Far Pangaea 94: Atum Smasher

"Heads up Ole Buddy." Cameron Scott alias Lightmare zips around him like a plane circling King Kong.

"I'm thinking of doing something stupid Cam."

"What we're doing now is stupid. Can't get any dumber."

"Remember in Star Wars when Han Solo flew the Millennium Falcon through the Space Worm?" Mal gives him a hint.

"Hey that was my idea. Just ask Horus. You can't fly so leave that to me. You just keep pummeling Clodzilla."

"Be careful."

"As I can. Help Mal out as much as possible Horus." Cam flies by his brother's wingspan. Horus was now wielding a massive battleax, his weapon of choice.

"We're too damned tiny to do any damage Bra."

"Bra? You mean Ra."

"That's what I said."

"No you didn't. You said Bra. Does it look like I have hooters to you?" Cam growls.

"Tell me you idiots didn't merge with those Souls from the Pyramid." Mal sighs like a sonic boom.

"Easy on the ear drums Big Guy." Horus circles him in flight like a mosquito circling the head of a human.

Cam stops mid flyby and hovers directly in front of Malcolm's eyeball, "We needed a stronger advantage Mal. So far we have a pretty decent bond. Sabbath joined with Khonsu too."

"I heard earlier. Hope you guys don't regret your decisions."

"I believe they have good intentions. It's Osiris I worry about."

Atum rises against all odds bellowing as if thunder in their heads, "I knew something was amiss. My unworthy grandchildren cannot help you. I will crush you all."

"Not if you're rolling around on your back ya big ass Fart." Mal kicks him yet again. As Atum smashes hard upon the landscape, cracks in the Earth splinter outward in all directions. This area of the terrain seemed unstable.

"Whoa! Guys look, there must be caverns below you guys. Atum is falling through to them." Horus points.

"If he goes I go. Our combined weight is like two mountains in one plot. Can't be good."

"Let him fall. If he gets lodged and can't move we have him at a disadvantage."

"And, if I fall through too?"

Horus laughs at a most inopportune time, "Just don't fall over his backside. Might look like you're tagging yourself doggy style."

"Fuck you Big Bird." Mal tried not to laugh. It was ironic.

Rearing up on his mighty arms Atum reached for Malcolm's leg and pulled it out from under him. His balance tedious as it was Mal was going to take the fall backwards. Never had any of them seen something so massive collapse. If they were an asteroid under greater speeds the Earth might have been shattered for thousands of miles. Luckily it was only a matter of forty miles struggling to remain stable. The topple was all the ground could handle. Sure enough massive sinkholes developed and both were swallowed up. Meeting in the air above the twin Cameron's looked down with awe. There was nothing they could do. Not until one or the other surfaced somehow.

"Caverns must run for miles beneath this area. I'm shocked there's no volcano." Lightmare stressed.

"Not to make matters worse but...what is that?" Horus points toward the direction of Celestial City.

"Some kind of giant bird?"

"Dude I know birds. I'm partly one nowadays. That's no fuckin' bird."

As it draws closer the twins look at each other, "MOVE!"

In seconds like a roaring DC-10, the presumed bird flew over, circling back to observe the crater with two giants wrestling ever so awkwardly. Something was oozing to the surface of their lodged confinement.

Lightmare winces sniffing at the air, "You smell gas?"

"Isn't Atum gas?" Horus shrugs.

"Not liquid though." Lightmare dares to zip closer at near light speed then returns to Horus, "Oil."

"Dude that's a freakin' Dragon."

Jaws drop between them, " Fire! Let's get out of here." Both hightail it just as the vicious Cano spits a torrent of fire hundreds of feet wide. One simple spark and the mixture of gas and oil erupts like a fireball consuming the giants. No more than conceiving an inferno the Dragon flew away.

"You just had to mention volcanos." Horus shook his head at Lightmare.

"Shut up. I'm going down I think my light armor can protect me."

"Dude you're Bra the Sun god!"

"You're right. I forgot. How about it Bra...I mean Ra? Help a sunlamp out?"

Within his light armors ribbed texture Cameron's actual body bursts into flame without him feeling it. Shocked by the enhancement he looks at his blazing palms, then his arms. Grinning from ear to ear he circles in flight diving into the cauldron of flames. The trouble with that became recognizing who was who. The bodies were both that of Malcolm Brand.

"I'm here Buddy. Tell me something only you and I might know so I can figure out which of you is the true Malcolm."

"TEQUILA!"

"Good enough for me Peewee Herman."

As Atum clawed his way up Lightmare dove right through his opened jaws. Within gas ignited yet fought back as if attempting to extinguish Lightmare's external pyre. Kicking up the heat Lightmare made his way through a stone like sarcophagus and down through massive intestines like rocky serpents. Getting lost in here was gonna be bad. Finally he found what he was looking for.

"There's where Mal left his apple."

The apple unlike Atum's body remained normal sized. However each time Cam attempted to snatch it up it dissolved and reformed. Time and time again. Finally Cam had to play hot potato with it. Encouraging it up a few feet at a time until he could effectively remove it from Malcolm's old belly. It took nearly thirty minutes to extract it. All the while Atum's gaseous form fought back. Even Ra was telling Cameron to hurry.

Outside Malcolm had Atum in a headlock. A Gas Giant obviously had never wrestled in High School. He was trying his best to prevent Atum from getting the upper hand. No part of this struggle was easy. Each time one giant increased his size the other had to compensate. This led them to sink deeper into the bowels of Hell.

"Hurry it up Bra." Horus actually bit his nail worried about his identical twin. Not even the thought of getting Sabbath Black back should Cam perish crept into his thoughts. Maybe Horus was good for this Cameron after all.

"Almost there. If i can just get this apple core outside of Atum's body maybe he will lose his ability to grow." Cam was sweating even beneath an epidermis of fire. Juggling a full grown apple was one thing but when it deteriorated down to its seeds it became a struggle to maintain. Producing a cup made out of pure light kept him from losing them. Flying amid the gas became like swimming in soup. Cam wondered why his flames weren't exploding under the fumes of Atum. Something about the chemical makeup of Atum's true existence was resistant to fire, "Another tenth of a mile up maybe I can reach air." His flight speed under the twists and turns within Malcolm's original body's structure kept him from an immediate escape. Moving up Malcolm's windpipe led to one final roadblock. The true face of Atum formed as if a ghost rearing its ugly presence. Cam caught off guard nearly lost his concentration.

"I will not allow you to take my mobility." Atum stares with deathly eyes.

"You can't stop me Fruit of the Fumes."

"You are and always were naïve Ra." A gust of fumes surround Cameron and extinguishes his flames. His light armor encompasses the remainder of his body as protection. Something was different now. Atum had altered his makeup to become almost as if an antibody. Tiny gas nodules ate at the light armor.

"What the fuck? Tell me this isn't acid." It most certainly was. His armor was failing him under the rain. If he didn't get out in a matter of minutes Cameron Scott would be a skeleton. Less than that, moments after it would be as if he never existed. He was in panic mode. He was losing his vision even trying to stay focused.

Outside of Atum, Malcolm could hear Atum's thoughts being they shared the same body, thus in a sense the same mind. This close up it was far easier to decipher. He knew Cam was in danger. In a last ditch effort Mal releases his headlock and slaps the rune upon his calf. Upon impact with his palm Malcolm conceives the mad idea to give Cam mouth to mouth of a sorts. Gripping Atum by the head Mal literally kisses himself while whipping up hurricane force winds to exhale down Atum's throat. The sudden gale washed the acidic gas further down into Atum's body. Gasping Cam took the opportunity to make a speedy retreat. Knowing he might hurt himself further he goes pure on light as he had when phasing through the hull of the X'Orr a couple weeks prior. Like a torpedo Cam shot out of Atum's mouth and found himself lost, "What the? Where am I now?"

"In my throat Moron. Get out this is seriously uncomfortable." Mal roars giving Cam the shivers. The mere thought of being in either version of Malcolm was bad enough. But to be in the one who was able to talk back just didn't sit well with either of them. Twisting in flight Cam headed toward daylight as Mal looked to the sky. Like a geyser spitting into the air Cam was free. One bad apple in tow.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Atum could already feel weakness nag at his Host body.

"We got him on the ropes Buddy."

"Let's never talk about that incident again." Mal encouraged.

"What? About your gag reflex?" Cam chuckles as Horus catches up to his twin.

"You guys are sick. Love you Man." Horus hugs Cam which made him cringe. That was unexpected.

"I can feel Atum shrinking." Mal maintains a grip on the giant.

As they observed the slow regression things around them livened up. Suddenly, the sky was full of alien spaceships. Dozens attacked sending laser fire down at Malcolm and Atum. It was easy to tell they didn't care which giant was which. Not much damage to either yet the swarm of ships blackened the sky. Lightmare and Horus went into defensive mode as the smaller fighters targeted them. In the rapid fire Horus gets a wing clipped as feathers fly. Feeling no pain he lost his cool. In a rush toward a small fighter Horus uses both hands and primes his battleax into a deathblow splitting a cockpit in two. It's Kytani pilot butchered in his seat.

"Whoa! That dude looked like the Devil." He turned to watch the ship crash into the crater around the two giants.

Flying at great speeds Lightmare dodged and sent two fighters crashing into one another. This was too much fun. It was like an aerial dogfight. Coming from a fighter pilot with loads of flight time Cameron Scott was riding high. So high he lost track of the one thing he never should have lost sight of. Bombs away. The stolen apple was in freefall, heading straight back toward Atum. Mouth wide open with expectation they could hear his readiness to continue his journey. Less than 80 yards from his mouth enters a new player. Catching the apple in flight made both Cameron's grin.

"Sabbath to the rescue."

"Wait!" Horus pauses, "I thought the wings left when I turned you normal."

"Khonsu tapped into my messed up chromosomes. Brought out the ability to reform my wings. Now I can not only go out in both day and night but I can call upon other morphing traits."

"As long as that Vampire stuff doesn't turn you mean on us." Lightmare catches up to her.

"I'm afraid my Vamp side will always be there. I'll keep it in check Romeo."

"Same here. Although I don't mind. I got Horus to keep me focused." Horus adds.

"Get that apple as far from here as possible." Mal stresses.

While the group avoided more firepower in came a shocking entrant. The Great Pyramid of Osiris hovered above Malcolm and Atum. As a door on the Pyramid opens and a ramp extends out steps Osiris himself. Leaping from his perch the God Pharaoh lunges toward the crater.

"What's Daddio up to?" Horus avoids a gunner.

"He wants to put an end to his Father once and for all." Sabbath spins in mid air between larger starships.

As Osiris dropped he too increased in size. Foot by foot he was becoming akin to a guided missile. Seeing this Malcolm knew this was going to be messy. He had no idea. Fists forward Osiris ruled the Heavens in his downward spiral. At half the size of Mal and Atum even in his lessened height something beyond their wildest nightmares happened. Atum breaks free of Malcolm knocking him backwards. Catching Osiris to his dismay Father rips his son in half. Hardening limbs shatter like an explosion of rocks at a quarry. Grossly Atum devours Osiris.

"Holy shit!" Lightmare catches up to Sabbath, "Why did Osiris go kamikaze?"

"I-I don't think that was planned."

"Really? Ya think?" He glares at Sabbath.

"Other me? Just a thought here...but didn't Daddio like eat two apples?"

Sabbath and Cam stare at each other with bulging eyes. Horus just had to state the obvious.

"Planet killer for sure."