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The pressure didn't arrive slowly this time.
It slammed down.
Like the sky had weight.
Metal beams screamed above them.
Blaze looked up.
"Oh no."
The ceiling folded inward violently.
Not shattered — folded.
Concrete compressed into dust mid-air.
Then he dropped through it.
Orbit.
Boots hit the ground.
The entire base cratered beneath him in a perfect circle, like gravity had punched downward.
Gambit rested on his shoulder — thick-headed, brutal, humming faintly like it was alive.
He locked eyes with Corpse.
"Miss me, Corpse?"
Corpse didn't answer.
Orbit's smile was small.
Then he disappeared.
CRACK.
He reappeared mid-swing.
Gambit slammed down.
The impact didn't explode.
It compressed.
The floor collapsed three feet instantly.
Shockwaves flattened equipment. Walls bent inward. The air itself felt dense, like breathing through stone.
Zane was thrown sideways.
"THIS IS NOT NORMAL. THIS IS NOT NORMAL."
Orbit stepped forward.
Gravity doubled.
Everyone dropped.
Blaze caught himself with a burst of fire.
Richard went to one knee.
Ghoul's shadow form flickered under the pressure.
Luna couldn't move.
Pinned near a fractured support beam.
Zane saw her struggling.
He tried to stand.
Failed.
Tried again.
Pain shot up his spine like his bones were being squeezed.
He crawled instead.
Orbit lifted Gambit.
The hammer head glowed darker.
Absorbing.
Charging.
"Area pressure at thirty percent," Orbit said calmly. "Let's test structural integrity."
The gravity spiked again.
Cracks raced across the remaining walls.
Zane reached Luna.
Grabbed her hand.
Her fingers were shaking.
He swallowed hard.
This wasn't hero timing.
This was fear timing.
"If I die right now," he said fast, voice cracking, "I don't want it to be without telling you I like you. Like stupidly. Like embarrassingly. Like I think about you when I shouldn't."
Another tremor rocked the base.
Luna blinked at him.
"You're confessing under gravitational collapse?"
"I'm multitasking!"
Orbit suddenly vanished.
He appeared above them.
Mid-air.
Gravity flipped downward.
Everyone slammed flat.
Gambit came down like judgment.
Blaze intercepted in a burst of flame.
The collision detonated heat and force.
Fire spiraled upward as gravity crushed downward.
Orbit slid back one step.
Only one.
He looked mildly impressed.
Richard stood fully now.
Energy ignited around him, pushing back against the weight.
Orbit noticed.
"There you are."
He swung Gambit horizontally.
The hammer never touched Richard—
—but the gravitational discharge launched him through three walls.
The base began collapsing for real now.
Metal screamed.
Dust filled the air.
Zane pulled Luna behind a fallen slab.
"I picked the worst possible moment," he muttered.
She looked at him despite everything.
"You're an idiot."
"Yeah."
Another explosion shook the ground.
Orbit walked forward through falling debris like it didn't exist.
Each step made the floor dip.
"Free-for-all bounty," he said evenly. "And your strongest piece left the board."
Corpse's voice cut through the chaos.
"He's charging Gambit faster by increasing localized density."
Blaze wiped blood from his lip.
"Yeah. We noticed."
Orbit raised the hammer again.
This time the air bent around it visibly.
Like space itself was heavier near the weapon.
"Forty-five percent pressure."
The remaining roof beams snapped.
The base started caving in section by section.
Zane looked at Luna again, heart racing.
"Okay but seriously— if we survive this— can I take you somewhere not under gravitational assault?"
Despite everything—
She almost laughed.
"Focus!"
Orbit disappeared again.
Reappeared in front of Richard.
Gambit came down.
And this time—
The impact split the entire foundation.
The ground beneath the base fractured open.
A deep, violent crack ran straight through the center of the structure.
Orbit stood at its edge, calm.
Dust swirling around him.
Gambit humming at near overload.
"Fifty percent," he said softly.
"And rising."
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