailor quickly switched her aim — well, “aim” was a kind word that here meant “in the general direction of,” Gadget guessed — and gunned that one down, too.

  Meanwhile, Belladonna engaged the next Biomechanoid — the other fox-headed one — with her sword, since that was all she had. The Biomechanoid sliced its blade through the air with a “whoosh” but she expertly ducked out of the way, dodging the blow; it tried again, this time from the opposite direction, and she ducked again, this time backing up a step, and then took a whack at it . . . it parried the blow, bringing its blade up and around and into hers — apparently, fencing had been in the freaking things’ training protocols! — with a clanging noise. Sparks flew as the blades made contact. She struggled with it in a contest of strength, her toned cosplayer’s body flexing as she exerted all her might against the Biomech’s augmented muscles, pushing her sword against its, and finally relented as it shoved her blade away from its and she was forced to stagger backward. It brought its blade up and over and crashing down into hers — she raised it just in time to parry the blow — apparently, she had taken a few fencing lessons herself — and it was then that she and the Biomech she was fighting bumped right into . . .

  Misto and the Biomech he was fighting. And in that moment, they switched opponents. Belladonna put her blade through the throat of the Biomechanoid antagonizing Misto with a scream of Viktory as the blood sprayed all over her cosplay, and a fortuitously-timed punch from Misto landed right onto the side of the skull of the Biomech that Sailor had been engaged with.

  Also, meanwhile, just as Belladonna killed the sword-wielders, Zo? had stepped in front of the whole group — including Gadget — and had clanged together her Repulsivator Vambraces. The resulting purple-white shockwave of energy exploded outward from them and rippled across the roof, sweeping five of the remaining Biomechanoids (both bear-headed ones, and three of the goat-headed ones) off their feet and away from them; they soared through the air — snarling, growling, roaring, and squealing — their limbs akimbo and flailing their cybernetic arms and legs, up and over the side of the building. From far below, a moment later, there came the sound of horns honking and smashing glass and warping metal . . . Apparently, somebody’s car had been parked in the wrong spot. Several somebodies. Oh well. That was certainly going to a big mess to clean up. Maybe when Gadget’s Mind-Fuck wave wore off the police could see to that.

  Just then, Gadget heard Belladonna scream. He whirled around. Fuck. The remaining snake-headed Biomech had grabbed her around the waist from behind, and had begun dragging her away — writhing, kicking, and screaming, and generally putting up a pretty good fucking fight — as the remaining wolf-headed one engaged Misto and they began fighting. The remaining goat-headed Biomechanoid retreated, going with the two who had grabbed Belladonna. And was that a smirk on its face? He thought it was, by God.

  Gadget glanced at Zo?; she started to use her fire-powers, but then backed off . . . There was no guarantee she wouldn’t hit Belladonna; same went for Sailor, who lowered her machine gun after a moment’s hesitation. Shit. It was up to him. And sure enough, on his head, as if on fucking cue, the Helm sputtered and sparks issued from the main circuit board. Goddamn it.

  “C’mon,” he muttered. “‘Do or do not. There is no try.’”

  He put two fingers to his temple and concentrated hard on the 3D Avatars of the Biomechs in Augmented Reality Mode. Visualized exactly what he wanted to see happen. Tried to force the thoughts into being, trying with all his might to make the thoughts move them; pushing with all his might on the fabric of reality with the muscle of his mind, and with that of the Helm . . .

  Then, his mind erupted in chaos as the Wall finally broke. Thousands of voices not his own flooded his mental eardrums like a hellacious celestial chorus bent on driving him mad, a million throats all babbling and screaming and crying, and laughing, sobbing, singing . . . A hundred different images, some sexual, others perverse, others horrifying . . . Some beatific, others grotesque . . . some indecipherable . . . A thousand written sentences, the letters all jumbled into an incoherent mess. All of it crowded into his mind all at once, all of it begging for his attention. He swooned, and his vision blurred. He felt blood run from his left nostril, then his right.

  He heard Zo? screaming and saw a bright flash of bright orange fire from off to his left, and then heard squeals, and a bestial roar. And then he heard machine gun fire. But then, all was blackness. The last thing he heard before he passed out was a strange, electronic “wheezing” noise, like a fire-bellows caught in a guitar amplifier, and squeezed over and over. And then the sound of a Disruptophazer firing. And then . . . a voice saying, “I’ve got you. I’ve got you, don’t worry.”

  And then, darkness.