April 29th, 2297
The officers and staff stood near the dartboard, waiting for Purcell to make his toss at the 'who we fightin' this week?' board. Purcell lined up the dart, fingers crossed. Sith lords, sith lords, c'mon sith lords. He threw the dart. thuk! It landed on the board.
"Unngghh, evil robots again," said a woman standing closest to the board.
The crowd began to disperse. "Don't blame me. Besides what are the odds we have to fight evil robots today?"
"Message from Section 31 command," said the officer at his desk. "There's a problem on Forlat IV. The amusement park has gone dark."
"Don't tell me they have robots," said Purcell.
"They have androids, sir."
"Frag." Purcell stomped his feet.
"A hundred percent odds, sir," said one of the officers as they walked by him.
Opening sequenceOpening song: gravityWall Feat. Tielle&Gemie by SawanoHiroyuki, start at 1:16
Zoom in on Jidod as he swings the Kahless bat'leth in training. Cut to K'mtar leaning against the wall, looking on sternly. Then cut to Isaiah sitting alone on a boulder, looking away, overlooking the colony. He looks a mixture of bored and hopeful. He raises his hand and the omega molecule dances above. He glances to the right, and the camera spins in that direction in a blur cut. Enabran is standing in the middle of a circle as the 5 cloaked pa wraths point their bony fingers at him and dance around him. Enabran has his hands up, ready to fight. They raise their hands and the camera points up. The scene is now outside the colony in the wasteland, following Genji from behind as she is running. Camera follows for 4 seconds and then Jingwei flies overhead, lands and opens the cockpit door. Camera cuts to inside the hero HQ as the 9-year-old mayor throws her doll in disgust and Pense catches it.
I know you're craving for my blood…
The Khan Augments, Arik Soong, Founder Changeling, Iconian Spirit, a group of bloodthirsty drones, and the Mayor fade in and out while making menacing faces and glowy eyes at the camera.
I'm screaming something to you, whatever something to me.
Genji and Jidod rest against each other's backs in a plain background. Isaiah sits away from them in another direction. Enabran sits with his brother, the flames dancing between their hands.
Now I don't what I really want,
Camera cuts to Isaiah flying in the sky above the colony, looking angry. He fires a phaser blast from his hands. It goes past the camera. Camera pans left and Enabran is flying up as well and firing a green-colored energy blast past the camera. Camera spins up 180 degrees, facing the sun. Jingwei flies and stops in front of the sun, eclipsing it totally. Scene cuts to frontal of Jingwei, dodging energy balls coming from behind the camera, then points the phaser rifle, dodges again, points the hand and missiles phase in from above Jingwei's back and fire past the camera. Cut to Jidod, standing on the ground, swatting energy bolts away with the bat'leth. Then he attaches the guiding device Pense gave him in season 1. He raises the bat'leth and swings. Camera cuts to behind him after he finishes the swing. An asteroid appears in the sky about 10 kilometers above, but it's massive. It starts to fall to the ground. Camera cuts to above the planet, looking down as an asteroid the size of the one that killed the dinosaurs hits the planet. The asteroid explodes and the scene goes dark, and the music cuts. The words Star Trek Colony Season 2 appears in the blank screen. Episode 8: Misamusement Park appears below it.
Sponsor:(in Japanese)Today grand sponsor is Sean3560
Conference Room, Hero HQ,
One hour later,
Pense pointed at the map of the amusement park. "The Federation arts division received a request from colony management to get more colonists. So they built an amusement park on this newly terraformed world. The idea is that by building things people like, more people will head to the frontier and take pressure off the core worlds."
"Why are new members not allowed into the homeworlds of founder races?" Enabran asked.
"It's complicated but the short answer is yes, they are in small numbers then later in greater numbers. Earth is the most accepting of the four founding planets, but even Earth can't handle a trillion visitors. But we can talk about that on the way."
"On the way?" Jidod asked? Why not have me send us over there?"
"We did that last time, I got my leg blown off and you threw me back here, remember?" He squinted at Jidod. "Thanks for saving my life, by the way." He looked at the park picture. "Anyway, we are also expecting many survivors. The park was on a beta test just before opening date in 3 weeks. So I want a ship on site in case we find them."
"Are the Khan guys behind this like they were with the drone attack?" Isaiah asked.
"Actually," said Purcell, "we never proved it was them. It was you screaming 'Khaaan' the whole time. We are still investigating."
"One of the people in charge of the project is Gregor Soong," said Pense. A picture of a pale man with a thin beard and thin white hair appeared on the screen. "He handled the creation of the animatronic robots called androids that were built to interact with the guests. His grandfather was responsible for releasing the Khan augments over 150 years ago."
"You won, Ensign," said Enabran. "Your dream of killer robots has come true."
"No, I bet that the Khan guys killed everyone!" Isaiah loudly said. "They're running around the galaxy making me– US look bad! Let's go there and get them!"
"Precisely the part I was getting to." He pointed at the entrance. "My team of officers will enter here with you guys in the sky above us. We'll sweep the park for survivors and then look for Khan Augments or any other clues. Saving survivors must come first!" He pointed at Isaiah. "No getting frustrated and blowing up the park this time, OK?"
Isaiah sunk in his seat. "Yes, commander."
Genji punched him in the shoulder and said, "He's serious this time, Isaiah! We're gonna leave you here if you can't follow orders!"
"I get it!" He threw up his hands as he spoke.
Section 31 ship,3 hours later.
The door to the hanger deck swung open and Genji walked inside. Jingwei sat in a curled up ball in the hanger since he was way too large to stand up, even in a large spaceship like this one. He turned his head to face his pilot. "What brings a human to my hovel?" Jingwei said in a joking manner.
"Your sense of humor is improving," said Genji.
"Do you assume me of being unable to evolve? I have been online for more cycles than your race has existed," Jingwei said with a noise similar to a snort.
"I was actually coming here to ask about that," she replied. "Do you think the drones at the colony or the amusement park became self-aware and just started killing people?"
"Unlikely. Odds of such a happening seem low."
"Why?"
Jingwei turned its head as she approached. "Your programmers are gifted, but I doubt they programmed in a level of cognitive freedom into their systems."
"Why not? They have to allow a unit to make decisions based on input, otherwise they're basically RC robots."
"Artificial intelligence in those systems usually will not have an interest to seek out 'more', at least not at first. I estimate it would take 400 cycles before an android at that park would develop sentience. Your kind does not build things that last that long."
"Gee, I'm touched. But what if they have gone Skynet? "
"What is Skynet? "
"Never mind. What if this is the next step in the AI rebellion?"
"Pilot, I understand that organics have a fear of mid-tier AI becoming impatient with its masters."
"Why mid-tier AI?"
"I am a high-tier AI. Mid-tier AI assume that because they can make a lot of calculations, they can calculate the odds of everything. But they were never programmed patience, especially with organics."
"Are you saying that our AI won't rebel if we teach them patience?"
"No, little fleshie, I am saying that they already have rebelled." Jingwei hinted at the events covered in Star Trek: Discovery.
"When was this? I don't recall hearing about an AI rebellion in history class!"
"There is a lot of your history that your Federation government left out in the compulsory education program."
Genji put her hands on her hips. "Hey, how do you know these things?"
Jingwei made a huff sound, then said, "I will explain later. Your crew is about to make an announcement."
"How did you-"
"Prepare for arrival. Hero team, prep for battle," said Pense on the intercom.
"I am a high-level AI, pilot Genji. Knowing these things is part of my programming."
Landing zone in front of the amusement park,
10 minutes later.Pense and his team readied their phasers and phaser rifles as they walked towards the front gate. A massive fence of iron bars blocked the gate. Pense looked at the gate blocking their entry. He didn't see anyone alive behind it. "Aim for the weak-"
Jidod ran forward and jumped. ping ping ping ping ping ping! The bat'leth cut through the iron bars on one side as he jumped, then he spun back around and swung downward as he fell back to the ground and cut the other side of iron bars. He gave the cut section a soft push. creek thoom. It fell to the ground in a pile of mangled metal. "Gate handled," said Jidod. They stepped inside and the eerie calm of the sunlit park soon turned gory as they found bodies and blood stains all over the place.
"Damn, someone went Hulk Smash up in here," said Isaiah as he hovered overhead. More of the team announced dead people.
"What do they have in common?" Purcell asked.
"Smashed limbs, cuts, stab wounds," said one of the men.
"I found some phaser damage over here," said one of the female officers.
"I found something strange!" said one of the male officers near the female officer. Pense and Purcell walked quickly over to them and looked at the body.
"He looks familiar," said Purcell.
"Yes, he's on one of our wanted posters. But I can't remember who." A Klingon disruptor rifle was next to the body. "Hmm...why would a Federation citizen have a Klingon weapon?"
"I doubt he was a collector," said Jidod.
"I've got movement on my sensors!" Isaiah shouted. The squad raised their rifles forward. In the row of tents in front of them, androids dressed as various superheroes and cartoon characters ran forward. "Kill them all!" the one dressed as Captain America shouted.
"For the master!" shouted the one dressed as 1940s Black Canary.
"You drink water, I drink anarchy!" shouted the one dressed as the Joker as it dance-walked towards the squad.
"Am I drunk or something-ooog!" A shield thrown by Captain America bounced off the hovering Isaiah as he was contemplating the reality of the situation. Annoyed by this, he quickly fired his phaser beam, scorching the android before the shield could return.
Pense removed the crystal attachment of his phaser rifle and swapped in another attachment, this one with 5 crystal points. An android dressed as Moses rushed him, shouting "Sinners repent!" Pense ducked under a head swing from Moses' staff. Ska-krrsh! 5 phaser beams from Pense's modified rifle tore through the enemy android.
In the skies, Enabran dodged fireballs from an Human Torch android. But the android was faster and one of the fireballs hit him. Enabran stopped dodging. The android stared at him, confused.
"Oh, you thought your fireballs would hurt me?" Enabran asked. "The answer to your query is...no." fwabooosh! A wall of fire shot forth from Enabran's hands and the Human Torch android was vaporized.
The battle soon ended with all the attacking androids defeated with nary a scratch. Enabran and Isaiah landed next to Pense as they had a quick meeting. "Looks like we know who's responsible for this," he said.
"What makes you say that?" asked Isaiah.
Genji spoke first, "It's probably the same group that took control of our drones last month, right?"
"Most likely," He agreed.
"I knew it!" Isaiah flew upwards. "KHAAAAANN! COME OUT HERE AND-UNGH!" Jidod threw the bat'leth at him and it bounced off his back.
"Cut it out! The real Khan's on ice!" he yelled at Isaiah.
"But you get to yell all the time?! Why can't I?"
"You shouting Khaaaan is just confusing everyone! And it's hurting our ears!"
"Look, everyone! Whomever it is, we need to shut down the androids so we can safely look for survivors!" said Pense. "We need to head to the admin office. The controls should be there." He took out his communicator. "Pense to ship."
"Ship here," said the captain.
"We need transport to the admin office. The map said it is in the central circular complex of buildings."
There was a pause. "Why aren't we transporting?" asked Isaiah.
"Sir, there's a transporter blocking field around the whole complex you're in. We can't cut through the interference."
"Then we'll do this the hard way. Pence, out." He looked at his team. "We'll head for the admin office and get the transporter block down first, then go looking for survivors." He pointed to the heroes. "You four will draw their fire if we get attacked by a dangerous threat. We'll handle survivors and shut down the park. Agreed?"
"Got it,sir," said Genji. "Lead the way."
Pense pointed forward, towards a massive light gray tent with black lines along the fabric straight ahead. "We go through that one. If we find survivors, great."
"Hopefully we will," said Purcell.
The Gray Tent,
The darkness inside the tent felt overwhelming, almost suffocating to the non-powered squad members. There was a smell that reeked of human death, and something else. Something unexpected. Pense and the team switched on their rifle lamps, their lights shined on the raised stands ahead of them. "Why isn't there a light switch anywhere when you need one?" Purcell complained.
thrunp! The stadium lights switched on, bathing the squad in light. They reached up and covered their eyes. "Too much! Too much!" shouted Purcell. The lights dimmed by half.
"Welcome… whoever you are!" said a male human voice that sounded altogether in love and full of itself. "Black badges! Section 31, the Federation death squad, has come for little old me? I am impressed. Why did you bring your kids and a Klingon?"
"Hey! I am the Federation's strongest hero!" Isaiah shouted and pointed at the lights and speakers. "Who the hell are you?!"
"I," began the voice, "am the Federation's finest cyberneticist and neuromimetic programmer, Dr. Soong."
"Dr. Noonian Soong?" asked Pense.
"No! He is my brother, a great man, but he lacked my vision! I am Gregor Soong! The greatest of all!"
"Noonian told me he was a bit of a putz," Purcell whispered to Pence.
"I heard that! Listen you mental midgets! My brother is only interested in carrying out our father's work! Make the robots more friendly and mundane, he says! Bah!" He punched the desk. The team aimed their rifles at the speakers. "Androids are supposed to amaze the populace! Why stick with a human motif anyway?! They should be wicked cool, am I right?!"
"Yeah-oW!" shouted Isaiah, then yelped in pain when Genji slapped him in the back of the head.
"Don't agree with the enemy!" she ordered him.
"He gets it! The fans here were getting it! I chose the fantastic and my boring brother chose the mundane, to make golems. The Federation said I was mad! Mad I tell you! But was I?"
"I'd go with yes, human," said Enabran.
"He wanted the mundane! I want the incredible! The Federation gave him a cool lab and respected colleagues! But what do I get? An amusement park? An fucking amusement park at the ass end of the Alpha Quadrant! Now I didn't complain at first..."
One of the officers whispered to Enabran, "Do all of your enemies give speeches this long?"
Enabran whispered back, "Surprisingly not. Even the egomaniac Q kids weren't this bad."
"...but I showed them! I showed them all!"
"Why did you order the androids to attack the guests?" Pence asked.
"Oh, that? Well, my great grandfather's old friends the Augments showed up. They wanted to enlist me in their cause to conquer the universe. They thought they could bully me! Me! Their real superior! I showed them who's really top of the food chain in this universe! Why would I the great Soong work with such an inferior model as the Augments? They think they're better than the Vulcans for pete's sake! So I ordered my wonderful creations to crush everyone except me!"
"Are you done yet?" Pense asked. "We'd like you to step out of the evil dictator booth and come quietly with us. You can tell us more on the way to Deep Space 7."
"No I am not done you space Texan! In fact, I am not even in this room! I am declaring my independence from the Federation and I'm taking this solar system with me! Together my creations will form a new empire to rival the T'kon digital empire!"
"OK, team, I'm starting to understand why you're so angry," said Pence. "Fighting guys like this would make me angry too." He pointed at the speakers and yelled. "We've heard enough from you. Lower the shields and jammers or we will destroy you and your monstrosities!"
"Monstrosities, you say? I'd like you to meet one. She will enjoy turning you out, boys and girls. Haha-haha-hahahaha!"
Commercial BreakFlashback to season 1, episode 13: In Enabran's house, Nort changed the station to channel 14. Which was now showing a live feed of the giant robot doing loop-de-loops in the wasteland by the colony. "Wow this is so cool!" he said.
"Hey...is that our colony?" asked Enabran.
"What? Really? I think you're right."
"I don't mean to state the obvious," Enabran stood up, "but that is a giant flying robot."
"Yes."
"Flying outside our colony."
"Yes."
"It is not far from the colony."
"Yes."
"I'd better see what it wants. After all, I am the town hero."
"Whatevs. Mom says dinner's at 6 tonight. Try not to die."
Enabran laughed as he walked to the stairs. "I'll try not to disappoint you."
We now return to Star Trek Colony.
Only Toonami.
The spotlights switched off and the tent lights switched on. That's when they saw the problem. Humans and other Federation races were webbed to the wall, their faces partially covered. A horde of robotic spiders the size of your hand hung from the rafters of the tent, eyes glowing menacingly. Descending from the top rafter on a swing made of webs was a 'spider-woman' or 'woman-spider' sitting cross-legged. Its head was gray toned, smooth on the face, round, and its hair was in two bushy afro tails sticking almost 45 degrees up. It held the swing's ropes with each of its six arms. When it got off the swing, it opened its eyes. It had two large eyes near the smallish nose, and three smaller eyes arranged across the forehead. It wore a puffy-sleeved yet form-fitting dress that extended to its kneecaps. When she opened her eyes, an enchanting yet basic 8-bit level theme song started playing. The name of the song: Spider-dance.
The heroes took out a defensive stance. "Damn that theme song is catchy!" said Isaiah.
"Heroes, cover us! We'll stop Soong!" Pense started running for the far entrance and so did the other officers, firing phasers at the spider-woman-android. The phasers dissipated off her shields, but it kept her occupied enough for the heroes to power up. Genji stepped back to the edge of the tent to get out of the team's way. The android turned to face her once the other humans left the tent.
"Ahhnuu! Call me Muffet," said the android. "I'd like you to meet my family. Stick around for a while." Pssbbt! Webbing from the spiders over their heads landed on them, sticking the team to the floor.
"What is this... goop?" yelled Jidod as he tried to move his legs.
"Webbing!" shouted Isaiah. His arms were tangled as well, preventing him from aiming at Muffet.
"Care for some tea? My spider darlings will make it from your blood. Ahhnnu!" said Muffet. Spiders started descending from the rafters towards the stuck crew. Genji, while not stuck, fired her phaser rifle at the descending spiders, destroying them.
"You're such a bad guest, darling!" said Muffet. The music changed tone, going from low tone to a high pitch beat in a mere two seconds before pausing. She took out a flute and played a tune. It sounded like mechanical pencils scraping a chalkboard. "Meet my oldest children. They like to play rough!"
Switooosh! A mechanical door by the stands swung open, and 20 people ran towards them. The music became manically fast-paced like an exciting video game. As they got closer, the team saw their heads and arms covered in webs, their teeth sharpened into fangs, their hands mangled into bony claws. Above them, the biomechanical spiders danced as she played her evil flute.
Enabran was the fastest to react. He burned the webbing from his feet and flew into the rampaging riot of men-spiders, knocking many off their feet. Jidod swung his bat'leth carefully yet quickly around his feet, cutting himself loose. He jumped over the webbing on the floor and began his attack on the infested men-spiders. Isaiah touched the webbing and told his computer {Channel energy into the webs and convert them into a sword}.
{Beginning matter conversion} replied the computer. The transporter disintegration energy flooded the webbing on the floor and sucked it towards Isaiah's hands. Soon, he had a sturdy sword in his hands. He swung and cut away the remaining webs.
"Help me get the survivors loose!" said Genji as she ran to the webbed up people along the left wall of the tent. Genji and Isaiah set the phaser weapons to low power and cut through the thick webs.
"You will not take my food away," said Muffet as she put away her flute. Two of her arms, one on each side, pointed at the team. fut fut fut! She fired plasma bolts at Genji and Isaiah. One went through the tent above Genji's head and she ducked while Isaiah turned around and blocked the shots with his sturdy energy shields.
"I'll keep her off you!" said Isaiah. He held up his hands, and the shield extended to cover the webbed survivors and Genji. A few more bolts bounced off his shields and Muffet soon realized it was futile. She took out her whistle.
"They're all yours, my babies," said Muffet. The music went up in pitch from low to high again, then paused. She played the weird notes again. Spider dropped from the rafters heading towards Isaiah and Genji. He looked up. Crap, there's too many! {Computer! Phaser shotgun!}
{It would start a catastrophic fire. Use your sword,} the computer replied.
{Guide my hands!} Isaiah looked at the falling spiders and thought I will not fail today! I WILL SAVE THESE PEOPLE! He raised his sword and his flight mode kicked in.
As Genji cut people loose, she saw the falling spiders and reached for her rifle. Then she saw Isaiah, flying horizontally over her, slashing with his left hand and firing shield pushes with his right. Destroyed spider drones fell around her. Isaiah then spun around, shot rapidly towards the remaining three humans and in a blur of motion Genji couldn't keep up with, cutting free the remaining three people. He landed between the people and Muffet. Wow! That was...impressive swordsmanship! '
Oww, my arms! Isaiah complained. "Get them out of here!" He shook his arms to remove the soreness in his muscles.
"OK! Let's go, follow me!" Genji helped one fallen man to his feet and the others limped away with her to the near entrance.
I gotta keep her occupied, Isaiah thought. He raised his palms and fired an antimatter ball. It exploded and shook Muffet enough she dropped her flute. Her children fared worse, being cut down by Jidod or vaporized by Enabran. They turned to face her. She moved her leg, caught the flute with her toes and tossed it back up to her back hand.
"Your children were a tough fight," said Enabran. "I would have resolved it sooner if we weren't fighting in a flammable building."
Jidod removed a fang embedded in his armor, then aimed his bat'leth at Muffet. "Your children's bark was worse than their bite."
"Ahnnu. Look at the time. I have to feed my pet." The music changed again and she blew the crazy note from her flute. She started dancing. Rrruummble SMMASSSH! A gigantic deformed spider arose from the ground around the back end of the tent. Jidod and Isaiah jumped back but Enabran stood his ground.
"I will break your toy-" shmooom! The gigantic spider moved a lot faster than Enabran expected and it hammered him through the ground as if he were a nail and its leg was a piston hammer. Isaiah flew upwards, throck! Right into a pillar and caught in the webs above him.
Jidod rolled out of the way as the gigantic spider ran past him and tore away the entire front end of the tent, chasing after Genji and the survivors.
Outside,
Genji heard the rumbling and looked back. She saw the massive spider tear through the tent. GRRoUUHHH! The thing roared. Spiders don't roar. It marched towards them, smashing smaller tents and food stalls in its way. The people with her, exhausted from their order, limped faster or ran slowly from the approaching monstrosity. That's when Genji realized they would not make it to the exit. "Run!" she shouted. "I'll cover you!" She ran to the right and turned back to face the creature. PPSSST! She fired her phaser rifle as she hopped backwards. The energy beams dented the creature's armor. It slowly turned around and chased after her. She fired at its legs, hoping that it would cause it to fall. But it was to no avail. "AAAH!" she screamed and dove. One leg barely missed her as it smashed into the ground. She rolled by a game stall and ran through a covered aisleway between game stalls. The creature swung its head looking for her, but only found her phaser rifle. Need to get to high ground. She ran away from the creature but heard it smash through another tent. She found a water tower and quickly climbed up. The creature had turned around again to chase after the survivors. She reached into her pocket and took out Jingwei's control card. It slipped out of her fingers as she climbed, but she snatched it before it fell past her. She climbed to the top of the water tower and saw the creature head for the exit.
"Jingwei! Missile strike! No yield on target!" She shouted, pointed at the creature for a moment, then lifted her arm straight up. The creature tore through the last structure in front of the entrance. Then, as if sensing something was coming, it looked up. whamwhamwhamwhamwham! Missile slammed into its back. They did not explode, per Genji's request. She swung her arm horizontal to the side as the creature scanned the skies, trying to find the source of the attack. Genji held her left arm out, pointed it at the enemy, closed her fingers and tapped her thumb against her finger. Energy balls from Jingwei's cannon flew down from the sky as the MWA approached. bakowbakow boom boom! The enemy robot took several hits on its back before it jumped away and the rest of the shots hit the ground. Genji stopped firing. She raised and swung her right arm down across her body. Jingwei swooped in, swung its right arm blade down and cut through one of the robot's legs. It scurried back. Genji jumped. Just as she did, Jingwei jumped. The enemy robot fired a blob of webbing at Jingwei, but Jingwei was no longer in the area. Genji swung her left foot up. cruung! As Jingwei landed, it kicked upward, knocking the creature off its feet. Genji threw a jab with her left arm. thronggg! Jingwei punched the creature hard in the belly, sending it backward, and thruuumm! It landed onto its back. Its legs wiggled in the air. Genji leaned forward and raised her right arm again, then swung down. Jingwei hovered over the fallen robot and sliced through its chest with the arm blade. Genji stomped with her right foot and Jingwei did the same, its foot going through the incision it cut through the armor. The enemy robot twitched violently on the ground, then stopped. Genji was about to celebrate her victory when she heard a beeping sound. It's gonna blow! Shit it's caught on my foot!
Thinking fast, she jumped in the air and kicked with her left foot. Jingwei took off and kicked the robot free from its foot. FHABOOOM! The explosion sent Jingwei flying out of control, right towards Genji. Crap! She jumped off the water tower just as Jingwei's lower back slammed into it. Whaaaamm! Jingwei crashed through the tents and the wall by the front entrance. This knocked Genji off one of the tents and scrocccck! Through one of the food stalls where she fell stunned from the impact. Jingwei, meanwhile, lay stunned, its right foot blown off.
Inside the tent,
Webbed to the roof or the floor, Isaiah and Jidod could do nothing as the evil Muffet sat on her swing and...danced with her spider drones. "This is unfair!" Isaiah shouted. "Her theme song is awesome! How come her song is cooler than mine?!"
"She's forborting evil! Help me not your theme song!" Jidod yelled, unable to move his bat'leth or get enough momentum to tear himself loose.
"Right!" said Isaiah. He tried to move his hand. He succeeded a little bit, but zzaap! The spider drones got to his web and sent electric shocks into the web. "UNGH! AGH! ACK!"
"Ut uh. Nobody escapes from Muffet's web," said the dancing android, its hips and arms swaying with the theme song.
"Isaiah!" Jidod shouted. "Do something!"
Getting zapped made it hard for Isaiah to focus. Have...to...fire! His screens flickered from the interference of the electricity going through him. He used the shocks to rotate his left palm towards Jidod. "Fire shotgun!AAah!" The shocks increased. His computer struggled to obey his commands. As Muffet approached Jidod, he took aim. ppsssh! The low power beams cut through enough of the webs. Jidod, in a surge of strength, spun through the remaining webs and swung at Muffet. She easily dodged the blade but she was not his target. He threw the blade towards Isaiah. It spun past him, cutting him partially free of the webs. Jidod continued his spin and kicked Muffet hard in the stomach. She skirted back.
"That's no way to treat a lady!" she exclaimed.
Jidod caught the blade and faced her. "Good thing you're not a lady."
"Ahhnnuu! Your death will please the nest." She raised her arms and four of them became pointy.
Pchew pchew pchew! Isaiah destroyed the last of her spider drones and then used his antigravity ability to swing the blade around him like Jidod did, cutting him loose without risking his skin getting torn off. He dropped to the ground and caught his sword in his left palm. He saw Jidod swing his bat'leth, get blocked, then block an onslaught of stabs from her four attacking arms. Isaiah charged at her and swung a mighty blow. CLANNG! She blocked it with two of her arms.
"A double team! Why, I feel so lucky!" Before they could respond to her taunt, she struck again, quickly stabbing them in their shoulders with her uppermost arm blades.
"Argh! Ack!" they winced from the pain. The heroes stepped back.
"You take the left, I'll take the right," said Jidod.
"I should take the right," said Isaiah as he held his wounded left shoulder. He shook away the pain and raised his weapon again as his nanobots healed the wound.
"You're better with the left side," said Jidod. "Now attack!" He rushed forward and Isaiah followed.
Clang clang clang! Isaiah and Jidod furiously swung at the evil android, using their enhanced speed to even the odds. But the android neural prediction network was more than up to the task and it quickly blocked and countered their blows. Sparks flew from their weapons' constant collisions. She raised her arms, dodged their downward simultaneous strikes, and spun behind them. whap whap! Her arms lowered, and she swatted both of them in the ass with all of her arms. They clutched their butts in pain.
"You deserved an old-fashioned spanking!" said Muffet. She reached for her flute.
"Now!" shouted Jidod. With a burst of speed, Jidod grabbed 2 arms of Muffet's. Isaiah quickly caught on and grabbed 2 other arms. But they had to drop their weapons to do so.
"Now what?" Isaiah asked.
"Pull her arms out!" Jidod shouted.
"So handsy, boys!" said Muffet. Her lowest arms, the ones with the cannons, rotated up to face them.
"Oh crap." fut fut. The plasma bolts slammed into the boys, knocked them off their feet and freed Muffet's arms from their grasps.
"You boys are not the brightest tools in the shed. I can tell." Muffet continued to tease them. "You need a strong mama like me to whip you-" scrrsss! Enabran's energy blade cut clean through her chest. She twitched. Her eyes closed and her head sagged. Enabran withdrew his blade. The music stopped. The android flopped to the floor, its power core destroyed.
"Turning your back to a Cardassian warrior is always a fatal error, my good lady," Enabran chided the dead robot. He looked at his friends. Isaiah quickly got up.
"Thanks for showing up," Isaiah said.
"I would have been here sooner, if you had gotten me out of the ground sooner," said Enabran. He looked at Jidod. "If he's dead, do I get his weapon?"
They walked over to Jidod and turned him over. The plasma bolt burned through his chest armor off. Enabran put his hands over the wound and began to heal the damage. Jidod woke up. "HOOUGH! Thought I was in Sto-vo-kor for a moment."
"Next time, I make the plans," said Isaiah.
"It almost worked. I forgot about the cannons." Jidod sat up. "Where's Genji?"
"She took the survivors outside, then the giant robot chased after her," said Isaiah.
"I don't hear it smashing around anymore," said Jidod.
"Perhaps Jingwei dealt with it?"
Jidod stood up. "We should go make sure-" He looked at the path the giant robot carved. Genji stood in the middle of the path, limping over to them, rifle slung over her shoulder.
"We should keep going," said Genji. "There are more survivors to save."
Next tent,a few minutes later,
In better shape, the team walked inside the next tent. This one had a European fantasy theme to it, with large mirrors and pictures of knights in shining armor hanging around the tent. Some survivors were webbed to the wall of the tent. The team worked quickly, cutting them free without bothering to check if there was anything else in the tent. After sending them on their way to the exit, they looked around the tent. The centerpiece was a very pale yet beautiful young woman with blond hair, sleeping on the table, dressed in a maid uniform.
"Wait, I know what this is!" said Isaiah. "It's Sleeping Beauty!" He leaned over the table. "I know what to do."
"Stop, Isaiah!" Genji ordered. "What if it's really an android?"
"C'mon, look how pretty she is! She can't be an android! I'm going to kiss her!"
"Do humans randomly put their lips on sleeping humans?" Enabran asked.
"No, this was based on a fairy tale. A FAIRY TALE, Isaiah!"
Isaiah put his hands on his lips. "Hey, what if it works? I'm practically a prince right now, anyway." He leaned down and kissed her. Her eyes opened.
"I see you found the Snow White tent!" said Dr. Soong. "Drat! I didn't get around to reprogramming her. No matter, she will still follow my orders."
Isaiah removed his lips from hers. "What? You're an android?!"
"Duh, genius!" said Genji. She aimed her rifle at the android.
"Master, what is happening?" asked the Snow White android.
"Kill them, Snow Byte. Kill them all!"
"I couldn't do that, master!"
"Master?" Isaiah wondered. "Wait! Don't listen to him!"
"Activate combat mode! 7 drones, attack!"
"Get off her!" shouted a drone. whap! The red and white colored drone with four lenses for eyes slapped Isaiah across the face with its short paddle shaped arm. "What kinda punk ass kisses sleeping women anyway?!"
Isaiah stepped back from the onslaught. 7 boxy drones about the size of a stool with thick green tubes attached to their backs floated around Snow Byte as she sat up. Her forehead opened up and a series of wires appeared, which quickly formed into a bandana shaped like a three pronged crown. Her ears sunk into her head and wires appeared again, which quickly wrapped around her ear holes to make something like headphones. These connected with her crown. Her hair turned jet black. On the center of the crown was a lens shaped object. A red light glowed around the edge of the lens. Snow Byte opened her eyes. "Acknowledged, master. Combat mode, engaged."
End Chapter 8