Dashuan's shaking muscles screamed as he channeled every ounce of his cosmic power into the gravity well forming above them in the atmosphere that took everything he had. The air began to warp around the large vacuum and twist into its ebony maw, creating a shining purple distortion in the night sky that blotted out the stars with spinning air currents carrying soot. Lightning darted within the forming vortex, illuminating the bubbling mass of violet clouds that spiraled upward like a massive ethereal staircase into the heavens.
AirForce appeared beside him on a piece of floating wreckage, his hand clasping Dashuan's shoulder as the two Dereks stared down at them from a few 100 feet above. The touch sent tingles of energy through Dashuan's skin, and he could feel the unspooling power radiating from his form. "That's...pretty cool" AirForce's voice was strained, quieter than usual but still sarcastic. "Let's get this shit done with–piece a shit is making me look bad." Dashuan turned to face his fellow original, seeing the terrifying power behind AirForce's glowing eyes churning like nebulas behind his mask. "Ultress is your headache now." AirForce whispered, his body now wreathed in waves of yellow energy that were starting to shift toward white. "I'm going nuclear…used too much power without stopping." He demonstrated by letting a finger brush a piece of metal, which instantly sublimated into vaporized charged particles.
Both Dereks paused against the gravity, their crimson plated bodies turning to face this exchange with matching expressions of calculated interest. Their armor-like skin pulsed with energy that criss-crossed their massive frames, each heartbeat sending out waves of red light that distorted the air around them like folding cloth. "You cannot hope to contain us," the Dereks spoke in unison, their voices a discordant harmony that made blood leak from the ears of the few surviving soldiers below. "We are beyond–"
"Shut the FUCK up." AirForce's interruption carried such power that the air itself seemed to flinch with the shock. His power flared again, the yellow flames surrounding him shifting wholly to a sickly white-gold that hurt Dashuan’s eyes to look at directly. The ocean below them started to boil just from his presence, creating a dome of steam that expanded outward for hundreds of feet and making Dashuan’s skin burn.
On the partially submerged destroyer nearby, the Lesser Aberrants gathered around Arc as she regained consciousness. Mary, covered in rapidly healing wounds that were being covered by scales, helped Arc to her feet while staring at the two originals "What's Mr. Titan doing ?" She asked, her skin reflecting the growing light show above.
"Saving us all," Arc replied, her voice cracking as she pushed herself upright while letting a smile loose. Lightning crackled across her wound filled brown skin as she watched her two teammates above. "Dashuan’s a ‘hero’..." Tears streamed down her face, cutting channels through the grime and blood. “Even got AirForce to actually give a shit.”
The Dereks bodies gleamed from Arc’s stolen power combined with his now unstable genetic code-– the crimson energy surrounding them pulsing as their forms started to split again, creating the beginning of a 3rd and 4th copy. The process looked like cells dividing in fast motion, each new form pulling away with strands of energy still connecting them to the originals. "Every copy doubles our power," they sneered in unison. "How many versions of us can your little gravity well handle? Your friend only has two hands…unlike us."
Mina materialized near the group of Lessers, her portal powers leaving a shimmer in the air as she arrived with another group of survivors that included human soldiers. Her eyes went wide as she took in the scene above, particularly noting the strain showing on Dashuan's face as blood began to leak from his nose. "This is wrong," she whispered. "His power... it's tearing him apart trying to contain this..."
Ultress stood at the edge of the destroyer's deck, her hands moving to the clasps of her shining mask. The device on her arm sparked dangerously, its display flickering with warning messages as water began to float upward in small droplets. "Dashuan's cellular structure is breaking down," she announced, removing her mask to reveal features lined with concern but still matching Mina’s onlooking gaze. "And if his gravity control fails while he's this unstable..."
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With a roar that tore at his throat, Dashuan pushed his power to its absolute limit. The gravity well above them became a spinning cyclone of pure force and funneling toward the vacuum of space now backward, drawing in clouds and debris like a hungry god devouring all matter in its path and flinging it from the grasp of earth. The air began to ionize, creating a corona of purple-white light that danced around the edge of the massive distortion.
AirForce shot upward like a missile, his body now barely visible through the blinding energy surrounding him. The yellow-white energy began to pulse erratically, small arcs of power lashing out like solar flares. As he reached the Dereks, he grabbed their primary forms before they could complete their splitting process. The impact created a thunderclap that sent a pressure wave across the ocean, creating a momentary crater in the water fifty feet deep just in front of the manically concentrating Dashuan. "NOW!" AirForce's voice carried despite the chaos, his form beginning to unravel at the molecular level as he held the struggling Dereks with burning palms. "Let's fly babiee!"
Dashuan inverted the gravity well's polarity fully, blood vessels bursting in his eyes as he felt something tear inside his abdomen. The three figures rocketed upward, caught in his field, their burning forms becoming smaller against the night sky. The air around them began to freeze and shatter, creating a trail of ice crystals that sparkled in the moonlight as they shot at blinding speeds. "His body can't take this kind of strain!" Ultress called out, her exposed telepathic abilities letting her feel Dashuan's agony. She raised her hands toward him, preparing to act. "If he doesn't stop..." Below his now floating body, the ocean had become bedlam incarnate. The gravity well's pull created a massive whirlpool that drew in floating debris and bodies alike.
As they all ascended higher, the curvature of the Earth became visible. AirForce's body began to emit radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, creating aurora-like displays that danced across the sky just as they entered space. The Dereks, realizing too late the true threat, attempted to disengage. Their crimson light began to separate and disintegrate the lesser copies, trying to split farther, but each attempt only seemed to feed the growing reaction of energy feeding into itself being propelled farther away.
The white-gold light surrounding AirForce started to collapse inward, creating a sight that defied physics itself. Through blurring vision, Dashuan saw the Dereks' forms being drawn into the implosion, their crimson energy mixing with the gold in a maelstrom of power. The last thing he saw before darkness took him was three figures, silhouetted against the stars, becoming a single point of light.
Then that light expanded, and Dashuan felt himself falling. "MINA!" Arc's scream cut through the chaos. As Dashuan plummeted toward the ocean, his body trailing lilac energy that was starting to eat at itself, Mina's hands shot up. A portal opened beneath him, its edges rolling with strain against the gravity powers still leaking from his unconscious form. He fell through, emerging 20 feet above the destroyer's deck and landing into a tender embrace.
Ultress reached out with her telepathic powers, her mind touching Dashuan's synapses as Arc caught his falling body in a crackling net of electricity. "I'm sorry," Ultress whispered, using her abilities to shut down key sections of his consciousness before his deteriorating control could tear apart the planet's gravitational field from the upper layers of earth. "Sleep now, Titan…You've done enough."
The sky continued to shimmer with auroral light, a testament to AirForce's sacrifice. Around Dashuan's unconscious form, the Lesser Aberrants gathered as Mary's hand rested on his shoulder, others watching the sky with tears in their eyes as the full impact of the day settled. They had lost many on that day, but another had shown them what sacrifice truly meant and had shown them true bravery.
Arc knelt beside him, her usual stoic demeanor cracking as she brushed dreadlocks from Dasuans blood-caked face. "You better wake up from this," she whispered, her voice carrying a warmth few had ever heard from her and pressing his hand in her own. “Don't die on me..."
Above them all, the light of AirForce's sacrifice continued to paint the sky in impossible colors, a reminder that even in darkness, heros could create something beautiful.