Hacienda
AJ pulled the bike up to the chainlink gate of Hacienda Sur Luna Airport, the white-and-blue sign out front still bearing most of the airport's name and only slightly damaged by the invasive growth of an adjacent Joshua tree. He parked the bike by the sign, put out the kickstand, and disembarked. The airport's runways were shielded from view by the two-story main building and almost a dozen hangars lying adjacent to it, some open-air and some fully enclosed. The robots allegedly inhabiting the airport were nowhere to be seen, so he guessed they were out on the runways.
He made sure the trench gun was topped up with pulse slugs and then approached the main building, his daughter right at his side with her carbine out. The sun's baking heat relentlessly beat against them, amplified by the dingy white sheet steel of the open-air hangars. The two of them quickly sidled up to the main entrance of the main building and, after a quick check, moved inside. The lobby was abandoned and dusty, with three hallways shooting off in each direction. Through the open doors behind the receptionist's desk AJ could see daylight at the end of the hall, a Protectron standing outside with its back to the doors.
"Let's head up to the air traffic control tower. Get a better look at what we're going up against," AJ said, and Penny nodded. The hall to the right had collapsed at some point, so the two of them had no choice but to go left, carefully eyeing each door and checking each room as they went. Halfway down the hall there was a staircase to the left, heading up to the second floor, which they took. From there it was smooth sailing until they found the door labeled 'ATC Tower.' They stopped outside the door, AJ with his hand on the handle.
"Ready?" he asked. Penny nodded. He turned the handle and they entered the tower, slowly ascending its spiraling steps. AJ stopped at the top to make sure the tower was clear and then he and Penny emerged, spreading out from the threshold of the staircase. AJ smiled when Penny immediately walked over to the windows and looked out across the wide expanse of the desert, gasping as she took it in.
AJ approached the other side of the tower and looked North, toward the runways. As expected the bulk of the robots at Hacienda Airport were clustered around the hangars, salvaging the aircraft that remained. Part of him wondered if any of them could fly, and he found himself briefly fantasizing about taking Penny up in one of them and letting her see the world from the great blue yonder.
He looked down at the hangars closest to the administration building and saw a pre-War military truck parked by one of them. Zimmerman had said the vehicle they were looking for was an armored vehicle, and was inside one of the hangars, so the truck clearly wasn't what they were looking for. That it was close to some of the hangars was a good sign, however.
What wasn't such a good sign, though, were all the robots congregating around said truck and hangars, though he supposed it meant his hunch was right. Still, getting through them all would be a challenge. Even with the pulse slugs and grenades he doubted it'd be enough; from up high he could see that there were more Gutsies than Protectrons around the truck and hangar, and there was no telling if there were any robots in the hangars or how many.
"Hmm, looks like we'll have to try sneaking our way into the hangars," AJ said. When Penny didn't respond he looked over his shoulder and saw that she was still standing by the windows, staring out across the desert. AJ smiled, walked up behind her, and grabbed her butt.
"HYA!" she yelped, her body tensing, and looked over her shoulder. "Geez, daddy, don't sneak up on me like that."
AJ smiled, gave her a look, and continued to fondle her bottom. He pressed his face to her hair, stuck his hand inside her waistband, and she started to squirm. "Here...?" she asked, and AJ shook his head.
"We have a job to do, so let's stay focused." He withdrew his hand from her pants and she nodded, grabbing her carbine and joining him by the north end of the tower. He pointed out the truck and the robots and she took it all in with a series of nods, looking down at the hangars.
"Look there, daddy," she said, and pointed at the hangars. "There are doors on the sides of them. I bet we could sneak through the hangars until we find the thing we're looking for."
AJ took a closer look and saw what she meant; there were utility doors on the sides of each hangar, some open and some closed. All they had to do was get inside one hangar and then they could just slip through the utility doors until they found the armored vehicle. Assuming none of the doors were jammed or locked, that is.
"Good catch," AJ said, and squeezed her rear again, making her softly gasp and tense up once more. "Let's get down there and see if we can't sneak by them all." Together they retraced their steps out of the tower and back down to the first floor of the admin building. When they entered the hallway with the second-floor staircase they went left instead of right, toward the hangars on the north-side of the building. The doors at the end of the hall were glass and, amazingly, were still intact. AJ looked left, then right, and saw a Protectron standing between the first hangar and the admin building, its back to them.
"Stay here," AJ whispered, and slowly crept out of the building. He approached the Protectron, a military model judging by the paint, and crouched behind it. He accessed its control panel and repeated what Zimmerman had shown him, erasing the robot's IFF protocols. When he closed the panel and nothing happened he was afraid he'd messed it up, until another Protectron awkwardly walked into view. The hacked machine spotted its bolt-mate and lifted its grabbers, the diodes in its arms glowing bright red.
"Hostiles in area."
The Protectron opened fire on its buddy, its beams slamming into it. It returned fire, their extra armor making them a little more resilient to the laser fire. AJ heard more robots coming over to investigate and nodded, satisfied. He gestured for Penny to follow him and together they entered the first hangar. Most of the floor space was occupied by a single-seat jet plane, painted in a fading and cracked yellow. There were a few Protectrons and a Mister Gutsy in the hangar, all facing the hangar's main door.
"Sounds like some commies looking for the reaper!" the Gutsy declared, hovering near the control panel for the main door. To AJ's amazement the robot reached up and used the muzzle of its plasma gun to punch one of the panel's buttons. The main door began to open, sunlight spilling into the hangar. AJ quickly moved up to the nearest Protectron and compromised it. He and Penny made their way behind some crates behind the plane and watched the robot open fire on the Mister Gutsy as it floated into view. The other Protectron in the hangar turned to open fire as well, turning its back on the hangar's other side door and giving AJ and Penny the opportunity they needed. They quickly scurried out the door, emerging between two hangars. The side door to the second hangar was already open, and they carefully eased up to it before slinking inside.
"Hm," AJ said as they entered. The hangar was apparently being used as some kind of storage room. Dozens and dozens of wood crates and metal drums lined its floor, stacked on top of each other and forming a kind of maze. Protectrons roamed its corridors, doubtless looking for scrap metal and scrap electronics. One such robot clanked near them, to the right of the door. AJ carefully tracked it, coming up behind it. He was about to hack it when it started to turn around. He swore under his breath and quickly turned the robot off. It collapsed in a heap on the floor with a loud *clang!*
"I smell a commie..." a Gutsy growled from somewhere in the hangar. AJ swore again and nodded for Penny to follow him back the other way, hoping they could avoid the machine. They winded through the crate-maze, keeping low and checking each and every corner they came across as they made their way towards the other side door.
They were just a few feet from the door when the Gutsy hovered into view, its thruster quietly roaring and casting a bright orange glow in the dark hangar. Its sensors turned towards them and turned red, its plasma gun coming around to bear. "Found you!"
"Fuck." AJ touched off one of the pulse slugs, hitting the robot in the thruster. It shut down and collapsed to the floor, quickly turning back on. The few seconds it would need to get back up was all they needed to beat feet back the way they'd come, hoping to lose the Gutsy in the maze.
AJ rounded a corner and collided with a Protectron, which lifted its arms to club him in the head. He leapt back, narrowly dodging its swing, and quickly ducked behind it and erased its IFF protocols. The Gutsy caught up to them a second later, catching a laser beam in its hull. The Protectron fired again, shearing off one of the Gutsy's sensors and sending it whirling.
With the robots locked in combat AJ and Penny took the long way around the hangar to reach the other side door. They ran up to it and AJ yanked on the handle, finding it locked. "Oh for God's sake," he said. He looked over his shoulder, tracking the Gutsy from the glow of its thruster as it searched for him. The smell of ozone hung heavily in the air, green vapors rising into the air from where the Protectrons had fallen. He looked back at the door, trying to decide what to do. He could shoot the lock, hope to break it, but he knew that was dangerous.
"Nothing better than making some poor bastard die for his country!"
"Fucking deranged things," AJ whispered to himself. He took one last look at the door and grabbed Penny by the wrist, leading her back into the crate-maze. Going back would be a waste of time, so they were left with just one option. AJ led his daughter towards the hangar's main door, praying that there wouldn't be any robots outside. He rushed over to the control panel and looked it over, trying to find the button that would open the door in the gloom.
*PZZHEEWW!*
AJ nearly threw himself to the floor as a plasma bolt slammed into the wall above his head. Penny screamed and returned fire on the robot, her bullets pinging off its armor, the darkness strobing with the muzzle flashes and plasma fire. AJ found the button and slammed it, the hangar's main door slowly sliding up on its tracks. He pushed Penny out the door and quickly followed suit, ducking to get out before it opened all the way. The military truck was right in front of them, facing away. To the right were three Protectrons, scorched from battling their comrades. To the left was a forklift, facing the third hangar and holding the main door partially open.
They were about to rush for it when AJ caught movement behind the forklift. He watched in abject horror as a massive black robot rolled into view on tracked pods that chewed up the pavement beneath them. Its upper hull rotated on an axis, bringing to bear two arms: one bearing a tri-barreled minigun and the other bearing a rocket launcher. Its head sported a bright red searchlight, the beam casting a menacing glow even in the daytime sun. Steam constantly poured from exhausts on its rear, making the air shimmer behind it.
"Alert. Hostiles in area. Lethal force has been authorized."
AJ grabbed Penny again and nearly yanked her off her feet as he ducked under the third hangar's partially open door and scrambled inside. The Sentry Bot opened fire, the crushing thunder of its minigun violently hammering the thin walls of the hangar as the bullets ventilated it. AJ shielded his daughter's body with his own, the two of them lying on the floor and covering their heads. Beneath him Penny screamed, futilely trying to drown out the thunder. The Sentry Bot ceased fire and began ramming the hangar's main door, trying to break it down.
AJ jumped to his feet and picked Penny up, the two of them crouching and scurrying away from the main door. They took cover behind a bank of metal crates, faces flushed and eyes wide. The hangar was devoid of any robots, which AJ was immensely grateful for. He peeked over the crates and could see the Sentry Bot's lower half as it repeatedly reversed and then accelerated into the main door, a sizable dent already in it. He looked left at the open expanse of the hangar and...
"Oh, yes!" he said. He stood upright and Penny followed suit, keeping close to him as he hurried across the floor to their salvation. At the center of the hangar, its rear ramp dropped, was an M113 Armored Personnel Carrier, painted in a flat khaki and dented with the impacts from the Sentry Bot's minigun. The front of the vehicle was facing the main door, its top hatch replaced with a plexiglass ball turret sporting a machine gun. "GET INSIDE, GET INSIDE!" AJ screamed, and Penny quickly ran up the ramp and into the vehicle. AJ crouched and scurried around the outside of the vehicle, checking it over. It was intact, as far as he could tell, but there was no way to know if it still had fuel.
Please still work please still work please still work... Where the FUCK is the gas tank?!
The Sentry Bot outside opened fire again, forcing AJ to the floor as the storm of bullets shredded the inside of the hangar, pinging off the APC's armor. The bot ceased fire and AJ could hear his daughter screaming for him. He scrambled to his feet and ran to the ramp, finding Penny standing by it with an intense look of fear in her eyes. AJ grabbed her shoulders and kissed her forehead, just to show her he was OK, and then he rushed into the vehicle's forward compartment.
Fuck it, he thought. Let's just try it.
"GET ON THE GUN!" he shouted, and looked back over his shoulder. Penny climbed into the ball turret's chair, though she had to stand upright on it to see out the plexiglass. AJ focused his attention back on the vehicle's controls and looked them over, hands up in the air in front of him as he struggled to figure out how to turn it on, much less control it.
"Oh what the fuck is this..." he said, looking at the control sticks. Apparently a steering wheel was too much to ask for. The Sentry Bot opened fire again, the bullets slamming into the APC's armor and making him flinch. After almost five minutes he found and hit the ignition and the vehicle's engine roared to life, loudly idling inside the enclosed space. He hesitantly grabbed the control sticks, looked out the viewport, and gently pressed the accelerator. The vehicle surged forward and rammed the main door, though not hard enough to break through it, and he heard Penny scream in a mix of fear and excitement. He looked back to check on her and realized the rear ramp was still down. After another minute he found the control for it, closed it up, and reversed.
"HOLD ON!"
He gripped the control sticks and floored the accelerator. The M113 roared forward and rammed straight through the main door, shredding it and bashing the Sentry Bot aside. The left side of the vehicle caught a Protectron and sucked it under the tracks, crushing it into metallic toothpicks. AJ yanked the left stick and the vehicle began to turn, the tracks audibly clattering even through the hull. They raced out onto the sandy runways, red lasers and green orbs flashing by them the whole way as AJ brought the M113 around. "PENNY!" he screamed. "SHOOT THOSE ROBOTS!"
He could hardly see out the viewport so he opened the hatch above him and poked his head out, appreciating the much greater field of view it gave him. He finished bringing the vehicle around and started going back the way they'd come, the right side of the APC facing the robots as they gave chase. He saw two more Sentry Bots, plus the severely damaged one, coming after them, their rocket launcher arms tracking them the whole way as AJ closed the distance between them and the APC. One of them fired, a trio of missiles screaming across the runway and flashing over them close enough to make AJ duck. "PENNY!"
*THUMP THUMP THUMP!*
AJ was about to ask what was wrong with the machine gun when three explosions erupted amidst the robots, the shrapnel shredding the Protectrons into tinsel and spilling the guts of the Gutsies. AJ risked a glance over his shoulder at his daughter in the ball turret, the gigantic grin on her face faintly visible through the dusty plexiglass.
"DADDY!" she screamed. "IT'S NOT A MACHINE GUN, IT'S A GRENADE LAUNCHER!"
*THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP!*
Four explosions landed among the robots again, tearing and blasting them into scorched scrap. His daughter fired and fired and fired, raining grenades onto the machines and completely blowing them away. AJ's eyes widened and a grin spread across his face as he she landed direct hits on the Sentry Bots, blasting huge holes in two of them and tearing their heavy arms and legs off. She hit something critical on the third one and it erupted into a blinding white inferno, a flaming mushroom cloud rising into the afternoon sky. The sound of the explosions thundered across the airport, making AJ's teeth rattle, the shockwave kicking up a cloud of dust in its wake.
"GOOD GIRL!" AJ whooped! "OH I'M GONNA GIVE YOU A BIG FUCKING REWARD WHEN WE GET HOME!"
AJ spent the next five minutes driving the M113 back and forth, up and down, the runway and tarmac of Hacienda Sur Luna Airport, both to familiarize himself with the vehicle and to give Penny the chance to obliterate the rest of the robots infesting the place. He watched with the same glee she was no doubt feeling as she placed grenade after grenade into the midst of the helpless machines, fireballs spontaneously erupting all across the airport and sending up chunks of asphalt and steel. When they were done, when not even a single Eyebot remained, AJ turned the APC towards the main gate and slowed down, using the vehicle's nose to push the gate open. He parked by the sign and withdrew into the vehicle, closing the hatch as he did. He turned and climbed back into the troop bay just as Penny climbed down from the automatic grenade gun, still grinning. "DID YOU SEE THAT?!" she yelled. "THAT WAS SO FUCKING COOL!"
AJ dropped to his knees and picked his daughter up, lifting her into the air. She held onto his arms and laughed, her head back and hair fluttering. "That was amazing! You did a great job, princess!" He put her back down and she hugged and kissed him, which he eagerly returned. He rose onto his feet and kissed her again and again, both on her lips and her cheeks. She laughed and giggled the whole time, hands on his hips.
After a few minutes AJ let go and smiled at her, and she smiled back. "C'mon," he said, "we gotta grab the bike and see if we can get it in here."
"Who cares about the bike?" Penny asked with a grin. "We have this thing now!"
AJ thought about it a moment and then grinned. He kissed his daughter again and rubbed her shoulder. "You're right," he said. "Wanna come sit up front?"
Penny nodded eagerly and climbed into the vehicle's copilot seat. She opened the top hatch and stood on the seat, the wind whipping her hair and the sun sparkling in her eyes as AJ slowly got the M113 up to speed and they raced back to the City of the Sun.