Smiling to himself at the sound Amadeus leapt backwards just as the creature sprang forward, landing right in the spot where Amadeus had been standing a moment before. The creature, focused as it was on its target, did not hear the sound of scraping metal, and the first clue it had that anything bad was going to happen to it was the sudden darkness that overtook the area where it had stopped. Looking up it had no time to react as the top vehicle of the stack fell straight towards it, smashing into the creatures with a thunderous crash, kicking up a cloud of dust that obscured the scene for meters around.
When the sound of the various small bits falling atop the crashed car finally ceased the dust began to settle and Amadeus was rewarded for his plan with the sight of the lizard creature stuck under the chassis, the bottom half of it's body crushed under the derelict and a mound of other small metal pieces that had fallen with the derelict from the pile. The creature at first seemed dead, and Amadeus was afraid that he might have overestimated the creature's resilience, but after a second or two the thing began to thrash and jerk, trying to pull itself out from under the junk which buried it.
Amadeus sighed in relief when the creature stopped its struggles, mostly because he was half certain that the thing might be able to move the junk off itself, but luckily the pile proved to great, and the creature stopped at stared at its captor. His smile vanishing in a single instant Amadeus reached under the fur cloak he wore and withdrew the axe which he probably could have used to slay the creature before, but had not used because he needed information, and corpses had the annoying habit of keeping what they knew to themselves most of the time.
"Ok, now that I have your attention, how about you explain why you're looking for me, and maybe how I got here," he suggested to the creature, fingering the edge of the axe before holding it high over his head and slicing into one of the derelicts at the bottom of the pile. In a flash the axe was again at Amadeus' side and neither he nor the creature could see a flaw in the metal of the chassis, but an errant shift in the wind tugged at the thing, and a moment later the front hood of the transport fell to the ground, having been cleanly chopped off by the blade's sharp edge and the wielder's prodigious strength.
"Or do I need to use some of those fine interrogation techniques that you can learn in any starport dive if you watch long enough," he said, wondering if the creature could be intimidated by the show of strength. He doubted it, but it was worth a shot. Walking forward he stood right before the creature so that it had to crane its neck and look up at him before lowering himself to his heels and staring the thing in the face. The creature, stuck under the derelict said nothing in response to the threat, but rather began to struggle again, at least wriggle one arm free from under the pile of debris.
Amadeus, fearful of what the poison in the thing's claws could do to him, sprang backwards, and just in time too as the now free appendage swiped at him. With the attack failed the creature went back to trying to work its way free of the rubble under which it was buried, and Amadeus knew he had to attack before the thing could do that, as he might never be able to trap it again. Thinking fast Amadeus leapt forward again, surprising the creature with his dexterity and agility as he lightly swung his axe at the monster, who braced for a fatal blow. When it opened its eyes though it was still alive, if now minus a hand.
"How about you take my threats seriously from now on?" Amadeus asked the trapped lizard, kicking the severed hand which he had just lopped off the creature's arm closer to its former owner. Oddly the creature took greater interest in the hand then it did in the one who was threatening it, trying to hit it with the stump of an arm it now had. Unfortunately for it Amadeus' swing had sent the appendage a few centimeters away, and even his kick had not moved it back into range, but to prevent the creature from reaching the hand he slammed the iron heel of his climbing boot atop the flailing arm, sticking it to the ground.
"Hey, I'm talking to you!" complained Amadeus, holding his axe right in the creature's face. Surprisingly instead of balking at the nearness of the weapon the creature instead lunged for it with its head, turning it so that its mouth was parallel to the blade's edge. Biting into the weapon its teeth found a grip, and Amadeus was thrown back in surprise as the axe was ripped from his hand, and by the fact that the venom in the creature's fangs seemed to be dissolving the metal of the weapon's construction. Something that should have been impossible.
Expecting an attack Amadeus lowered into a fighting stance ready to deflect the weapon when the creature tossed it at him, but he was stunned into silence when instead of attacking him the thing spit the blade out at its own severed hand, causing the sickening sound of crushing bone and liquefying flesh to echo over the dump. Oddly Amadeus could swear he heard a metallic crunch as well, but he couldn't see from where until a new sound came over the area, this one a high pitched whine he recognized without any hesitation, as he had a similar device built into one of his teeth.
Leaping back again Amadeus watched from twelve meters away as the creature's body began to shine with an inner radiance hat nearly blinded him as he stared into it. Slowly points of light blossomed under the lizard like scales, moving about inside the creature towards a single shining dot inside the things head. With each droplet of light that dot grew stronger and stronger until at last Amadeus could no longer stand to look at it and was forced to turn away as the light and whining sound reached their crescendo together.
When at last the sound had died down Amadeus looked back to see the last vestiges of the plasma reaction fading. Where the monster, derelict, and various bits of junk had stood their was now a crater that was about six meters wide and almost that deep. Amadeus swore as he walked up and inspected the crater, both because his only lead on how he'd get back home had just committed suicide, and because the blast radius had included his axe, meaning that when he got back he'd have to make a whole new one, which meant at least three weeks of hard work for him.
"Damn it all. You know Jasmine made that for me, you scaly jerk. How am I supposed to tell her I got her gift vaporized on some unknown planet?" he complained at the crater, before kicking a bit of debris into it in frustration. With that act done Amadeus decided not to dwell on his anger, and instead focus his mind on how to get home, which would require help from his brother, who was still probably still a bit scrambled by their arrival on this new world. Thinking about how he'd explain the loss of her gift to Jasmine, Amadeus started back towards the place where his belt lay when he heard the sound of other voices just around the corner.
"Where is he?" demanded one, which sounded an awfully lot like the voice of the lizard thing when he'd been speaking into the small radio transmitter.
"Why are you asking me, genetic filth. He's your brother not mine," responded another, this one of an entirely different accent, though still speaking English. Staring towards the pile between him and the two voice Amadeus realized he would have to get past them to get at his belt, Zee, and his weapon, not a prospect he delighted in as he didn't think he could take one of the lizards unarmed, let alone one of them and something else.
Looking around he was surprised to find that the crater left by the first lizard had opened a hole in the rear fence of the junkyard, providing him with a view of the forest beyond. Turning back towards the direction of his things he realized that once again he was faced with a choice of paths. He could attempt to face the two who were speaking and get to his belt, or he could run into the woods and wait for Zee to come to him, as the CAP was sure to activate and come after him when he'd sorted himself out. Staring up into the fast darkening sky above Amadeus as last decided to...
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