Disclaimer: Don't own Automan—wish I did. Please don't sue. Besides ya' wouldn't get anything outta me right now, anyway. All of the disclaimer see Chapter 1.
A/N: And as promised, more Auto. Enjoy.
Ch. 5--Ensnared
A sleek, fast, luminescent sports car pulled up to the abandoned office building. The gull wing doors swung up, and Walter and Automan stepped out of the car. Wally gazed up at the dirty, four-story building wondering what kinds of secrets it might hold. He looked across the street searching for the apartment building Summers had told him Summers had recently moved into. He found the building. He stared at the office building again trying to decide where exactly the conference room Summers told him he had seen the light on was located. He thought he might have spotted it, but he couldn't be certain. He turned to Auto for his opinion. "Auto, the guy that told me about the possible murder said he saw lights on in a conference room across from his apartment. I'm not certain, but I think that's the room he was referring to." Wally pointed to a room with a large observation window facing a room in the apartment complex across the street.
Automan looked closely at the room Walter was pointing to. "You're right, Walter. We should start our investigation there. Are you ready?"
Wally looked up and down the street for any observers without readily seeing any before turning back to Auto. He nodded. Automan stood perfectly still as Wally stepped into Auto's form instantly merging with Auto. Auto strode up to the locked main front doors and phased through the doors. He didn't see anyone else on the main floor. He looked around for a staircase they could use to get up to the fourth floor. He spotted a stairwell off to his right and headed towards it. He entered the stairwell and quickly climbed the stairs to the fourth floor all the while using his infra-red scanner searching for any other person in the building. Auto did see residual heat signatures indicating someone had been there recently but no one appeared to be in the building now. He remembered the outside layout of the structure and was quickly able to ascertain which way the conference room was located. He headed towards his right and quickly reached the conference room. He didn't see anyone inside and said to Walter, "There's nobody inside."
Using Auto's body, Wally responded, "Let's check it out, anyway."
Auto nodded, reached for the door, and pulled it open. The door was unlocked and opened easily. Auto quickly scanned the area looking for any superficial clues without seeing any before he closed the door behind him. He heard a hum and a click. He spun around and tested the door behind him. It was locked. "Walter, we've been lead into a trap. A nearby generator's been activated. For what purpose, I don't know."
"Let's get out of here," responded Wally.
Automan went to the door and tried to phase through it. He recoiled, experiencing excruciating pain. Wally, who was still merged with Auto, also experienced the agonizing pain Auto felt. Auto pulled further away from the door and the pain steadily decreased. He stood a couple of feet away from the door, breathless, trying to recover from the pain.
"What . . . happened?" Wally managed to gasp to Automan through Auto's body. The last time Wally had felt Automan's pain like that was when Auto had been shot by an electronic gun, which had nearly killed him. This felt almost as bad.
"There... is some kind... of energy... barrier," Automan panted. His brush with the barrier still left him winded. "It's blocking... the walls... and door."
Moments later, Automan heard glass breaking and felt searing pain low on his left side near to where his heart would have been if he were human. In the same instant, Wally felt a tearing pain in his upper left shoulder. Auto glanced to the window to see a bullet hole there before examining his side. He saw a spot of blood. Being a hologram, Automan didn't bleed. That meant the blood was Walter's.
"What the... ?" asked Wally. Wally stepped out of Automan's form looking in bewilderment at his wounded shoulder. He pressed his right hand to his left shoulder in an effort to stem the bleeding, but blood still seeped through his fingers. He looked up at Auto to see Automan holding his left side in apparent pain. "How is this possible?" asked Wally.
Auto had seen the wound on Walter's shoulder just before Walter covered it and realized it was a gunshot wound. "We've been shot by a magnetically charged bullet," stated Automan, his voice reflecting the pain he felt.
"'Magnetically charged bullet'? I don't understand. Normally, bullets don't harm you, or me when I'm merged with you."
"Normal bullets wouldn't harm me or you when you're merged with me. By magnetically charging the bullet, the magnetic field disrupts my molecules making it just as dangerous to me as well as to you."
"Auto, how do we combat something like this?" Wally looked to Automan hoping Automan would be able to pull one of his usual last-minute rescue ideas.
"I don't know, Walter," replied Auto, apprehensively.