Extensis Vitae

Chapter 19



Rin sat on the roof of the enormous drilling machine’s cab where it was parked in the tunnel just outside the colony. It had been about three weeks since Haze’s band had driven out to this remote site in the desert with the mining rig in tow.

Her anger returned at the memory of the senseless slaughter that day. The stunned colonists hadn’t even been going to put up a fight, but Haze had given the order to cut them down anyway. “If we instill a little fear in them, they won’t even think of f*cking with us,” he had said.

When the other members of the band returned this time, things would be different. They wouldn’t be expecting resistance, especially from one of their own.

With her heightened hearing, she heard the approach of their vehicles outside the tunnel several minutes ago. According to her internal clock, it was early evening. She could tell from the group’s banter that the mood was celebratory, and several of them were probably drunk or high or both.

After several minutes, she heard the crunch of footsteps on loose gravel. Long shadows appeared well before their owners did, and dust began choking the tunnel from the tread of many feet. The sound of loose gravel giving way was followed by a curse as someone lost their footing.

Rin remained motionless atop the cab, waiting for their approach. She thought the plan would be effective due to its simplicity. The band—for the most part—was simply comprised of hardened thugs who were used to ambushing and terrorizing their prey. In a toe-to-toe battle with warrior class skins, she doubted they would be able to impress her. Mason and a couple other members of the band were the only ones whose fighting skills concerned her.

She didn’t know if both she and Reznik would survive the upcoming confrontation, but if Reznik fell in battle, it would actually benefit her, since she would be released from her obligation. On the other hand, traveling alone on the surface could be a dangerous undertaking. She respected the man’s sense of honor and didn’t wish any ill will upon him, foolish though his plans may be.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud whistle from the crude outlaw Durdin. “Damn, Rin! You’re lookin’ f*ckin’ good!” He was the first to pass below and he leered up at her. “Maybe Haze will finally let me take my turn with you. How would you like that?” he asked, grabbing his crotch.

Rin ignored him. “Don’t keep him waiting,” was all she said to the group.

Izzy winked at her as she passed by next. “He wasn’t lying, girl. You really are looking good. You should play with us—we could really have some fun together,” she giggled. Her breasts threatened to spill out of the tight, low-cut top she wore as she wriggled her chest at Rin. Izzy followed Durdin down the passage through the breached wall and into the cavernous storeroom.

Rin watched the rest of them pass. Mason looked her over and simply nodded in greeting. A few of the others spoke greetings, but for the most part, they ignored her and went on their way. They would be tired from the long trip and looking forward to food, drink, and rest. It was the perfect time for an ambush.

When they had all gone past her, she hopped down and followed them into the storeroom where Reznik was waiting.



***



They started spilling into the storeroom, laughing and bantering. Reznik watched the first two enter the dim room, unaware of his presence. A wiry man and a voluptuous woman were joking about Rin, from the sound of it. They started toward the corridor leading deeper into the complex, unaware of the danger that awaited them. Two more filed in behind the first pair.

The fifth person to enter drew Reznik’s attention. He was a muscular black man wearing a body armor vest and a low-brimmed dark gunslinger hat. He had a mechanical right arm that gleamed silver in the dim light. Reznik noticed the chrome glint of his eyes as he scanned the room.

This must be Mason, he thought. From his manner, Reznik could tell he was the most dangerous of the group. He eased back the hammer of the shotgun.

Mason froze immediately at the faint sound, eyes locking on Reznik where he leaned against the wall in the gloom. A large, burly man with a shaved head and fiery beard loomed in the entrance behind Mason. The big man noticed that Mason had tensed up, and moved up beside him, eyes scanning for any hint of danger.

Mason raised a hand and those behind him stopped. The four outlaws already in the room continued walking, unaware of the situation.

“Who are you?” Mason demanded, scrutinizing Reznik. He had his hand near his belt, but didn’t move, as he saw the shotgun Reznik had leveled.

The first four into the room stopped at Mason’s challenge. They looked around, trying to find the source of the danger, hands going for their weapons.

“Don’t move,” Reznik called out. “First one to touch a weapon dies.” There were now a dozen outlaws in the room, four or five of them jammed into the entrance where Reznik wanted them. He saw Rin slip into the room and around behind the outlaws that had first entered. That was the signal that they were all inside. She made sure to put distance between herself and the entrance.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Mason demanded again. “I suggest you lower your weapon and get the f*ck out of our way, or you’re a dead man. In fact, you’re desperately outnumbered, so I suggest you drop your weapon now and start talking.”

Reznik almost laughed. He wasn’t in the mood for talk, and knew that bloodshed would be inevitable. He noticed a bit of hesitation in Mason’s voice. That meant he was smart; he was wondering why anybody would be stupid enough to take on a dozen armed and battle-hardened outlaws by himself. He was waiting for the hammer to fall.

Reznik obliged him. He keyed the trigger for the anti-personnel mines he had planted near the entrance. He had carefully placed them so the force of the blast would be inward, so as not to risk collapsing the tunnel.

The first two charges went off in the entrance, the explosion sending shrapnel ripping into the outlaws still crowded at the choke point. The third mine had been placed a little to the right of the doorway, and it went off a split-second after the first explosion. Mason and the burly outlaw next to him were caught in the blast radius of the third charge. The big man was thrown forward, his arms flailing as he hit the floor. Mason had started moving the instant the first explosion went off. He dove to the side just as the third mine blew up, avoiding the brunt of the blast.

And then everything happened at once.

The four outlaws to the left of the entrance drew their weapons. Steel flashed in the shadows as Rin drew her katana. Reznik blasted the nearest outlaw in the chest with the shotgun, sending him down in a spray of blood. He pivoted to his right, searching for Mason. Somewhere off to his left, a gun started firing.

He saw movement behind some crates and fired another blast from the shotgun, blowing a crate to splinters. He heard a grunt as Mason took some buckshot. Reznik let the sawed-off shotgun drop and pulled the .45 in his left hand. Reloading the shotgun would take too much precious time.

Mason rose from behind the crates with a large gun in his hands. Reznik’s HUD highlighted the weapon, and he recognized it as an AA-12 automatic shotgun.

Oh shit, he thought. This could get messy.



***



Rin slid along the wall unnoticed as everyone focused their attention on Reznik.

She saw Durdin and Izzy share a glance and their hands tensed up near their waists, ready to draw their weapons, yet mindful of the shotgun in Reznik’s hands.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Mason demanded.

Rin’s hand tingled in anticipation of drawing her katana and joining the battle. She knew that there would be no surrendering unless death was the only other option.

And then the explosives went off. Durdin, Izzy, and the other two near Rin instinctively ducked from the concussive blast. Her katana was already in her hand as they drew their weapons. One of the four near her was thrown back from a shotgun blast to the chest. Durdin managed to get off a couple wild shots from his pistol before Rin was on him.

She dove forward, sword slicing out as she came out of her roll. Durdin stumbled forward, his leg severed at the knee, and fell on the stump of his right leg. He looked down in shock and started screaming as blood spurted out.

“Rin, you f*cking bitch!” he screamed before she silenced him with a stroke across the throat.

Rin saw motion in her peripheral vision, and instinctively parried the lash of Izzy’s electrified whip. The whip crackled as it wrapped around the blade of her katana, but the insulated hilt protected Rin from the electric charge.

Izzy untangled the whip before Rin could sever it. She readied another swing, but Rin was no longer there.

Rin had sensed movement behind her and had darted sideways as another attacker came at her with knives in both hands. The man threw a knife, but she easily deflected it with the katana. Another knife appeared in his hand and he lunged forward, slashing at her.

With the length advantage of her katana, Rin was easily able to keep him at bay. She slid sideways to keep Izzy in her peripheral vision.

And then the thunder of Mason’s weapon sent everyone diving for cover.



***



Reznik brought the .45 up and snapped off a couple shots at Mason, but the first went wide, and the second pinged off the shoulder plate of the outlaw’s body armor. The roar of the .45 was dwarfed by the thunderous report of the AA-12. Before Reznik could get off the third shot, the shotgun blast hit him in the arm, sending the revolver flying out of his hand. The second slug hit him squarely in the ribs, sending him into an unintentional pirouette. He clumsily dropped to take cover.

Mason slowly turned machine-like as he fired from the hip, the trigger held down and the automatic weapon firing slug after slug across the room. Storage crates were turned to splinters, and Mason carelessly hit one of his own men in the back who was struggling to rise after the explosion. The man fell back down without a cry, as the slug tore through his body and erupted from his chest. Reznik saw everyone taking cover, but couldn’t see Rin in the mayhem.

Mason’s shotgun finally ran out of ammo, the thirty-round canister having been expended in less than eight seconds. Streams of light pierced the shadowy room where the slugs had punched through the wall.

Reznik hurriedly checked himself for damage. Luckily, his nanites seemed to have absorbed both blasts, although he could imagine their protests from all the damage he was taking. He could easily have been dead already, instead of just having a couple ugly welts from the slugs. He looked around for his dropped .45, but couldn’t see it due to all the bodies and debris strewn around.

Mason stood among the wreckage and scanned the room, the light glinting off his chrome eyes and metal arm. The ribbons of light streaming in from the next room reflected off the smoke pouring out of the barrel of the shotgun. He let the gun drop on its sling, and a long blade appeared in his metal hand with a quiet snick.

Reznik saw the burly, bald man rise to one knee. He shook his head to re-orient himself, like a fighter trying to shrug off a powerful haymaker, and got back to his feet. The clothes on his back smoldered from the explosion, but other than that, he seemed relatively unscathed, other than looking angry. Now that he could get a good look at him, Reznik could see he looked freakish. It appeared that metal plates had been sewn under his skin. His limbs and torso bulged not only with muscle, but with the crude armor as well.

And that must be Angus, he thought. Looks like he’s got the low-budget type of dermal plating.

Reznik got to his feet with nothing more than the heavy crowbar he had scavenged in his hands, and stepped forward to meet them.



***



Rin got back to her feet after the thunder of shotgun fire died down. The man with the knives came at her again. She feinted with a high stab and, predictably, the man ducked. She kicked him in the elbow and heard a crack. The man grunted in pain and one of the knives flew out of his hand. He lunged up toward her, off-balance. She dodged and saw she had an open strike at his back. She reversed the blade, punching it down and into the man’s back. The blade easily slid through the back muscles and into the man’s heart, dropping him instantly.

Looking around, Rin saw that Izzy was moving forward to try to flank Reznik. Two others were rising out of the clearing smoke from the explosives. Rin recognized Milena and Janko—two of the veterans of Haze’s group. Milena was a hard looking woman with short-cropped dark hair and a mass of scars and tattoos covering her rail-thin body. Janko was a tall, gaunt man with burn scars covering part of his face and half of his body. The two of them were both nasty pieces of work.

“Rin, you traitorous bitch,” Milena growled as she drew an Uzi submachine gun. Janko had his chainsaw in his hand. He hit the starter button and it coughed to life. “I don’t know how you were able to turn on Haze, but I told him not to trust you or those f*cking tokens.”

“I had nothing to do with that. Haze died from his own overconfidence,” Rin replied, her eyes narrowing as she crouched into a defensive position, sword at the ready.

Janko didn’t say a word. He let the howl of the chainsaw speak for him.

Milena squeezed the trigger and the Uzi started spitting 9mm bullets. Rin dove into a roll and came up in a crouch with the katana twirling in her hands like a baton. Milena tracked her without letting up on the trigger, bullets tearing across the floor and through debris and bodies. As Rin came up out of her roll, Milena concentrated the stream of bullets on her.

Rin twirled the katana in a circle, the blade blurring like a propeller. Bullets sparked and ricocheted off the twirling blade, which effectively created a shield for her as she crouched behind it. Milena emptied the fifty-round clip of the Uzi. Rin felt the expected impacts of a couple bullets—one hitting her in the side and another across her thigh—but she deflected the majority of the rounds. The bullets that struck her failed to inflict any real damage.

Milena’s eyes widened in astonishment when she saw that Rin was unharmed. She fumbled for another clip as the swordswoman leaped at her. Janko jumped forward and shouldered into Rin, chainsaw hammering her katana blade aside in a shower of sparks.

Rin landed awkwardly and had to take an additional hop to regain her balance. Janko was almost on top of her, chainsaw howling as he lunged. Rin parried the chainsaw, and there was a horrendous sound of screeching metal and more sparks were thrown up, resulting in a violent recoil as Janko fought to control the machine. A normal sword might have shattered or been badly damaged from the fury of the chainsaw, but hers was no ordinary katana. The alloy blade was much harder than the teeth of the chainsaw.

Rin realized she had gotten turned around and was now between the two of them. She slashed Janko across the chest, but it was a shallow wound. He growled and raised the chainsaw, revving the motor. With a quick glance behind her, she noticed Milena had the Uzi reloaded and was bringing it up to fire.

The chainsaw screamed in fury as Janko lowered it and charged her. Rin deflected the chainsaw and sidestepped his charge. He stumbled past and she delivered a kick in the ass to help him on his way.

Milena let out an ear-piercing shriek of pain as the chainsaw tore into her midsection. Gore sprayed all over as the chainsaw became muffled with the sound of shredding meat. Janko pulled back much too late, and Milena flopped lifelessly to the ground, cut nearly in half.

Janko turned, his reflexes dulled by shock, only to find Rin’s katana at his throat. She sliced through his neck and his head tumbled to the floor. The body stayed upright, spurting blood for another moment before it, too, dropped.

The chainsaw screeched against the floor as Janko’s hand maintained pressure on the trigger. Rin kicked at it and freed it from his grasp. It tore off across the ground and lodged in another corpse before the chain came to a halt.



***



“I don’t know who you are, fool, but looks like you’re all out of ammo. And luck,” Mason growled as he started to circle around to Reznik’s right. Angus brought his ham-hock sized fists up and scowled as he took a step forward. His muscles bulged, and Reznik thought he looked like a linebacker on steroids.

“Well, Haze and his buddies had an overly high opinion of themselves too, and right now they are drawing flies down below,” Reznik replied. He gripped the crowbar tighter as he readied for the charge.

“There’s a reason Haze kept the rest back with him, and that’s because they ain’t worth shit,” Angus grunted. “You’re dealing with the big boys now, punk.”

Reznik smiled. “Okay, bubba, let’s see what you’ve got then,” he taunted.

Angus lumbered forward, swinging a massive fist. Reznik ducked and brought the crowbar around into Angus’s stomach—hard. The crowbar reverberated as it struck the dermal plates. The big man just wheezed a bit as the breath was partially knocked from his lungs, but came back around, grabbing for Reznik.

Reznik dodged and swung the crowbar down, trying to hook it into the flesh of the big man’s arm, but it glanced off a plate on his forearm. He was distantly aware of the sound of automatic weapon fire and what sounded like a chainsaw, but he didn’t have time to think about it.

Angus came forward in a bull rush, trying to grapple with Reznik, but he dodged the grab and came around behind the big man. He drove the edge of the crowbar down into Angus’s bulging trapezius muscle. The tip buried in the meat and then lodged against the edge of the thick plating on his back. Reznik yanked down hard with the crowbar and it hooked under the plate. With a wet ripping sound, the upper edge of the plate tore free from his flesh. Angus bellowed in pain and dropped to his knees, blood gushing from the wound.

There was motion in Reznik’s peripheral vision. He spun, pulling the crowbar free, thinking Mason was attacking from behind, but the man was still watching the exchange.

His HUD picked up what looked like a rope tossed at him. He tried to duck, but it had already wrapped around his neck. It was a flexible metal whip, and the buxom woman holding the other end yanked on it, cinching it tight around his neck. An electrical pulse surged through him.

He felt his legs start to wobble from the shock. The woman smiled at him, and he thought she looked like a cartoon character, with absurdly large breasts and hips and a tiny waist. If she’s not a skin job, I don’t know what is.

Then Angus’s fist slammed into the side of his head, sending him to the floor. Through the stars in his vision, he saw Angus looming over him, face twisted in rage. He kicked Reznik in the side as he thrashed. The woman pulled the whip tight, preventing him from being able to regain his feet as Angus kicked him again, this time knocking the breath out of his lungs with a whoosh.

Mason moved in close. “I think you’re about done, hero,” he said. “Stop fighting us, and I may let you live long enough to have a conversation about what you are doing here and what happened to Haze and the others.” Reznik found it unnerving looking into Mason’s eyes; he could see his own reflection in the opaque chrome surface of the artificial orbs. He noticed there were burn scars around the outlaw’s eyes and covering his brow.

The woman twitched the whip and another electrical pulse shot into Reznik. He lashed out his hand and grasped Mason around the ankle, allowing the electricity to surge into the outlaw as well. Mason cursed and stumbled back, breaking contact.

Reznik grasped the whip in his hand and yanked on it. The woman staggered forward off-balance, but managed to retain her grip on the weapon. With the sudden slack, Reznik rolled to the side and around behind Angus before getting to his feet. He pulled the whip and wrapped it partially around the big man’s legs. Angus grabbed for Reznik, but missed. He teetered unsteadily with the whip tangling up his legs. Reznik kicked Angus behind the knee, knocking him down. He jumped on Angus’s back and pulled the remaining slack of the whip around the big man’s neck. He saw that Angus’s back was covered in blood where the inch-thick plate jutted out of his flesh.

The woman tightened the whip momentarily, before noticing that she was choking her companion as well. She twitched the whip and it suddenly loosened and slid free like a serpent.

Another blow struck Reznik’s head, and he felt like he had been hit by a hammer. Stars filled his vision and he rolled off Angus’s back. He just managed to block another punch from Mason’s mechanical arm. It felt like trying to block a jackhammer.

Then Mason was grappling with him. A blade sprang out of his mechanical arm, and he stabbed Reznik in the stomach once, twice, three times. Reznik saw blood on the blade, and his stomach burned in pain. He managed to grasp Mason’s forearm as he brought the blade back for another strike.

An ear-piercing shriek rose above the sound of the chainsaw, causing everyone to momentarily freeze. The scream was followed by what sounded to Reznik like meat being fed into a garbage disposal.

Reznik brought his knee up into Mason’s midsection and flipped him up and over, rolling back to his feet. Mason tumbled and regained his feet in a smooth motion.

The woman cracked the whip and lashed out at Reznik again. This time, he was ready for it and caught it in his hand. It curled around his hand and forearm and discharged its electricity. Reznik grimaced, but pulled hard, and the woman stumbled toward him. At the same time, he sprang at her, covering the distance in one leap. Her eyes widened as he came down and slammed into her. He felt her collarbone break as he brought his elbow down between her neck and shoulder. She fell hard, crying out. He loosened the whip from his hand and let it fall, turning to face Mason and Angus again with the crowbar.

Angus was back on his feet, this time holding a chain with a type of claw device on the end. He began twirling the chain around as Mason pulled out another cartridge to reload the AA-12. The chain shot out and Reznik ducked under it, moving in quickly to prevent Mason from reloading. The outlaw jumped back and blocked Reznik’s swing of the crowbar with his metal arm.

Reznik brought his arm back to swing the crowbar again, looking to disable the AA-12, when his arm was ensnared. The electrical pulse told him what it was before he even saw the whip entangling his arm. At the same time, the heavy chain wrapped around his midsection and the clawed end snagged his clothes.

A savage yank from Angus twisted Reznik off-balance so he couldn’t get any leverage. The chain was lined with serrated teeth, which tore into his skin when the chain tightened. From the amount of pain he was starting to feel, he knew he had sustained too much damage for his nanites to effectively protect him for much longer. The flashing warning on his HUD confirmed his suspicion.

He saw the buxom woman, face twisted in pain, holding the whip in her right hand while the left hung uselessly at her side. He tried pulling on the whip, but couldn’t get much leverage because of Angus’s chain.

Angus hauled on the chain again, and the teeth ripped deeper into his flesh as it tightened. As he was twisted around, he found himself staring into the barrel of Mason’s loaded AA-12 a foot away from his face.

Mason smiled at the look on Reznik’s face. “I doubt you’ll survive this one, no matter what kind of augs you have,” he sneered. His finger tightened on the trigger.

With all his might, Reznik lunged in Angus’s direction. The woman fell to the floor and Angus lurched back as the opposing force was suddenly gone. The shotgun roared with the blast that would have taken Reznik’s head off, had he still been there. Reznik brought the crowbar down on top of Angus’s head, but at the last instant, the big man managed to bring his beefy arm up and deflect the blow with the plate on his forearm.

“Hold him still,” Mason ordered Angus. As the big man grabbed for the chain again, Reznik noticed the glint of the .45 lying a few feet away where it had been uncovered during the scuffle.

Suddenly, the tension was back in the whip. Reznik looked around, annoyed, but this time Mason had the other end of it. He finished looping it around a sturdy pipe in the ceiling and handed the end to the woman again.

“Pull him up, Angus. I’m gonna blow his head off this time,” Mason growled.

Reznik lunged at Mason, but was brought up short as Angus heaved on the chain again. Reznik’s feet were lifted off the ground until he hung like a piñata suspended in the air. He weakly threw the crowbar at Mason, but the outlaw easily swatted it aside.

I’m done, he thought. Mason raised the barrel of the shotgun next to his head again, his chrome eyes blank and emotionless.



***



Rin watched as Reznik was immobilized. She knew she could easily make a break for it during the commotion and nobody would be able to stop her, but she wasn’t about to let him die trussed up like a pig. Besides, she had made a bargain, which she intended to honor. She looked for an opportunity to intervene.

As she edged around behind Angus, she suddenly saw an opening. Angus had an ugly wound on his back. The dermal plate had been partially ripped free, which left his shoulder joint exposed as he held the chain taut.

She sprang forward and brought the blade down in a savage overhead strike. It cleaved into Angus’s left shoulder where the trapezius and rear deltoid muscles connected, cutting through tissue and bone.



***



Reznik waited for the slug to blow his head off, but suddenly Mason whirled as something caught his eye. At the same time, all the tension left the chain, and Reznik dropped to the ground.

The AA-12 roared as Mason fired. Reznik saw the fleeting shape of Rin diving out of the way. Angus was staring in shock at the blood gushing out of his shoulder. His severed arm was on the ground, the chain still wrapped around his massive fist. After a delayed reaction, the big man began to scream.

Seizing the opportunity, Reznik sprang up and drove his shoulder into Mason’s back, knocking the outlaw over. The .45 was just a few feet away, and Reznik made a dive for it.

His left hand closed around the comforting weight of the revolver. He rolled over on his back, his right arm still entangled by the whip, and fired.

Mason was turning back toward him, and the first bullet slammed into his chest, striking the body armor, but driving the man back. The second round hit him in the side of the neck, and the third punched into his left shoulder. The outlaw fell with a groan.

Reznik’s HUD scanned for the next target. For a millisecond, it locked on Angus, but the outlaw clearly was done for already. He had fallen to his knees as his lifeblood poured out onto the floor.

He snapped the weapon around and acquired the next target. The woman with the whip was staring in shock from the shift in the battle’s momentum. Reznik shot her in the thigh to incapacitate her. She dropped on her backside with a cry.

A dry click came from the revolver as the hammer fell on an empty shell. Reznik popped the cylinder open and let the empty shells drop out as he dug in his pocket for more rounds. He swiftly reloaded and tried to get to his feet until he remembered that he was still entangled. He fumbled to loosen the whip around his wrist.

Rin walked up out of the gloom, bloody sword in hand. She was splattered with blood—whether it was hers or someone else’s, Reznik couldn’t tell. She lifted the katana, and, with a swift stroke, severed the whip.

“Thanks,” he said as he freed his arm. He tossed the remainder of the whip aside. “That all of them?”

“All dead, dying, or wounded except…” Her eyes scanned the shadows and debris. “I don’t see Mason, though.” She raised the katana again, alert and deadly.

Reznik fumbled to free himself from the chain. The claw had left nasty tears in the meat of his torso. He gingerly plucked it free.

Regaining his feet, he circled around to Rin’s left, being careful not to get in the way of her sword. She moved forward in a slight crouch, perched on the balls of her feet. He scanned the room, searching for the outlaw leader, pistol raised. Rin pointed at the floor where a trail of blood led away across the floor.

“Might as well give yourself up, Mason,” he called. “Your men are dead or dying, and you are next.”

There was silence. Reznik boosted his hearing and could hear the fading gasps of Angus and the ragged breathing of the injured woman. He could also make out harsh breathing from the shadows across the room, near the entrance passage behind some of the few remaining crates. Another step to the side and he would have a clear shot.

“Then we’ll all meet up again in Hell. I look forward to it,” Mason’s voice growled. With his hearing boosted, Reznik was just able to detect the metallic clink that was concealed by Mason’s voice. Reznik tracked an orb that was lobbed into the air in their general direction.

“Grenade!” he shouted and ran for cover. Rin leapt away in the opposite direction.

The canister separated in mid-air, and a fine vapor of fuel sprayed out milliseconds before it ignited. The thermobaric grenade ignited with a whoosh as it sucked the oxygen out of the room and erupted into a huge fireball.