Roboto laid still and stiff. His chest was smoking from the impact of Overkill's attack. Meanwhile, the B.A.T. leader pulled himself up slowly and walked over to his fallen foe. Had he the programming for it, he might have laughed in triumph.
"I regret having to destroy a fine machine such as you," he said. "Perhaps I can have you rebuilt as my subordinate."
As Overkill looked down however the smoke cleared to reveal Roboto's inner workings completely unharmed.
"What's this?!"
Before Overkill could react, Roboto suddenly sprang up, clamped his hand around the android's throat, and let fly a barrage from his gun. Overkill twitched and screeched as the lasers ripped his gears and circuitry to pieces. Finally Roboto dropped him helpless to the floor.
"How… how did… you… escape… unharmed?" Overkill said with a struggle.
"You made the mistake of attacking my heart," Roboto said. "The Sorceress has placed a spell of protection on it, ensuring that it can never be removed or destroyed by any evil force."
"Then why," Overkill ticked, his power fading, "why did you pretend to be deactivated?"
"By faking my demise I was able to lure you into a false sense of victory and thus catch you off guard," Roboto replied. "It is a battle tactic taught to me by Queen Marlena. I believe she referred to it as, 'playing possum'."
Overkill said nothing but began pulling himself along the floor with his one arm -the only appendage still working- towards The Collector's control panel.
"What are you doing?" Roboto asked. "You are too damaged to possibly defeat me now."
"Perhaps so," Overkill said slowly. His voice was beginning to sound like his battery was dying. "But I can still be victorious, even in death." With that he pulled himself up and hit a short series of switches. Roboto staggered as The Collector suddenly took off and began flying towards the city.
"I've set the automatic pilot on a kamikaze run. This ship is going to crash into the palace grounds. I and most of my B.A.T.s may be destroyed, but you and your human friends will all perish in the explosion!" Overkill laughed and Roboto, in a rare moment of raw emotion, grabbed the android's head and, with his super robotic strength, ripped it off. The light of Overkill's optic sensors went out for the last time.
Pushing the body aside, Roboto jumped into the pilot seat and attempted to gain control of the vessel. However, Overkill had successfully locked up the helm. Roboto managed to deactivate the nano-mite controller, but the ship itself refused to receive any command he imputed.
"It appears I am left with only one option," said Roboto. And with that he got up and ran towards the back of the ship.
Outside The Collector, in Eternos, the sudden change in the battle had not gone unnoticed.
"Hey, these guys are starting to stay down!" Flint shouted as he shot a hole through the head of a B.A.T..
"Roboto did it!" Marlena shouted. "He shut down the nano-mites." Her joy was short lived however, as she realized it may well have been too little too late. Though the B.A.T.s that had made it inside the city already were now falling and remaining piles of scrap, there were still many more on the field marching towards them. On top of that, most of their ammo had been used up trying to stop the first wave. And now The Collector itself was closing in for the kill.
A guard turned to Marlena. "Your orders my queen?"
Marlena hung her head in sadness. "We can't win. Order the retreat."
The order never went out though. No sooner had the words left her lips, than Marlena's attention was drawn skyward by a huge explosion as the back half of The Collector burst in a fiery supernova. As Eternian and G.I. Joe alike watched in awe and shock, the evil vessel's wreckage plummeted straight into the approaching android troopers engulfing them all in flames and debris. Not one was able to escape annihilation.
There was a moment of awkward silence as the weight of what had just happened sunk in, and then the heroic forces roared with cheers of victory.
"Thank God," shouted several Joes.
"Thank the Elders," shouted several Eternians.
"No," Marlena said softly. "Thank Roboto. He saved us all."
"What's the matter?" Lady Jaye asked, seeing tears swelling in the queen's eyes. "Didn't we just win?"
"At what cost?" she sighed. "Roboto's actions saved us, but he couldn't have survived that explosion."
"You.. under… estimate… my... endurance."
Marlena turned with a start as a metallic figure emerged from the flames. Roboto was limping due to an immobilized leg, his chest was blown open with sparking wires hanging out, his left hand was missing, and his head had several holes in it. Nevertheless, he was still functioning. Roboto slowly approached the queen, passing by several soldiers who cheered and chanted his name.
"When I realized that I would be unable to gain control of The Collector," he said, "I decided to destroy it before it reached the city. So I fired my weapons into the ship's reactor, starting a chain reaction that demolished the vessel." As an afterthought he added, "I feel I must express that I had not actually intended to destroy the B.A.T. army. That was just an added bonus."
Marlena approached Roboto with a stern look on her face. "Roboto, I had told you to remain here. You deliberately disobeyed a direct order from me."
Roboto nodded. Marlena's stern look quickly faded to a wide grin.
"But I'm glad you did," and with that she threw her arms around the robotic warrior in a big hug.
Cobra Commander grinned beneath his hood and drummed his fingertips together. "So then, do we have a deal?"
"You're a wretched sniveling traitor," King Hiss growled. "And you are fooling with magical powers you cannot hope to comprehend or control."
"Maybe so," he laughed, "but I'm the one in control of this situation now."
A short distance away He-Man and the two ninjas had all but been forgotten.
"Much as I'd love to see these guys kill each other," Nunchuck whispered, "we don't have time to stand around and get caught in the crossfire."
"Not to worry," Storm Shadow said. "My intention in pitting them against each other was only to distract them. Thus giving us a chance to take the advantage."
"Leave that to me," said He-Man. Raising his fist up high he slammed into the ground with a powerful thunderous punch that shook the whole fortress and knocked the evil warriors off their feet. Quickly He-Man followed through attacking the Cobra troops. Disarming them, and then knocking them unconscious. Storm Shadow and Nunchuck followed suit, only they were far less merciful with theirs.
"Now look what you've caused!" Hiss bellowed.
"If you had just been willing to share some of your power, this wouldn't have happened," Cobra Commander shot back.
"Here's my offer," said Skeletor. "Eliminate He-Man and I'll give you anything you ask for!"
Cobra Commander snickered. "Now you're talking."
"I think not!"
Before Cobra Commander knew what had hit him, he was knocked to the ground by a devastating kick courtesy of Teela. The other heroes had arrived and were turning the tide rather quickly in their favor. Man-E-Faces followed Teela's example by slamming his fist into Skeletor's jaw. Duke grabbed King Hiss from behind and pinned the Snake Man's arms behind his back.
"It's over fang face," he said. "You're finished."
"I wouldn't bet on that human!" Hiss snarled. With a great strain Hiss lunged forward as if trying to break free of Duke's grip. Although Duke held fast, his captive seemed to be slipping away. Suddenly there was a sickening sound of something tearing, and Hiss pulled loose. Duke looked down in shock to see that he was still holding on to Hiss' arms. Only now they were merely empty skin.
Glancing up, Duke gasped in horror as Hiss turned to face him. Where his arms should have been there were instead two writhing golden-scaled snakes.
"Okay, that's the freakiest thing I've ever seen!" Duke gasped
Hiss chuckled and grabbed his chest with his serpentine arms. Again there was the sound of tearing flesh, as he ripped away the remainder of his human disguise and revealed, at last, his true form. Instead of an actual body, King Hiss was composed of a mass of five vicious writhing snakes.
Duke's jaw fell open. "Correction, THAT'S the freakiest thing I've ever seen!"
"It will be the last thing you ever see, mammal!" all five heads shouted.
Duke gulped and whispered to himself, "I sure hope Jinx is having better luck."
Jinx actually was having better luck, although she disliked the nature of the situation. She glared at Vypra sitting across from her in the pilot's chair as they drew close to Grayskull and ultimate victory.
"How exactly did you learn to fly this thing so quickly?" she asked, not particularly caring but rather wanting to keep Vypra talking and hopefully distracted from any treachery she may have (and probably had) been plotting.
"The controls are not to different from one of our helicopters," Vypra laughed.
Indeed the "Fright Fighter" they were traveling in was very much like a helicopter. Albeit a helicopter shaped like a giant purple dragonfly. The vehicle was intended for only two passengers but, because of the small size of the Trollans, there was only a slight cramped feeling. Most of it was actually coming from being in such close quarters with a sworn enemy. A vicious murderer to boot.
"We're almost there," Vypra said, getting serious. "You'd better get on the ball and let them know it's us before we get blown out of the sky."
Orko gritted his teeth but sent out a telepathic message. "Sorceress, don't let anyone attack the Fright Fighter, it's us. We have the final crest shard. Gather the other pieces and meet us on the roof." As an afterthought he added, "Bring some guards with you."
"You still don't trust me," said Vypra. "You're smarter than I thought. But a deal's a deal. I got you here, now I get to go home."
"Just land this thing," Jinx snapped. "Then stay out of our way."
Vypra brought the Fright Fighter down on top of Grayskull. The Sorceress was there waiting along with She-Ra and two Royal Guardsmen. When they saw Vypra get out of the vehicle with Jinx and the Trollans they were naturally shocked.
"What's she doing here?" She-Ra asked.
"Circumstances have made us temporary allies," Jinx muttered. She handed the final crest shard to The Sorceress and turned to She-Ra. "We don't have much time. The enemy forces are headed this way."
"I understand," She-Ra said. "I'll take everyone we can spare and head out to intercept them. We may not be able to stop them, but at least I can buy you some time to activate the crest."
Jinx nodded and She-Ra ran back down into the castle. Next Jinx addressed Vypra. "You stand over there and don't move a muscle. You two," she said to the guards, "watch her. Don't take your eyes off her for a second, no matter what, and if she so much as breathes funny, blow her damn head off."
The Sorceress held out her hands. The crest shards flew up into the air, spun in circles and then came together. For the first time in countless years, The Crest of Infinity was whole.
Sorceress then waved her hand and a large pedestal appeared before her. Taking hold of the crest, which was still floating in the air, she placed it in position and then held her hands over it. After taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and began chanting in a language that Jinx could not decipher. Apparently it was a universal language of magic because soon after Orko and Dree Elle followed her example and began chanting along with her.
A loud booming sound came echoing from below, but it turned out to be the castle's jaw bridge being lowered. Jinx glanced down and watched She-Ra ride out on Swift Wind and take off, leading the charge, as a veritable platoon of Joes and Eternians followed close behind. Jinx turned back to the crest, hoping it would be activated soon.
Minute after minute dragged on until Jinx lost track of all time. Storms raged overhead. The planet's surface cracked and fountains of flame shot straight up from the molten core. The sky itself was- for lack of a better word- bleeding. Jinx wanted to ask if the spell was working, and if so how long it would take, but she said nothing. She dared not interrupt.
Suddenly Sorceress' eyes shot open and her chanting stopped. Within a split second later The Crest of Infinity glowed and fired a beam of energy into the heavens. As the energy spread across the sky, the tremors stopped, the storms dissipated, and the sky itself returned to a healthy beautiful blue. Eternia was returning to normal.
Duke ducked and weaved as he frantically tried to avoid the venomous fangs of Hiss' multiple heads. While concealed under his human disguise the snakes had been apparently coiled up tightly, because they were now stretching far away from the rest of the body. Duke found he could not get in close enough to attack -what he assumed was- the main head.
His hope was that the central head was where Hiss kept his brain and the others were, indeed, mere appendages. If that were the case, taking out that one would render the others helpless. That was the plan at least. Duke couldn't be sure of anything on this planet anymore. Not that it was making a difference right now.
"Human," Hiss growled, "for what you have done, I shall rip you apart and feed on your flesh!"
"I thought snakes swallowed their prey whole," Duke chided, then wondered to himself why he said it. He didn't want to give Hiss any ideas.
The serpent king's mouth, -the one on the main head at least- parted into a chilling grin. "I could do that, but I want you to suffer!"
Suddenly Hiss sent four of his five heads flying out at once. Duke had no time to react and they coiled around his arms and legs. Duke struggled in vain as they brought him up to the main head.
"Farewell hero," Hiss snarled. "My one regret in doing this is that you will not live to see your wretched mammal race fall to the Snake Men."
Like a vampire, Hiss bore his fangs and bit down into Duke's neck. The Joe commander screamed in pain as the dagger-like teeth pierced his flesh and injected a burning poison into his blood. The deed done, Hiss tossed Duke's now limp form away.
Seeing Duke fall, Teela abandoned her fight with Cobra Commander and rushed to his side. It had been a one sided fight anyway and the commander was actually rather glad to be rid of her. Getting to his feet he turned to Hiss.
"Well, you took care of my enemy, so I suppose I should return the favor," he signaled to his troops who began rounding the heroes into a tight circle. "Cobra, finish them off!"
"Yes Commander… COMMANDER!" the trooper dropped his gun and jumped back in surprise.
"What are you staring ahh!"
Cobra Commander had meant to say "at", but it became a scream as he suddenly realized his body was fading away in a flash of light.
"What? What is this?" he screamed. "What's happening?"
He-Man grinned. "Offhand, I'd say the Crest of Infinity is complete. And you're leaving!"
"N…"
This time he had meant to shout "NO!" but completely vanished before the whole word could escape his lips. Shocked by the sudden magical disappearance, the Cobra officers paused in their assault. Soon the same fate began falling them one by one. Those who remained dropped their weapons and began fleeing into the caverns, as though that would save them from the fate.
"Cowards!" King Hiss shouted. "Stand and fight!"
Skeletor slapped him in the head, "They can't you fool! There's no escaping the crest's power. We've lost. Let's get out of here before He-Man comes after us!"
"I'm surprised Skeletor," Hiss muttered. "I would have expected you to save your own skin and abandon me."
"Well," Skeletor said, "you stayed loyal to our alliance while Cobra Commander betrayed us. I may still have use for you."
The two dark lords took off into Snake Mountain's depths, slipping into a hidden passage that only they knew of, both having been masters of the fortress at one time.
"Shouldn't we go after them?" Nunchuck asked.
"No, let them go," said Teela. "Duke's been poisoned. We need to get him back to Grayskull quickly."
"Right," He-Man said, scooping Duke's limp form into his arms. "The Sorceress or She-Ra will be able to heal him, but we must hurry."
