To Powell’s horror, two of the Me 262’s ignored him and went straight after Brooklyn.
“We have incoming, six o’clock high. Straight up our ass.” Moose warned Jnr.
“Roger that mate. We have to keep going.”
Powell rolled his aircraft to avoid a plasma missile that impacted on the ground below scorching the dust-strewn earth.
Two 262’s streamed in after Powell and peppered his fighter with Plasma fire, his radar operator was hit as the canopy melted above their heads. Blood poured from the open wound.
“Brooklyn I can’t tie them up for much longer,” Powell said.
A Me 262 got too close and Charles saw his opportunity he pulled back as hard as he could on the control stick pointing the plane’s nose up to the heavens. It began to stall as rounds hit the fighter but even the agile Aryan jet could not avoid the Phantom at this range and plowed straight into it; both fighters were instantly turned to debris.
The fighting was desperate between the three Phantoms who had managed to even the numbers up but Ross was in a dangerous position and his left wing had been hit badly.
Two of the Me 262’s went to assist their comrades while the other two closed in on Brooklyn.
All or nothing
Atlantis watched the events unfolding in front of him. He unfolded his arms, “Ok that is close enough.” He said.
The technician nodded.
Brooklyn could see the base now as he rushed forwards barely two hundred feet above the ground. ‘This is it.’ He thought.
A great clap of thunder echoed out from the base causing Brooklyn’s blood to run cold, he knew what that sound meant.
Another three thunderclaps boomed out followed by a bright blue fork of lightning that snaked out towards the lone Phantom. Brooklyn instinctively rolled the aircraft but it was a dangerous maneuver at this altitude.
Another fork of lightning reached out towards him and this time he could not get out of the way, it clipped his right wing and small pieces of it were torn from the plane. The controls vibrated but Brooklyn got his bird under control.
“You ok Brooklyn?” Reed asked.
“Roger that, we have a small amount of ball lightning but we are still going.”
“Goodman.” Reed paused. “We have lost Ross. We are being overwhelmed.”
Reed rolled his plane once more and dived for the ground, he had three 262’s on his tail and the plasma missiles raced after him. Reed leveled off just above the deck as the plasma narrowly missed him and detonated into the earth.
Reed then broke hard right and tried to gain altitude but he was hit in the left engine, the plane trailed black smoke as it lost power. Reed turned engine two off but it was no good a large explosion hit his aircraft and he briefly felt an intense heat wash over him.
Luke Connery saw Reed go down and knew he had no chance, he turned his aircraft and took heavy plasma fire across the left of his plane; it trailed a stream off fire as it plummeted towards the earth. Connery tried to reach the ejection handle but the g-force was too much and he could not get out before his plane crashed.
The radio was silent. Brooklyn knew he was on his own.
He raced towards the base and split a hard right as the first orb of superheated white light just missed him. The orb changed direction and followed the Phantom. Another orb was just in front but Brooklyn managed to avoid that as well but another lightning bolt struck his aircraft. The canopy disintegrated, showering the two-man crew with shards of glass.
Moose stifled a moan, he grasped gingerly and the huge piece of glass that was sticking out from his leg; blood trickled from the wound.
Purple rounds zipped passed the Phantom, two Me 262’s were bearing down on them at terrifying speed but Brooklyn had come too far to fail now and as his aircraft entered the edge of the base it came under increasing plasma fire from ground forces.
A plasma round hit the rear of the plane and damaged the rudder but Brooklyn continued on target. His eyes locked onto the control tower and he squeezed the trigger; the Gatling guns rounds smashed into the tower and obliterated the glass.
Inside the tower, Atlantis threw himself to the floor as the rounds flew inches above his head. Smoke filled the room; the computers were all but destroyed. Atlantis looked across to see the bodies of his technicians; blood coated the floor.
Brooklyn switched to missiles, he only had the one and he squeezed the trigger. Nothing happened.
Brooklyn squeezed the trigger hard but again nothing happened.
Moose spoke but he sounded weak, “The bottom of the plane was damaged when the lightning hit us mate.”
“Shit shit shit!” Brooklyn shouted as he narrowly avoided a plasma missile. “We are going to have to do it manually then. Get ready to eject on my mark Moose.”
A large jolt hit the Phantom from behind which knocked out the engines but the plasma missile did not take out the aircraft completely. The giant orbs of plasma closed in but it was too late.
Atlantis saw what was coming and at the last minute he jumped to his feet and ran to the glassless windows at the rear of the control tower.
At the last second, the Phantom rolled slightly but Brooklyn shouted to eject and Moose pulled the handle. The two seats rocketed away from the jet but there was not enough altitude for the parachutes to open and the two men were still strapped to their chairs as they hit the ground.
The Phantom plowed into the control tower and was simultaneously hit by two orbs of plasma, the explosion detonated the American fighters payload and the shockwave blew Atlantis clean out of the tower, he plunged the 25-foot drop and hit the floor, rolling several times.
Aryan troops rushed to his aid and pulled him to his feet, he winced in pain as he tried to put weight on his right ankle. From the flames in the tower, a black mist leaked out and descended over the area.
“Make sure those stubborn pilots are dead,” Atlantis ordered.
Brooklyn lay on the floor barely conscious, he tried to move but he could not feel anything below his waist; he realized he could only move his right arm.
Brooklyn tried to call out to Moose but he could not speak, he looked over but could not see any movement from the other ejection chair.
Brooklyn Jnr tried to fight the growing tiredness that washed over him but it was too intense and he blacked out.
The black mist felt cold as it hit Atlantis’s face, he removed a glove and brushed it off; he inspected it in his fingers. It was thick like tar but was very cold.
Atlantis got an old feeling as if he had seen this liquid before but he could not have. Atlantis sneezed and a thick black substance rushed from his nose.
For the first time in a long time he felt fear rush over him, ‘they couldn’t have got hold of a… that EMP blast over London.’
Atlantis knew he had to get out of there, he turned towards Die Glocke but he was finding it hard to walk, the black liquid oozed from his tear ducts and ran down his cheeks. The Aryan commander hobbled toward the glowing acorn-shaped device.
It felt like he was walking through treacle though and as he looked down he could see his feet were dissolving into a dark puddle of thick liquid. Atlantis carried on but his steps were getting slower and slower. His senses were dulling at an alarming rate.
The next step he took he lost his right foot, it melted into a gooey mess, the left foot followed suit. Atlantis gasped for breath as his organs were shutting down; he was dying from the inside.
The great commander coughed up black dust that scattered over the floor in front of him. He continued to crawl towards the device but his face started to slide out of shape; he was literally melting out of existence.