Chapter 6: Mozzarella Sticks

THE BIG GUY

I walked up the ramp into Tran's private plane. "Hey, friend," I said. "Sorry about Hollywood."

"Don't be," he assured me. "That's the whole purpose of having henchmen: completely expendable. It's a fast-changing market. By the time you've brought out your latest henchman, you may find that you yourself have just come up with an even better idea. Here, I have four samples for your attack on the Olympic monsters. I've chosen a variety of machines so that we may observe the capabilities of this family... assuming, of course, that the team I've assembled is unable to defeat them. We don't know."

I nodded. "Bring them out."

Tran led me to an exhibition room on the plane. "Stephenie!" he called.

A small robot flew in. It had four limbs, all of them winged and ending in claws. It was covered in dazzling blue feathers, and its motion was so fluid that I would have taken it for a biological creature if not for its lifeless eyes.

"Stephenie's design comes from the dinosaur Microraptor," Tran explained. "Though she is more versatile than the creature itself. She can actually fly as well as glide, and she can fight in midair. She'll take care of our aerial combat."

I nodded. Stephenie left and what appeared to be a minivan took her place.

"What the heck is that?" I asked.

"This is Van," Tran said. "A heavily armored all-terrain vehicle with fair artificial intelligence and a virtual arsenal of weapons."

The next robot that entered looked like a foot-tall, featureless human. "Lang here," Tran said, "is programmed with many kinds of martial arts. And now, here comes my baby..."

The fourth robot was a hulking brute, fifteen feet tall and covered in interlocking armor plates. Its spindly arms dragged on the ground and ended in wicked hooks. It walked like a dinosaur, an image completed by its head.

"This is Alexis," Tran said.

"Amazing," I breathed. "What does she do?"

"Well, she's real good in the kitchen," Tran joked.

I laughed. "Let me guess, she makes queso dip."

"I was gonna say mozzarella sticks, but if you think the queso dip joke is still good..."

"No," I said hastily. "Dead, completely dead. Mozzarella sticks, then. What does Alexis do, really?"

"Well, all nine of her senses cannot be rivaled by any living being," he said.

"Nine?"

"Touch, taste, sight, smell, hearing, electricity, motion, heat, and thought," he said grandly. "These claws can cut through absolutely anything. And she is not at all concerned with finesse."

A parrot-like voice sounded from Alexis' maw. "Kill," she said. "Crush. Death. Cut. Murder."

"A good crew," I said honestly. "Yes, even if they are defeated, we shall doubtless know how to defeat the Olympic monsters next time."

"That's the plan, Big Guy," Tran said smoothly. "Let's go."

We parachuted into a beautiful, flower-specked meadow, almost impossible to find. The four robots came behind us.