"You coward!" Vecto fired.

Leroy spun around and smacked the energy blast away with his bare hand. The speed had flipped the brim of his hat up some, revealing blue eyes covered by rugged reddish-brown hair.

"Tell ya what. I'll let ya vent your anger." Leroy stepped down from the porch to face Vecto. "You win, I'll tell you. I win, ya gotta stay for brunch."

"I don't eat," Vecto said.

"Didn't say ya had to," Leroy said with a smirk.

"It's agreed," Vecto acknowledged, readying his blaster. "Your move."

Leroy twisted his hat snug on his head. "I ain't the one ask'n. So gimme yer best shot."

Instead of firing, Vecto sprinted at Leroy, moving in a blur as he pounded his shielded fist in Leroy's face, causing a wave of loose sticks on the ground to ripple in the air and hay to tumble from the nearby carriage-all from the force of the strike.

Yet Leroy's head was only slightly tilted, with Vecto's fist still pressing against his jaw. The straw from his mouth, on the other hand, was missing. In response, he pounded his palm at Vecto's chest, sending him sliding across the grass.

Vecto looked down, baffled by the man's strength; he was even stronger than Vecto remembered.

"Eh, Jebadiah!" Leroy yelled over to his fellow farmer.

"Yes, master!" The Amish-looking guy dropped to his knees and bowed.

"Wha? Ain't I tell ya not to bow and call me 'master'?"

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"My apologies, Mr. Johnson," the bulky guy said in a well-spoken tone. "What do you ask of me?"

Leroy glanced at Vecto, who seemed to be charging his Blaster 3,000. He then looked back at Jebadiah and smiled.

"Ya gotta tend to the chickens now, boy," Leroy said. "We gotta fix this fella some good ole eggs for brunch."

Jebadiah bowed and walked off as Vecto took offense at that comment and fired his charged shot. The blast, however, froze in midair, inches before Leroy's face. It bowed and changed directions. Leroy watched the energy soar upward, then clenched his fist. As he did so, the energy exploded.

Vecto watched the zero point energy trickle down like fading fireworks, knowing good and well how Leroy had stopped it.

"Still sharp on your telekinesis, I see," Vecto stated. "But we both know you can't move me and my shields."

Leroy shook his head. "Only by fist, my boy . . . only by fist."

Vecto came at him again, this time swinging low, striking Leroy's side. He raised the nozzle of his blaster and fired at point-blank range.

The energy sent Leroy sliding back, his white shirt now torn and a red burn mark imprinted on his chest. A human would have died from that blast, but Leroy was no human-he was Zarlero.

"Ya shield's turnin' yellow, my boy," Leroy said, shaking his head in dismay as he folded his hands behind his back. "It gets'a yellow when it's mad."

"I don't get angry!" Vecto yelled back, running at Leroy and launching his fist in a succession of rapid strikes. Leroy skipped back, dodging each blow.

"Then why d'ya got those feelin's?" Leroy asked as he kicked Vecto, sending him flying into the air.

"Patterns and mimics, only," Vecto replied as he hovered in the air. "A false reality for a disposable machine, is all!" Compartments swung open from his floating arms, and small missiles launched Leroy's way.

The farmer leaped in the air as the missiles exploded below him. He flew at Vecto and elbowed him in the head, then spun around, kicking Vecto back toward the ground as gravity nudged him down. Vecto's large feet crashed to the surface. He fell to one knee, holding his chest. Leroy, however, lightly floated to his toes.

"Can ya hear it? Your shield's a' cry'n. It's a' akin'," Leroy warned Vecto. "Every hit I make puts ya in pain. If you ain't listenin' to it, it'll feed from anger."

"Foolishness," Vecto said, standing up. "My body only acts on programmed responses learned from humans. I am nothing more than a shielded block of metal with a CPU."

"It ain't so, kiddo," Leroy said, lumbering toward Vecto. "You got a life in those shields."