Chapter 3
Robotropolis, formerly Mobotropolis, capital of the Kingdom of Acorn
Midnight
As the two hovercraft slowed to a halt in a clearing, Kyros stretched and rubbed his eyes. During the multi-hour trip, his fatigue had finally caught up with him. As he began to become aware of his surroundings, he heard the distinct hiss of the radio kicking in. He glanced around the passenger compartment and rolled his eyes as he noticed Seltic fast asleep. Vladimir was predictably staring off into the wall in his own little world.
"Hey, Kyros, Maya wants to talk to you personally before we split up, open up the door," Tantalus called to him from the cockpit.
Kyros groaned. "Alright," he replied, standing. With a tug, the door slid open, spewing the cabin's warm air into the chilly air outside. Through the condensing moisture, he made out Maya leaving her ship. She trudged over to him, shivering in the cool air. "Yeah?" he asked.
"I just wanted to make sure that we're both on the same page here. We're stopping here, and will enter Robotropolis as soon as we can. Where exactly is your team heading?"
He paused and looked inside. "That's really up to Seltic to be sure, but we're heading to the northern districts."
"Okay, if we have to make a hasty retreat, meet back up here. If you get back first, wait as long as you can, but don't do anything stupid."
"I know, I know. You got a time table?"
She looked down to her watch. "I think it's best if we finish this within six hours. Any longer than that, and the SWATbots will be on full patrol."
"We'd have been here earlier if Stanley would drive faster," Tantalus called to them.
"It doesn't matter, we should have plenty of time. We're ready, so whenever you are, head out."
"We're leaving now then," he said, waving her off and moving back inside.
"Okay, this is the usual spot that we drop off at," Tantalus said to Kyros as he slowed the ship to a stop.
Kyros, now situated in the copilot's seat, replied, "You might better move us up a little further. I don't want to take the chance that Robotnik finally catches on to us today."
Tantalus throttled the ship up slightly and moved into a separate patch of shrubs. With any luck, they would provide enough cover that no roaming robots would find the ship before they returned. "That good enough?"
"Yeah, I guess," Kyros replied. "Let's get the others and head out."
The two stooped under the cockpit's doorway and entered the passenger cabin. Tantalus motioned for Vladimir to follow him as he opened the hatch and exited the craft. Kyros nudged Seltic, who replied with a groggy stare.
"We're here, you might want to get a move on."
Seltic nodded and yawned as Kyros followed Vladimir outside. Tantalus was already busy unloading the equipment that had been stored in the side hatches. "What have we got?" Kyros asked him as he glanced into the storage bay.
"Laser guns for us, and some grenades. We've also got the repeating laser."
"Okay, take a gun and watch for anything heading this way."
Tantalus agreed and took one of the laser guns. He slapped in a fresh power pack and checked the gun as he walked around the covering shrubbery.
Kyros looked into the hatch and spotted the repeating laser gun. A moment of thought convinced him to leave the heavy weapon to the badger. "Hey, Vlad, take this," he said to him as he pulled the large weapon from the bay. Vladimir donned the backpack power supply and shouldered the weapon without a word.
As he noticed Seltic jumping down from the doorway, he grabbed the tenrec's personal weapon. "I'm guessing you're taking this, right?" he said, offering the plasma gun to Seltic.
"Yeah, I just hope it doesn't act up if we need it," he replied, grabbing the rifle.
"More like when we need it," Kyros added. "I've got the radio set then," he continued as he snatched the kit and grenade pouch. After grabbing a laser rifle for himself, he shut the hatch and access door to the ship. "Let's go."
The three rounded the corner to find Tantalus crouched behind a bush, surveying the activity below. Kyros tossed him the grenades, and asked, "Anything unusual?"
"Looks routine so far. What's the plan?"
"I see that Robotnik's patched the hole we shot through the defense wall last time, so I guess we'll go through the sewers."
Tantalus frowned. "Again? He probably hasn't flushed the system out in years. It's almost unbearable."
"It's the safest way in. Let's go."
Everyone followed Kyros as he made his way down the hillside towards the ominous boundaries surrounding the city. Black smoke poured from unseen factories over the horizon. Putrid runoff spewed from pipe networks into the nearby river. Deep sounds of heavy duty construction in the distance filled the air. Defense turrets lined the walls, slowly scanning the woods as search lights tracked ahead. Kyros cringed as the smell of industrial wastes hit him. No matter how many times he had to deal with the city, it never got any easier.
Below, patrols of SWATbots marched along the city walls, pausing at any disturbance. A loud hum filled their ears as they descended the hill, prompting them to all instinctively dive for cover. The hum quickly faded into a thunderous buzz as a group of arm-length mechanical wasps burst from the forest and soared overhead, followed by a pair of small spherical camera pods. Kyros reflexively brought his laser gun to bear, followed by the rest of his squad.
"Those buzzbombers may have spotted the others, should we take them out?" Tantalus whispered.
"No, the spy-eyes are still with them so they must still be on patrol. We can't blow our cover yet," Kyros replied. He waited for a break in the SWATbot patrols, and slid down to ground level. "Let's go."
The squad darted out from cover, each member watching for SWATbots and other defenses as they raced across the barren, war torn land. Kyros waited for everyone to reach the wall before setting off again, heading towards the runoff system. He froze as he slid into a puddle of stagnant water. The splash echoed in their ears, forcing them to all huddle against the ground. Kyros laid silently in the water as he waited for a SWATbot to come investigate.
After several awkward seconds, he jumped up and motioned for the others to quickly follow him. He bolted for a large pipe jutting from the wall, once more splashing noisily as he made for its opening. The rest of the team followed suit, hefting themselves into the gaping hole as they reached the wall.
As Vladimir pulled himself in after the others, Kyros breathed a sigh of relief. "At least we're inside now."
"How's it look?" Maya asked Stanley as he returned from atop a pile of garbage.
"Well, our timing couldn't be better. It looks like they've just thrown out all of yesterday's excess food. I don't see any SWATbots, but there are a few roboticized workers moving everything. Of course, with this lighting I could have missed something.
"That's good news at least. We'll come back for it later. Right now I think we should head to the scrapyard and see if we can find something to repair the lookout station."
"We might also find something to reveal anything Robotnik might be up to, if we're lucky," Sissera added.
Stanley raised his laser rifle and stepped to the side of their cover to get a better view. "All clear, let's go."
"Stay close," Maya whispered to Marcus as the three followed Stanley. They crouched and darted from compost pile to compost pile in the landfill as they made their way past the food storage and refrigeration facilities. Stanley expertly stalked through the shadows despite the unforgiving terrain, but the others were decidedly less covert. Maya was unable to keep up with him, and the makeshift armor that they had put together for Marcus was noisy.
As they neared the exit of the landfill, Stanley silently threw himself up against an
adjacent mound of assorted machine parts. He urgently signaled for the others to do the same, and cautiously peered around the corner before dancing back. Sissera found herself reaching for her plasma rifle as a shadow approached them.
"Sonic sensors spiking, investigating," they heard a robot dryly comment from out of view. The shadow grew larger, and the sound of heavy footfalls crunching through the semisolid wastes grew louder. A shoulder height robotic mouse stepped into the halo of dim light cast from the overhead street lamps. Its red pupils tracked across its black eyes as it scanned the environment. Its white metallic skin glinted under the light as it stepped forward, and everyone drew aim at its head.
If at all possible, Maya hoped that it wouldn't be necessary to destroy the robot. At one point, it too had been a flesh and blood creature, with feelings and a life of its own. It was probably one of the first victims of the roboticizer, captured when Dr. Robotnik turned traitor and subjected to a fate worse than death. Now, it would be forced into a life of unquestioning servitude. For her, destroying it would be the same as killing someone. Regardless, she knew that they could not afford to be captured, or they would suffer the same fate. She drew her laser pistol and took aim with Stanley and Sissera.
The robot mouse continued forward, drawing close to their position. "Sensors negative, possible false alarm. Scanning infrared to-," it droned before being interrupted by a thunderous crash of collapsing garbage from deeper within the landfill. "Investigating!" it shouted to unseen comrades as it tore down the empty paths between the hills of garbage.
Stanley wasted no time in signaling the others to follow him. He sprinted for the fencing a few meters away, and waited for the others to reach him. "I don't think we can get out through the main exit, we'll have to go over the fence, and quickly."
Fortunately, the fence wasn't barbed like most in Robotropolis, but it would still be a feat for them to make it across undetected. Stanley jumped up and grabbed the fence rungs, and began to steadily pull himself up. Sissera paused and looked to Maya, asking, "Need some help?"
"I think I can manage," she replied, uneasy. She carefully grasped the fence and took a deep breath. Sissera slung her rifle across her back and followed. Marcus energetically leaped onto the fence and scrambled after Stanley, his armor clanking with each movement. Maya nervously looked down, expecting one of the workers to come at any moment to discover them.
On the other side, Stanley jumped from the fence and landed in a patch of mud. Sissera climbed the fence down instead, and helped Marcus safely to the ground. Stanley grew anxious as Maya drug herself to the top of the fence, and began watching for sentries. From the landfill, she could make out the concerned chatter of the worker robots as they continued to search for them. Realizing that she was using borrowed time, she jumped from the fence. Sissera tried to catch her as she fell, but ended up being knocked over from the force.
"You okay?" Sissera asked.
"I'm-I'm fine, let's go," she replied, pulling herself up with Sissera's help. She brushed herself off and panted for a moment before running over to Stanley.
"Let's get out of here before they figure out what happened," he said. As Sissera and Marcus met up with them, he said, "The target construction zone is this way."
The team ran through the shadows and dark night into an alley way. As they burst into the streets on the other side, they paused in awe. Where there had once been abandoned and collapsing factories and processing plants as far as one could see, now stood cleared land and fleets of construction equipment. Several skeletons of early work on buildings stood sporadically across the barren scape.
"That's new...," Stanley muttered as he stared into the vast void.
"Security seems awfully lax," Tantalus directed to Kyros as he peered out from an alley way.
"I know, and I don't like it. Robotnik might have them guarding something important, or it could be a trap."
"He's usually not that tactical when it comes to dealing with intruders," Seltic added. "Either way, we need to get to the computers undetected. He's making it easy so far."
"You got a map on your computer? It's been a while since I've been in this part of the city."
Seltic thought for a second. "Yeah, but it might be outdated. It hasn't been updated from the old Mobotropolis map." He opened his coat's over sized pocket and pulled his portable computer out. The dim light cast from the computer filled the dark alley as it booted. As Seltic puzzled over the map, Kyros scanned his surroundings.
"Some of this stuff doesn't match up, like I expected, but it looks like the building housing the secondary computer servers is located about four blocks in that direction," he said, pointing off towards the denser areas of the city. "If I remember correctly, most of the computers are stored on the third level of the building, so we should probably head up first."
"I just hope our luck lasts. In this darkness a bot could be on us before we know it," Tantalus added, glancing out into the empty street.
"No time to think about it, we should just head out while we have a chance."
Seltic agreed and closed his computer. Vladimir marched to them from the opposite end of the alley and lowered the heavy laser gun. "There don't appear to be any SWATbots nearby."
"Yeah, same over here. Let's go while we can," Kyros replied, stepping out into the street. Through the darkness, he spied a fire escape hanging from the buildings across the street. "Over there, we can head up that way."
The squad casually walked from their cover to the fire escape, and with a brief check for security robots, began to climb the ladders to the third floor. "Man, these things are old, I hope they hold up," Tantalus said after hearing a low groan as he mounted one of the ladders.
"Don't think about it," Seltic called up to him.
As they all reached the third floor, Kyros gazed out over the railings of the catwalk. The buildings below were mostly dormant, abandoned or inactive for the night. In the distance, a series of taller buildings led to a large, important looking structure. "I'm guessing that's the place, right?" he asked Seltic, pointing at the building.
"Yeah, that's it."
Vladimir peered into the alley below, and added, "Still no sign of security."
"Let's go then," Tantalus said.
Kyros led the team down the catwalk, keeping an eye on the few spots illuminated by street lights. He was beginning to become concerned. Robotnik was never this careless, especially when he did have a large project underway. As they reached the corner of the building, a realization hit Kyros.
"Uh, Seltic, there's no way to the next building from up here. How cruddy is that map?"
Seltic moved up to him and stared down into the gap between the buildings. "Oops. These catwalks aren't on the map, I just assumed that they were linked. I guess Robotnik-" he said before being cut off by something banging into a streetlight overhead. Kyros and Vladimir snapped to action and trained their weapons to the source of the sound, only to discover that a badly corroded girder had fallen from above onto the light.
"Well, I don't like being up here if we don't have to. We're going to be pinned here if we run into trouble," Tantalus commented.
Vladimir glanced down the side of the adjacent building and spotted another ladder. "There," he said, pointing to his discovery.
Again Kyros led the team, and made his way down the ladder network to reach the alley below. As he listened for the others to follow suit, he slipped over to the entrance of the alley. After only hearing two others hit the dirt-covered pavement he looked up the stack of catwalks hanging from the building. Vladimir, who was still at rear of the formation, was still on the second level, intently listening to something.
"Yo, Vlad, what's up?"
The badger inched over to the rail and pointed down the street. "Buzzbomber, incoming from that direction."
Kyros stepped into the street in disbelief. Although his hearing was disrupted by the others milling about, he hadn't heard anything that sounded remotely like one of the machines. From a block away, the washed out image of the robot caught his eye, slowly passing through an intersection. Realizing the foolishness of standing in its path, he tried to scramble back into the alley. In his panic, he stumbled through a pile of cardboard boxes, dropping his laser gun. As he staggered to his feet, he noticed the buzzbomber whirl to face him.
"Shoot it!," he shouted to Vladimir, realizing that there was no time to hide.
Vladimir acknowledged the request by lining up his laser weapon. Moments later the robotic wasp barreled down the street after Kyros, bobbing and weaving to avoid girders running from the buildings. Vladimir squeezed the trigger on the repeating laser, scowling as the weapon began to buck from the heavy cooling machinery within. Blue streams of plasma formed as the intense laser beams tore through the air, stabbing at the buzzbomber as it pursued its prey. As it passed Vladimir, his weapon struck home, shattering its body and sending thousands of fragments of hot metal scything through the air.
Kyros stumbled to a stop as the destroyed robot crashed into the ground next to him, disintegrating as its remains smashed into a building. He took a moment to catch his breath and reassure himself that the buzzbomber was destroyed. "Thanks, I owe you one."
Vladimir shouldered his weapon and rushed down the ladder to join the others. Kyros recovered his laser gun and jogged back to the alley. He glanced over Vladimir and asked, "You okay?"
Thin streams of blood trickled from several cuts through the white stripes of fur on his face, and his sleeve, once blue, was now a moist brown-red in areas. His armor was pockmarked and his shoulder armor sported a deep gash from the exploding buzzbomber. "Shrapnel impacts, I will be fine," he replied, rotating his arm around to check his shoulder.
"If you say so." Kyros had learned that it was best to just accept what Vladimir said. "I think we need to get on the radio and let the others know we just took that bot out. I'm sure it will be missed shortly."
As would be expected from the cleared zones behind them, Maya's team found the local scrap yard to be exceptionally full. While it meant that they were likely to find something of use, it also meant that armies of worker robots were on duty. Although they would be preoccupied smashing, smelting, and sorting the remains of an untold number of buildings and machines, any one of them could spot the team and alert Robotnik.
Stanley customarily laid atop a pile of scrap, analyzing the movements of the numerous workers. Maya stood behind the pile with Marcus, hopefully out of sight. Sissera had made her way to the side of the scrap heap, to assist Stanley with spotting. Stanley jumped and nearly lost his balance at the sound of a sudden beeping being broadcast from Sissera. He scrambled down the scrap to get out of view, and urgently signaled for her to get out of sight. She anxiously complied, and snatched off her backpack.
From the pack she pulled her radio set, and grabbed the handset to stop its noisy blaring. After waiting for Stanley to affirm that none of the workers had noticed the radio, she asked into the microphone, "What?"
"You guys okay?" she heard Kyros respond.
"We are now. The radio could have got us caught, though. What do you need?"
"Nothing, really. We just needed to give you guys a warning...," he said, his voice crackling as the radio cut out. Sissera sighed and smacked it against her boot in hopes of getting it working again. Apparently Seltic had neglected to service it for the past few years, despite it being known to cut out.
Maya reached out for the handset, to ask Sissera for it. As it cut back in, she demanded, "Warning, what warning? Kyros, we can't afford to mess this up!"
"Maya? Uh... just listen up. While on the way to the computer servers, we ran into a buzzbomber. It noticed us before we could get out of the way, and we had to destroy it. I figure it'll go missing within an hour or so, and others will come looking for it."
She growled and continued, "Alright then. We've only been here for a little under two hours so far, and that's going to cut the mission time seriously short. Where are you now?"
"Near the computer station. We've been taking a bit slower since we ran into that bot."
"Can you make it there and get the job done in time?"
A brief silence ensued on the other end. "Seltic says he can get it done in about twenty minutes once we get there, assuming nothing goes wrong."
"Okay. As soon as you get done, radio us back. We're going to grab as much as we can while we're here. We now know that Robotnik's planning something big... he's cleared several square kilometers of space out here, so please be careful, and be on the lookout for anything odd."
"We will. See you back at the staging point," Kyros replied, cutting the transmission.
Maya solemnly clipped the handset back onto the radio and handed the pack back to Sissera. "I guess you all heard what he said." Stanley and Sissera nodded. "We've got to pick up the pace then. We won't have time to take anything large back, so we probably won't be able to take anything but the food we saw back at the landfill."
"So, are we turning around?" Sissera asked, placing the pack back around her shoulder.
"Not just yet. We should still have a little time, so let's take a look around while we still can."
Stanley stood and added, "Well, I think we've got the advantage out here. There's lots of bots working here, but the noise they're making is helping us a lot. If they didn't catch on to that radio, we should be able to move around with a decent amount of ease."
"What were we looking for again?" Sissera asked Maya.
"Really, just about anything. We're low on a lot of basic supplies, but as far as stuff we can find out here, mostly see if you can find anything that can replace the lookout station. The last one was made from some prefabricated shelter pieces that Robotnik threw out. It would be nice if we could find some more. Given what he demolished, we should be able to find something."
"And Seltic wants us to look for some robot parts while we're here, right?" Marcus added.
"Yeah, but I don't think we'll have time," Maya said. "Enough talk, let's go."
Stanley muttered a confirmation and took off back to his post.
"So, this is it?" Kyros asked Seltic as the team reached the base of the large building. Lights flickered from several windows on the floors above them, and cameras silently searched the entrances. A defense turret sat at each corner as a grim warning to any who dared to get close.
"Yeah. It's been a while, but like I said, I think the computers and access points are on the third level."
"So, how do we get up there?" Tantalus questioned as he stared at the defenses.
"Actually, now that I think about it, I remember using an underground path the last time we came through here," Kyros replied. "Probably an access tunnel."
"Well, Robotnik has thousands of high speed cable lines running from here to other places in the city, he's bound to have access points for them somewhere around here."
"Sounds like a plan then, any idea of what to look for?"
"The cables would probably run in pipes for the most part, but there would probably be some large access hatches, sort of like a sewer entrance."
"Like this?" Vladimir called to the others from a short distance away.
Seltic looked over to him and studied the hole that he pointed to. He crouched down and shined a light into the cavern, and answered, "Yeah, actually this looks like one. Might be decommissioned though."
"Let me take a look," Kyros said, grabbing Seltic's flashlight. He slid down a ladder and landed in a puddle of viscous liquid. As he shined the light about, he shouted up to Seltic, "Would it be a bunch of blue wires, bound together in clumps?"
"Yeah, probably."
"Then this is it, which way was the complex?" Seltic peered down into the hole and pointed out the direction. "Okay, I got it." Kyros turned the light to face the computer complex, revealing a long, cramped path. "Come on," he shouted to the others.
He embarked down the path as the others joined him in the tunnel. As the tunnel echoed from Vladimir landing behind him, Kyros came across a wall.
"Are we cut off?" Seltic asked as he reached the echidna.
"No, I remember this now. Robotnik just thinks he's being cute by welding a plate over this to keep us out. Did you bring anything to cut through this?"
"Yeah," Seltic replied. He searched through his pockets and pulled out a hand welder. After plugging it into one of his coat's power jacks, he placed it up against the metal plate and said, "You might want to stand back and cover your eyes."
As Kyros backed up, Seltic donned a pair of goggles and thumbed the activator. As the welder bit into the metal, white-hot sparks showered from the opening hole. Vladimir reacted by angling his laser at the sudden source of light. As Seltic finished cutting the path clear, he lowered the weapon with a grunt.
Kyros kicked the damaged plate several times to dislodge it, and it banged loudly as it fell into the room at the other side. He threw himself into the room, drawing his weapon to deal with anything that might be waiting. After assuring himself that it was clear, he beckoned the others to follow, and grabbed hold of a nearby ladder leading upwards.
The squad climbed the ladder network several stories, squeezing by pipes, dangling cables of various sorts, and other various protrusions. As Kyros reached a panel with a distinctive number three painted on it, he searched for a hatch or other means of entry. Recalling his previous excursion into the building, he located a dimly glowing red button and pressed it. Below it, another flickered green, and the previous panel swung open, showering the dark shaft in light.
He glanced inside, studying the shadows and shapes in the room for movement. With no robots in sight, he squeezed his way through the small opening. Memories of his last trip to the building began to flood back to him as he looked around the room. Racks of computer components lined the walls, bound together by webs of cables. His breath condensed before his eyes as he felt the first rush of cooled air specially controlled to keep the computers at safe temperatures. Behind him, Seltic stumbled through the open hole.
"Well, we're here. I hope this won't take too long," the tenrec said as he began to analyze the walls of computers.
As he set to work, Kyros helped Tantalus and Vladimir through the opening. The two instantly took up positions to defend themselves should it become necessary.
Kyros stepped over to Seltic and asked, "How's it look?"
"I don't know for sure yet, but it's going to take me a couple of minutes for my computer to brute-force the security codes," he replied, studying his personal computer.
Tantalus let out a gasp followed by a brief "Uh-oh..."
"What?" Kyros asked, snapping his attention to the squirrel.
He pointed up to a security camera in the corner of the room, panning across the room. Kyros aimed his rifle and squeezed the trigger. The camera exploded into shards of plastic and metal, leaving behind twisted and sparking remains.
"Not good, we're going to have company. Soon," he said as he pulled his radio handset out. He turned the tuner to get a good signal, and called the other team.
After a short silence, he heard Sissera respond, "What now? You're going to get us killed out here!"
"Sorry, but I think we're going to have big problems soon. The moment Seltic's done here, we're out. I just had to blast a camera here, and I know that won't go unnoticed. You guys might want to start heading back as soon as possible."
He could hear Maya speaking angrily during the pause that followed. "Alright, we're heading back," she said before cutting off the communicator.
Seltic triumphantly tossed his hand into the air. "Robotnik is still using one of the codes we've broken before, I'm downloading the GPS log now." He stared intently at his computer for a few more seconds before snatching the connectors running to the series of computers. "I've got the logs, let's get out of here."
Kyros agreed and opened the only door in the room, revealing a short hallway terminated by a stairwell. Everyone followed without a word, trailing him as he stormed down the stairs, gun ready. At the base of the stairs, they burst into a spacious entry room. From outside, the flowing shadows of approaching SWATbots were apparent through the windows and glass door.
He knew that getting out was going to be a tough fight, and said to the others, "Get ready, here they come!"
"Anyone coming?" Maya directed to Stanley as she stooped down to process the boxes of discarded food.
"No, not that I see. It looks like everything cleared out some time ago," he replied from his temporary post.
"Great, come over here and help us then. We're leaving so we can take a little risk."
Stanley stood from his prone position and jogged down to the others, who were busy picking through the supplies that they had witnessed being thrown out earlier. At Maya's direction, he moved over to an unopened box and began to rummage through its contents, looking for anything that was edible and could be easily taken with them. He frowned as he sifted through the box, finding only packets of salt and sugar that had gotten wet somehow with something other than water. "Nothing here," he said.
"I've found a few cases of bread over here," Sissera called to the others. "It still looks good."
"Good, bring it over here," Maya said to her as she continued to search the boxes and containers. She smiled at her next discovery among the countless worthless cartons. "We're in good shape now, I've found some field kits here. They've got some basic supplies like soap, salt, and medical supplies in them, so let's grab as many as we can."
"Way ahead of you," Stanley said. He reached around to his backpack and uncoupled a collapsed sled. With a flick of his wrist, it unfolded and snapped into shape. He flipped a switch on its handle causing it to rise a short distance with a constant low hum. "This gravsled should be able to carry a good bit, and the battery is good for an hour or so."
Maya lifted several of the cartons and placed them on the sled, followed by Stanley tossing on an armful more. Sissera lugged her share onto the sled and returned to fetch more. As the three worked to load the supplies, they heard Marcus shout something incomprehensible to them. Concerned, Maya and Sissera rushed in his general direction.
"I found something!" he exclaimed as they came into view, holding up a carton. The two breathed a sigh of relief and approached him.
"What is it?" Maya asked.
"I think it's ice cream!"
She stared blankly for a moment. None of them had even seen ice cream in years, since you couldn't exactly go out and buy it anymore. The thought of it brought back memories of its sweet taste and smooth texture, and she felt her mouth beginning to water. "Stanley, bring the sled over here!"
As he crested the intervening hill of the landfill, she hurried off with Marcus to find the rest of the stock.
"Incoming to the right!" Tantalus shouted to his comrades at the sight of more machines approaching. He raised his laser gun and snapped off several shots to deter them for a moment.
"Down here!" Kyros called to the others, pointing at a drainage ditch. He tossed a grenade into the ditch to clear it of any potential surprises, and led the others by jumping in after the explosion. They landed with a cascade of splashes into residual water, and launched themselves down the predefined path.
Ahead, he spotted several SWATbots hopping into the ditch to intercept them, each with its arm raised and laser searching for targets. He found himself too slow to react as blue beams from Vladimir's repeater raked across their bodies. The robots fell with a spasm, fires forming in their incinerated bodies. Their dome-like heads turned to watch the team as they barreled by, still struggling to stop them. As several deep red laser beams zipped past his head from behind, Kyros began to reconsider his tactics.
"I've got them," Seltic said as he hefted his plasma rifle up. After a momentary buildup of energy, the weapon unleashed a blast of violet superheated plasma. Although his shot struck short, the immense explosion of heat engulfed the pursuing robots, obliterating them in an instant.
"This way!" Kyros commanded as he hurled himself into a junction. At the end of the distant corridor, the salvation of a sewer entrance caught his eye. "Almost there guys!"
Moments later his sprint was halted by a roboticized wolf leaping into the ditch on top of him. "You will answer to Lord Robotnik for your actions!" it shouted down to him. With its mechanical strength, it snatched him up and slammed him into the adjacent wall. He cringed as it raised its other arm, splaying its claws.
He felt himself slump to the ground and its grip falter as the repeating laser opened fire. Its arm was sheared off and its body was hurled down the ditch, spraying metal shrapnel and embers. He scrambled to recover his gun and unload the remaining shots in his clip. The robot wolf moaned weakly and convulsed for a moment before going limp. Kyros whirled about to assess the others, and froze as he glimpsed a spy-eye leading another roboticized creature towards them from above.
He shouted for the others too late, and the robotic fox hurled itself into the group. As it landed on Seltic, Vladimir tried to draw his aim to it, but didn't have time to react. The robot grabbed Seltic and threw him at Tantalus, then turned its attention to the badger. Vladimir forewent the idea of shooting it at such close range and swung his huge weapon at it. The agile fox robot dodged the clumsy blow and smashed it from his hands. Weighed down by the heavy energy pack, he failed to avoid a follow up blow that knocked him from his feet.
With unnatural strength it ripped the laser's power system from his body and crushed it over its knee. Vladimir struggled to defend himself from several blows before Kyros finally managed to bring his gun to bear. The fox staggered as the laser beams impacted its body from behind, sending molten flecks of armor spraying into the air. Enraged, it inverted its facing and raised its arm to the echidna.
An integrated laser weapon rose from its forearm, and the machine poised itself to deliver a laser blast to his head. Its shot went wild as Vladimir shattered his damaged laser against its arm, sending it sprawling into the concrete wall lining the ditch. After recovering, it turned and glared at him, lightning playing across its crushed arm. With blinding speed, it thrust its foot squarely into his chest.
An audible crunch filled the ditch as its heel impacted his armor, hurling him down the ditch and sending splinters of his armor flying. An instant later another volley of red laser beams lanced out from Kyros' and Tantalus' guns, shattering and penetrating its body. It staggered towards them, despite its frozen joints and exposed internals. "Kill... kill...," it hissed as it reached out at them with its remaining laser.
Seltic answered its feeble attempt to fire at them by raising his own weapon. The distinctive hum of the plasma rifle charging was followed by another bright burst of glowing energy leaping from its barrel. The incandescent cloud of energy eclipsed the fox for an instant before detonating in an incredible explosion. Debris from its annihilated body pelted the group as they dove for cover. As the dust began to clear, they scrambled down the ditch to the fallen Vladimir.
He pulled himself up and tore his mutilated chest plate off. His blue suit was stained with spots of blood leaking from cuts formed by his shattering armor. He coughed violently and growled at the growing pain in his sides and chest.
"Vlad, are you okay?" Tantalus asked, kneeling beside him.
Vladimir took a moment to catch his breath and replied, "Nothing too serious..."
"Where are the others? They should have been here by now," Maya thought out loud as she paced behind the two hovercraft.
Sissera hopped out from one of the ships and took a step towards Robotropolis. "I see some commotion down there, it looks like they've made it outside. There's a pretty heavy firefight from the looks of it."
Maya raced to her position and stared down at the forming light show. "Get the other ship ready, we're heading down to meet them," she grimly told Sissera.
The sight of the two hovercraft bursting from the woods ahead filled Kyros with hope. Bolts of violet energy from anti-vehicle cannons blazed past them as they sprinted to meet the ships, sending mountains of dirt into the air where they impacted. As the ships closed in, increasing amounts of fire diverted from them to the approaching vehicles. Small shots from SWATbots and roboticized soldiers spattered harmlessly against their armor, but a hit from one of the fixed defenses would be another story.
A blast from the defense turrets landed near one of the hovercraft, with the ensuing explosion throwing it off course. Kyros pointed to the closest ship and shouted to Tantalus, "You and Vladimir take that one, Seltic and I will wait for the other." Tantalus, who was busy helping the wounded Vladimir escape, nodded and adjusted his route towards it.
Kyros glanced over to Seltic and shouted over the battlefield noise, "Let's go! No time to waste!" Seltic eagerly agreed and chased after Kyros as he ran all-out for the other ship. Wild shots from their pursuers exploded against vegetation and the ground, and Kyros found himself thankful that the robots were more intent on capturing than killing them. The two clambered into the open hatch of the ship as they finally reached it and slammed it shut behind them, moments before dozens of particle beam and laser impacts rattled the hull of the ship.
Maya anxiously embraced both of them and helped them to a seat. "Are you both alright?" she inquired.
"Vladimir's hurt a bit, but we're fine," Kyros calmly replied.
Seltic took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. "Yeah... mission accomplished," he stammered as he handed his computer to her.