12. Horrible Revelations
Little by little, there were signs of life among all the mishmash. Warp and Zarah scrambled up from under some debris. Both were grey from dust, as noticeably everything else around, too.
"Ya're all right, Za?" he coughed and heaved her up from her armpits.
"I'm fine, but what the heck happened? Where are the others?" she peeked through the mist and got her eyes attached to Warp's right arm. It was battered, loose cord flexes hung out from an irregular hole.
"Honey, you're hurt!" she exclaimed, but he clarified that it were only the shield parts that were damaged.
Distant noises were heard from the other part of the hall.
"Shht! There may be still hornets!" Warp alarmed.
But in front of their eyes soon swayed the weary figure of Buzz. Whole his 'Zurgean suit' was torn. "Uh... my head... where did the explosion come from? Where is everybody?" he held his temples.
"The question is: where's Zurg? He may be lurking behind some corner and be ready to blast us off!" Warp noted.
"I'm concerned about my team... hey, someone comes from there, looks like Booster!" Buzz pointed with his finger at the shadows. Indeed, it was the Jo-Adian, carrying XR who was in two parts, Mira sitting on his shoulder. She seemed to have gone through a misfortuned ghosting, because she was half-buried into a piece of concrete wall, her hair in a messy cloud above her.
"The battle is over... but did Zurg get away again?" Booster asked fatigued.
"I guess he did, but the main thing is that we're all here, in one piece."
"In one piece? Well, easy for you to say that!" XR nattered.
Warp looked out from a window that opened towards Zurg Tower. The landscape was quite gloomy. The huge palace was completely collapsed, partly in fire. Small explosions happened in the ruins all the time. "Come to see this... I'm glad we were here 'cause otherwise we had got all free funerals! And... I guess the main control room of all the security devices and hornets and sort has gone bye-bye. Planet Z's tech is dead."
"Zurg will build it all again, after he comes back... you know, always the people you think to be dead appear in a form or another in front of you..." Buzz leered at Warp who pouted amused back.
"Don't start to nag, we gotta find a way outta here. I have a big work to do in repairing my husband's arm an' I guess you other guys do wanna rest after this, too. Wasn't the main thing that we get Captain Lightyear back? And we still need to warn Star Command about Zurg's possible surprise attack." Zarah folded her arms over her chest.
"I think his attack plans are history even for a while, if his metal armies won't work. Maybe we have the time to redo Star Command's defences before a new scheme", Buzz noted.
"There's a door, or relevant!" Mira observed from her high position. So, the gang began to took steps towards the direction.
But more and more they went forward, the more a sound of deep, broken breaths filled the air.
"What's that?" Buzz blinked his eyes.
"Sounds like..." Warp started a sentence, but soon stopped because of a peculiar view in front of them.
Emperor Zurg laid full length, on his back on the floor. His majestic features were as always, but a huge piece of sharp metal was stuck into his right flank. Blood was flowing freely to the floor from the deep wound. Weakly he attempted to breathe in, in the slashing pain the handicap caused him.
Every one of the watchers tapped backwards.
"Z-Zurg! H-he's... a life form!" was the first comment.
"I learned that, here. He's not a robot." Buzz muttered. "I just wonder what kind of a living creature can be so much filled with wickedness."
"Please... help me..." the Emperor whispered.
No one was to believe their ears. Zurg asking for help?
"H-HELP YOU? After all what you've done?" Mira spat. "I think you'd deserve the most disgusting death available, after killing thousands of innocent people and trying to destroy everything that is still good in this galaxy!"
Warp was still thunderstruck about the fact that Zurg indeed was some kind of a living creature, not an android. Although he had served the dark lord for years, he never had been granted with that knowledge.
Again, another weak petition came from the floor. "Please... forgive me... I don't want to die... please, I don't want... to die..."
"He's ready to kill everyone else in his way, but he's afraid of the grim reaper...?" XR wondered.
A long and sorrow inhale came underneath.
"What are you?" Buzz asked grave and got so much courage into him that kneeled beside the dark lord.
"Help me... to remove my helmet... then you'll understand..."
"You really got a helmet? That's not your face?" Warp was astounded and squatted beside Buzz.
"Warp, could you try to staunch the bleeding and not to launch sarcasms? This man or cyborg, whatever he is then, is going to be arrested." Buzz put his hand on Warp's shoulder and scolded him quietly. After this, he started to finger Zurg's collars.
"How to get your helmet off?" he asked.
"There are... two small pressure buttons on both sides..." Zurg raised his claw a bit to point the place, soon still moaned in pain and took his previous pose.
Buzz pressed them, letting a cloud of compressed air hiss out. With hesitating moves he loosened the helmet, then froze completely and was just left to gape aghast the view.
Everyone else around Zurg was as dumbfounded. Booster even dropped the other half of XR on the floor because his arms went so slack. The weak light through the windows created a creepy glow into the room where the dust particles slowly descended in the air.
Zurg blinked his eyes and slowly raised his hand towards Buzz. Old, hollow voice pleaded: "I... couldn't help... it... son..."
Now the last nerves of Buzz went inert and he dropped the helmet he was keeping. Sweat trickled along his forehead and in horrible disbelief he began to repeat: "No, no....NO! NO! This is not true, NO!"
The man on the floor was like a mirror image of Buzz maybe after twenty years. Even as Buzz had now the shaped full-beard, the violet robe on, his black hair visible, no one could have doubted any longer the relation of him and the man that lied there. The Emperor had only thicker brows, somewhat a smaller chin and brown eyes. Everything else was confusingly similar from the thin nose to the regard.
The others surrounding Zurg and Buzz leered in turn the wounded man and the ranger. No one could get a word out of his or her mouth. Nevertheless, Buzz soon let a terrible cry in the air, banging the floor with his fists. "NO! This is a trick! This is some kind of a trap you have put in front of me! This is not true!"
"Search... your feelings, and you know it is the truth..." was the listless answer.
"Why are you doing this trick to me? WHY? It can't be, no..." Buzz continued his miserable holler. He could possibly not admit it although his emotions told it clearly.
"You're... his...his... father?" Warp was the first of the others to be able to say something, staring at the Emperor with sheer disgust. "You... how many times have you tried to KILL Buzz? Your... son? What kind of a monster is a father that attempts to kill his own flesh and blood?"
"I... did not actually want to... kill him... but turn to serve me... so we could have ruled the galaxy like... father and son... But now... it is all futile... I am sorry..."
"I have always known you killed my father! You can't be my father, he died ages ago!" Buzz yelled in tears.
"I... staged my own death... for to begin a new life... in a new form... as the apprentice of my own Master... I was trained to serve the dark side... and as he died, he gave me his Empire..."
Much else was not heard out of the Emperor's mouth. He sighed deep and passed out.
After a minute of frightening silence, Booster piped, "Is he... dead?"
"No, that thing ain't a corpse, yet. We can get him alive to Star Command HQ, if we wonna. More concerned I'm about his dear sonny..." Warp commented his forehead wrinkled. Indeed, Buzz was in a very bad state. He sat lachrymose in a corner, gnawing his nails, like there was not a light of sense at all in him.
"He's in shock." Zarah understood.
"Who wouldn't be? If I'd find out that a hyper-hornet is my poppa..." XR began, but got so much angry stares towards him that stopped. Who could ever have predicted the morning to end up like this?
The situation was arranged so that Booster was put to carry the indolent Emperor, though he hesitated it quite much. That man namely was too heavy for anyone else. Warp supported Buzz who barely could walk, he was so upset. Mira got rid of the concrete dress and carried the feet part of XR. The head was left to chatter with Zarah. On the way to the ship, there was nothing but a deathlike stillness surrounding the journey. No grub or brain-pod in the capital was there to resist the travellers.