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He looks around the battlefield, his teammates and allies either down to their final dregs of energy, unconscious, or already… Dead. Spiff looks back at the Zorg’s newest, most hellish creation yet: the Mega-Zorg. A genetically altered Zorgian creature, the Mega-Zorg had a nearly impenetrable exoskeleton, and the tentacle-legs had their own segmented plating. Its pincers could cut a man in half easily. And standing at the same height of a seven-story building, Spiff had seen some of the Mega-Zorg’s gruesome work. His usually impressive height of six feet and three inches didn’t even let him reach what could be presumed to be a knee of the Mega-Zorg.
Spiff takes another desperate look around, but he already knows what he has to do. He’d known it since the Mega-Zorg erupted from the ground in front of the Zorg General. Gritting his teeth, Spiff steels himself and reaches into his tool belt. He opens one of the pockets for the first time while on the battlefield, his fingers tentatively grazing over the cool metal. He spares one last thought of his faithful and trusted partner, Hobbes—who was at the Watchtower with Tawny, before pulling out the Demisor Ray.
The ray gun is deceptively small considering the pack it punches. Barely larger than a starting pistol, the Demisor was developed as a final resort, only to be used in an “us or them” scenario. And after being in the Zorg dungeons who knows how many times, Spiff knew he couldn’t let them win. The design is simple, a trigger pull to release the blast. The handle, however, was filled with hollow spikes, sturdy enough to pierce through the yellow gloves of his uniform and into his skin. You see, to operate the Demisor Ray, you need to be willing to give your life up in return for the blast to work. Blood, life force energy, fills the spikes, and the Demisor is charged using that energy.
Spiff didn’t want to wait for the spikes to pierce through his glove, so he took his hand out of the tool belt, yanking the glove off faster than he had when a Zokk had shot acid at him from its mouth. He throws his glove somewhere, and plunges his bare hand back into the tool belt, gingerly pulling out the Demisor Ray. He needed to make sure he had a line of sight right down the gullet of the Mega-Zorg before he could let the spikes pierce him.
Off to his right, a dozen feet away, he hears a voice croak out his name, even over all the sounds of battle. “Cal-vin,” Hal Jordan, one of the Green Lanterns who had been at the Watchtower when the transmission came in about the Zorg battle, said.
There was an instinctual beat before Spiff answered, “Code names, Lantern,” waiting for Batman to scold the pilot. But Batman couldn’t scold him. He couldn’t do much of anything right now, as far as Spiff was concerned. Last time he’d seen the Bat, one of the Lieutenant Zorgs had cornered him with a blaster sword.
“Hah,” Jordan coughed, fresh blood spilling over his chin. His eyes somehow managed to focus on what Spiff was holding, and he dragged his gaze back to Spiff’s. There was a desperation in his eyes that Spiff had never associated with Hal before. “Spiff, don’t…”
Spiff forced a cocky smile onto his face, a trademark of his hero persona. “You think that this intrepid explorer wouldn’t find some way to come back? After all, who’s going to race you in Sector Eight if I don’t?”
Hal just stares at him, labored breathing making his chest rise and fall irregularly.
Spiff gives Hal a more genuine smile, glancing back at the Mega-Zorg. It was finally in range. He had to do this now. “Tell Hobbes I’ll see him again, would you?” His hand closes around the handle tightly, spikes poking into too easily torn skin, before Hal has a chance to answer.
Spiff manages to somehow keep his arm and gaze steady and stay standing, even as he feels himself getting weaker. The Demisor Ray starts to glow in his hand, letting him know that it was working. He drops to his knees, feeling cold and hot and stiff and like a boiled noodle all at once. The world around him grows more blurry and distant, darkness encroaching on, but he keeps his focus on the Mega-Zorg’s gaping maw as it lets out another terrible roar.
“It’s a magical world, ol’ buddy, ol’ pal. Let’s go exploring…” Spiff mumbles out, pulling the trigger.
Bright, hot white energy builds at the end of the barrel before the blast of energy from the Demisor Ray erupts, painting the world around Spiff white, overtaking the black that finally won.
The last thing he hears his the sound of the Mega-Zorg make a weird whining noise before an uncomfortably wet explosion occurs.