On the one… on the two… and on the three!” Eden shouted, taking his place at the piano.
David sat behind the electric drum kit, Lamar gripped his guitar, and Alya stood by the microphone
—mostly for the fun of it, as singing wasn’t exactly her strong suit.
The music erupted.
Up in the sky, the underground Calamity, which was diving straight toward an unconscious Tony, suddenly plunged into the sand, completely lured away by the sound waves.
The moment the beast shifted its trajectory, Sally dashed out of the base, scooped up her son, and rushed him back inside to safety.
Sophie was waiting for them at the doorstep.
Tony, forcing a broad smile despite his weakness, looked up at her and signed:
“You see, Sophie… I didn’t even cry.”
“Yes,” Sophie replied, her voice trembling.
“You’ve become a true hero.”
And with that, Tony fainted once more.
Sally quickly carried him into his bedroom, desperately searching for a solution, while in the living room, Mrs.
Bones prayed in a hushed, broken whisper:
“Lord… You have taken my dear, beloved husband, as well as Rick and Katy… but I beg of You, do not take little Tony from us too…”
Meanwhile, Eden, Lamar, Alya, and David were giving it everything they had.
They were positioned right in the center of the secondary base, arranged in a semicircle as if they were performing a live concert.
The sound echoed far across the dunes.
Leggy Calamities came sprinting toward them, closely followed by a massive underground Calamity.
The group played louder and harder to maintain the aggro.
The underground Calamity barreled forward, ruthlessly trampling and devouring the smaller, leggy monsters in its path.
“Eden… Eden… Eden…” Lamar called out, his eyes wide with anxiety.
“If we don’t do something, we’re gonna get eaten alive!”
“Just wait a little longer,” Eden replied calmly, keeping his rhythm.
“It’s not time yet.”
The monsters were getting dangerously close.
“I have a bad feeling about this!” Lamar yelled.
“It’s definitely not the right time, you absolute lunatic!”
“Just wait a little longer!” Eden repeated.
“Wait for what?!
You want to get us chewed up?!”
The giant Calamity accelerated.
Suddenly, David snapped.
Driven by sheer paternal desperation, he began to slam his drums like a madman, completely unleashed.
Eden, Lamar, and Alya looked on in pure amazement, letting him take the lead.
The Calamity, more enraged than ever, charged straight at them.
“You’ve driven the poor guy crazy with your nonsense!” Lamar screamed.
“No, I haven’t!” Eden yelled back.
“Keep going, David!
Pour your soul into it!
Your son’s life depends on it!”
David’s clothes looked as if they were burning up from the friction, and it seemed as though he had multiple arms hitting the drums all at once.
“No, seriously, Eden… you’re showing your true colors here… you’re the devil himself!” Lamar barked.
The Calamity was right upon them.
“Three… two… one… Now!” Eden roared.
He pulled a mechanical trigger, activating a secondary trap buried deep within the sand.
Thousands of volts shot through the ground.
The Calamity was violently electrocuted, launched into the air, and crashed heavily into a tangled web of heavy metal chains.
The group brought the concert to a sudden, triumphant close, relieved to have captured it.
Suddenly, David’s radio rang.
It was Sally.
“Honey!
David!”
“Yes, sweetheart, we just captured the Calamity!”
He… he… he’s leaving us!”
Back at the house, shortly before that call, Tony had briefly woken up.
He was coughing up blood, twisting in agonizing pain, all alone in his room.
When Sophie, Sally, and Mrs.
Bones rushed in, he forced another smile to keep them from worrying, desperately hiding the bloodstains on his sheets.
“Mom, don’t worry.
Everything is fine… superheroes don’t get sick.
I just need a little rest…”
But the pain became too unbearable.
He coughed up blood once more and let out a piercing scream.
At the second base, David relayed the grim news.
“The Calamity is secured,” Eden said, his face hardening.
“Now, we need to extract the core.”
“Okay, I’ll put it out of its misery,” Lamar replied, stepping forward.
“No!” David protested.
“It has to stay alive, otherwise the core will rot instantly.
If the creature dies, the core is lost.”
The Calamity lay unconscious under the severe electrical shock.
“Can you build a catalyst container?” Eden asked David.
“It could work,” David answered rapidly.
“But I’ve never made one before… I don’t know if it will hold.”
“It better hold, your son’s life is on the line!” Eden urged.
“Right…” David nodded.
A few minutes later, David returned with a glass cube filled with a clear, synthetic liquid.
“It’s not perfected, so be very careful with it,” he said, handing it to Lamar.
“Don’t worry, I got this,” Lamar muttered.
The Calamity was suspended by chains on the upper level.
“Are you ready, Alya?” Eden asked.
Crouched right next to Eden on the upper platform, holding two kitchen knives coated in her own blood, Alya was concentrating her energy.
“I think it’s time… it’s waking up, Alya,” Eden whispered.
She remained silent, completely motionless.
“Alya, it’s looking right at us!
It’s now or never!”
The Calamity roared, its massive jaws splitting wide open.
Alya’s blades suddenly shifted color.
She launched herself directly into its mouth, slicing the creature thoroughly from the inside out.
The glowing core fell out.
Lamar dove forward, catching it, and locked it securely inside the glass catalyst.
But as he turned to rejoin the others, his hand slipped.
The glass cube shattered on the floor, releasing the core.
Everyone froze in shock.
“Lamar!
You need to put it in your mouth!” Eden yelled.
“What?!
No way!
I didn’t sign up for this!” Lamar protested, backing away.
“It’s the only way to keep it alive!” David explained frantically.
“It needs a stable, living environment, like… a mouth!”
Lamar grimaced in pure disgust.
Then, thinking of Tony, his resistance broke.
“Okay… I’ll do it.”
“Come on, Lamar!” Eden and David cheered.
“What if I swallow it?” he asked, hesitating.
“You’ll be fine,” David replied.
“There, quick and easy.”
“You’ll be fine… if you only swallow a single drop,” David added casually.
“It’ll just cleanse your stomach.
But if you swallow a second one… your blood will turn white, your organs will disintegrate, and… you’ll die.”
Lamar froze in sheer terror, glaring death at Eden.
Eden, completely smiling, pulled out a massive syringe filled with a transparent fluid and stepped closer.
“Alright, Lamar, come over here.”
Seeing the giant needle, Lamar immediately took off running.
“If we don’t do this,” David warned, chasing after him, “the Calamity will regenerate inside your body… and you’ll explode!”
Hearing that, Lamar thought to himself bitterly: “This is all your fault, Eden.”
Eden cornered him and declared, “We’re going to inject it through your cheek to reach the core.
This liquid will freeze its development.”
Tears actually began to roll down Lamar’s face.
Holding the syringe, Eden added with a grin, “Be brave, my friend.”
After the chaotic injection, they wasted no time hitting the road.
Lamar tore ahead on one motorcycle, Eden and Alya rode the other, and David followed in the utility vehicle.
On their way back, they ran straight into a pack of leggy Calamities.
Eden fired at them, shouting:
“Lamar!
What are you waiting for?
Blast them with your laser!”
But Lamar hadn’t used his cybernetic arm in ages, and it wasn’t responding like it used to.
Frustrated, he started kicking and slapping the mechanical arm against the bike, hoping to kickstart the system as a monster lunged at him.
“Come on!
Work!
Come on, come on, come on!” he pleaded internally.
Just as one of the creatures closed its jaws near him, he hit his arm one last time… and it finally sparked to life.
Relieved, Lamar thought: “Oh, thank God… you work!”
Eden, seeing the glow, called out: “Took you long enough!
Now, vaporize them!”
Lamar looked at the Calamities, which looked like giant, mutated chickens sprinting after his bike, and muttered to himself: “Personally, I prefer my chicken well-done…”
“— ATOMIC CANNONS: STELLAR DISINTEGRATION!”
But… nothing happened.
Instead, his motorcycle completely broke down, sputtering to a halt.
Every single Calamity shifted attention toward him, ignoring Eden and David.
Lamar was left completely stranded in the back.
(It honestly felt like he was cursed that day.)
Seeing the monsters surround him, he offered a discouraged smile and gently tapped his arm.
“Please, metal arm… I can’t promise you much, but if we get out of this, I’ll upgrade you.
I promise.”
At that exact second, his arm reactivated with overwhelming power!
He extended it behind him to blast the Calamities, but the sheer kinetic recoil launched him directly into the air… flying like a rocket straight toward the base.
He had no idea what was happening and completely lost control of his trajectory.
Eden, Alya, and David managed to pull through right behind him, arriving at the base just in the nick of time.
The moment they slammed the doors, they rushed to synthesize the antidote using the core from Lamar’s mouth, trying to save little Tony.
The boy lay perfectly still, pale and unmoving, looking as though he had already passed.
Sophie, weeping at his bedside, held his hand:
“This is all my fault… Tony… I promise I’ll always play with you.
So please… don’t leave…”
After David hastily finished creating the remedy, they rushed Tony into the medical examination room.
Eden and David did absolutely everything within their power to revive him, pumping the medicine and checking his vitals… but there was nothing.
No response.
He wasn’t moving.
His heart had stopped beating.
Tony… Tony was dead.