Cosmic Crisis 3 - A New Enemy

Chapter 26 - Last Chance

Everyone with the exception of Carina and Ceres looked at Hermes with shocked expressions.

Sirius stood up and grabbed Reena's arm, jerking her onto her feet as well. Gotenks stood in a defensive crouch, and Orion was on the side with his arms crossed. They all locked their eyes onto the floating form.

"You stupid weaklings...I should have done this in the first place." Hermes said. "All I have to do is harness the power of that stupid girl and I'll be rid of you all, including her!"

"No!" Gotenks shouted, crouching even lower, about to strike. Orion's eyes widened momentarily and then narrowed as he glared at Hermes. Reena and Sirius stood in front of Carina with their arms crossed protectively.

"You can't stop me." Hermes said in a low, lethal tone. He looked over at Orion. "And you...don't you realize that the only reason you're alive is because of me? I can destroy you in an instant."

Orion growled like a furious animal and his ki jumped.

"That's right. I preserved your body and spirit, but not your free will. Though I had allowed you to think for yourself, I can remove that privilege from your mind. In other words, I can control you." He said, and his mouth upturned into an evil smile.

Gotenks looked over at Orion, who was still snarling at Hermes.

"IF YOU DO ANYTHING TO HER I'LL-" Orion was cut off as his body slammed onto the ground.

Gotenks sensed his ki dropping and immediately realized what was happening. However he was torn between saving him, or watching the pitiful warrior die.

"No!" Reena cried. "Sirius, you can't let Hermes kill him!"

"There's nothing I can do." He replied. "Protecting my sister is more important than saving him."

"Sirius!" she hissed. "Carina will be fine! Please..."

Sirius looked into Reena's eyes and shook his head.

"Gotenks won't save him! He hates Orion!" she cried, and then fell to the floor.

Gotenks watched, frozen in fear, as the life drained from Orion's body. He was pinned to the floor by some invisible force and he struggled to breathe as his ki continued to drop.

Suddenly, Gotenks' ki made an enormous leap and he was hit with the urge to stop these series of events. He jumped into the air and tried to send his fist into Hermes' face, but the invisible wall once again stopped him. Cursing loudly, he fell back. He had to resort to ki attacks.

He moved into the signature position and brought his two hands down by his side. He concentrated a large amount of ki into his hands, making sure not to feed too much power into the blast or he would lose control and run the risk of killing everyone in the room.

"Ka...me...ha...me....HA!" he shouted, and let lose the fury. Hermes had very little time to react as the massive blast tore through his invisible shield and slammed into his body, sending him into the far wall with a loud thud. As soon as he impacted, Orion's ki came to a standstill and rose slightly once again.

Reena and Sirius were in utter shock with their mouths agape and their eyes wide.

Orion sprang to his feet and his ki rose sharply again as he powered a ki blast of his own.

Hermes peeled his burnt body off of the wall and landed on the ground. As he walked toward Gotenks and Orion, he produced an object in his hands, holding it up so that the light glinted off of its surface. It was a round, red object that resembled a marble. Inside there was a bright, pulsating mass of energy that resembled a spiral galaxy of the tiniest kind. Immediately, Orion dropped his ki blast.

"This..." he started, "is your essence, Orion."

He then produced another tiny object in his hands. This one was white with a golden center.

"And this is hers." He said, and gestured over to Carina. "All I have to do is crush them, and you both will experience the most mind-numbing pain known to you, before fading from existence completely."

Orion jumped back and Gotenks kept his eyes on Hermes, focusing on the tiny objects he held in his hands.

"When your princess achieves the heightened state, I can channel that into this." He said, and held his palm flat, the gold and white ball resting in the center of his hand. "After that, I will have no use for her."

"That's why you preserved them!" Gotenks growled. "Then why did you want offspring?"

"I studied their anatomy." Hermes replied. His eyes reflected an evil, insane glint. "You have no idea of the level of power that a child would yield, should it be produced by them."

"Just so you could take it as your own!" Gotenks retorted. "You're nothing but a sick, power-hungry madman. No wonder they shunned you on the planet."

"SILENCE YOU FOOL!" Hermes hissed. "They were afraid of me. Reasonably so, seeing as I am responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions of people."

"You're insane." Gotenks growled.

"You could call it that. But if you had the opportunity to rule the galaxy, and even the universe, using only two people, wouldn't you take it?"

"People like you always meet your fate at the hands of justice, Hermes. If not by us, then by someone else, just like us." Gotenks threatened, smirking.

Hermes produced an amused grin and snickered slightly.

"Yes, I am trembling with fear, Saiya-jin."

"You should be."

Gotenks and Orion turned around in shock to see Carina standing upright with her hands clenched by her side as she had a deadly look in her eyes, which were now green. Her brown hair was still streaked with silver, and fell just to the inward curve of her waist.

"Impossible!" Hermes cried, outraged.

"Nothing is impossible. A scientist such as yourself should be familiar with that concept." She spoke, her voice low and dangerous.

"How are you able to think for yourself??" Hermes inquired.

Carina pointed to her forehead, smirking. Everyone noticed the microchip, which rested on her left temple.

"Even the greatest will fall." She spoke. "Without control over my mind, you can't harness my power, or even try to control it. You should have taken this into account. Maybe you aren't as smart as you make yourself out to be."

"Onore!" Hermes cried, and then raced toward her, his fists ready. Gotenks and Orion both jumped in his way, simultaneously slamming their fists into his face, driving him backward.

Sirius pulled on Reena's arm and looked at her.

"Reena, go tend to Ceres. We will need all the help we can get." He ordered. Reena looked at Ceres who was still lying in the corner, and nodded, racing over to her.

She placed her hand on Ceres' forehead and sighed in relief, locating a weak but prevalent ki.

"She's still alive, thank Kami." She said. She looked down at Ceres' bruised throat and noted the problem. Her airway had collapsed and she didn't have any oxygen to her cells. She could be inches away from death.

In a panic, Reena enclosed Reena's neck with her hands and produced a soft, yellow-white glow.

"Wake up Ceres." She spoke as she continued to channel her own ki onto the body of her friend, growing dangerously weak by the second. Finally, Ceres' inhaled sharply and her lungs breathed life into her body. Reena smiled happily and shakily drew back. Though she was very grateful for her friend, she had drained her ki below the dangerous point already. She had never healed two people within the short time frame that she had done this time.

Ceres' eyes fluttered open and she forced herself up onto her elbows, her senses slowly bringing her back to reality.

"Kuso...where am I?" she asked.

"Andromeda. Remember..." Reena spoke, hoping that she hadn't erased Ceres' memory by mistake, because she was capable of that as well.

"Andromeda..." Ceres trailed off. Suddenly, it hit her. "Andromeda! Carina! Hermes!" she said, taking in another deep breath as her memory was revived.

"Ceres you have to help us." Reena urged.

"Hai." Ceres said, and stood up. Reena stood as well, and Sirius ran over to them.

"Are you alright?" he asked Ceres. The blonde-haired female just nodded as she looked at Carina, who was facing Hermes in a challenging stance.

"Do you think you can win?" Carina asked calmly but defiantly as Hermes brought his body off of the ground once again.

"One...by...one..." he said, and held up the scarlet marble in his hands. Just then, the marble rose above his palm and shot toward Carina, who reached her arm out and grabbed it in the blink of an eye. Hermes looked at her with wide-eyed shock.

"This doesn't belong to you." She said.

Hermes then realized the flaw in his plan. By allowing her access to her hidden power, he had unlocked all of her abilities that had been previously hidden within her. Telekinesis, mind-reading, and even the ability to lock onto others.

"Damn you, bitch!" Hermes spat. "We'll see who has the upper hand in the end!"

He looked at the object on her temple and realized that if he destroyed it, she would be within his power again. Smirking, he stood upright and folded his arms.

"Don't you want to power up first?" he challenged. "You've never experienced it before."

Carina's eyes narrowed and her tail twitched.

"Iie...I wish to kill you in the old fashioned way." She said, holding up her two fists into the air.

With a cry, she jumped into the air and pounced on top of Hermes, sending the both of them flying into the wall with a loud thud. She attacked him in a way similar to how she had attacked Reena earlier. She brought her hands up and wrapped them around his neck, glaring into his eyes as he ki rose with her anger. Her aura had Hermes pinned to the ground as she choked him.

"How does it feel!" she cried, tightening her grip. Hermes shouted something at her and raised his hand, striking her in the face.

Temporarily stunned, Carina's grip loosened. Her aura exploded again and pinned him to the ground once more. However, he was smirking.

"What's so...fun...ny..." Carina trailed off as her eyes dilated again. He then held up his hand. In his palm, there was a small object. The microchip.

"No!" Gotenks shouted. Hermes enclosed the device in his hands and crushed it, sending tiny pieces of metal and sparks to the ground. He then threw Carina's body off of his with such force that she hit the ground and skidded for about ten feet before coming to a standstill at the feet of Orion and Gotenks.

"Nice try." He said, facing the warriors. "But you can't outsmart me. Even with the increase in power, she was still too stupid to realize that attacking me head on put her in jeopardy. And now..." he continued, "she has lost her last chance, and so have you."