Vecto turned to face not Morphaal, not Sable, but his own teammate, Streamline.

"Drop the tanks," Streamline ordered, pointing his Omega Blaster at Vecto. The color of his rugged armor matched the mud below, shaded by the darkness of Vecto's shield around them.

"Some heroic words from a traitor," Vecto said. "I know all about you and Crysilis and Azmeck planning against me. Don't count me as a fool."

Streamline was baffled at how he knew.

Vecto put out his hand and let his scout probe settle in his hand.

It was one of three he had scattered to find Streamline's weapon. He must have dispatched one to the base to spy on them, Streamline thought, cursing himself for not catching on to it.

"Let the soldiers go," Streamline demanded. "Your fight is with me."

"No, you are all my enemies!" Vecto yelled. He lifted one hand and crushed the exterior of the tanks in sync with crushing his personal orb. He no longer needed the information it contained and didn't want it in the hands of another.

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"I SAID LET THEM GO!" Streamline yelled, firing at Vecto. An energy blast struck Vecto in the chest. It was as if Leroy himself had punched him. He could feel "pain" as he cringed, looking down at the energy against his shield. It must have been a compressed chi-energy shell, he thought. The energy was digging in his shield, and he couldn't move. It was paralyzing him. Yet he could still control the tanks within his outer-dome shield. One by one, he tossed them at Streamline.

Streamline ran across the field. He leaped in the air as a tank crashed in the mud below. In quick succession, he ejected a blue cylinder container from his side, popped out the rear loading mechanism of his rifle, and aligned the gun so the magnetic posts could catch the metal-rimmed energy capsule. In midair, spinning over a tank that Vecto launched at him, he snapped the capsule into the rifle and fired again. This time, the shell shattered, encompassing Vecto's body with the energy. It began to eat at Vecto's shields, overpowering him. At last, his Force Field Shields dropped, and Vecto's body pieces collapsed. Only the thin shield of his Flummox Capacitor in his chest was still functional.

Streamline landed on his feet as the tank that had been tossed at him struck the surface behind him, followed by all the other tanks Vecto had raised into the air. Even Vecto's hovering weapons hit the ground, clanging against each other.

"I'm sorry, Vecto. I'm not a traitor," Streamline said. "You needed to be stopped-for your own good."