Chapter Four; Defeat.
At Krillin's shout 17 had turned to see a second robot stuffing his sister into its box-like body. He realized that the robot they were now fighting had been a diversion; unfortunately the realization came too late.
As if Krillin's shout had been a signal, long spindly metal legs punched upward out of the ground. Pulling themselves out of the ground were ten more robots. All eleven of their boxlike bodies opened at once, as if acting on some unheard command, to spill out hundreds of fist sized globes. As soon as each globe touched the ground it seemed to sprout a dozen long legs. They seemed to be a type of fighter droid, standing three feet tall and just as
wide.
The droids descended en mass on the two androids. 16 and 17 attempted to get airborne, but the small robots clinging to them pulled them earthward. They seemed to be attempting to bury 16 and 17, climbing over them like an endless wave of mechanical spiders.
17 powered his shields to their maximum capacity, generating an electric field that would repel the small droids. As the robots were sent flying in all directions 17 leapt into the air.
He caught sight of Krillin battling two other robots. He saw one of the robots jump Krillin from behind and pin him to the ground.
He looked back at the little robots and noticed that they seemed to have suddenly developed a dozen laser ports each and were training them on him. Two seconds later a thousand tiny laser bolts, fired simultaneously, rolled over him like a tidal wave and knocked him earthward again.
That brief airborne moment had been just long enough. He had been able to free his Specialty Magnum from the holster strapped to his thigh. Dr. Gero had specially outfitted this weapon with a computer command chip that would accept binary commands from 17. (It also recognized his palm print: if anyone else touched it the weapon would backfire in their face, or attempt to electrocute them, depending on their power levels.) 17 adjusted the settings and an energy beam burst from the muzzle incinerating small robots by the dozen.
Despite the speed with which he was vaporizing them, within a few minutes he was yet again overwhelmed.
He boosted his shield a second time and leapt into the air gaining a temporary reprieve. He was shocked at what he saw from this vantage point; Krillin was impaled on the mechanical arm of one of his opponents. The robot had driven it's arm straight through Krillin and it was now protruding two feet out of his back as the robot tried to shake his limp body off of it's
arm.
17 was knocked back into the fray. 16 had managed to free his lasers and was incinerating the robots on the ground, ignoring the ones which clung tenaciously to his body. A laser beam had sliced through his armor leaving a deep gash through his chest and another laser score streaked up his cheekbone and disappeared behind his ear.
17 continued to blast the small robots but knew he could not keep this up for long. The energy for the Magnum's blasts was pulled directly from his personal energy store and the high intensity beams were taxing his reserves.
He reluctantly adjusted the beam so that the energy would be dispersed over a wider area, all the while cursing his rashness at launching an attack he knew he did not have the energy to support. The beam no longer had the strength to incinerate his opponents; instead it knocked off their thin, weak legs and fried their laser devices so they could no longer launch an attack.
By the time the last of the small droids dropped to the ground 17's energy reserve was almost empty. The Magnum and his shield boosts had severely weakened his defenses. He could see that 16 was in similar condition.
He could almost hear 18 chiding them for not monitoring their reserves more carefully. Thinking of his sister boosted his morale, shaking off his weariness he turned to face the other eleven robots which had stayed uninvolved during their fight with the small droids. They seemed to be built for transport rather that for fighting.
Krillin and the other two robots had vanished. After what 17 had seen he seriously doubted he would see Krillin alive again. Their only hope of finding 18 lay in these droids.
Suddenly all eleven took off at a run. 16 and 17 exchanged looks before giving chase. This definitely smelled like a trap, but what choice did they have if the wanted to rescue 18?
The droids ran for miles, barely staying ahead of 16 and 17, then suddenly as if they had reached a prearranged destination they stopped.
As far as 17 could tell there was nothing of importance out here. They were in the middle of nowhere.
16 and 17 kept their distance waiting to see what would happen next. One of the robots attacked 16, wrapping itself around him so that he could not move. Another leapt at 17 and did the same thing. A third robot came up and pried his magnum from his hand and crushed it. Emotions surged through 17 as he looked at his crumpled weapon. He could feel the damage which had been done to the gun. The binary emissions from the computer chip sounded like the
cries of a wounded animal. It was like watching a part of himself die, and he was helpless to do anything. Still his face remained impassive.
He struggled vainly to break the robot's grasp as bath the robots leapt over a hundred feet in the air. When they reached the pentacle of their leap the robots self-destructed.
17's shields barely protected him from the blast and he was helpless to prevent the force of the explosions from battering him into the ground. He heard the thud of 16 hitting the ground.
17 wondered wildly what was going on, then realized the robots had lured them to this deserted spot to destroy them.
He tried to get to his feet to fight; he knew his shield could not stand many more blasts like that one. Before he regained his feet however another robot stalked over to him and pulled him up by his hair, slamming him roughly against it's own body and leaping into the air. He could see another one carrying 16 at the edge of his vision.
BANG!BANG!
CRASH!
He did not even try to get up, but it did not deter the robots.
BANG!BANG!
CRASH!
He could hardly open his eyes, the pain was unbearable; he could feel part of
his mind shutting off, disconnecting him from the pain.
BANG!BANG!
CRASH!
Shouldn't I be dead now?
BANG!BANG!
CRASH!
There was no denying it. One more blow and he would be finished. The last explosion had wiped his shields. He barely had enough energy to remain functional.
The remaining robot did not seem to know which one of them it should destroy. It wavered back and forth between the two of them, then seemed to make up its mind. He heard it's metal legs clacking against the ground as it scuttled towards him. Its metal legs were just within his field of vision. Without warning it collapsed next to him.
How strange...that robot had feet...small bare feet...not like the others at all...
With that thought the world faded into silent darkness.