Chapter 36: Battle for the Security Room
Fletch took out his Robo cube and readied for battle. "Jay, can you fight?"
Jay shook his head. "My cube was damaged when I was beaten. These are real fights, so the safety switches are off. Make sure you do the same." Fletch nodded and made sure his was off too. Jay added, "Oh, and remember that Robos take damage a lot faster without the protection of the safety switch." Fletch nodded again, then approached the guards at the door. There were two of them.
Fletch activated his cube with his right hand, his left remaining limp as they entered their battle. The holoseum was a decent size, resembling a metal room similar to some unauthorized laboratory. A holoseum like this could not be generated from anyone who spent their entire life doing anything legal. The center of the room was void of obstacles, and short, fixed walls separated the center from the outside edge of the holoseum, which was sloppily decorated with scraps of metal and breakable cylindrical tanks of green liquid. There was a bright light with just a hint of green being generated from an unknown source.
Fletch immediately used his mind to access his Robo's inventory. He still didn't have many weapons. Before he could even access one of the weapon subcategories to make a selection, he noticed one of the guard's cubes activate into a dark blue Javelin model Strike Vanisher. He had unrecognizable weapons equipped, and Fletch realized at the last second that he had spent too long thinking. Still not armed, Fletch ducked and rolled forward under a fast-moving bomb that the Javelin guard had fired. The Javelin stepped back and with his gun hand pointed his primary weapon to fire at Fletch, but Fletch was too quick and pounced forward off his legs, slamming into the Javelin and knocking him backwards over a wall. Fletch heard the other guard's cube activate, and jumped over the wall himself just in time to avoid taking shots from what sounded like the same rapidfire of a Gatling weapon, but rather than stopping at a burst of 12 shots, it continued firing potentially endlessly. It was obviously illegally crafted. He had caught a glimpse of the other guard, and saw that he was using a red Criminal model Trick Flyer Robo.
The Criminal did not stop firing, so Fletch reacted and took advantage of the moment. Grabbing the still downed Javelin, he stood up and used him as a shield. Each rapidfire shot from the Criminal pierced the metal of the Javelin's armor, leaving jagged-edged punctures in it, and soon disabled him from the fight. The Criminal stopped firing, realizing what he had done, and fired a purple, slightly arching bomb at Fletch. Fletch threw the destroyed Javelin corpse aside, where it blew up in a large blue fireball, and ducked back behind the wall. The bomb destroyed a tank of liquid on the wall behind him, and though it had no effect on the ground of the holoseum, the liquid did vaporize several scraps of metal that were lying on the ground.
Not waiting for the acid to get to him, Fletch stood and dashed along the outer edge of the holoseum. The Criminal resumed firing his rapidfire weapon after Fletch, who was able to keep just ahead of it. He rerouted his spare energy to his legs to keep him moving quickly. Acid tanks were destroyed behind him as he opened his weapon list. He was surprised to see that he had not gained the weapons from the Javelin that had been destroyed. He only had his standard weapons, which could not stand up to the illegal weapons that the Criminal was using. Fletch used a voice command to himself, not heard throughout the holoseum to activate the equip control, "Standard Bomb!" The bomb equipped to his left hand as Fletch jumped to cut a corner and dodge another bomb shot at him, then Fletch fired his own bomb at the stationary Criminal just before landing and rolling to a crouch behind a wall again.
To dodge the bomb, the Criminal jumped very high and cleared the distance between him and the wall Fletch was behind, firing his pods forward and over the wall. They were round and brilliantly bright. Fletch dove over the wall towards the center of the room, but under the Criminal to avoid the pods. The Criminal landed on the top edge of the wall. The pods followed Fletch by going around the wall and towards him. "Basic!" Fletch equipped the standard gun that he had. He used his bomb to take out one pod and his gun to detonate the other. The Criminal turned around on top of the wall and aimed his rapidfire weapon at Fletch to fire.
Fletch acted quickly and used the one weapon he had outside of the standard set. "Motor Pod!" The Motorcycle-like pod appeared on his back and deployed over his shoulder. Fletch held it in front of him as the Criminal started firing again, and it blocked the shots. Fletch revved up the pod and then let it go. It flew forward and the Criminal jumped to avoid it. Fletch was already one step ahead and had fired a bomb long before the Criminal jumped. The weak, Standard bomb threw the Criminal directly downwards, and back into the path of the Motor Pod. The pod hit the Criminal and the short wall in a wheelie, which made it flip over the wall and crashed, with the Criminal, into a tank of acid that was still intact. The liquid quickly ate through the Motor Pod and the Criminal's outer armor. The inner mechanics of the Criminal Robo were not affected by the acid, but exploded in a red flame when its armor was completely dissolved. Fletch unequipped his weapons, and the fight was over.
Fletch returned to the real world and the two guards in front of him fell onto their backs, unconscious. Fletch panted once and looked at Jay, "Know any reason why I didn't acquire the weapons from the first Robo I killed in there? I thought my chip was supposed to do that."
Jay replied, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you didn't kill it, the other Robo did."
"Oh, right."
Fletch picked up his radio, "Nick, what's your status?" He waited a few moments, but there was no response. "Nick, talk to me!" Still nothing. He looked over at Jay, who seemed to be in a trance. "Jay, what's going on down there?"
Jay stayed quiet for a few seconds, then looked back at him, almost petrified. "Kip…. She's screaming…."