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Chapter 2: Stand-off



"What've we got?" Dwayne called to the other members of the pit crew as he joined them.

"Looks like someone's trashing a warehouse used to store robotics equipment," Garth responded.

"Yeah, someone BIG," Mack pointed to the small monitor which displayed a news feed. A massive, if hastily constructed, robot put a fist through the side of the warehouse, easily tearing down a large section of the wall. Only portions of the mechanical giant had been completed. It's skeletal infrastructure was visible through gaps in it's armored plating.

"Lovely. No rest for the weary, right?" the Lieutenant quipped as he worked at sealing his flight suit, "We good to go?"

"Big Guy's fit as a fiddle," Mack turned to him, "Try not to mark up the new paint job this time."

"Heh. Don't tell me," Dwayne indicated the image of the monstrous robot with his chin. With the ease of years of practice, he clambered up and into the Big Guy's cockpit, "Ready?" He called as the hatch sealed.

Garth's face appeared on one of the three screens before him, "Whenever you are."

"Good," Dwayne set his jaw determinedly, "Let's do this."


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Landing near the warehouse, Dwayne surveyed the situation, "Hmm... Looks like this one's choosy." The enormous machine selectively picked through the assortment of equipment inside, placing only certain components into the cavities in its chest.

"What's he doing, Big Guy?" Rusty hovered near the Big Guy's right shoulder.

"Can't be sure, son, but you can bet it isn't spring cleaning," Big Guy rumbled. With long strides, he approached the other giant, "Hey, there. I'm afraid we're gonna have to ask you to put those toys back."

The robot continued picking through the wreckage of the warehouse, seemingly unaware of the presence of others.

"How rude..." Dwayne muttered to himself.

"Looks like we'll have to get his attention..." Big Guy caught the other machines forearm as it reached down to grab another piece of equipment, "Maybe you didn't hear me..."

With no visible effort, the giant flung Big Guy over his head and several hundred feet away.

"Big Guy!" Rusty hollered, jetting over to where his mentor was righting himself, "You okay?"

"I'm fine, son, but our big friend over there packs quite a wallop. Be careful."

"What do we do?"

"Since he's not much of a conversationalist, I guess we'll have to take the direct approach," With a flourish, Big Guy raised his arms, revealing the assortment of guns and missiles housed in his upper arms. He fired on the machine with a gusto.

"Chew on that for a while," Dwayne grated, "Huh?" He watched in surprise as the volley of weapon fire disintegrated before even striking the robot. Faint blue sparks of energy appeared where the individual bullets hit.

"It must be some kind of... energy shield..." Big Guy dropped his arms, unsure of what to do next. "Beautiful," Dwayne muttered, "Why can't this ever be easy?"

"Wow... Maybe I should try!" Rusty aimed at the behemoth, a green glow signaling the use of his nucleoprotons.

"All right, but be care..." BOOM! "...ful..." Dwayne cringed inside the cockpit as Rusty's discharge was deflected by the shield and obliterated a good portion of the warehouse's contents.

"Ooops..." Rusty ducked his head in embarrassment.

The rogue robot straightened and turned to face the duo.

"Well, THAT got his attention," Big Guy said.

"How troublesome," the machine chided in a chillingly familiar voice, "I had hoped the others had taken care of you. No such... luck, as you say."

"Nuts," Dwayne grumbled, "It's definitely Legion."

"There's no way you guys'll ever beat Big Guy," Rusty boasted. Dwayne felt a small smile edge its way on to his features. He couldn't help but feel a spark of pride in Rusty's confidence in the Big Guy.

"Yes... well... We'll just have to see about that, shan't we?" Much to Dwayne's surprise, the colossal robot laughed maniacally.

"Shan't? Who the hell says 'shan't'?" Dwayne grumbled rhetorically. //There's something different about this robot...//

"As you've already discovered, your weapons are useless. Just what do you intend to do now?" the Legion machine asked snidely.

"Sometimes you gotta do things the old fashioned way," Big Guy shoulder blocked the Legion robot, taking it by surprise. With a crash, it toppled into a previously undamaged section of the warehouse.

"Yay, Big Guy!" Rusty cheered, waving his arms excitedly.

"Oh, my," the nameless machine sat up and inspected itself, "You've given me... a dent. How... unfortunate." One of the damaged panels slide aside to reveal a laser which fired a wide beam at the Big Guy.

"Oof!" knocked backwards, Dwayne wrestled with the controls to right himself.

"Hey! No fair!" Rusty cried as he charged the offending robot.

"All's fair in love and war, I believe," it casually swatted the diminutive boy robot out of the sky.

"All right, buster. That's it!" Big Guy growled, "The kid gloves are off! Time to play hardball." Moving with surprising grace and speed for something so large, Big Guy scooped up a rather large chunk of the warehouse's demolished walls and jammed it into the laser cannon's opening. He follow with several rapid punches, knocking some of the loose armored plates from the other robot

"Lieutenant!" Dr. Slate's visage flashed onto one of the monitors, "Don't destroy it!"

"Huh?" distracted by the battle raging outside, Dwayne barely had time to glance at the Doctor.

"We might be able to get information from it." she explained quickly.

"Oh, right..." Dwayne jerked the controls to block a counter punch, "Standard procedure, right? Bring back it's cpu..."

The Legion machine staggered back several steps, "Well... It seems I've underestimated you... It shan't happen again..." Planting a hand on the Big Guy's torso, it released a massive electrical charge.

"Argh!!!" Dwayne clenched his teeth, trying to fight through the pain. Big Guy reeled and collapsed, his systems momentarily overloaded.

"You've been granted a reprieve, BGY-11. Your LAST."

Dwayne watched helplessly as the robot fled into the sky, "Damn... It's getting away..."

"Follow that robot, Lieutenant!" General Thorton shouted over the radio, "This might be our only chance to find out where this thing came from!"

"I'm on it... I think," flipping the switches for the backup circuitry, Dwayne managed to get Big Guy back to his feet.

"Son? You okay, son?"

"Yeah... Sorry about that, Big Guy..." Rusty hung his head.

"Hey, chin up, Rusty. This isn't over yet," Big Guy leapt into the air in pursuit.

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