Flash had tried to stall as best as possible. He kept talking and talking and tried to anger Ming as best as possible to keep the evil emperor talking as well. It had worked for half an hour, but then Ming had gotten tired of it.
„One more word from you, Flash Gordon, and I will have someone shoot you first before everyone else dies!" the hologram screamed. „Now, boy, press the button!"
„I can't!" LJ cried. „Please, don't make me do that!"
„Just do it, LJ," his father said. „If this maybe saves you and Rick, do it. I'm not holding it against you. I just want you to know that I love you, son."
„How sentimental," Ming laughed. „But rest assured, nobody will leave here alive except my ice robots."
„I'll do it," Rick suddenly said. „I'll take LJ's place."
Everyone stared at him.
„Rick..." LJ's eyes were wide. „You don't have to do that."
„I don't want to do that," Rick said. „But I don't want you to have to do it, either."
„How heroic..." Ming's hologram rolled its eyes. „But what I nice twist. Flash Gordon dying at the hands of his own son. Yes, I like it – Garax, switch the boys out!"
„Rick," his father said, „you..."
„No talking from you!" reminded Ming.
LJ was brought over to Garax and Rick by three ice robots. Garax grabbed him while Rick was now taken by the three ice robots. In order to buy them time, Rick started to struggle.
„I have a plan," he whispered to LJ while Ming was shouting at the ice robots to keep going.
„None of our plans have worked so far!" LJ hissed while also trying to stall as long as possible.
„Not sure this one will work either but I have to trust that-"
„What are you idiots whispering about!?" Garax yelled, yanking up LJ and holding the gun to his head. Then he motioned for the ice robots to bring Rick over to wall.
„I'm sorry, Dad," Rick said. „If this does not work out..."
„It will be fine, Rick," Flash said, trying to put as much confidence as possible into his voice. „Everything will be fine."
„Enough with the whining," Ming interrupted. „Either you press the button now, boy, or I'll have Garax do it and you will be killed on the spot!"
Silence fell over the courtyard. There was nothing more to be said. Stalling wasn't possible anymore. It was all or nothing now. Within the next few seconds, their fate would be decided.
Shaking with fright, Rick reached out for the tiny button. He hesitated but in the end, he pressed the button. For a moment, nobody spoke. Then Ming realized that absolutely nothing had happened!
„WHY is it not working!? GARAX!"
„I'll look into it, Lord Ming!" Garax immediately said. He dragged LJ towards some ice robots. „Here! Hold the boy!"
„I knew I should have send the real Garax to get the job done, not some brainless prototype!" Ming fumed. He looked at Garax, walking over towards the old building. „Stop, you fool! I've had enough of this! Just shoot all of them now and get it over with!"
„No!" LJ screamed. Garax was still near where he was held. Desperately, he freed himself, kicking one ice robot on the ground while doing so, grabbing Garax' massive arm.
„Get rid of the brat!" Ming roared, losing all of his patience now.
Trying to create more of a diversion, Rick now let himself fall to the ground. The ice robots surrounding him had not expected that. When they tried to get him up again, he pulled them down towards him while getting up at the same time. He then grabbed another one and threw it against the wall, hoping it would break in the process. It did but now the other ice robots were all on top of Rick while LJ was still wrestling with Garax.
„Now I've had enough!" Garax said, holding up his gun to shoot whoever was the first one he could reach. But by chance LJ got hold of the gun too and was trying to force it in another direction. One shot was fired that went directly over Mandrake's head, only hitting the tophat.
„Rude," Mandrake remarked but none of the adults said much. There was nothing they could do as they were still tied to the electric chairs. They had to trust in the two young boys to somehow defeat Ming's entire force of ice robots.
Another shot was fired – this time, it hit the ground near Rick and the bulk of ice robots that were still holding on to the boy. The ice robots scrambled in all directions. Rick ducked, in case more shots were fired, and then took his chance to run over to the podium, desperately trying to untie the knots of the rope that tightly held each adult.
„I don't mean to hurry you, Rick, but..." Mandrake felt very uneasy. He was helping out LJ by using his telekinesis to trying to force Garax to point the gun everywhere but at one of them. But Garax and LJ were still fighting and it was very difficult to control what Garax was going to do next. However, by chance, one of the shots hit the device on the ground that produced the giant hologram of Ming.
„Just kill them all!" Ming was screaming in rage at them. „I don't care how you do it! Kill them a-"
The hologram disappeared which for a moment confused the ice robots and Garax.
„Finally he shut his mouth," Flash muttered. His hands were free now and he was shaking them to get the bloodflow going after being tied together so tightly for quite a while.
„Let me untie your feed, too, Dad," Rick said.
Finally, Mandrake managed to get the gun away from Garax completely. But Garax had LJ pinned to the ground now and more ice robots were coming out with more laser guns. Flash and Rick were untying Phantom and Lothar now while Mandrake was trying to steer guns and bullets in another directions.
„I can't do this for much longer," he said. „Two guns at the same time I could do, but there's so many now!"
„How about you call for your tiger powers again?" Lothar said to the Phantom. He was running at top speed now towards Garax and LJ to help his son.
„Those powers are designed not to be abused and cannot called upon too many times in a row," the Phantom replied, now throwing stones at the ice robots while Flash and Rick freed Mandrake.
„It's no good!" Rick exclaimed when even more ice robots appeared, all of them carrying guns.
„Behind the podium! Quick!" Flash shouted. At least they had some sort of shelter. They couldn't run into the building since that's where the ice robots came running out of.
Lothar send Garax flying into the wall of the building and than he and a very shaken LJ joined the others behind the podium. Mandrake was trying an illusion but he was exhausted from working with the guns and bullets before. He was panting hard.
„Not much I can do now," he admitted.
„We need to get some of those guns," Flash said. „At least that will give us a fighting chance."
„You boys stay behind the podium," Phantom ordered. „Lothar and I will try to go out there and fight and get them to drop their guns."
„Great," Flash nodded. „One gun is all I need. I'll join you, Phantom. At least... if we go out, we'll go out fighting."
„I'll come too," LJ offered, grabbing some large wooden plank from the floor.
„I'll make sure no one gets to Mandrake," Rick said, grabbing another plank. The magician still felt a bit dizzy from trying to mentally control the whole battle.
„Once I feel better, I can try to make the illusion of us escaping or vanishing," he said.
„Let's hope we last that long," Flash said. He looked around the group, realizing that those people were all people he would trust with his life. He looked at the large number of ice robots. Most likely they would not make it out of here alive. Not if the ice robots kept coming. He felt sorry for not having said a proper goodbye to April. But at the very least, he would go down fighting. „Well, guys... it was an honor being part of a team with you."
„Likewise," the Phantom stated, his face grim.
„If we make it out of here against all odds, then let's not do this again," Mandrake suggested.
„Let's see if we can live long enough to keep that promise," Lothar said.
They ran forward, charging at the ice robots – when suddenly a noise was getting louder and louder.
„That's a plane!" Rick cried, looking up to the sky – something was coming at them way to fast.
„Get back, get back!" Flash shouted. „As close to the walls as you can – it's going to crash!"
Next thing they knew, the plane did crash in the courtyard, right in the middle of it, burying the ice robots and Garax underneath. The motor of the plane was still on but no one was shooting or shouting anymore.
„That's one of the Space Center planes!" Flash said, sounding astonished.
The door opened and April and Jedda came out, guns in their hands.
„I'm sorry, Dad," April said. „I think my landing skills needs some more training!"
„Were is Ming?!" Jedda asked, looking around. „And is everyone okay?!"
„Who's she?" Rick asked, looking at the pretty girl that came running up to them.
„She's hot," LJ agreed.
„What are you doing here?" Flash asked, hugging his daughter. Five minutes ago he had thought he would never see her again.
„Ming was communicating via hologram – and his minions are... under there...", LJ answered Jedda's question, pointing to the large spaceship that occupied most of the courtyard now.
„I know we were supposed to wait at home, but Jedda and I just felt very worried and uneasy," April replied to her father. „So we've decided to tell Amy and Kshin to lock themselves in and came here."
„Well – I for one are glad you defied orders – this time," Lothar said.
„I'm glad you're alive," April said to her brother, hugging him.
„Awww, she was worried," Rick grinned, now in a very good mood since they all appeared to finally be safe. „She's usually not a hugger," he told LJ.
„Well, I could slap you for getting captured in the first place..."
„No thanks... come here, sis," Rick laughed, hugging her back.
„You did a very brave thing today, Jedda," the Phantom told his daughter. „I do want to remind you that this is no excuse for not listening to orders next time, but today -"
„There will be next time?" Jedda asked.
„Ming is not defeated yet," Phantom reminded her. „I've seen his cruelty firsthand now. Earth has to be protected. So yes, we will be staying in Central City for the time being."
„I'm very proud of you, son," Lothar told LJ.
„Well, apparently Rick cut the power for the electric chair," LJ said.
„I didn't have the time to learn what connects to what," Rick interrupted. „I just tore out cables and destroyed what I could destroy. That's why I was still panicking because I wasn't sure if I did it right or not."
„We are very proud of you both," Flash said and Lothar nodded.
„Are you alright?" Lothar asked Mandrake, helping him up.
„I will be in a moment, thank you," Mandrake replied.
„Then let's go," Flash said. „We'll send the guys from the Space Center here to clean up the mess. They might already be on their way anyway."
„Will you fly us home?" April asked. She felt her legs shaking. The flight at full speed to the Rocky Mountains had been difficult and the girl had realized that she just wasn't ready yet – she'd have to train a lot more in the future. But at least they had managed to get here in time. Still – she felt like she'd rather sit down for a bit and let someone else have a go at flying the spaceship.
„Indeed I will," Flash agreed. „And we will work on your landing techniques – but certainly not today."
Everyone got in and sat down and Flash took the spaceship up in the air. Far below they could see the high, lonely mountains and the very old prison building with the ice mess of broken ice robots down at the courtyard.
„Ming will try again," Mandrake reminded them. „And again and again."
„And we will be ready to stop him," Flash assured him. „Well... if you all are still in, of course. I would completely understand if you were concerned for your safety, or your children's safety."
„I am concerned," the Phantom said. „But I'm even more concerned about the safety of our planet. At this point, the safety of Earth is our first priority."
„I agree," Lothar said and Mandrake nodded.
„And we will help where we can," LJ said, feeling much more cheerful now that he was with his father again. Everything seemed like a bad dream now.
„And once we're old enough, we can properly join you in defending the Earth," April agreed.
„Well, all of you were doing a fine job today already," Mandrake said.
„And we all will continue doing so," Flash nodded. „Together, we will be know as the Defenders of the Earth! So watch out Ming – you will not get your hands on our planet. We will take you down one day."
„Yes, we will – definitely – let's do this – yeah!" the others echoed. It was a very solemn moment. Each of them knew it was going to be hard, difficult and dangerous – but they all felt sure they were up to the task and ready to defend Earth, no matter what!
Notes: I didn't include the funeral scene which is in ending scene of my pilot script. But since this is already featured in the first chapter of „This Is Their Story", I didn't write it again.
