Vendra stuck to the shadows as she peered over the roof's edge and down into the plaza below. Within, a dozen Agorians strutted around like they owned the place, digging through loot piles and shoving captured Vullards into shoddy cages.
"Where's the space-rat and his witch?" one Agorian demanded of a Vullard captive.
"I d-d-don't know," the prisoner stammered fearfully. "I d-d-didn't even kn-n-now there were any in the Hollow."
The Agorian clearly didn't like that answer and they kicked the captive Vullard in the side, causing junk to spill from their pack as they hit the ground.
Vendra bristled at the exchange. Not because she cared about the Vullard abuse, but because the brute had referred to her as 'his witch'. Maybe it was the fact that Ratchet literally had a slave collar around her neck, but for some reason those words struck a nerve and it took every ounce of control she had not to fly down there and blast the stupid muscle brained lump into psychokinetic oblivion!
Instead, she had to wait for Ratchet to strike first.
His plan was to create a distraction and lure the Agorians into an ambush. Then, while he did all the fun stuff, she was to fly down and rescue the Vullards.
Vendra hated the plan, especially the part where she played hero to a bunch of humpbacked junk worshipers, but she supposed it was at least better than hiding or being incapacited 'for her own safety'.
A sharp crack split the air and a beam of laser fire shot out from the distance. The stream of light pierced straight through an unsuspecting agorian's head, before continuing through another Agorian's heart, and finally ripping apart a third's leg.
The shouts of pain from the third Agorian rang out as the first two warriors fell over dead. The rest swivelled around in surprise.
Before any of them had a chance to organize, another sniper blast ripped into a fourth Agorian. Then another. Then another.
The shots of laser fire sowed chaos into the ranks of the primitive-minded brutes, but being so primitive minded also meant their reaction was predictable.
With a chorused warcry, every still-standing Agorian charged in the direction of sniper fire. Their every instinct roared for them to find and rip apart their attacker, driving them to take the straightest route to get there.
In seconds, the plaza was cleared of all but three living Agorians; the one that had gotten shot through the leg in the first salvo and two that were helping them.
Impressed with the effectiveness of Ratchet's plan (and his aim), Vendra hovered down from the roof and landed softly just a few feet away from the three brutes.
To her delight, the wounded Agorian just so happened to be the one who had been interrogating the Vullards.
"What?!" shouted one of the able-bodied Agorians when they spotted Vendra.
The former villainess didn't even bat an eye as she casually raised up her palm and sent a blast of electricity into the first Agorian. The lumbering beast writhed and shrieked for a moment, before falling to the ground in a smoking heap.
The second Agorian shouted their warcry and charged at her with a drawn sword attached to either wrist.
Vendra faked a yawn as she flicked her wrist, wrapping the would-be attacker in purple light, before lifting them up into the air.
Higher and higher she sent them until she was at last satisfied. With a snap of her fingers, she released her powers.
The falling Agorian screamed as they plummeted all the way back down, before being silenced on impact.
Vendra then turned her attention to the one remaining enemy.
The one-legged Agorian showed only small hints of fear as they fought to sit up, baring jagged teeth at her as she strolled toward them with an almost bored expression.
"Do you think you've won, Witch?" they began, raising their head up and pointing their sword at her, "We Agorians are a warrior race! Even if you strike me down, Magora's vengeful wrath will know no limit! There will be no place in the galaxy for you and your furry master to hide!"
Vendra stopped walking and her eyes narrowed, "He's not my master," she hissed.
Seeing they'd struck a nerve, a grin split the wounded Agorian's face, "Oh, is that so? I suppose I'm just imagining that collar around your neck then?"
Purple energy flared in Vendra's eyes, but instead of pointing her palm at the taunting Agorian, she instead reached out toward the nearby dead one. Purple light wrapped itself around the corpse's blade and with a flick of her wrist it was pulled free.
The weapon flew through the air towards Vendra, before coming to halt just above her shoulder. There it hovered for a moment and with just a thought, she pointed the blade at the mouthy Agorian.
A look of terror crossed the wounded raider's face, but it hardened again a moment later, "Go ahead!" they barked tauntingly. "Prove you have no honor! I am injured. What would your master think about killing an unarmed man?"
Vendra raised her hand, ready to hurl the floating sword into the braggart's face, but for some reason she hesitated. In the back of her mind, she couldn't help herself from asking, 'What 'would' Ratchet think if she killed him like this?'
The Agorian noticed the pause in Vendra's movement and the distracted look in her eyes. Briefly his eyes shifted to the nearby body of one of his comrades, one that had been slain by the sniper, and he grinned. The other Agorian happened to have a grenade-lobbing arm.
"I knew it," the injured warrior growled as he subtly slid himself towards his fallen comrade. "You heroes are so predic-"
A flash of purple light cut him off as the hovering sword flew forward and drove itself into the Agorian's chest, piercing him through the heart in an instant.
A look of surprise crossed the warrior's wide eyes. He fought to turn his gaze upwards, the strength already leaving his body. There he looked into Vendra's glowing snake-like glare, before his life drained from him, and he fell back dead.
"I'm 'not' a hero," she hissed coldly, before turning and walking away.
As the young Nether stomped off, now in a foul mood despite getting to unleash her powers, she could hear the sound of explosions off in the distance. It would seem that Ratchet was fighting the horde in earnest now. It wouldn't take him long to finish them off and he was likely to be back soon.
She made a mental note to demand that next time she be in the real fight. If there were captives at the next location, then Ratchet could be the one to handle clean-up duty.
It was then that Vendra suddenly remembered what she was 'supposed' to be doing and she spun around to find a cage full of petrified Vullards eyeing her with a mix of hope and fear.
"Right…" she said to herself, before making her way towards them.
With a flick of her wrist, Vendra snapped the lock with her powers, "Sorry about that," she said offhandedly to the captives. "I had something on my mind."
Realizing that they were being saved and not the terrifying space witch's next victims, the Vullard prisoners rushed out of their cage with glee.
Well, they rushed in the Vullard sense. Lumbering faster than normal, they were all out of their confinement and moved toward Vendra.
"Thank you so much, Outsider!" one declared in their electronic voice.
"Sure, don't mention it," the former villain replied dismissively before turning to leave, but when she did, she found another Vullard was standing in her path.
"You saved our lives!" they shouted.
"Yeah well, I drew the short straw," she countered, trying to make her lack of care as apparent as possible. "And really… don't mention it."
Despite her best efforts to be abrasive, yet another Vullard immediately spread their arms wide and declared, "You are a true hero."
Vendra's eyes flashed as she rounded on the offending Vullard, "I am 'not' a hero!" she barked angrily, causing the hunchbacked group to backstep. "I am 'just' someone who got caught up in your stupid raid and was too bored to hide. I couldn't care less what happens to any of you junk herders!"
There was silence for a moment, but then one of the Vullards stepped forward again, "But no matter what, Outsider, we all owe you our lives!"
There was a murmur of agreement.
Vendra found herself unsure of how to respond.
Just then she heard what sounded like running in the distance and she let out a sigh of relief. Ratchet was returning from his half of the mission. Now the Vullards could heap their annoying praise on the 'hero' and not her.
Vendra gestured in the sound's direction, "Look, if you want someone to thank, you can thank him."
All the Vullards turned toward the sound, but they all squealed in terror.
Confused, Vendra turned. Instead of fresh-from-battle Lombax on his way to join them, she found an Agorian warrior running at her instead.
The Agorian stopped, surprised to find a group of Vullards and a Nether standing in the plaza.
Likewise, the group of Vullards and Vendra stared back, surprised to see an Agorian.
Clearly the most quick-witted of any present, one of the Vullards turned to Vendra and asked, "Is he responsible for our rescue? I am confused."
Vendra knew the feeling and for a brief moment she wondered if Ratchet could have possibly lost, but she quickly dismissed the idea and realized that this Agorian was coming from the opposite direction the Lombax had gone. Either it was a loner coming back to find their cohort destroyed, or it was a scout for the other group that Ratchet had detected.
Finally, the small-minded Agorian's brain processed the situation. Before Vendra realized what they were doing, they threw back their head and let out a bellowing warcry, "I found them! To me Magora's Raiders!"
Seconds later Vendra had her answer as an entirely new host of Agorians began pouring out from further down the street, drawn to the sound of their companion's warcry.
At first Vendra was excited. Finally she would get the fight she was looking for, but when a trio of chain-ball swinging Agorian riders came around the corner on their massive tusked mounts, she remembered Ratchet's words about being rash. She decided that maybe she could at least get to some high ground first, rather than face a horde of blood-thirsty, sword-wielding brutes in the middle of an open plaza.
Vendra turned to the crowd of Vullards, still looking between her and the charging Agorians in confusion, "Everybody run!" she barked and immediately the rescued captives threw their hands up in panic as they turned to flee.
Vendra took one last look at the horde bearing down on her before lifting up into the air. Their numbers had grown. They were much larger than the group Ratchet had lured away. He'd clearly picked a smaller, less armed host to target.
Her eyes began scanning the nearby buildings and rooftops in search of a good place to take cover and also attack from. She would likely need every advantage she could get soon.
As she started putting on distance, however, she happened to glance back at the Vullards she'd just freed. To her dismay, she realized that they were clearly going nowhere fast.
Even at top speed, a hunchbacked vullard was barely a third as fast as an Agorian on foot and the mounted riders she'd seen earlier were quickly passing their companions.
'Oh well,' was Vendra's first and immediate thought as she turned back around and eyed a good location on a nearby roof that would be perfect for her to defend.
She was just about to fly over to it too, when one of the Vullards shouted behind her, "Help!"
They didn't shout it to Vendra directly, rather, they were just crying out in general desperation.
"We're going to die after all!" came another's electronic whimper.
Vendra looked back at their waddling forms with an irritated expression, then she eyed the oncoming horde of Agorians, then at her relatively safe spot on the roof, then back at the Vullards.
In her mind she could hear Ratchet's words replaying themselves as she considered her option, 'Your first priority is the Vullards. If we see any civilians under attack, we rescue them at all costs.'
With a deep groan of frustration, both towards the helpless Vullards and towards herself, Vendra floated back down to the plaza floor.
Not that she cared about following Ratchet's orders or anything, but she reasoned that if she ditched the junk slugs now, she'd essentially be admitting that she couldn't handle things after all, thus proving the overbearing furball correct. And 'that'... she could not allow that.
Vendra touched down right in the path of the charging Agorians, "Get moving," she shouted without turning to look at the Vullards. "I'll hold them off."
One of the Vullards paused at hearing this, "You can't possibly stop them yourself?!" they said in disbelief.
Already annoyed at having to put herself in danger for them, Vendra turned and fixed the Vullard with a cold glare, "Get moving now, or I'll kill you myself..."
The Vullard did not need any further motivation. They immediately turned and quick-lumbered after the rest of their compatriots.
Vendra sighed and shook her head, before turning back to the oncoming Agorians.
The three vanguard riders were almost within mace-throwing range already. They seemed to be racing one another to see who could reach the plaza first.
Staring them down, the now committed Nether rolled her shoulders and flexed her fingers, feeling the exhilarating sensation of her powers as they flowed through her hands.
Then a grin split her lips and purple light flashed in her eyes. Now that she was stuck in this idiotic situation... the least she could do was enjoy it.
The mounted Agorians crossed into the plaza at almost the same time. A line of tusked mounts roared with saliva as their riders spun burning spiked balls above their heads.
Finally in range, all three riders hurled their burning explosives, cutting bright lines of fire through the air as they arc'ed toward Vendra.
Vendra didn't flinch, though. To Agorians it may have looked like she was frozen in fear, but she was simply waiting. It wasn't until the deadly missiles were nearly on top of her that she threw up her hands.
The three spiked balls ground to a halt in mid-air, held aloft by purple light.
A look of surprise crossed the three Agorians' faces, but their mounts were too excited to be slowed at this point.
With a flick of her wrist, Vendra sent the flaming explosives back at their senders and the look of surprise on the riders' faces turned to ones of horror.
Despite the surprise turn of events, however, the Agorians could not be criticized for their reaction speed. Each one immediately pulled up on their mounts' reins and swerved to avoid the danger.
The middle rider wasn't so lucky. Their mount didn't even have time to slow before the first flaming mace struck them in the face, blasting the Agorian clear out of the saddle and onto the ground in a bloody mess.
The explosion tore into the beast as well, causing it an intense amount of pain. It reared in agony, only to catch a second flaming mace to its soft underbelly. This too exploded, ripping through the beast's vital organs. The creature howled one last time before it collapsed dead by its rider.
Despite the brutal death of their comrade, it turned out to be a saving grace for the second rider, whose returned mace had been taken by the first's mount, while the third rider was able to swerve just enough to avoid the final mace themselves.
The flaming spiked ball exploded some distance behind them and caused no more harm.
Relief then turned to fury as both riders regained their composure and rounded on the deadly space witch.
Vendra clicked her teeth, disappointed that she'd only gotten one. She prepared herself for the next volley, but the surviving enemies were more clever than that. Instead of charging her head on again, they veered off and flanked her on either side, spinning their maces again, but holding their throws for the opportune moment.
Vendra set her jaw and scowled. She was forced to flick her eyes back and forth between them in a desperate attempt to keep both threats in sight.
One of them let loose their mace and it hurtled toward her, forcing Vendra to focus her attention on it in order to use her powers.
She didn't catch it like the first one, though. Knowing what was coming next, she instead simply veered the spiked metal ball off course slightly, guiding its path with her abilities to send it sailing over her head and towards the second rider.
By sheer luck she managed to slam it right into the second rider's mace as it too came hurtling towards her exposed back.
The two weapons exploded and sent a shower of hot metal over Vendra. Thankfully, her powers were more than enough to hold back the bits of shrapnel that came her way, but it was still too close for comfort.
When their attack failed, a duet of warcries filled the air as the two riders charged Vendra at full speed. Their mounts had their heads lowered and both were pointing their long tusks directly at her.
But Vendra was unfazed. She didn't even attempt to move as the two massive warbeasts closed in.
Then… just before she was skewered... she simply floated upward.
A look of surprise crossed both Agorians' skyward-pointed faces as they had clearly forgotten Vendra could fly.
The two riders then looked back down and into each other's horrified eyes, just as their burly beasts crashed into one another, goring themselves on each other's tusks.
The two riders were bucked forward by the sudden cessation of velocity and their momentum carried them into a literal head-on collision.
Vendra heard the sound of bone cracking as the two Agorians skulls collided, but she doubted that it would be enough to incapacite a creature with as little brain matter and as much muscle-bound rage as they had.
She landed on the ground next to their groaning forms and with an almost mundane gesture, poured purple lighting from her hand into their bodies.
With apathetic eyes she watched the two of them jerk and writhe until their violent shaking stopped and they were left blackened, smoking husks.
Clapping her hands together to remove the ash that now lightly coated them, Vendra was alerted by a strange clank of metal.
The distracted space witch looked down to find the source of the sound and spotted a small orb that was flashing red. The strobe effect became faster and by the time she realized what it was, she had just enough time to dive away before it exploded.
The rest of the horde had come upon her before she knew it.
Still not in range for swords, but clearly in range for lobbed explosives, Vendra stumbled her way back to her feet and looked out over the mass of charging Agorian warriors.
More of the round metal bombs started to rain down around her. She couldn't believe she hadn't seen how close the mob of shrieking morons had gotten, but that was just how much focus the fight with the riders had required to control her power.
She recovered quickly, though, and just like the flaming maces, she caught several of the blinking explosives in the air with her abilities.
Also just like with the riders, the grenadiers' expression turned to one of surprise as she held them aloft.
Vendra snickered at the looks on their faces. They should have known this was coming after seeing her fight with the riders, but she told herself that she should know better than to expect an Agorian to think ahead.
And with that she lurched her body forward, throwing the explosives back to their senders with full force.
Unlike the riders, however, these Agorians didn't try to run or try to avoid the explosives. Instead they each pulled out a yellow, glowing, personal shield and held it up.
Now it was Vendra's turn to look surprised as the shower of explosive orbs struck their shields, detonating with fiery force, and doing no damage to the Agorians on the other side.
A chorus of laughter ripped from the throats of the Agorian grenadiers. Their plan had worked, drawing Vendra's attention to them, only now did she notice their sword-wielding brethren surging forth.
They came like two waves pouring from either side of the huddled grenadiers and moved to flank Vendra.
The soon to be surrounded space witch took a step back, only now appreciating the number of massive, blood-thristy barbarians that were bearing down on her.
She prepared to send out volleys of electrical blasts to defend herself at close range, but she could already feel her powers being exhausted. Even if she managed to blunt their assault and push them back, she feared that she wouldn't have the strength to fly away after, if worse came to worst.
Vendra swallowed and found her throat dry. She didn't need to look back to know that the fleeing Vullards were still waddling their way to a safety they had not yet reached, she could hear their electronic cries of terror from where she stood. If she left now, they were probably dead, but if she didn't leave now, then 'she' might be.
In the fraction of a second that she had to decide, the debate raged in Vendra's mind. She reminded herself that she cared nothing for the worthless scrap mongers, she imagined Ratchet's disappointment in her, she refused to die here at the hands of these rabid mongrels, she hated the fact that she was too weak to fight... and that she was helpless to do the right thing, regardless of whether she wanted to or not.
At that moment, Vendra made a decision.
The former villain grit her teeth... and slowly lifted off the ground.
Still not willing to look at the Vullards she was abandoning, the defeated space witch turned away from the battle.
The moment she did, however, she felt herself gripped by an invisible force.
Confused, Vendra tried to fight against the pull. She strained her powers until her inhibitor burned around her neck, but the pull was her equal.
Realizing the futility, she turned back around, looking wildly for what held her.
There! A Thrasher, similar to the ones they fought in junkfields, was among the Agorian horde. This one, however, had a large ring attached to its back.
This ring pulsed with power and Vendra recognized it immediately as a type of grav-tether projector.
With wide eyes of realization, the space witch redoubled her efforts to escape, but cursed aloud as her strength weakened against the tireless pull of the machine. She was slowly, but surely being brought back down toward the eagerly glinting metal blades of her enemies.
Terror filled her as she realized there was no escape, but she felt it only for an instant. Despite the direness of her situation, some part of Vendra was actually relieved.
Now she had only one option left and that was to fight.
With a deep breath, Vendra let go of herself. As if releasing her hold on a ledge, her power's resistance to the grav-tether vanished and she began to fall.
The Agorians below cheered as the tether brought Vendra's tiny form toward them and they all pointed their blades skyward, ready to skewer her like a living spike pit.
But Vendra had no intention of being a kebab.
With her focus no longer on escape, the falling space witch instead put her attention into her hands. Pressing her palms together, she formed a compacted ball of raw energy against her chest until it formed a burning electrical plasma.
She had only a precious few seconds before she reached the ground, but in that time she pumped everything she could into that one focused point. Her collar seared her flesh with the exertion, but it was all or nothing now.
An inch away from the nearest swordpoint, Vendra unleashed the psychic bomb.
A thunderous shockwave shook the air. Forced downward by Vendra's body, the blast slammed into the swarming Agorians like a tidal wave against ants. Countless streaks of purple lightning rent the air, drawn to the raised swords like lightning rods, striking in an instant and without mercy.
Some Agorians were blasted clean off their feet by the force of electricity, some were turned into cartoonish X-rays of themselves, and others were cut clean in two by the burning whips of pure plasma, but all were knocked clear of Vendra's path.
The depleted space witch struck the ground with tremendous force. Her bones cracked, her muscles ached, and her head spun. She had to fight to stay conscious, but she was sure that she hadn't aquired any new metallic body piercings.
Disoriented and in immense pain, Vendra stumbled to her feet. She could feel her Nanotech slowly repairing several broken bones. She was covered in bruises, scrapes, and charred Agorian flesh, but she was alive.
Though, for how much longer she wasn't sure.
All around her the ground was littered with charred Agorian corpses. At any other time Vendra would have been pleased with her grizzly achievement, but even though she'd annihilated the entire blade-wielding enemy host, he had not killed the 'entire' horde.
The Agorian Grenadiers still stood. Struck dumb by the sheer fercocity of her attack, they stared at their fallen bretheren in disbelief. But, being warriors, they quickly gathered their senses. Eyes hardened and roars of defiance ripped from their throat. Within moments, a fresh rain of explosives was unleashed toward her.
Hunched over, Vendra weakly looked up at the incoming attack. She felt drained. She'd used up so much her power on that one attack and now she could barely make sparks.
Her only choice was to run.
Pain racked her body as she forced her protesting leg muscles to move. The first few feet were a hobbling, desperate motion and for a split second she wondered if dying here might be a better alternative to taking another cursed step.
As the bombs fell around her, however, their ticking strobes infused her with motivation. With a strength that she didn't know she had, Vendra ran for the nearest building.
She ducked and weaved, trying her best not to touch any of the bombs that landed in her path. So long as she could avoid setting off their proximity triggers, she could easily outpace their slow countdowns. She was even given a bit of cover as the ones she escaped went off, kicking up great plumes of dust and debris in her wake.
As the building grew closer, a ray of hope shone touched the young Nether. If she could find some place to hide within the building, she could recover her powers and fly away to safety.
Briefly, Vendra's mind wondered what had become of the Vullards, if they had made it to safety after all, but she soon dismissed the thought. She had given up her right to wonder that question when she'd abandoned them. Only her own survival mattered now.
A raging torrent of flame hissed across Vendra's path. The tiny Nether barely managed to dive out of the way, before the inferno consumed her. As she rolled away she could smell singed hair, but she didn't have time to worry about that now. Had she been any lager, her momentum would have carried her in the fire.
Growling at their mistake, an Agorian that Vendra hadn't seen until it was too late readjusted the flamethrower nozzle on their arm and unleashed a second, more concentrated fiery cone towards her.
Vendra continued rolling out of the new attacker's range.
As she evaded, more grenadier bombs rained down around her.
Thinking quickly, the desperate Nether realized that the pryo-Agorian didn't have a shield.
Her abilities were still weakened, but she was able to force out just enough power to redirect an incoming explosive, directly at the source of the scorching flame.
The pyro warrior was so focused on cornering and flambéing Vendra that they didn't realize the danger they were in until the last second. They had just enough time to look surprised before the bomb exploded in their face, sending the flamethrowing Agorian out in a blaze of anything but glory.
Vendra grinned with satisfaction at her latest kill, but the smile faded when she noticed a quickly blinking explosive a short distance from her feet.
Once again her need to focus her powers had distracted her. She had just enough time to note that she'd 'missed one', before it exploded.
The blast knocked her clean off her feet.
At first, Vendra Prog couldn't see or hear anything other than the high-pitched whine of shellshock. Slowly, shadows began swimming back into view and then shapes began to form from those shadows.
The world weaved in and out of focus as she lay on her back. Above her she could see the outline of the building she'd been running to. She'd almost made it.
But a moment later the leering face of an Agorian warrior came into focus as well. Then more faces.
Altogether there were four Agorians remaining from the horde that had first attacked her. Each one a shield-wielding bomb-thrower. They laughed victoriously as they surrounded her limp form.
Despite the direness of the situation, Vendra had to admit that she was pretty pleased with herself. She'd managed to take down most of the brutes. She took solace in the fact that she would have wiped the floor with them if she didn't have this stupid inhibitor collar around her neck.
A massive hand suddenly gripped the front of Vendra's battered clothing and the semi-conscious Nether became vaguely aware of being hoisted up in the air.
"Looks like we caught the space-rat's pet," she heard one of the Agorians say gleefully.
She only knew it had been the one that held her who'd spoken because the rancid smell of their breath filled her nostrils. It was almost enough to revive her back to full consciousness.
"The boss will give us the first pick of all loot for her hide," said another, elated at the thought of all the spoils.
"Yeah, but we caught her alive," noted another thoughtfully. "Maybe that's worth even more?"
A slight glimmer of hope touched Vendra's foggy mind. She knew Ratchet couldn't be far behind. If they took her alive, he'd save her without a doubt.
That hope was lost when she heard the metallic *shing* and a long metal blade came into view just a few inches from her face.
"Nah," the Agorian holding her growled softly. "She's too dangerous to be left alive. 'Sides, you know Lord Magora only takes trophies to make seat covers out of 'em." Vendra felt the blade press against her neck, just under the jawline. "The skin's all we need."
As Vendra braced herself for the end, she wondered what Ratchet would think of her having died saving a pack of mangy hunch-backs like this. Would he praise her for her heroism, or call her reckless for getting herself killed like he'd known she would?
Half-delirious, Vendra grinned at the thought that he'd probably do both.
Refusing to show weakness or fear, Vendra's last act was to look her executioner dead in the eye.
The large Agorian grinned at her defiance, appreciating it as a warrior.
He even gave her a nod of respect, before pressing the knife blade into her skin... and taking a wrench to the face.
Vendra felt the millimeter of steel that had pierced her neck pull itself back out before it could do any serious damage as the Agorian holding her roared in surprise and pain.
Blinking in confusion, Vendra thought for a moment she'd seen an Omniwrench fly across her vision, but a moment later a dumbell fell on her captor, hitting the burly fighter in the shoulder and making him snarl.
"Take that you overgrown meatheads!" came an electronically synthesized voice from high above them.
Both Vendra and the Agorians turned to look up at the group of Vullards that had just been rescued. They stood on the roof of the building she was pressed up against and were now hurling the junk from their back-tubs down onto the Agorians below.
"Don't worry, Outsider!" another Vullard shouted mechanically, "Vullards are always good for a trade!"
As they spoke, they hurled a heavy robot arm over the roof edge that struck another Agorian in the foot, making them yelp and hop around on one leg.
The rest of the Agorians began jumping as well, dancing left and right in order to avoid the falling debris.
"Miserable junk-backs," hissed the lead Agorian. "Will someone please put a popper up there and cease this idiocy?!"
At his word, one of the other Agorian Grenadiers aimed their cannon-arm up at the attacking Vullards.
The rag-tag rescue team squealed in terror, causing a gap in their onslaught that gave the Agorian a clean shot. With a grin, they fired.
The explosive orb belched out from the end of their arm-cannon, flying up in a perfect arc that would take it dead-center of the slow-moving Vullards… but it only went up about a foot before stopping mid-air.
All of the Agorians, as well as the stunned Vullards, stared at the physics-defying sight in disbelief... until the Agorian leader turned to look at the space witch still in his grasp.
The beaten Nether, still held in their clutches, held her out her arm wreathed in purple light.
She grinned weakly and met her captor's gaze with wild-looking gleam in her eye, before flicking her arm down.
The spherical explosive held in mid-air suddenly reversed its course and slammed back into the Agorian that had fired it, detonating right in the midst of their comrades.
All four Agorians, along with Vendra, were blasted off their feet.
Vendra slammed into the ground and the world was once again a nauseatingly unstable swirl of mass, but feeling her captor's grip gone, she fought to get back to her feet.
Through her blurred vision she could see only one Agorian still moving, the one that had come millimeters from slitting her throat.
The warrior's hulking body was battered and bleeding as they too fought to stand back up. Having been standing between Vendra and the explosion, he'd taken the brunt of the blast for her, and for that she was deeply 'grateful'.
The muscle-bound Agorian's eyes were filled with rage when they locked with Vendra's. It was clear from those eyes that they cared about nothing in that moment, other than ripping her head from her body.
The two squared off. Vendra experimentally pushed her power to her palms to see just how much of her strength had returned, while the Agorian activated his shield and prepared his cannon-arm.
There was a moment in which the two opponents sized each other up where time itself seemed to stop.
Then the Agorian roared his hatred and fired a bomb at Vendra.
Still weakened, the unrelenting space witch pushed her powers to try and catch the explosive in mid-air.
It barely worked. She was drained and had only just managed to stop it before it struck her.
Still, she was able to send it back, hoping to catch her opponent off-guard, but the wary Agorian's shield caught it and the bomb detonated harmlessly against its yellow surface.
He laughed as he lined up another shot. It was clear that his opponent was at their limit and that victory was his.
He fired again and this time Vendra dodged it.
She didn't have the strength to waste on catching and returning bombs that would do no damage to her opponent. She needed to deal with their shield first.
In an act of desperation, she reached out with both hands and took hold of the shield telekinetically.
The Agorian was surprised to feel a sudden, invisible pull on their arm, as if their shield were trying to yank itself free.
Infuriated by the audacity of his opponent, the massive warrior simply yanked back on the disc, shattering Vendra's hold and sending feedback into her arms that nearly pulled her joints from her sockets.
Vendra snarled furiously at the Agorian, even as he laughed at her weakness.
They fired another bomb at her, this time aiming it low so that it struck the ground and rolled towards her.
Vendra was forced to run from the device before it exploded, but her body was weak and exhausted. She barely managed to get out of the blast-range before it went off, sending shrapnel whizzing in all directions.
The Agorian's laughter cut through the ringing in Vendra's ears and brought her attention back to her opponent.
He was just toying with her now. He knew that she didn't have the strength to take his shield and so long it was in his possession, she couldn't use his own bombs against him.
The tone of ridicule in his gruff cackles, mocking her helplessness, dug down deep into Vendra's core and hit a nerve that sent white-hot rage bubbling into every vein. Purple electricity crackled around her body and her eyes glowed with hatred.
The laughing Agorian hesitated at the sight, but quickly set their jaw and fired another explosive at her.
With strength born of anger and desperation, Vendra once again caught the bomb mid-air and sent it back to her opponent.
The Agorian warrior caught the bomb on his shield, once more coming out unscathed, but when the dust cleared, he found the mad space witch running straight at him.
Surprised by this, he brought his cannon-arm back up, intent on getting a direct hit on her, even if it put himself in the blast radius as well.
Just as he lined up the shot, Vendra's wings flared with power as she prepared to take flight.
But her opponent preempted this and raised his cannon to catch her where she'd have a harder time evading.
However, when he brought his gun to bear, the air above him was empty.
Blinking in confusion, the giant warrior looked down just in time to see Vendra slide between his disproportionately scrawny legs.
Her jump had been a feint and the distraction had allowed her to get behind her opponent's shield at last.
But she was far from out of danger.
Acting on a reflex that had been drilled into him from years of sparing in the Battleplex's arena -a preparation to fight one of his races' most valued adversaries, who happened to be about Vendra's size- the Agorian warrior spun around and swung his shield low to catch his opponent with a crippling shield bash.
But his swing fell through and once again he found only empty space where his opponent should have been.
Staring in disbelief, the hunched warrior blinked and looked up. There he found Vendra Prog, hovering at head height, just inches from him with power glowing in her veins and a crazed look in her eyes.
Before he could even react, her tiny hands clamped down on either side of the Agorian's face and raw, burning electricity was pumped out either palm, forming a circuit from one to the other with her opponent's head in the middle.
Vendra's vision was filled only with the silently screaming expression of her enemy as she poured everything she had left into this one final attack.
Her hands were numb, she couldn't breathe, and her throat burned from the restrictive inhibitor collar as it glowed hot against her skin, but still, she pushed on, afraid that if she let up for even a moment her opponent would survive… and when she'd given all she'd had, everything fell to blackness.
AN: The title of this chapter is a reference to a Colossus quote from the Deadpool movie, where he states that a hero is not someone who is heroic 24/7, but rather a 'hero' is defined by "4 or 5 moments".