Wicked Comet 2, Part 12
Rich, Elphaba, Fiyero and Glinda's eyes widened as Morrible explained what the machine would do.
"That's impossible. I tried to design one of these things but the algorithms were too vast and the potential effects too dangerous!" Rich exclaimed.
"Not impossible for me" Morrible cackled.
The machine then shot out a burst of sparks and Rich dashed over to another set of controls.
"Oh and I forgot to mention, Oz will be destroyed when the machine activates" Morrible continued.
"Can you stop it?" Elphaba asked Rich.
"I'm not sure if I can. But I can give it a damn good go!" Rich replied.
Elphaba looked to Fiyero and Glinda who nodded.
"Ok, I will hold Morrible off whilst you shut the machine down" Elphaba spoke to her cousin with determination in her voice.
"You can't, you could be killed! I won't lose my family again!" Rich cried.
Elphaba smiled kindly to her cousin.
"You won't" was all she said to him before she took flight upon her broom to fight Morrible.
"Afraid Thropp?" Morrible asked evilly.
"You wish!" Elphaba snarled.
At that, Elphaba and Morrible charged into battle.
Rich began leaping this way and that, trying to switch of the machine. Even tough Rich was the smartest man alive, he was finding it extremely difficult to try and find out how he could stop the machine. Whilst the two Thropps were doing this, Fiyero was trying to heal Glinda's wounds with whatever he could find in the Lab's first aid box.
Explosions rocked the air as both the battle of the Ozian Citizens vs Morrible's army and the personal battle between Elphaba and Morrible raged on.
Rich pulled a particular lever which caused the machine to whir louder!
"Ah, it's not that one" he thought aloud.
Another explosion rocked the palace, sending Rich to the floor and tearing open an access panel leading into the guts of the machine.
Rich looked inside the hole and grinned; he now had a plan of what to do.
"Do you think we have a chance?" Glinda asked Fiyero weakly.
"Sure we do, Elphaba is one of the most powerful Witches that Oz has ever known and Rich is the Smartest guy I know. He built the Comet from scratch in Shiz with no idea of what he was doing for Oz sake" the man turned scarecrow replied with a smile.
Glinda smiled at this, she knew Fiyero was right. She watched as Rich stuck his entire upper body into the Portal Generator in order to mess with some of its internal workings. All the while Elphaba was flying on her broom close to the roof and doing her best to hold off Morrible. This was very difficult for the woman once known as the Wicked Witch of the West. Morrible was very powerful and Elphaba found herself nearly being knocked out of the air each time Morrible landed a blow!
"You know what you are doing is Wrong Morrible!" Elphaba's voice called out across the noise of both the battle and the machine.
"You are most certainly wrong green cabbage! I am doing what is best for Oz and all universes" Morrible shouted back.
Elphaba bristled at being called a cabbage but she didn't let her annoyance show. Morrible was obviously trying to bait her into making a mistake. If that happened, Elphaba would most certainly be killed.
Another explosion rocked the air, nearly making Elphaba spin out of control!
"Not long now" Morrible spoke with excitement.
"Ah, well actually…" Rich's voice echoed out.
Everyone turned to face Rich, whose hair was stuck up in weird shapes like he had just been electrocuted.
"What have you done?!" Morrible shrieked, knowing instantly that something was wrong.
"I might have fiddled with the machine's circuits, I haven't been able to shut the machine down. But I did manage to minimise the Explosion." Rich explained.
"How much?" Elphaba asked, her sixth sense giving her all sorts of warnings.
"It won't destroy Oz. But it will destroy the Palace" Rich replied.
Morrible let out a shriek of pure anger and leapt towards Rich who managed to grab hold of her and force her back. His teeth were gritted as he forced his feet to gain more traction on the ground.
"Elphaba, Fiyero, I'm going to stay and make sure that Morrible can't mess with the machine again. You get yourselves and Glinda out of here!" Rich said through gritted teeth.
"No, Rich. You'll die!" Elphaba protested.
"Don't be stupid!" Fiyero added.
"There's got to be another way!" Glinda weakly said.
Rich looked apologetically to his Cousin, his Friend and his true love.
"There is no other way, I'm truly sorry" he said apologetically.
Morrible then threw Rich off of her, sending the Thropp genius flying across the room and barely managing to land on his feet.
"GO!" Rich shouted as he drew out his revolver and prepared for what he thought would be his final fight.
Elphaba, with tears in her eyes said to Rich, "Be safe" before she darted over to Fiyero and helped to carry a screaming and ferociously protesting Glinda out of the room.
Once the three were out of sight, Rich turned to face Morrible.
"Looks like it is just you and I" he said grimly.
"I will not let you stand in my way! If I can't have Oz, I will settle for your death!" Morrible roared and at that the two charged into battle.
Morrible leapt to attack Rich from above with a magical attack but Rich sidestepped at the last minute and delivered a sucker punch to Morrible's face.
The former press secretary didn't seem to be phased by Rich's attack and immediately dealt a punch to Rich's gut which made him double over in Pain.
Morrible took this opportunity to attack Rich's face, breaking his nose and sending blood everywhere, not all of it Rich's. This impact sent Rich to the floor.
From where he was, Rich could see that Morrible thought Rich was knocked out or killed. So he lay as still as he could for as long as he dared until Morrible was standing right above him.
Quick as a flash, Rich raised his gun and fired a conventional lethal bullet into Morrible.
The truly wicked witch fell backwards at the impact and held a hand tightly over the wound that the bullet had made.
"A lethal bullet?" Morrible exclaimed in disbelief.
"I don't kill." Rich replied, trying not to choke on the smoke which now filled the Lab. "But with you, you are too much of a risk to be sent back to Prison"
The machine began whirring loudly and small explosions started happening, each one growing more powerful than the last.
It was game over now and Rich's mind was now full of images of his life with Elphaba, Glinda, Fiyero and all of their friends. He smiled before aiming his gun at Morrible one more time.
"Into the fires of hell you go!" he roared at the top of his lungs. There was another explosion and the roof started to collapse. Morrible ignored this as she tried desperately to reset the Machine but it was no use.
Rich knew that he had to leave so he turned to run but then a beam fell and everything for Rich went black!