​     "Uh..."​ Adam muttered, one of the very few times in his very long life where he was at a loss for words. "You want to...want to..."  

     "Get out of here?" Katy helped her. 

     "Yes. Yes, we could..."

     "Go someplace where we can talk? Yes. Yes, I would like that very much."

     "In that case, let us..." Adam felt almost afraid to hold her hand, afraid of the energy it might generate. Once grasped, she held on tight, as if that gesture alone would keep her safe. Right at that second, in that nexus moment, she'd never been more in love. 

     Valtair appeared out of nowhere, like, poof! there he was, to snatch at Katy's arm.  

     He planned to grab her, disappear with her, then kill her instantly...

     only he never got the chance. 

     Adam was right there, after all. 

     Valtair acted quickly, but Adam acted even more quickly. "Hey!" 

     With one hand, Adam wiped Valtair's away. With his other hand, balled into a fist, he smacked Valtair full in the face.  

     Although Valtair didn't even have a face, not really. His head looked made of iron and was in the shape of an inverted bullet or missile. He looked half-metal and half-flesh, and he stood nearly seven feet tall. Still, given all of that, Adam bopped that hard metal skull of his, and Valtair's head snapped back like it'd been cracked by a baseball bat. This was an entity that wasn't used to being touched, much less struck. 

     The blow startled him. 

​     Poof!

​     He transported the hell out of there. 

     Adam grabbed Katy's arm then to draw her close to him, pressed her full against his body.  

​     "Gramps!" he snapped. "Gramps! I need you now!"

​     His oldest friend appeared at his side. 

​     "Get her out of here, Gramps!"

​     "Okay, but..." 

​     "Get her to my place!"

     No time for further discussion. Gramps and Katy would ride a Stargod to Adam's compound where Gramps and Claudia would best be able to defend this young woman from The Fours inevitable onslaught. 

     A Stargod entered the shattered window, ready to spirit them away. 

     "You're not coming with us?" Gramps asked. 

     Adam shook his head. "It's nexus," he replied. "I can feel it all around us now. I feel suffocated by it."

     "Me too." 

     "Livia's got a couple hundred missiles in the basement, and Valtair wants them launched. If he succeeds, all of Earth's civilization dissolves into energy-less chaos within the hour." 

     "You've got to stop them, then." 

     "Precisely. I've got to stay here." He shot a quick look at Katy. "Whether I like it or not." 

     Gramps helped Katy into the Stargod. Just before disappearing completely within its bowels, Katy turned and said to Adam. "I look forward to the next time we meet."  

​     "As do I." 

     "We'll have all the time in the world," she said. "We'll have all the time we do not have now." She felt like embracing him, then. She felt like running to him and wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight as if that would stave off all the uncertainty and ugliness within Infini.  

​     Looking into his eyes, she understood that he felt the same. But there was no time to...to...

​     "Good-bye, Adam Forwarder," she found herself saying. 

     He bowed and nodded in reply as Gramps and Katy disappeared completely inside the Stargod. Claudia closed its hatch SNAP! then off it zipped into the night towards Adam's extremely well-fortified compound and, hopefully, safety. 

     "Good-bye, my love," he replied, although she could no longer hear him. "I'll be with you soon." I hope. I hope.   

CONTINUE