Part Eight
As the saying went: drastic times called for drastic action.
Tanukichi had no choice, he had to take Riley down and he had to do it now. This was no longer about educating him on proper edict in his sawed-off misguided addiction, this now had to do with basic survival. Unlike Gathered Fabric who carried air pistols and stun guns, this AK-47 was real.
"Time to settle this, Riley!"
"I couldn't agree more, Tanukichi!"
Tanukichi spared nothing and charged Riley head-on. At the last possible moment, Tanukichi pivoted, and shouldered Riley's left ribs with maximum impact and took him down. Tanukichi then delivered a one-two punch combination which left Riley momentarily reeling. Fighting for the rifle, Riley was surprisingly strong. He head-butt Tanukichi.
Tanukichi recoiled, and Riley pulled back one leg and kneed him in the lower back. Tanukichi arched his back in reflex. Riley pushed Tanukichi off him and rolled away. Then, out of some sort of twisted perversion, Riley poked Tanukichi between the butt cheeks with the barrel of the rifle causing a yelp!
Tanukichi held his butt. It had gone in hard and raw. He sneered.
Tanukichi performed a roundhouse kick and knocked the rifle out of Riley's hands, then pivoted around him again, took hold of him, wrapping his arms Riley and delivered a backwards, shoulder "neck-breaker" body slam, slamming Riley's to the ground. It was a wresting-type move Tanukichi once saw while watching it on TV when he was younger, and he remembered it, inserting it into his fighting repertoire.
Riley groaned and lay still.
Tanukichi got to his feet and grabbed the rifle, looked it over. "Should've known," and he fired off a round. "An air capsule rifle, but it looks so real." He threw it away across the room and it hit the wall and broke in half. Tanukichi's butt still smart from what Riley did.
Just then, Riley seemed to spring back to life with renewed vigour and kicked Tanukichi's legs from underneath him. Kajou stayed out of the fight, she would only get in the way. Tanukichi had preluded from the beginning that it was a personal matter and he wanted to be the one to take Riley down! Tanukichi landed with a heavy thud and Riley jumped on top of him and straddled him.
Tanukichi shoved him off and Riley moved away from him quickly, retreating to the control console. He exhaled. Sweat glistened on his body and Riley suddenly had a sinister smile on his face that made Tanukichi very nervous.
Riley had his hand over the console, and said: "Do you think I wasn't prepared for this contingency? I'm a genius! I've studied SOX from conception and I've incorporated all the data into my newest invention. You'll both be witness to my prototypes of my Martial Arts S-Bots."
"Martial Arts S-Bots?" Tanukichi and Kajou said in unison.
Riley slammed down on a control button and a door opened on the far side of the room. Out came two twin male bots, naked except for black leather jockstraps. They both had white hair and looked in formidable shape with thin yet muscular builds. Trust Riley to make them good looking. They came out and exhibited a few martial arts moves for intimidation purposes first. The bots moved within striking position, they were labeled on their foreheads T1 and T2.
"Go forth and destroy, my children. Daddy commands you!" Riley ordered.
"Oh crap!" Tanukichi exclaimed.
"And I'll let you into a surprise," Riley said with a broad grin. "My S-Bots aren't just programmed with martial arts, they're also programmed in the 'S-Arts'."
Nor Tanukichi or Kajou needed further explanation.
"And, there's more," Riley continued. "They've been equipped with attachments and weapons."
T1 opened up his chest with the push of a button revealing a cavity where organs or at least circuitry should have been. Instead, it retrieved what looked like a large metal drill bit. T1 removed his leather jockstrap, being barren below except for a hole and inserted the drill bit locking it in place. The drill bit then activated and began to buzz and resonate at a high rate of velocity.
Tanukichi's eyes went wide.
T2 then opened up his chest plate and retrieved a leather bolo-whip. It was a whip with three separate attachments with metal balls at each end. Hitting any part of the human body would shatter bone instantly. T2 closed then shut his chest plate and began to whirl the whip above his head, then snapped it down with devastating intimidating effect.
"This is insane!" Tanukichi decried.
"Let the fun begin!" Riley announced.
"Why? Why would you even conceive of such things?" Tanukichi attested.
Tanukichi and Kajou went back-to-back and faced the bots as they the pair surrounded them. They were dangerous and in all intended purposes Riley had built them to inflict maximum harm.
"It's been nice working with you, Kajou," Tanukichi said. "I had no idea what to expect when we came here and now I wish I hadn't come."
"There's always a way out of any situation, Tanukichi," she said back. "Just remember back when we first met at the train station. Have faith."
Tanukichi wished he had her faith, but even so—things looked dire. He remembered back to the train station and how Kajou Ayame as Blue Snow shouted out a profanity that allowed her to escape the Decency Squad enforcers who had her cornered. The very mention of any profanity made the officers shun, not wishing to hear it. They were more afraid of her words than her actions.
"I'll take Twin #1," Kajou said, giving a directive, "and you take Twin #2. I have a few ideas."
Tanukichi reluctantly agreed and he had his reservations. T1 was obviously the more dangerous one with the pecker drill and Tanukichi preferred if Kajou took on T2 with the Bolo-Whip as it would be easier to avoid, but he trusted Kajou. And he would support her all the way. "Let's do this!" he shouted.
They separated to give the other room to manoeuvre.
"Come and get me, big boy," he heard Kajou taunt T1, "I'm probably too much woman for you to handle. You may have a large pecker, but I bet you have no idea how to use it!"
What duplicated for human emotion (without a voice), T1 sneered with loathing and anger.
With a series of martial arts moves, T1 incorporated a few pelvic thrusts to use with his pecker drill. Kajou wasn't expecting the quickness and mastery of T1 and the pecker drill ripped part of her coat as she tried to move out of the way from one of its moves, shredding her coat.
"Kajou!" Tanukichi called out, but he was suddenly subjected with his own problems when T2 began its own attack.
Using the Bolo-Whip, T2's weapon snapped just inches from Tanukichi's face. Tanukichi thought he actually felt the friction of the weapon as it passed through the air, but it was only his imagination. And yet, the deafening snap was enough to hurt his ears, forcing him back. He moved sideways to avoid another strike and then circled T2. Each time, T2 would whirl the whip and then snap it hard.
If that thing hits me, it's going to really hurt, Tanukichi realized.
As Tanukichi observed T2 before it would strike with the Bolo-Whip, a pattern would emerge like it was following an established set of parameters. It was an artificial life form, after all. Riley had programmed it even with an AI brain. Once Tanukichi had the pattern down and the time T2 took to whirl the whip and then snap it, Tanukichi could easier avoid any strike.
But being on the defensive wasn't getting Tanukichi any where and he had to help Kajou. So, he took the advantage. He watched T2 whirl the whip above his head, remained static to give T2 a target, and then when T2 struck, Tanukichi pivoted to the side and grabbed a hold of the whip just at the bolo-balls met the ground, and yanked back hard. T2 was pulled forward and the bot smashed to the floor. It was like playing a game of Tug'O'War with someone without any upper body strength. T2 may have looked strong, but obviously its muscle fibres and servos were merely for show.
Tanukichi then ran over to T2 and grabbed the bot in a reverse bearhug. T2 tried to break free, but despite T2's programming and looks, it was as weak as a kitten when incapacitated.
"I don't normally get this close to guys, but I'll exception just this once," he jokingly quipped. Then he delivered a devastating backwards, shoulder body slam, hard enough to snap T2's neck off. And that was it for T2 with its brain detached from its body. Tanukichi released it and brushed his hands off. "What a piece of junk! And I was worried! Ha!"
Tanukichi looked over to Kajou. She looked to be fairing well against T1 now. Despite the rip in her coat, Kajou was avoiding T1 with ease. And for a simple reason: the pecker drill was weighing T1 down too much, causing its momentum to waver whenever it attacked. A drill had to remain firm and still to be effective when used in construction. If it tilted, it would drive it off balance and even snap.
"I was right, big boy!" Kajou said. "You may have a large member, but you have no idea had to handle it properly. Your master obviously has no idea of the fundamentals of robotics if he programmed you! No wonder he has to trick others into his Fun House and build playmates to get off."
Riley sneered, Tanukichi witnessed.
"Hey, Riley! Your bots have so many flaws! I think they need to go back to the drawing board!"
After a pelvis thrust that subsequently forced T1 off balance, Kajou got behind the bot and gave it a hard shove with her hands, which then forced T1 forward, its legs attempting to stable itself with its pecker drill adding dissymmetrical weight. It staggered forwards and towards Tanukichi.
Tanukichi took off his track pants from around his shoulders and brought them out in front like a Matador's cape as T1 came at him. T1's momentum forced it to continue its path. And then it charged Tanukichi because its programming saw Tanukichi as the closest enemy.
Tanukichi side-stepped away at the last second as T1 ran at him like a mad bull, but the end result was anything but ceremonious for the bot as T1 stumbled and fell onto T2.
T1's pecker drill rammed into T2's rear crevice cavity driving it home and tearing T1's back end. Mechanical fluid erupted from T1 and sprayed everywhere. T1's pecker drill then jammed, but T1 tried to pulled it out form its twin without success giving the appearance that T1 was humping T2 from behind.
Eventually T1 just shut down, shorting out.
Tanukichi smiled and he bumped fists with Kajou when they came together. "We won!" he cheered.
Riley's mouth went agape, he obviously couldn't believe SOX had defeated his twin bots Tanukichi saw when he turned around to face him. Kajou cupped her hands on her waist in triumphant as she stood next to him.
"You're done, Riley! Your toys are broken! Time to pay the piper unless you have some more for us to play with?" Tanukichi hoped not. However, with Riley's reaction it looked like he was out of tricks.
With clenched fists, Riley growled angrily. "I'll never come quietly, I like to be heard! It's all part of the climax!" With his hand over his control console, he slammed a button and Tanukichi thought he and Kajou would have to defeat yet another one of Riley's sadistic creations. Instead, with the slam came an unexpected reaction—an electrical shock. Riley jiggled violently as if being electrocuted and when the console exploded, the "genius" dropped in a heap.
Tanukichi ran over, but Kajou shouted: "Don't touch him! He may still be hot!"
Tanukichi knew she meant electrical current may still be coursing through his body which could transfer over to him if touched, nothing sexual. He waited, and after a short period, he finally got down on one knee and felt for a pulse on the side of Riley's neck. "Phew! He's still alive," he said, standing up.
"I guess as a result from his toys's defeat, the console caused an electrical feedback when Riley tried to activate something else—we don't know of," Kajou said.
"Or," Tanukichi said, stepping back from a puddle of mechanical fluid on the floor next the console, "it got saturated with fluid that sprayed from T1 and exploded," he indicated.
"In other words, it was too much power for it," Kajou said with a wink. "It's couldn't hold its load!"
Tanukichi rolled his eyes, but he was glad Kajou refrained from being overly graphic like she normally using sexual terms, her crass vocabulary was inundated with them. With Riley's console destroyed, no doubt the electronic scrambler he had enabled before was now disabled, and hence the PM's worked again, so any lewd comments would be picked up and passed on to the Moral Authorities. Kajou must have known this and therefore lightened her wording of what had just occurred.
Tanukichi beamed a smile. "We defeated a freakin' psycho-genius," he said. "We rock!" Tanukichi retrieved his "mask" and Kajou's, and they put them back on.
Riley suddenly moaned, and then felt his head as he sat up. "Wh-what happened?" he asked openly. He turned, and said: "SOX? Blue Snow? What are you doing here?"
Tanukichi and Kajou looked at each other befuddled, then Blue Snow said, "We came here by invitation, you issued a challenge to SOX to enter your Fun House gauntlet of twisted chambers."
"I did?" Riley said. He sat up and looked himself over, then gasped with shock. "What the hell Am I wearing? If the Morality Police ever saw me like this I'd be arrested and my father would be ruined." He put his arms down to cover his lower region, suddenly very embarrassed.
"You mean, you don't remember what happened here?" Tanukichi asked dubiously.
Riley shook his head and suddenly his eyes rolled back into his head and he tipped over. He fainted. Tanukichi knelt down again, lifted up his head, and gently tapped his cheek to awaken him. "Riley…Riley…Are you okay?"
Riley's eyes fluttered open. "What happened? Or did I already ask that? I don't remember a thing."
Tanukichi thought quickly. "Long story short…" he said, then pointed at the two twin bots. "You were kidnapped and forced to don this costume and brainwashed to help a maniac, and fight us," he lied. "The person that brought us here escaped capture, but created those pair of twisted monstrosities. Blue Snow was wrong about an invite from you, isn't that right?" Kajou shrugged, obviously not sure what to say. "This psycho-genius was deluded and sick in the head. And hopefully gone for good?" Tanukichi wondered.
If amnesia had indeed erased Riley Tasei's memory, then just how far had it reached? Tanukichi hoped forever. At the very least, Riley remembered his name and other things, when he volleyed off few innocuous questions that would detect any deception and faking of an amnestic issue. His sick and perverted desire had gone similar to when I person suddenly stops smoking after a traumatic event—rare, but it did happen. The electro-shock he suffered must have fried his dark side.
Finally this game is over and things can get back to some sense of normal, Tanukichi thought.
"Can we get out of this place?" Riley asked, shivering, looking around. "This looks like some villain's lair. And can I get something to cover up with? I feel cold."
Blue Snow brought over his trench coat and Riley put it on.
"This is…weird, and so are the clothes you're wearing…" Riley said, directing the remark to Tanukichi. "Those things are woman's undergarments you're wearing. At least Blue Snow is wearing a coat to cover up whatever she is wearing underneath?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Blue Snow said with a chuckle. "And I agree, it's a little chilly in here."
Tanukichi looked at her, knowing the truth of what she was hiding under her coat.
"Why are you wearing underwear over your faces?" Riley asked. "I get the disguises, you're avengers—I've heard about you and your quest to help educate the people on sexual health, and thank you for saving me from whatever deviant brought us all here—but couldn't you find better masks?"
Tanukichi suddenly laughed. "Yeah, maybe we could," he said. "But it suits us all. Come on, let's get out of here and to some place warm. It feels like someone's cranked up the air conditioner and my nipples are as hard as a rock!"
To be continued...