Centurian, the Silver Centipede, came at him like a bull​ at a red flag. Okay, fine, Adam thought. Eat some 'zooka. The bazooka hadn't completely recharged, however, from the time he'd fired at Alacran, so the blast itself was only about a third as strong as when it was at full capacity. Centurian twisted so that the blast caught him in the shoulder, spinning him and shattering a couple of his one hundred arms. He righted himself immediately. No licking his wounds the way Alacran did. No, he came at Adam full a second time without hesitation. This was a different kind of warrior coming at Adam. This was a true warrior.   

​     And now the sonic bazooka was useless to him because it took a full minute to recharge, and Adam didn't have a full minute. He let it drop to his feet and went for his two hand blasters, flipping their settings with his thumb to PIERCE. He didn't get a chance to fire them before Centurian was on him, though, and then it became a wrestling and fists swinging match. Centurian slammed into him chest to chest so that Adam flew back to land flat on the floor. Those metallic fists, dozens of them, nearly a hundred of them, struck at every part of Adam's body all at once. Adam was a seasoned fighter, perhaps none more seasoned in Infini, but he realized after a couple of seconds that there was no advantage to fist fighting with what was essentially a computer with a hundred arms. He had to think of something else.   

     "Claudia?" 

​     "I am so close to cracking this computer code, Adam."

     "You haven't cracked it yet?"

​     "I found something right at its core. The whole system's based on a technology I've never been a witness to." 

​     "What?" It was like two dozen security alarms went off inside of him all at once. 

​"Claudia, you have a working knowledge of over ten thousand separate technologies from amongst the galaxies. You're telling me that...Ugh!"

​     Centurian twisted like a ballerina so that all of his nearly one hundred fists could get a chance to swing on Adam. "Ugh!" Adam looked for a space amongst all those fists, looked for Centurian's torso, his center of gravity. The way he was getting pummeled, he figured he didn't have more than a single chance to attempt what he planned. Even as he continued to fend of Centurian's attack. Adam concentrated a majority of his physical energy to his lower body and legs in a manner that no true human being ever could. It was physical energy much stronger than any human's, and now that he'd done it... 

     Adam leaped into the air...

     and then he kicked...

     kicked with all the energy he'd concentrated into his already powerful legs. 

     He sent Centurian flying back twenty feet to smack against a cement wall. Good. Centurian's recovery from that would take a few seconds. Adam reached into this utility vest and pulled out a half dozen mini-grenades. They were the size of buttons, and they were coated with adhesive so that they stuck to whatever they were thrown at. 

     "Adam!" This from Claudia. Adam didn't like the tone of her voice. She sounded almost...almost frightened. 

     "Claudia, what..." 

     And that's when he heard, from somewhere in that basement, a hard CLUNK! followed by a fiery roar. 

     Then. again, CLUNK! Roar!  

​     Then, again, again, again. 

     The missiles.

​     One by one, they were being launched into the heavens. 

CONTINUE