Annihilus's only logical purpose for being here was answered, for the power core was within reach now. Flapping his wings, he approached the gigantic unit in an evil glee. Quickly he blasted a small hole in the unit's walls before ripping out a bunch of major wires. Then he was feeding off the vibrant energy contained in those wires, without solicitude about being discovered or caught in the act.
Ozai had lost him some seconds back; the chase was scarcely over. It was better not to use the pericycle, let alone any laser beams when running down Baxter Building hallways. In a sudden flash, the lights on Leopard X's sides dimmed down to nothingness. Incessant screeching echoed from someplace else while he slowed to a stop. Gee, his face must've been glowing with the warmth of exercise.
"Got to get to the basement lab," he said. He pricked his ears to be on alert. In case there were noises disturbing the silence he folded up his fingers to ready them for a clawed punch or two. After a draught, he exhaled in form of a soft growl. Annihilus wasn't far off but little did Ozai know he fed primarily on energy, & could detect such sources from afar. The building's power core had drawn him to it.
"Focus the light please, L.Y." Down the main penthouse corridor, he made out an awfully shredded surface: the doorway leading to the lift that conveyed people to the basement. The sliding doors were at least three quarters open & sparks flew out of the tattered opening to the passage. There was a long shaft to go before he'd enter the lab. He couldn't take the elevator platform as the power was out completely. Thus he resorted to jumping down the shaft with the firmest reliance on his four paws (to absorb the impact once he landed). There was no pool of light around other than the one he casted.
He beheld the insectoid, ascertaining that Annihilus's eyes looked like broken mirrors with an eerie glow. Ozai roared & got down to business, "Step away from there. Those wires are needed to power this whole building!" Pinning back his ears at the sound of deadly sparks of the wires, he crouched the lowest he could to anticipate a tussle.
"Since you humans do nothing other than exploit my power source, I in turn will exploit yours…," he hissed in discomposure. His mind held anyone from this side of the universe in much contempt – a cynical sort of contempt – just because Doctor Doom had played a clean trick on him last time. "I don't understand a thing you're saying, but I'll conclude that you mean trouble," snarled Leopard X. It was a second right before the creature pounced in mid-air in his direction. No doubt that Annihilus had lethal speed. Next he fired his own red energy beam from the chest, except it was evaded by the cat-like robot's more cunning movements. Ozai whirled around him, slashed at him from behind & brought him down using a jump kick.
H.E.R.B.I.E. suddenly came online again, judging by the additional little lights now illuminating the room, "AH! Dr. Ozai! What is going on?"
"H.E.R.B.I.E.?" panted Leopard X, blocking another laser attack, "I think this bug feeds off electricity. We need to send a surge overload into his body to electrocute him." "That's right! Dr. Richards wrote a paper on how organisms from the Negative Zone rely on this exact same energy to survive!" said the computer.
"I have an idea." Annihilus wanted to ram into him head on but he blasted the insectoid with a laser from his mouth. "Let's tie him up with those wires he chewed," he instructed. The lab's huge robotic arms operated by the computer were working. They took some of the large partially ripped wires to wrap around the monster. Ozai did the same with the remaining loose cables. Following that, he rushed to open the main flap on the back of his armour with three special claw movements similar to a code. From there he carefully pulled out a two fairly thick wires to plug into the best-sized points on the unit itself. There were a few spare plug points in the machine's body, so he easily found spots for his internal wires to fit in.
A tap on a button under the flap caused Leopard X's suit to empty its power into the unit - & then into the cables binding Annihilus. In utter shock the insectoid let out a shrill cry as the sparks augmented into a dangerous mass of electricity. Moments passed until he collapsed at last in a weakened heap, after Ozai had tapped the same button & removed his wires from the core.
"Power reboot in progress," H.E.R.B.I.E. muttered. With that he managed to get most of the lights to switch back on, by resetting the power core the best he could. "Oh, L.Y.! Are you okay? Boy, was I worried about you!" he added. "Of course I am, H.E.R.B.I.E.," came her sweet sounding reply; she was online & running fine.
"Our next goal: refining the pericycle. It's too dangerous to use for now," Ozai told both the computers. Abruptly his earpiece beeped, "Ozai, where are you? Is anything wrong?" The voice belonged to none other than Reed. "I have one of your bug friends from the Negative Zone. In the basement lab," Leopard X responded, "I'll meet you upstairs." He took the elevator back up along with Annihilus, who was bound tightly & moaning deeply. Six puzzled faces were in front of him now.
Inside his helmet, he smiled to see Johnny's hand being held by Azula. "The Annihilator? Wow Dr.O, you make the ideal exterminator!" Johnny commented.
"Uhhh, I ain't gonna ask about what happened. Let's drag this bug to the Vault before bedtime," Ben said.
"How did he get all the way down there?" Reed enquired in an urgent tone. He was eyeing the damaged opening to the elevator shaft.
Ozai half-laughed, "Long story short, Reed? You should have briefed me on how to behave around your power gauntlet."