Author's Note: A "-" mark signifies either a small time skip, location skip or the internal thoughts switching between characters. Lightspeed = John.
I apologize in advance for the long delay between chapters but, like I said before, I prefer quality over quantity, and unfortunately… some real life stuff came up that made working on this story rather impossible, a bout with the flu, a week-long visit at an aunt's house, college related stuff, work, ect. (Coupled with the fact that I'm resuming production of my main story which takes priority over this one, and because the New Dead Space remake just came out, along with the Callisto Protocol.)
Chapter 10- A Taste of Freedom
The fairly uneventful (albeit somewhat restless) sleep that acted as Lightspeed's only source of solace in his boring cell suddenly begins to unwind at it's seems as the sound of an incredibly loud alarm begins to blare throughout his subconscious.
….
Lightspeed jolts up in his bed, and immediately turns to the source of the offending noise that had woken him from his slumber, a red rotary light and alarm to match that had seemingly formed from thin air inside his cell.
To the right of the alarm that was rapidly grating on Lightspeed's nerves, was a VERY heavily built steel security door embedded within the very wall of his cell. Said door also seemed to have appeared out of thin air whilst he was taking his nap, how these things kept appearing the way they did was beyond Lightspeed.
….
Something was wrong… John could feel it, the newly formed door, coupled with the newly formed alarm blaring… it was all too obvious.
The shrill and piercing sound of a feminine robotic voice snaps Lightspeed out of his internal thoughts with the following command:
"Get dressed and step towards the door when you are ready." the robotic voice commanded.
Lightspeed could barely hold back the flood of excitement surging through his body upon hearing these words, sure… there was probably a catch, but who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth? All that mattered was that freedom (no matter how short-lived or conditional it may be) was waiting for him.
….
Lightspeed gets out of the bed and rather lazily throws his work boots on, one after the other, before standing up. After standing up, Lightspeed takes a brief moment to adjust his rather disheveled and filthy clothing (it's not like he had any spares, nor had Mrs. Wakeman offered to wash what he had) and closes the distance between himself and the steel door.
As if on queue, dozens of mechanical sounding "clicks" "clacks" and "ticks" begin to emanate from within the door the second Lightspeed takes his position in front of it, as if unlocking.
Twenty agonizingly long seconds of "clicks, clacks, and ticks'' later, the door slowly opens in a way akin to a toothy maw with nothing to accompany its movement but a deafening "hiss" of compressed air, coupled with a low mechanical whir. The two sections of the door split apart at the middle and disappear out of sight into a hidden cavity within the ceiling and floor.
The same robotic voice from before blares the following, once again preventing Lightspeed from forming a coherent thought on the situation:
"Step through the door, take a right, followed by another right and head down the stairs." the robotic voice commanded.
"Yes mistress." lightspeed sarcastically replied whilst rolling his eyes.
"I heard that." the robotic voice replied.
The sharp retort from the robotic voice was the only queue that Lightspeed needed to get himself moving.
With some minor hesitation, Lightspeed steps out of his cell, rapidly takes a right, and takes a few dozen steps at a modest but quick pace.
Lightspeed comes to a stop upon reaching a wall, to his right is a rather crudely constructed staircase that descends into the inky blackness of what must've been some kind of sub-basement.
A cold and uncharacteristic twinge of uncertainty metaphorically gnaws at Lightspeed's finger tips for a few seconds as he looks down the path he was told, no, COMMANDED to take.
A few seconds was all it took for Lightspeed to regain his composure and begin his rapid descent down the stairs in relative silence, save for the rapid "clunk" "clunk" "clunk" "clunk" of his leather work boots hitting the dry rotted wooden surface of the steps.
Within seconds, Lightspeed hits the end of the staircase, and without delay, race walks into the inky blackness of the sub-basement.
"STOP!" the robotic voice shrieked.
Lightspeed immediately comes to a halt in response to the shrill sounding robotic voices command.
All is silent in the dark sub-basement, save for some kind of mild mechanical whirring that gets more and more intense as the seconds continue to tick on, as if some kind of machine or machines to Lightspeed's left and right were spooling up.
The only source of light in the room is a very faint blue glow emanating from some unknown source 20 feet in front (and slightly to the left) of Lightspeed.
With a distinct "click", a floodlight suddenly roars to life, followed by another, and another, and another.
Lightspeed quickly shields his eyes with his right hand in response to the sudden and bright assault on his optical senses.
"Step onto the platform." the robotic voice commanded.
"Stepping onto the platform" was easier said than done given the absurdly bright flood lights that were practically scorching Lightspeed's retinas.
As if it's source had somehow detected Lightspeed's hesitation to do as told, the robotic voice once again says the following:
"Step onto the platform!" the robotic voice commanded once more with greater emphasis.
Lightspeed's mounting irritation at the situation quickly came to a boil, and against his better judgment, he blurted out the following:
"How about you turn those damned things down first!?" john retorted with mounting irritation.
Much to Lightspeed's surprise, the floodlights immediately dim to a SIGNIFICANTLY more tolerable level of brightness.
"Please step forward and onto the center of the platform, Mr. Olmstead." a familiar voice to John's left calmly commanded.
Lightspeed diverts his attention to the source of the familiar voice to discover a rather serious looking Mrs. Wakeman sitting in a computer chair operating some kind of command console with wiring of various sizes connecting it to the platform (that Lightspeed was now diverting his attention to.)
The complicated looking platform consisted of various pieces of what looked like plate steel, a large ring lined its outermost edge, a second "inner" ring of equal thickness to the first "outer" ring lined its interior.
The "center" of the platform was a simple stainless steel grate cut in the shape of a circle that was mounted on the interior of the "inner ring", it looked JUST wide enough for John to stand on.
…
Aside from the occasional blast of steam from between the gaps in the plate steel and the now incredibly noticeable whir of whatever was spooling up nearby, the platform looked relatively safe.
Despite the mounting feeling of uncertainty clawing its way up his back (and a slight twinge of pain from his ribs), Lightspeed once again does what he is told, walks onto the platform and rapidly reaches it's "center".
…..
Without warning, every single panel in the secondary ring of the platform recesses into the floor and out of sight, revealing nothing but a black void of indeterminate depth, effectively "stranding" Lightspeed on the platform.
A single robotic arm with a laser mounted on the front emerges from the depths and stops at Lightspeed's eye level.
The laser roars to life, momentarily engulfing Lightspeed's face in a wide beam of light, with no warning, save for a low mechanical "whir", the robotic arm begins to twirl on it's axis.
The robotic arm slowly begins to rotate around a rather concerned Lightspeed in a similar manner to how a moon orbits a planet.
The robotic arm picks up the pace, and begins to raise and lower the laser mounted to it as it continues in it's "orbit", as if trying to get a more complete "scan" of Lightspeed.
"Ram-rod straight posture, keep your arms to your sides, chin up, look forward, and stay as still as you possibly can until the scan is complete." mrs. Wakeman said.
"What is this thing going to do to me?" john asked with a tone of nervousness.
"Just wait and see" mrs. Wakeman responded.
Mrs. Wakeman's "wait and see" comment didn't do much to dissuade Lightspeed's rapidly growing apprehension about the machine he was standing in the middle of, it had in fact, done quite the opposite.
…
Without warning, the rapidly rotating robotic arm with the scanning laser disappears back into the depths that it came from, as if satisfied with the information it had gathered.
A single panel of plate steel on the outermost ring in front of Lightspeed disappears out of sight, revealing the same black void that it's predecessors did, from this black void emerges a robotic arm with a fairly large TV monitor bolted to it's front.
The robotic arm continues to ascend until the TV monitor is at eye level with Lightspeed, upon doing so, it brings itself to a sudden stop, and seemingly locks into position with an audible "clunk".
Without warning, the TV monitor powers on, and after a few seconds of delay, displays a computer generated image of a male humanoid with both of it's arms outstretched in a "T" pose.
Lightspeed immediately catches on and mimics the exact pose displayed upon the TV monitor, upon doing so, a green check mark appears on the TV monitor for a moment.
The TV monitor dims, and immediately afterwards, 2 robotic arms appear in front of and behind Lightspeed, with both emerging from the "inner" ring.
In the grasp the robotic arms are the two sections of Lightspeed's Cuirass, the robotic appendages hesitate for a bit, after a few seconds (and a "puff" of compressed air) they shoot forwards and rather roughly place Lightspeed's Cuirass upon him, with the robotic arm in the back taking care to "latch" the piece in the rear to the piece in the front.
"I've taken the liberty of retrieving the armor you arrived with from your cell, I have recharged it's internal power supply and added a heads up display to it's helmet. I must say that I'm quite impressed with it, despite it's rather primitive mechanical and analog design." mrs. Wakeman stated.
"I wish you would've asked before taking it." lightspeed replied with a mild hint of irritation to his voice.
"I'm afraid I didn't have much of a choice, I was fairly certain you wouldn't be willing to give it up voluntarily." mrs. Wakeman replied matter-of-factly whilst pressing various keys on the command console she's sitting at.
[As the conversation between the two continues, more and more armor pieces are added to Lightspeed.]
"Why'd you take my armor in the first place?" lightspeed asked with a somewhat demanding tone to his voice.
"I borrowed your armor for study, but due to a….serious problem rearing it's ugly head a few hours ago, I had to divert my attention to retrofitting XJ-9's modular maintenance system; the retrofit you see before you should allow the application and re-assembly of your armor in a quick and efficient manner." mrs. Wakeman replied defensively.
"What kind of problem?" john asked after some slight hesitation.
"Himcules." mrs. Wakeman replied with a newly formed and visible scowl on her face.
"Himcules?" john asked with a rather confused look on his face.
Mrs. Wakeman lets out an audible sigh before saying the following:
"An exceptionally strong individual that XJ-9 defeated in the past, he is nothing short of egomaniacal and sadistic." mrs wakeman explained before adding:
"XJ-9 defeated him in the past via means that are no longer available to her, the ongoing fight between the two has reached a stalemate, and XJ-9's battery is draining rapidly." mrs. Wakeman added.
"I don't have many options in terms of reinforcements to begin with, and the only viable one… XJ-8, has a reactor that takes hours to spool up and reach an output capacity able to provide enough energy for her to operate at full strength." mrs. Wakeman stated before adding the following:
"Every other option available is rendered completely inadequate due to Himcules' immense strength, this makes you my best bet." mrs. Wakeman added with a small sense of urgency to her voice.
Lightspeed's curiosity was momentarily piqued by the term "XJ-8", he would have to ask about this "XJ-8" later, but for now, he had bigger fish to fry.
"I take it that you want me to deal with this… Himcules by giving him his daily doctor recommended dosage of vitamin bootuptheass?" john asked rather plainly.
Mrs. Wakeman rigorously shakes her head with a sigh before saying the following:
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Mr. Olmstead, deal with is a strong word." mrs. Wakeman quickly replied before adding:
"Since you were strong enough to crack the wall of your containment cell, you should be able to provide assistance to XJ-9 in her ongoing fight against Himcules, by doing so, you should be able to tip the odds back in her favor and break the stalemate between the two." mrs. Wakeman added.
"You are to do so in a discreet, quick, and efficient manner, the second Himcules has been pacified, you are to come back, with XJ-9 in tow." mrs Wakeman sternly stated.
The final piece of armor (the already formed helmet) is placed onto Lightspeed's head by a robotic arm, and with it, the armor whose insides he had become so familiar and comfortable with was surrounding him once more, much to the protest of his now aching torso due to his still broken ribs.
Every single one of the robotic arms, including the one carrying the now dormant TV monitor disappear back into black void from where they came, immediately afterwards, the absent pieces of plate steel maneuver back and lock into place, more or less "reassembling" the previously missing floor around Lightspeed.
"I don't do discreet, and I'm not the most efficient, but I can sure as hell do quick." lightspeed replied.
Mrs. Wakeman briefly pinches the bridge of her nose and lets out an audible sigh before saying the following:
"In that case, do it as quickly as possible." mrs. Wakeman replied with a hint of frustration in her voice.
"As quickly as possible" was all Lightspeed needed to hear to get moving, within milliseconds his legs were moving with enough speed and power to propel his body through the brick wall of the basement he was in, leaving a body shaped hole in his wake and out of sight.
—-
Mrs. Wakeman could feel an unusually potent feeling of intense anger welling up from within her the second she realized that the boy had smashed a hole in the wall of her home.
"Did he REALLY have to do that!?" mrs. Wakeman internally screamed to herself.
Within seconds, the anger over the wall started to dissipate from Mrs. Wakeman's mind, perhaps she had misspoke, or the boy had made the mistake of associating "as quickly as possible" with not even bothering to run upstairs and use the door to save time.
Mistake or malice aside, Mrs. Wakeman OVERWHELMINGLY preferred the idea of paying to have a brick wall repaired than the dreadful thought of having to salvage whatever Himcules would leave behind if XJ-9 shut down due to insufficient power mid battle.
—
Jenny could hardly believe the mess that downtown Tremerton was in, brand new scars from the ongoing fight between Himcules and herself littered the area like some kind of pox.
As much as Jenny hated the mere thought of it, she had to face the facts, she was going to lose, not to her opponent, but to something as stupidly mundane as attrition.
Sure, Himcules looked exhausted, but he could keep going.
Jenny on the other hand, once her battery ran out of juice, she was as useful as a pile of scrap metal.
Jenny had at the absolute most, 30 minutes to finish things, she needed a new strategy, and FAST.
The only problem was, Jenny had thrown everything, including the kitchen sink at Himcules, the results of which were rather underwhelming.
Hand to hand was out of the question, her incredibly damaged metallic fingers were proof of that, the only thing they could do now was serve as a reminder of her disastrous "surprise first strike" from a few hours back.
"Come out, come out wherever thou art." a voice who Jenny had grown to loathe called out with a taunt.
It would seem that Jenny's brief reprieve from Himcules had once again come to an end, it was time to face the music once more.
Without warning, and with lightning fast speed, Himcules comes within throwing distance of Jenny.
Himcules is drenched with sweat and has multiple bruises covering his face, with the exception of the mentioned bruises, he appears to be rather unscathed.
Tightly clutched within Himcules' right hand is the hubcap of a car tire that appears to have been rather violently ripped off it's wheel, in his left is what appears to be a manhole cover, albeit an incredibly damaged one.
"What a pleasant surprise, I thought thou had fled after I strucketh thee and sent thou flying with that car a few minutes ago." an exhausted sounding Himcules taunted.
A few seconds of silence pass, only to be broken by a somewhat disappointed looking Himcules, as if he had been expecting some kind of response but didn't get one:
"What's the matter, robot girl, finally out of quips?" himcules taunted with an ear to ear grin on his face.
As much as she wanted to think of some smart come-back or some kind of quip, Jenny couldn't be bothered, there were far better uses for what little power she had left in her battery than taking Himcules' bait.
….
The formalities ended sooner than Jenny was anticipating, before she knew it, Himcules had thrown both the manhole cover, AND the hubcap in her direction with lightning fast speed.
Jenny transforms her arms into a make-shift horizontal metallic "ramp" just in time for the projectiles that Himcules had thrown to hit the top of the "ramp", do a half loop, and change their course back in Himcules' direction.
Himcules is unable to react in time, and as a result, both projectiles crack their "sender" square in the nose and forehead respectively, only to skim off through the air behind him and disappear out of sight after hitting their mark.
Aside from leaving a nasty looking bruise on his forehead, the hub-cub that struck Himcules' forehead didn't do much.
The manhole cover that struck Himcules' nose however, seemed to have done some actual damage, enough to the point that a mild trickle of blood was now dripping from Himcules' nose.
The trickle of blood is immediately met by an uncharacteristic wince of pain from Himcules.
…
To say that Jenny was surprised that Himcules was caught off guard by such an easily predictable move would be an understatement.
Perhaps going on the defensive could be the key to breaking this stalemate, either that, or Himcules was a lot more exhausted than Jenny had initially thought.
"I'll turn thou into scrap metal for that!" himcules managed to angrily choke out in a voice partially consumed by pain.
—-
A rather pale looking teenager with crooked teeth and a slight hunch to his back can be seen in a dimly lit garage, working on some lifeless humanoid shaped robot with a triangle shaped chest and bright silver finish.
"Come on, Sheldon, come on, Jenny needs help!" a rather panicked voice called out from behind a welding mask.
"Just this last weld bead, and the Silver Shell may actually have a slim, but fighting chance against Himcules." the panicked voice said to himself.
"Annnnd… done!" the now calming voice stated the second the shower of welding sparks ceased to emanate from the tip of his welding torch.
The skinny and pale looking teenager gently tosses his welding helmet and welding torch to the side, before quickly hopping into the seemingly lifeless humanoid shaped automaton before him via a newly formed access port located on its chest.
The access port shuts tight, and the "Silver Shell" roars to life and exits the garage via the door and sprints out of sight.
—-
"There they are." lightspeed silently thought to himself, before coming to a stop a solid 200 yards from Jenny's left (and Himcules' right.)
….
John had to think, and quickly, his automaton ally appeared to be running very low on metaphorical steam, and the toga wearing meathead that he assumed to be Himcules was actively grappling with her, and more importantly…. Himcules was winning.
…
Lightspeed digs his sabatons into the dirt, and with lightning fast speed, bolts forwards and accelerates towards his target (Himcules) at breakneck speed.
As he was racing towards his target, Lightspeed noticed some kind of flying saucer rapidly racing overhead towards Himcules and the ally John was trying to protect, and more importantly, it was going to get there first.
Try as he might, and much to John's annoyance, the flying saucer had beaten him to his target before he was within throwing distance of Himcules, despite Lightspeed's best attempts to "pick up the pace".
Even more obnoxiously, the flying saucer had transformed into some silver colored automaton mid air before falling to the ground, said automaton was now standing directly in his path.
Bypassing the moving hunk of metal who looked like some kind of 1950's sci-fi robot that was actively blocking his path to Himcules without stopping wasn't going to be easy, but John didn't have a choice, he had nowhere near enough ground to slow himself to a stop.
…
"Fear not, XJ-9, I, the Silver Shell, am here to save…." the Silver Shell triumphantly declared before being cut off by a deafening "whoosh" of wind.
…..
Lightspeed quickly maneuvers around the Silver Shell and body slams the broadside of an unsuspecting Himcules, the impact sends Himcules sprawling to the ground and skidding hundreds of feet away from the now stopped Lightspeed.
….
"Wait… where did Himcules… who are you?" the Silver Shell stammered in confusion.
….
Upon not getting the response he wanted/was expecting, the Silver Shell diverts his attention to XJ-9.
"You alright?" the Silver Shell questioned.
"Never been better." jenny sarcastically replied with a rather exhausted tone of voice.
…..
The force of the impact had Lightspeed reeling, Himcules must've been a LOT more sturdy than he looked, it wasn't much different from slamming through a brick wall.
Despite the superb level of protection that the armor he wore provided, Lightspeed was seeing stars, and his ears were ringing to the point that he could barely decipher what the two automatons behind him were saying, his ribs were "screaming" at him, and an agonizingly painful throbbing sensation was coming from the interior side of his right bicep.
The familiar sensation of fresh warm blood trickling down his right arm that had accompanied the arrival of the "throb" was all it took for Lightspeed to figure out what had happened: the pressure of the impact must've ripped open a long section of scar tissue on his bicep.
Much to John's dismay, Himcules was once more on his feet, and was rapidly approaching with what looked like a very large tree limb in hand, looking equally hurt and angry.
…
After a few seconds of much needed recovery, Lightspeed regains enough of his senses to redirect his attention to a now incredibly close Himcules.
"What do we do?" a rather concerned Silver Shell questioned.
After a few seconds of silence, Lightspeed responds with the following:
"Silver Shell, stay behind me and stay out of the way unless I need help, Jenny, just stay put and try to conserve power unless absolutely necessary." lightspeed quietly commanded.
"You two have around 18 minutes before my systems shut down." jenny stated.
—-
As much as the pale teenager controlling the Silver Shell wanted to try and maintain the "confident hero" facade and take charge, his courage was rapidly starting to fade.
One good "wack" from the tree limb in Himcules' hand could shatter the delicate parts on the interior of his robotic alter-ego, rendering it completely in-operable… or worse.
—-
After a few seconds of slightly fidgeting in place the Silver Shell seems to acquiesce, and accepts Lightspeed's command.
"Alright, but only because I forgot to get my joints oiled today." the Silver Shell replied.
…..
Lightspeed couldn't help but roll his eyes in response to the statement from the male sounding automaton behind him.
Himcules drops the tree limb to the ground behind him and comes to a stop within arm's distance of Lightspeed, angrily panting up a storm and looking more red around the face than usual.
"Forget the robot girl, who is the one that slammed into me!?" himcules angrily shouted.
"Was it thou, tin man!?" himcules angrily screamed whilst pointing accusingly at the Silver Shell.
"No, that would be me." lightspeed stated rather flatly.
Himcules diverts his hate filled gaze to the armored Lightspeed in front of him.
…..
Now that Lightspeed had Himcules' attention, it was time to make sure that the super powered bodybuilder's attention stayed on him and HIM alone.
Before Himcules could even respond, Lightspeed was already coming up with multitudes of malice filled insults that would draw the ire of his meatheaded opponent.
…..
"Say that again." himcules said with an intimidating tone to his voice.
"You know exactly what I said, you crossdressing meathead." lightspeed replied with an incredibly insidious tone to his voice.
"It's a TOGA!" himcules yelled back in retort.
….
[As the insults continue to fly, the Silver Shell can be seen nervously tensing up more and more in the background.]
….
"Ah, so you're from classical Greece, tearing apart the town in search of some twinks I assume?" lightspeed shot back.
"Alright, that's IT!" himcules angrily screeched.
"THOU AND ME, RIGHT NOW!" himcules commanded.
Before Himcules can bring his right fist back to throw the first punch, Lightspeed delivers a hard sucker punch to Himcules' chest, causing him to slightly fumble backwards, but unlike last time, Lightspeed pursues him, and rapidly closes the distance between himself and his foe.
Before Himcules can react, Lightspeed follows up by delivering a right hook to Himcules' jaw, followed by a left hook to Himcules' unprotected stomach.
Himcules stumbles backwards even more, seemingly unable to mentally collect himself enough to think of a way to counter Lightspeed's relentlessly aggressive physical assault upon him.
Lightspeed follows up by swatting the palm of his right hand against the left side of Himcules' head, making contact with his exposed ear.
Himcules falls to the ground on his back, wincing in pain whilst clutching the left side of his head with his left hand.
Lightspeed quickly kneels before the seemingly stunned Himcules, but before he can do anything, Himcules' right arm shoots forwards with lightning fast speed and grabs ahold of him by the neck.
Himcules stands up, and hoists Lightspeed off the ground via his hold on the boy's armored neck.
"I guess that's my que." the Silver Shell nervously stated whilst looking at Jenny.
"That's new, you don't seem very optimistic." jenny stated with a cocked metallic eyebrow.
After a few milliseconds of hesitation, Silver Shell responds with the following:
"Himcules isn't exactly a foe I do very well against." the Silver Shell admitted with a small tone of embarrassment to his voice whilst scratching the back of his metallic head.
"So you've fought him before?" jenny questioned.
(Lightspeed's struggle to escape Himcules' grasp can be seen continuing in the background as the two automatons continue to talk, John unforms his helmet and bites into Himcules' arm hard enough to draw blood, causing Himcules to let out an audible "yelp" and loosen his grip enough for Lightspeed to squirm his way out of it.)
….
It would appear that the "brute force" method of fighting wasn't going to work, Lightspeed's injured ribs were in even more agony than the time he fought Smytus, but unlike the fight with Smytus, the ground was solid and dry enough for Lightspeed to use something that he couldn't before…his speed.
…..
(Much like a Weasel attempting to bring down something much larger than itself, Lightspeed is literally running circles around Himcules in the background, avoiding every single one of Himcules' attempts to grab ahold of him and punishing the superpowered toga wearing meathead for every whiff that he makes.)
(Himcules lets out a frustrated scream in response to his opponent.)
(Lightspeed loses his footing during an attempt to dodge one of Himcules' attacks, and much to his misfortune, the blow connects to his chest, the impact sends him sprawling to the ground and sliding out of sight.)
"A few times, as much as I hate to admit it, all of them were equally ruinous for us both, I was at the mechanic for days getting my systems repaired after our second bout." the Silver Shell stated with an unusually humble smile that made Jenny blush a cyan blue.
The Silver Shell diverts his attention to a hyperventilating Himcules with sweat dripping down practically every part of his body, seemingly frantically searching for a Lightspeed that's nowhere to be seen.
—
To say that Sheldon was terrified would be an understatement, now was the moment of truth.
…..
The Silver Shell rapidly closes the distance between himself and a Himcules who has his back turned to him.
The silver automaton delivers a blow to the back of Himcules' head with his right hand, in response, Himcules instantly turns around and grabs hold of both of the Silver Shell's hands.
An evenly matched grapple ensues, with both parties struggling (and failing) to gain the upper hand.
…..
Much to Sheldon's pleasant surprise, the Silver Shell was managing to hold its own against Himcules' incredible strength, before long, his pleasant surprise was quickly turning to dread as a metaphorically suffocating air of uncertainty seemed to be contaminating the very atmosphere of the cockpit that belonged to the very automaton that he was controlling, for a single thought kept repeating in Sheldon's head:…..
"Just how long would he be able to maintain this?"
…..
Lightspeed comes into view from behind a piece of rubble, wielding a tree limb about as thick as his upper thigh and as long as he is tall.
Lightspeed grabs ahold of the tree limb with his right hand and hoists it to chest level, and with one fluid motion, swiftly runs his left palm across the entirety of the limb, severing any undesirable twigs and smaller branches attached to it from the entirety of its length.
With his new makeshift "baseball bat" in hand, Lightspeed quickly (but quietly) begins closing the distance between himself and a completely unaware Himcules, picking up some speed in the process.
Within seconds, the gap between the two is closed, and Lightspeed (wielding the tree limb like a left handed baseball batter) slams it into the back of Himcules' head, shattering the limb in multiple places in the process.
Splinters and chunks of wood explode outwards from the point of impact, and Himcules stumbles forwards.
Himcules (realizing that he was now surrounded from two sides) delivers a devastating right kick to the Silver Shell's chest, sending his silvery opponent sprawling to the ground on his back and sliding out of sight.
Before Himcules can turn around in time, Lightspeed drops the chunk of tree limb remaining in his right hand, and quickly climbs and latches onto Himcules' back.
Before he can be thrown off, Lightspeed grabs hold of Himcules' right arm with his right hand, and (upon pinning it into place against his opponent's neck) Lightspeed wraps the rest of his right arm upon Himcules' neck, essentially trapping his opponents' right arm, and firmly cementing himself in place at the same time.
Lightspeed then uses his left arm, and grabs ahold of Himcules' left arm and with a great amount of struggle, pins it behind Himcules' back.
The Silver Shell seems to have rallied and can be seen RAPIDLY approaching from the distance.
—-
Despite the the "primal" part of his brain taking the reins and suppressing the more "civilized" part, there was enough higher cognitive function within Lightspeed's adrenaline addled mind for him to determine that the finale to this fight was quickly approaching, if not via knockout, victory would come to one of them in the hands of their rapidly depleting stamina.
Himcules was panting like he had been stabbed in the lung and sounded like he was fighting for every breath of air he could suck in, and (unfortunately) Lightspeed wasn't doing much better.
While Lightspeed wasn't panting as much, his cardiovascular system was clearly starting to show signs of struggling to keep up with the intense demands that the fight was putting on him, his vision was beginning to blur, and he could practically hear the pounding of his beating heart thrumming away in his chest.
….
"Your strength is extraordinary, why bother protecting a town of such weaklings when the two of us could rule it together with an iron fist?" himcules breathily managed to choke out whilst attempting to break free of Lightspeed's iron strength grip.
"If you put the same amount of effort into attempting to break free that you put into flapping your gums, maybe you wouldn't be at my mercy." lightspeed breathily retorted whilst squeezing even tighter.
Before Himcules can respond, a metallic fist collides with the front of his face, knocking him out cold and sending him teetering towards and then sprawling to the ground on his back.
Lightspeed claws his way out from underneath the now unconscious Himcules, stands up and (after briefly dusting his armor off) turns to discover a rather concerned looking Silver Shell.
Lightspeed's helmet disassembles itself and retreats into the various recessed spots of his armor to reveal a pale face with black hair absolutely drenched in sweat and coated with grime.
A brief look of shock appears on the Silver Shell's metallic face, only to be replaced by a look of concern.
….
"I didn't hit him too hard, did I?" the Silver Shell nervously asked whilst pointing a metallic finger at the unconscious Himcules.
"He's still breathing in case that's what you mean." lightspeed replied rather flatly whilst panting.
A few awkward milliseconds of silence pass with the Silver Shell seemingly rubbing the non existent whiskers on his metallic chin with his right mechanical hand, as if mulling over what to say next.
…
Lightspeed was too busy catching his breath and regaining what little stamina he could from the scuffle with Himcules to truly care what the automaton before him had to say.
"You got a name, kid?" the silver shell asked whilst stretching out his right hand as if expecting a handshake.
"Name's Lightspeed." lightspeed replied whilst accepting the Silver Shell's "offer" and briefly shaking his hand.
"Well Lightspeed, are you alright, that brute threw you around quite a bit?" the Silver Shell asked whilst looking directly at Lightspeed.
"I could be better, but it's nothing some sleep, stitches, and time can't fix." lightspeed breathlessly replied.
"If you'd be so kind as to drop off that subdued meathead at the nearest police station or whatever facility that's capable of keeping him incarcerated, I'd really appreciate it." lightspeed stated whilst looking at The Silver Shell.
"Consider it done, I know just the place, a Skyway Patrol holding cell should keep him contained until his sentence has been served in full." the Silver Shell triumphantly replied whilst hoisting the unconscious Himcules over his right metallic shoulder like some kind of log.
"Never heard of 'em, who might they be?" lightspeed replied.
"Why, they're our planet's official defensive fighting force, second only to me and XJ-9 of course." the Silver Shell triumphantly replied.
Lightspeed briefly looks around, seemingly surveying the damage that Himcules had caused, before turning to face the Silver Shell.
"Well, for a global defensive fighting force, they seem fairly incompetent." lightspeed rather bluntly stated.
—-
Jenny couldn't help but roll her eyes in response to The Silver Shell's naive "Skyway Patrol" comment, she doubted the unexpected "dropoff" of Himcules would be taken well by the agency with absurdly high levels of bureaucracy, it would take months of paperwork to even get the approval to put him in a holding cell, Himcules merely showing up would throw the agency into a bureaucratic chaos that could last months.
Against her better judgment and despite her practically nonexistent remaining power reserves, Jenny couldn't help but get one jab in after Lightspeed's "fairly incompetent" statement.
"Fairly incompetent would be the understatement of the century." jenny replied rather weakly.
—-
The larger of the two automatons before John took to the sky with Himcules in tow, leaving him behind with the ally that Lightspeed was tasked with having in tow when returning to Mrs. Wakeman's house.
…
John was hoping that the teenage robot wouldn't put up much of a fuss (if any) about "going home", but given her rather dismal reserve power situation, Lightspeed was fairly confident that he wouldn't have to get "persuasive".
….
Lightspeed closes the distance between himself and Jenny, and simply asks the following:
"Are you too drained to walk?" lightspeed asked with an outstretched gauntlet covered right hand, as if offering to help Jenny up.
Jenny accepts Lightspeed's "offer", and delicately interlocks her 4 damaged metallic fingers on her right hand with Lightspeed's 5.
—-
Jenny didn't appreciate the somewhat rough way the boy yanked her onto her metallic feet, but given how exhausted he looked, it was probably out of necessity.
…..
"Walking is about the only thing I can do with such little power, we have about 4 minutes before I shut down." jenny stated with a modest level of concern to her voice before adding:
"Given that Himcules is no longer a problem, it's not that big a deal if I do." jenny added.
"I thought that you were still locked up by mom… how did you get out?" jenny said, changing the topic.
"I'll tell you about it later, let's just focus on the two of us getting home, alright?" lightspeed replied.
The two begin to walk down the sidewalk and disappeared out of sight.
(Sorry for the cliffhanger but I've got to get this chapter wrapped up and ready to go, it's too long when compared to how long I normally make them.)