Chapter 2

Armadi

12:27 PM

Kyros cracked his heavy eyelids at the echoing sound of the pod's hover engines shutting down within the garage. He yawned and looked up in time to see the light in the building disappearing as the massive door behind them ground shut, and propped the laser rifle that was in his lap against the console in front of him. Beside him, Tantalus cut him a tired expression and stood from the controls. As the others filed out of the circular hatch, Kyros forced himself awake and pulled himself to his feet.

Outside of the craft, the entire group was gathering in silence in the middle of the garage. As he descended the short ramp from the hatch, he heard Marcus ask, "Miss Maya, did we have to leave? Couldn't we have found somewhere else?"

"I'm afraid not dear, it was too dangerous," she replied, placing her hand on his head.

"Yeah, I don't think Robotnik appreciated us being around," Kyros added as he reached the cement floor. He pointed at a scorched hole in his coat with a smirk.

"Well, at least we managed to get one day of peace," Sissera said. "And we all made it back in one piece."

Maya looked down and ran her hand through her hair. "I'm always thankful of that, every time we have to go to Robotropolis I worry myself to death." She let out a nervous chuckle and looked back up before continuing, "I just didn't expect to have to deal with it today."

"I know, it's always a little nerve wracking to get shot at," Stanley said. He yawned loudly and stretched before asking, "Anyway, did you have anything else planned today? I'm still sleepy."

Maya looked around and thought for a moment before replying, "No, I don't think so. I guess we're all a little tired, so we can just take today off too. No need to get back to work just because Robotnik ran us off." She glanced back to one of the SWATbot pods for an instant and added, "But, sometime today we need to get the extra stuff unpacked and stored away again."

Kyros crossed his arms and asked, "Alright, but what about Robotnik?"

"I'm too tired to think about it right now," Maya replied with a smile. "We can talk about it over dinner tonight. You're all free until then."

As silence fell across the garage, Maya led the team in a sombre march outside into the overcast day. Kyros fell into line behind the others and began shuffling toward the exit before he heard Tantalus calling to him from behind. He turned his gaze the squirrel with a questioning look, finding him standing near the ramp of one of the pods.

"Yeah?"

Tantalus placed a foot onto the ramp and asked, "You want to go ahead and get started unloading the stuff?"

"Not really," Kyros replied as he removed his coat and tossed it onto a pile of miscellaneous dirty clothing on the floor. "But, I've got nothing better to do."

"Okay, it's not too much stuff," the squirrel replied on his way up the ramp.

Kyros clomped over to the ramp to find Tantalus already shoving a crate half-filled with food into his face. He grasped the handles and hefted it back down to the garage floor, and placed it in the first vacant spot he found. He looked back in the general direction of the pod and called, "We might as well leave the weapons aboard. I'm sure we're going to be needing them again soon."

Tantalus returned from the hatch with an electric heater in tow and cut him a curious expression. "Really? You think Maya is going to send us out again so soon?"

"Absolutely," he replied, stretching his back. "She's sort of predictable about this stuff. I'm tired, so she's going to send us off to do something dangerous."

Tantalus smiled and looked away. "Come on, she's not that bad."

"No, but I still think she's going to send us out tomorrow," Kyros replied as he headed back up the ramp. "I mean, with the stuff we found out by the beach, she's not going to be able to resist."

"I guess so." Tantalus accepted another crate from Kyros and set it atop a growing stack on the floor. He wiped some grime from his hands and continued, "But it is important. Who knows what Robotnik could be doing out there."

Kyros emerged from the ship with the tent case and said, "Yeah, but it's probably nothing." He tossed the case onto a soft pile of clothing below and brushed off his shirt. "Strange launch pads popping up in Robotropolis are one thing, big liquid containers are another. The way I figure it, he's probably just storing something out there."

"Treating the seawater maybe?"

Kyros smirked and crossed his arms. "Now, why would Robotnik of all people be cleaning something?"

Tantalus scratched his cheek and replied, "Yeah, I guess so. Unless he needed fresh water for something. There's plenty of that to be found around all over the place though." He stood in thought before adding, "Then again it could be storage for rocket fuel or something."

Kyros descended the ramp and pointed at the squirrel. "Don't even joke about Robotnik restarting the orbital weapon project. If I never see another space rocket it'll be too soon." He started off toward the second pod and said, "I guess we'll just have to wait and see for ourselves when we get there."

"Is the welder ready yet?" Kaplain asked Seltic as he glanced over the schematic laid out on the table before him. He rubbed his eyes again and cursed his inability to sleep the night before. Seltic seemed a little too enthusiastic to get back to work on his latest project, and Kaplain knew that his own lethargy could only harm his value as an assistant. Unfortunately, he was unable to sleep at all on the way back to Armadi either, and he knew that trying to get any sleep now would just be a waste of time. Rather than lay awake in bed, he figured he might as well do something useful.

"Yeah, looks like it," Seltic's voice called back to him from around the corner.

Kaplain bit his lip and grasped the welder's handle. "Here goes nothing," he muttered to himself as studied the pieces of metal he was tasked with joining. He had performed such work hundreds of times in the past, before he had been captured and roboticized. But with his memories of anything before the time foggy, he could only hope that his subconscious was more skilled than he thought.

He donned a pair of welding goggles and began securing two sheets of metal together. Seltic appeared as he finished the weld, shielding his eyes from the harmful flare of light. "How's it coming?"

Kaplain sighed and studied the metal join before replying, "I've done better. It should hold though." He placed the combined sheet back onto the table and looked over the schematic again. "You sure you don't have a piece big enough that you can just cut?"

"Yeah, sorry. We haven't been able to find any scraps bigger than half a meter or so long for quite some time." He glanced at the weld and added, "That looks fine, much better than I can do anyway."

With a shrug, Kaplain looked up and asked, "What exactly is this for anyway? All you've shown me is this little diagram."

Seltic flashed him a childish grin and pulled a drawer open on the table. He unrolled a schematic from within a box inside and handed it over. "I didn't write many notes other than measurements, but I guess you can figure it out."

Kaplain analyzed the pictures scribbled out on the sheet for a few moments before replying, "It... looks like a powered suit of some sort."

"Bingo," the tenrec said.

"Well, what's it for? I don't see any weapons on it or anything, and it doesn't look armored."

Seltic leaned up against the table and cleared his throat. "I thought about making it into a weapon platform of some sort, but I realized it would probably only make things worse. In Robotropolis, the only way to survive is to keep moving, and it'd be hard to find cover in this thing."

"I agree with you there, this doesn't look all that maneuverable."

"No, but it doesn't really need to be." Seltic pointed at the untold number of parts and boxes cluttering the room around them and went on, "I mostly figured that I would use it to move heavy stuff around."

"Oh, I see," Kaplain replied. "But, this sort of seems to be a lot of work for that. I guess you had more planned for it?"

Seltic grinned again and chuckled. "Well, I'll just say that there's been plenty of times where I wished I had one. And besides, it's one of the things I've always wanted to build." He studied Kaplain's expression before adding, "If you don't want to waste your time on it, I understand."

Kaplain smiled back and set the schematic on the table. "No, no, it's not that. I was just curious. After all, there's not much else interesting to do around here. And, I do still sort of owe a lot to you."

"Don't worry about it, I'd have done it for anyone." Seltic looked toward a computer screen in a room across from them and went on, "I just wish I had another chance to do the same. You were just about the only robot we could get close to without demolishing it."

Kaplain remained silent in thought over the comment for a few seconds. From what he remembered, it hadn't been his choice to let them get close to him either. The urge to kill or detain anyone who wandered into Robotropolis was completely irresistible, but the mental anguish of doing it was still there. He shunned the thoughts and reminded himself that it was best not to dwell on his past life. As he opened his mouth to comment, he noticed through the window next to them the shifting shadows of someone approaching.

He stepped away from the door to give room to whoever entered, pointing toward the door to let Seltic know someone was coming. Both looked on in expectation as the door slid open to reveal a white mink holding something.

Maya glanced between the two and asked, "Oh, I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"No ma'am, nothing important," Seltic reassured her. "Come on in."

She stepped inside and looked over the mess on the table next to the door. "Looks like you two were busy doing something. I figured you'd both be in bed or at least taking it easy."

"I couldn't sleep, so I figured I'd help Seltic out here," Kaplain replied.

Seltic smiled and added, "Yeah, I couldn't really resist getting back to work." He pointed at the case in her hand and asked, "What's that?"

"It's the binoculars," she replied, lifting the lid up and removing the goggles from inside. She handed them to him and said, "Stanley used them to take some pictures, didn't he?"

"They've got a built in camera?" Kaplain asked.

"Yes, but I'm not exactly certain how you get the pictures out," she answered.

Seltic looked over the various ports and switches on the binoculars for a few moments. "I don't really know for sure either, but I doubt it's that hard. You want me to get them back to you as soon as possible?"

"Whenever you can," she replied with a shrug. "If you can get them by dinner tonight, that would be great. Sooner if you can."

Seltic pried a small memory card from a slot on the binoculars and glanced over it. "Okay, it shouldn't take that long. When is dinner?"

Maya adjusted her glasses and glanced at her watch. "Probably around six, that's four hours."

"No problem then, I'll see what I can make of them," he said as he returned the memory card to their slot for safe keeping. He smiled at Kaplain and added, "We'll be done for today long before then."

April 11, 3236

Well, things certainly turned out differently than we expected. When we got back to the beach today, we ran into Robotnik's robots. We didn't have much of a chance to figure out what they were doing there, because just as soon as we arrived we were driven off. Kyros narrowly escaped being injured by one of the shots, and I'm just glad that we managed to pick them up when we did. I'm still a little concerned about them not chasing us when we left though. There were SWATbot pods around, so they certainly could have. Robotnik seems to prefer having his robots remain around things of importance, so I can't help but worry a little.

Stanley is the only one who got a close up view of what was going on, and his description of the site is exactly what was on the pictures he took. There appear to be four containers of some sort being set up, but it's hard to tell exactly what they're for. Seltic tried his best to enhance the pictures but claims he doesn't have the tools needed. All we know is that they are large enough to hold thousands of liters of liquid, and that they are being guarded by at least a dozen robots. And on top of that, new materials were being shipped in when we left. We just don't know what they might be.

I want to believe that there's nothing to really worry about, but I can't help it. Every time Robotnik does something unusual like this, it turns out to be something bad at the very least. Too often it's far worse.

I know Kyros isn't going to like this, but I think our only choice is to go back and try to figure out what is going on out there. If it's really nothing, then all is well. If we discover something larger underway, then at least we might get the drop on Robotnik. Either way, if we can destroy whatever it is he is building out there we've hurt Robotnik, and anything that does that is worth fighting for.

Everyone is probably too tired to set out tonight though, myself included. We managed to get a day of rest, but having to run from Robotnik wasn't very relaxing. I don't think any of us got very much sleep last night given the torrential raining, and so I think another day of relaxation is in order. We can set out tomorrow when everyone is rested up and ready.

But for now, I've got to go cook in a few minutes. I've been spending too much time worrying about Robotnik and wracking my brain trying to figure out what he might be up to. Kyros might be grumpy about having to head out tomorrow, but he'll be even worse if he's hungry.

Moments after setting foot into the cafeteria, Kyros knew what was in store for him. Most everyone else was gathered around the center stage, sitting in their normal assigned seats. Seltic and his sister were busy conversing with each other, but most of the others were sitting quietly, either nearly asleep or lost in their own thoughts. As usual Maya wasn't present yet, but judging by the smell emanating from the kitchen behind him Kyros knew it would only be a few minutes before she turned up and spelled out the trip back to the beach to them.

He stared on in apathy for a second before taking his customary seat, convinced by hundreds of such meetings that he might as well just go ahead and accept that it was coming. No sooner had he sat down than he saw Tantalus entering the building. The squirrel met his gaze and began approaching him toward his own usual seat.

"Looks like you were right," he said to Kyros as he took his seat. "I guess Maya's going to send us out soon."

Kyros' eyes snapped open and he looked over to him in with an irritated expression. "Did she say that already?"

"Uh, no, she hasn't said anything yet," Tantalus replied. "Isn't that what you expected?"

Kyros leaned back in his chair and let out a relieved sigh. "Yeah, but I hope she doesn't send us out tonight. We just got back." He pointed at Kaplain nodding off in front of them and added, "I don't think most us are ready to head back into the fray."

"Good point, I hope you're right." Tantalus sat silently for a moment before noticing the door behind them beginning to swing open. "I guess we'll find out soon enough. Looks like it's time to get started."

As he predicted Maya stepped through the door, wiping her hands clean with a dish rag. She stepped up to the platform at the far end of the room and sat the rag onto the podium. After a brief check to ensure that everyone of importance was present, she cleared her throat and addressed the room, "Alright everyone, I just wanted to have a quick talk with you all before we ate tonight."

At the sight of the group perking up and trying to pay attention, she said, "I guess most of you already know what I'm going to say, but I think it's important that we get on the same page here.

"I'm sure you all remember the incident earlier today where we ran into Robotnik's robots out on the beach, and most of you probably understand how important it is that we make sure that what Robotnik is doing out there isn't a huge concern."

Kyros rolled his eyes and sat up. "And it's not a huge concern," he mumbled to himself.

Maya tried to ignore his commentary and went on, "We don't know a whole lot about it yet, of course, but there are a few basic things that are certain." She flipped the power switch on an ancient overhead projector and grimaced as the smell of smoldering dust met her nose. As the blurry image of a pair of giant storage containers lit up against the wall she pointed and said, "It's obvious that whatever Robotnik intends to build out there, he's storing large amounts of something. It could be something as innocent as water, or something as bad as explosives or poison."

She exchanged the sheet on the projector for another displaying a similar image and continued, "Whatever they hold, there seems to have been four such containers while we were there. Seltic tells me that they could theoretically hold enough toxins to kill everyone on the continent if it was the right substance.

"Thankfully, Robotnik isn't normally that subtle, but with nearly eight years of failure behind him I'd say that he is liable to try anything at any time." She nodded toward Seltic and added, "But, Seltic and I arrived at the conclusion that it's most likely just something like a fuel processing plant. While that's not something to get too worked up over, I think I speak for everyone when I say that the opportunity to destroy it is a worthwhile objective either way."

She swapped the image again, revealing a worker robot lifting a construction beam. "But, like anything, the site is defended and I don't want to send you all out on a dangerous assignment when someone could get killed over potentially nothing." She leaned against the podium and looked out over the crowd below. "Does anyone object, or have anything else to say about the matter?"

Kyros contemplated the idea of recommending that they just ignore it, but he knew she did have some reasonable points. He wanted to believe that there was nothing to it, but there was always the small chance there was. If nothing else, he wanted to get back at whatever robot had been responsible for blasting a hole in his coat. He decided not to interfere, but if someone else decided to object he wouldn't try to stop them.

As Stanley began to speak up, he dropped any hope of an objection. "Well, I think that really is something to it," the porcupine said amid the silence. "If you look at the photos you'll notice that all of the robots appear to be Sahrians. That seems a little odd, don't you think?"

Maya nodded and replied, "Yes, I agree. I normally wouldn't think anything of it, but since they all seem to be from Sahria, it seems to me that Robotnik had them brought here for a reason."

"Short on workers? That's my best guess." Seltic asked.

Kaplain looked up and said, "It sounds reasonable. Robotnik didn't bring in foreigners too often while I was around, and if he brought in a group specifically to work on this project it could be something big."

Vladimir crossed his arms and said, "Sounds like a plan to me, then."

At the silence that followed, Maya stood upright and shut off the projector. "It's settled then. Unless anyone disagrees, we can leave tomorrow around noon. That way everyone can have a chance to rest up."

She smiled at the nodding approval she received and said, "Alright then, the food's ready whenever you're all ready. We were a little short of supplies, so all I could scrounge together were some sandwiches."

The sound of the seal of the SWATbot pod's hatch popping open did little to ease Tantalus' nerves. He tried to extinguish the raging thoughts in his head as the smell of fresh air entering the cabin caught his nose, and took a deep breath to try and savor the scent. Any time he went near Robotropolis or Robotnik, it took him hours to get used to the acrid odor that always followed. He cradled the laser rifle braced against him and gave it a quick visual inspection. On these missions it was his best friend.

As he stood from his seat he caught sight of Kaplain nervously looking up and taking short shallow breaths. Even after a year of sporadic firefights with Robotnik's minions, Kaplain still hadn't gotten accustomed to it completely. Tantalus painfully recalled his own memories of his first encounters with the legions of robots that Robotnik used as warriors, and asked, "You going to be okay?"

Kaplain took a deep breath and grabbed his own weapon with a nervous frown. "I think so. I'm just a little worked up."

"I know how it is, you'll be fine," he offered. "Just remember to be careful."

Kaplain nodded and stood, falling in line behind the others as they filed out of the ship. "I know," he replied after a moment.

Outside, Tantalus could see Kyros conversing with Maya. As he drew close, the subject matter was immediately obvious.

"So, you want to remain close to the ships again just in case?" Kyros asked her.

Maya surveyed the gathering group and replied, "Yeah, just in case. How do you want to split up?"

"We're probably going to need as many guns as we can get, so I guess we can split up into pairs if that sounds good. You and Marcus can stick together and stay sort of close to the pods." He looked over the group and went on, "So, that could be me and Tantalus, you and Marcus, Stanley and Vlad, and Seltic, Sissera and Kaplain together. That sound good to everyone?"

At the silence that followed, Kyros slung his rifle over his shoulder and said, "Alright then everyone, grab everything you need and spread out. Each group needs a radio set, I'll give the order to open fire whenever it comes to that." He glanced at Seltic and asked, "You've got something to blow the place right?"

"I brought this," Seltic replied, raising a brick of clay-like material to eye level. "This is plasticized HMX. You won't be able to tell this place was here after it goes off, but it takes some time to set up and detonate, so keep that in mind. We can't just chuck it and run."

Kyros turned toward the direction of the beach and said, "Alright then. From our position we should be able to surround about two thirds of the construction site and remain in cover inside the woods. Move out and keep an eye out for sentries."

He stepped off, followed by the chorus of boots and shoes crunching on fallen tree branches and dried leaves. Tantalus moved up beside him, weapon raised for immediate use, and quietly asked, "Have you got a plan?"

"The simplest plan in the world, and one that seems to work more often than not against Robotnik."

"In other words, we surround the robots and when the moment's right we just open fire and hope to cut them down before they can retaliate?" Tantalus replied, ducking a low branch.

Kyros stopped and stared off for a moment before answering, "I thought I saw a bot, be careful. Anyway, yeah, that's the plan. The robots are always so busy doing whatever Robotnik has set them to that they rarely see it coming."

"Yeah, I know. I just hope there aren't too many security bots around, because if anything is looking out for us they will be."

The two continued winding their way through the thinning forest for a couple of minutes until the signs of Robotnik's presence was beginning to become apparent. The sounds of air drills and rivet hammers in the distance began to set Tantalus on edge again, and the shadows of robots crossing between trees in the distance was becoming obvious. Tantalus donned a pair of long range sight goggles from a pouch hanging from his belt and tried to make out any details he could.

"See anything of interest?" Kyros asked after some time.

"It's hard to say," he replied, lowering the goggles. "I think I see some new robots though, there are a couple of jackals cutting down trees."

"Then they're making more room for something," Kyros added unnecessarily. "I guess it's a good thing we came after all." He crouched down and scanned the horizon for a few seconds before motioning for Tantalus to follow. "Try to stay as quiet as possible, we've got to get closer."

Tantalus slipped into a position behind Kyros and began crawling after him toward the edge of the woods. He felt his heart skip a beat as the glowing red eyes of a robot passed through his gaze, and he scarcely managed to fight the impulse to raise his weapon and open fire. As Kyros made a break for a small bank of sand behind a fallen tree, he dove into the cover in turn.

"Alright, this is about as close as we can get without getting spotted," Kyros whispered to him. "All we've got to do now is sit tight and wait for the others to get into position."

Sissera performed a last second check of her plasma gun and looked over to her two comrades. "How is the security?"

"I think I see at least three security robots," Seltic replied, returning to cover behind the bundle of trees she hid behind. "Two zebras and a hyena seem to be doing nothing but walking around and staring into the woods."

Kaplain joined them and added, "Yeah, that's what I see too. It seems that the three of them are running security, but it's impossible to tell if any of them are combat specialists." He peered around the corner and continued, "Don't forget that the workers are lightly armed too."

"I won't forget," Sissera reassured him, it wasn't like she'd never encountered them before. She glanced at the radio handset hanging from Seltic's belt and tried to gather her thoughts before the carnage that would begin any moment. "We're waiting for Kyros' signal right?"

"Yeah, could be any-," Seltic replied before being cut off by a low chime from the radio set. He cut her a smirk and raised the set to his ear.

"Okay everyone, I think we're all in position. Pick your targets and get ready. There's a zebra that looks like a security bot near the center of the construction site, as soon as I hit it, open fire," Kyros spoke over the radio. "If something goes wrong, make a run for it and let Maya know."

Seltic placed the radio set back onto his belt and raised his weapon in preparation. He crept around the corner of the trees and said, "Alright you two, there's a couple of workers right over there, I've got the antelope."

Sissera moved around the opposite side of their cover and drew her aim to the group of workers. She eyed the antelope Seltic mentioned and instead targeted a jackal nearby. She pointed out a lioness shifting crates of supplies and said to Kaplain, "Take that one."

As he nodded and raised his weapon to eye level, she sporadically glanced back and forth between her target and the woods across from them. She didn't want to miss Kyros' signal, as it could result in a critical waste of time and possibly even mean the difference between life and death. Just as she was about to change position to alleviate her cramping muscles, the beam of light she had been waiting for appeared.

A dozen beams of blue energy stabbed out from the woods across from them, exploding against the unsuspecting machines. The zebra Kyros had targeted was thrown from its feet, reeling from the blasts that had removed half of its face. Its partner and all of the other robots instantly dropped their current tasks and began converging around the erected containers. While the remaining security forces began to return fire, Sissera watched as Seltic's plasma gun activated.

The antelope that was mid stride was blown into the air by the exploding blast of energy, removing one of its arms and punching hundreds of small holes in its body. Sissera immediately followed the attack with her own shot, hurling the jackal from its feet. It slammed into a pile of construction materials as it tumbled along, drawing the attention of the remaining assembly of robots.

The lioness that was racing toward the facility had now changed direction and was beginning to raise its arm weapon in their direction. Sissera drew aim at it in preparation to destroy it too, but was beaten to the opportunity by charged particle beams lancing from Kaplain's rifle and piercing its body. It shrieked in pain as the first beam sliced through its arm, and it fell to one knee in confusion and surprise. The remaining beams impacted its chest and head, immediately deactivating it in a shower of sparks and electrical arcing despite the complete lack of obvious physical damage.

As more and more fire began to pour from the woods from multiple locations, the robots were caught in a chaotic crossfire. The machines that weren't cut down were forced to fire sporadically back into the woods as they charged blindly back at their foes.

Sissera noted a handful of damaged robots beginning to rise back to their feet and stagger after the functional ones in their approach. "Get ready guys, they're headed this way," she called to her company.

"See, this is working out perfectly," Kyros muttered to Tantalus as he snapped off a few more shots in the general direction of the handful of approaching robots.

Tantalus fired the rest of his clip into an oncoming gazelle and watched as it determinedly staggered onward and collapsed into a heap. "I guess so, but there's still plenty of them out there." He watched as Kyros finished off the zebra from before with another shot to the head, diving back into his cover as dozens of small impacts began to throw dirt up around him. He puzzled over the strange thumping sound of the weapon firing at him for an instant before calling to Kyros, "Hey, that other zebra is armed with an auto slug rifle."

Kyros shot him a confused expression and slipped into a better position. "Are you sure? Those haven't even been manufactured in two decades." As a particle spattered against a tree in front of him and showered him in shredded bark, he added, "I guess so. Be extra careful, our armor isn't very good at stopping those shots."

Tantalus prepared to look back over their cover to continue the assault, but was interrupted by the sight of a robot approaching from within the forest. "Watch it!" he shouted to Kyros as he opened fire at their new opponent.

The machine dodged his shots and began bounding toward them. As it drew close, he recognized it as the meerkat from the photos back in Armadi. He began aiming his weapon at it moments before Kyros interrupted, "I've got this."

Kyros' shots went wild as the meerkat closed too quickly. It landed between the two and began slashing wildly at him with its short claws. "I will present your corpse as a gift to Lord Robotnik!" it shouted between attempts to hit Kyros. Tantalus tried to take aim at it, but hesitated as it continued to dart around too quickly to follow and exposed Kyros to possible shots.

An instant later, Kyros landed a shot on its arm, driving it back a few steps and halting its frenzied attacks. He prepared to finish the job, but was caught off guard by it jumping backward and scowling with an evil glare. The typical crimson glow of its eyes flickered before blaring with incredible intensity, and Kyros instantly assumed that it was preparing an attack. He placed his rifle between himself and the robot and began to dive for cover an instant before the glowing culminated in blasts of laser light jumping from its eyes.

The laser beams hammered into his chest, spraying fragments of his armor and charred clothing. He groaned in mild pain and was vaguely aware of the meerkat standing over him with a sickening sneer on its face. It snatched the rifle from his hands and crushed it in its grip, echoing a deep crunch as the fragments of plastic fell away from the cracked casing.

Tantalus found an opportunity to attack and opened fire, placing a precision beam through its back. It grunted in confusion and stumbled forward a few steps past Kyros before regaining its footing. As it turned to engage him, Tantalus noticed Kyros moving.

In the blink of an eye, the robot was knocked from its feet by lasers raking its lower body. It clawed at the dirt where it was laid out, desperately trying to regain its footing despite a shattered knee and hip. Its enraged face twisted to confusion as it caught sight of a clear fluid dripping from gaping holes in its unarmored midsection, boiling away as it hit the ground. It collapsed onto its back and closed its eyes as if in pain. "Warning, my radiator is damaged! All units clear out!" it shouted anonymously into the sky.

Tantalus placed the barrel of his rifle in its face and prepared to pull the trigger, but relented as it continued, "Attempting to shut down to avoid generator overheat, please stand by..." It groaned and slowly closed its eyes as the life drained from its body.

The squirrel glanced back over to where Kyros was to find him standing, with a furious expression and a pistol drawn. "That was my favorite rifle," he muttered. Both stared blankly at the fallen meerkat for a few seconds until another spattering of solid metal slugs zipped past them, some shells mushrooming against the metal armor of the robot and others embedding themselves in the trees and dirt around them.

"Sorry, but we've got bigger things to worry about," Tantalus replied, pointing toward the battle continuing behind them. As they both raced back to their cover at the edge of the woods, they caught sight of only a pair of robots remaining in the battle. A robotic zebra stared in their direction and opened fire with the automatic slug rifle build into its arm once more, moments before being shredded by a salvo of fire from any one of his group.

Kyros observed the final defender and commented, "I guess that's a combat robot."

Tantalus watched as the roboticized hyena shouted something inchoerent in its female modulated voice and ignored repeated impacts from lasers. It sprayed a gout of fire from a flame thrower in its mouth and bathed a section of woods in the immolating fuel. "I think you're right," he added as it single-handedly smashed a tree from the ground and continued to breathe flames.

Kyros pulled out the radio and shouted into it, "Everyone focus fire on the hyena, it's the only way we're going to bring it down. I'll lure it away from the woods."

Before Tantalus could protest, he watched as Kyros leaped over a fallen tree and darted out into the open beach ahead. The echidna poured fire from his pistol at the hyena and raced toward the relative safety of the containers a distance away. Tantalus watched in concern as the hyena took the bait and turned to face him. Bursts of plasma zipped from the robot's weapons as it began to give chase, halting only when it was hit by particularly strong impacts.

As Kyros had orchestrated, volleys of fire began to pour from the woods into the robot. It shrieked in pain as dozens of laser beams began to blow hunks of its advanced armor into vapor, and it began to slow to a determined stagger as it was pummeled by repeated shots. With each step it was transfixed in a crossfire of laser beams or hammered by plasma blasts. As it neared Kyros, its arm weapons had already been sheared away or obliterated completely, and it was beginning to collapse.

A final blast shredded through its ruined body and struck its flame thrower's fuel tank. It screeched as it was forcefully gutted by the explosion, and in an instant it collapsed to the ground wreathed in flames, motionless.

Tantalus waited several seconds to confirm that the battle had ended before emerging from his cover. As he stood, the unmistakable sound of metal plinking against metal met his hears. At his feet he found a deformed rifle slug resting atop the metal tip of his boot, and he immediately traced it back to a deep gouge in his armor. A nauseating chill ran through his body as he realized how close to being killed he had been, and he thanked his common sense for bringing the armor. But even with it, the shot could have still easily penetrated his body and severed a major artery and resulted in fatal bleeding.

He took a moment to calm himself and regain his composure before slowly picking his way through the trees toward the clearing where the others had begun emerging from their hideouts. As he began to set foot onto the sand of the beach, he halted at the sound of a branch snapping behind him. He whirled around and raised his gun to eye level.

He felt his stomach lurch at the sight of a SWATbot standing an arm's reach away. How he had missed its approach he had no clue, but he knew the best course of action to take. He squeezed the trigger of his weapon and placed several precision beams into the robot, certain that it would be enough to fell it, just as it had to many scores before it. He stared on in horrified confusion as it merely shook under the impacts, undamaged and unfazed.

As it raised its own weapon he froze. "I surrender," he squeaked at last, dropping his weapon. He knew that the SWATbot would prefer to take him alive if possible, and it was his best chance to survive at this point. The tactic had saved his life once before.

To his horror, it droned, "No prisoners." A blinding flash of blue energy stabbed out of its arm weapon mount, and he was suddenly aware of the tree behind him exploding and showering him with fragments of bark. An incredible burning pain beyond anything he had ever experienced before began to overcome his body, and his vision began to fade into blackness. The vague sound of weapons firing in his direction was the last thing he experienced before he collapsed to the ground and his consciousness faded away.