CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
THE PROTOTYPE, PART TWO
The two of them flew out of the way hurriedly, and the robot struck the ground instead, the force of its blow sent concrete and asphalt exploding into the air, generating a small shockwave that blew Wombat and Tiger even further back.
Jets of flame exploded from Wombat’s feet to stabilize himself in the air and secure a gentle landing. Tiger on the other hand simply manipulated the wind with a gesture of her hand, and came to a sliding stop on the ground, narrowing their eyes at the robot.
The robot’s chrome glowed through the debris in the air, and then it emerged, it eyes glowing. Tiger studied the thing, wondering how it was so much stronger than the others, curious to see if it had any exposed weak points. Tiger found no weak points but what they did find was writing on the robot’s torso, one they hadn’t noticed earlier.
It simply said ‘PROTOTYPE’.
“Prototype,” Tiger murmured. This was just a test run for this robot and it was this strong. A shiver ran down their spine, and they felt their heart quicken a little. They drew deep breaths to calm themselves and then a new thought popped into their head.
If this was only a prototype then…
“It has to have a weakness,” Wombat declared, as though he’d been reading her mind. He was glaring at the Prototype, his eyes glowing intensely. He was clutching his broken hand but there was still an intimidating aura about him, one that said he still had a lot of fight left in him.
Tiger knew well enough that a broken hand wouldn’t be much of an obstacle for him. Even if he had both hands broken, Tiger got the sense that he would still have been able to concoct a plan to get rid of the Prototype, even if it meant giving up his own life.
But Tiger was here now. And that meant they could come up with a plan together. He wouldn’t have to die.
The Prototype’s six eyes glowed, and its body pulsed with energy. Immediately, both Wombat and Tiger dashed out of the way, just in time as the Prototype suddenly blurred forward and threw a punch that had been intended for Wombat. The punch found nothing but air but it still sent a ripple through the air that connected with Wombat and sent him sliding backward.
Wombat’s eyes widened at the impact. ‘WHAT THE HELL?’ He thought. ‘HOW IS THIS THING THAT STRONG? If that punch just now had connected, I might have lost my other hand.’
The Prototype scanned both of them. It looked straight at Wombat. “You’re in no condition to mount a sufficient fight against a weapon of death like me. Might I suggest that you step aside for the time being so I may proceed to fulfill my mission and eliminate the weak one?”
“The weak one?” Tiger repeated, sounding offended. “Are you talking about me?”
The Prototype turned to face Tiger. “I believe so. I’ve compared the data I have on you and your friends, and I’ve run a number of simulations. By my calculations, you’re estimated to be the weakest of your group, the easiest adversary for me. Eliminating you would be a sufficient enough demonstration of my capability, and thus my test program would be fulfilled."
"How can you speak when the other bots can’t?” Wombat queried.
“I’m a higher form than the others,” the Prototype answered. “My existence was made necessary to deal with the threat your group poses to the Great Incursion.”
“And there are more like you?”
“Many more, but only I am active,” the Prototype responded. “I am what you would call a test run.”
“Do you have any weaknesses?” Tiger asked.
The Prototype’s eyes flashed between red and gray for a moment, then settled on red. “I cannot share that information.”
“Damn,” Tiger sighed. “Well, at least I gave it a shot.”
“Apologies but I must cut our conversation short now,” the Prototype said. “Proceeding with elimination.”
The Prototype’s eyes glowed, and then it vanished in a blur. Both Tiger and Wombat gasped, and they immediately launched themselves backward with wind and flame to get away from the robot’s attack. The robot though, wouldn’t be deterred yet again.
The Prototype reappeared in front of Wombat, the world seeming to slow to a crawl in that instant, its glowing red eyes staring down at Wombat. The Prototype raised a hand, one that morphed into a silvery blade.
And then it stabbed.
But the blade found nothing but wind. A wall of wind, one that had suddenly erupted between Wombat and the Prototype, just in time to save Wombat from being stabbed.
“Stay away from my friend!” Tiger roared.
The Prototype spun around to face Tiger, and was hit by a blast of wind that sent it crashing into a building.
Tiger let out a furious scream and rose into the air, supported by an intense wind vortex. They spun their hands around, pooling together wind, and then they launched a powerful slash of wind at the Prototype. The slash hit the Prototype and pierced through the entire building, slicing the building in half straight through the middle.
The top half of the building slid off to the right, pieces of concrete and rubble collapsing to the street below, while a huge chunk collapsed onto the next-door video game store.
“Did that seem weak to you?!” Tiger bellowed, their voice booming through the air with an almost godly aura.
Wombat stared at the building Tiger had just decimated. He drew a deep breath and glowed his eyes so he could track heat signatures. From the mess of the building, he picked up on the Prototype’s heat signature, still pulsing away. He saw the robot rising to its feet, turning, and noticed that the heat signature began to shine brilliantly.
“Tiger!” he yelled.
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Without hesitation, he launched himself into the air, straight at Tiger, colliding into her and knocking her out of the way just in time. The Prototype’s red beam of energy blasted into Wombat instead, sending a convulsing shock that rippled through the hero. Wombat roared in agony, and then started to drop out of the air, the world blurring out of focus around him, his entire body seeming to go numb.
Just before he hit the ground, he blinked hard, forcing the world back into focus, then turned over and roared, unleashing an intense blast of flame from his mouth, aimed straight at the ground to break his fall.
He landed on the ground gently, and heaved a breath of relief. His relief was short lived however since the Prototype immediately came for him again, seeking to flatten Wombat by falling out of the air, right at him.
Wombat’s eyes widened and he spun out of the way in time. The Prototype landed hard on the ground and the impact sent Wombat flying and crashing into the video game store that had already been half destroyed by Tiger’s earlier attack.
The Prototype turned around and started to walk toward the game store. Halfway to the store, Tiger landed hard on the ground right in front of him, sending out a frightening gust of wind that brought the robot to a halt in its tracks.
“You know you’re really starting to piss me off,” Tiger snarled.
“I am a robot so I have no feelings,” the Prototype answered. “But I imagine that if I did, the feeling would be mutual.”
“Glad we’re on the same page then,” Tiger snarled.
“What do you intend to do?” the Prototype questioned. “Drain the oxygen out of me? Your powers are useless against—,”
“Tempest Boom!” Tiger roared, cutting the robot off. They flicked a finger in the Prototype’s direction, launching a rapid ball of wind that slammed into it and sent it sliding backward. They surged forward at once, eyes glowing intensely.
The Prototype snarled and launched itself at them too. As the Prototype hurtled in their direction, they saw the opening. Several of them, all small openings that were rather easy to miss. The neck, the shoulder, the waist, the ankles. All of these had tiny gaps, no doubt so the joints had better mobility, less stiffness.
The gaps were small enough that Tiger couldn’t launch a range attack precise enough to target them. But if range wouldn’t work, they would just have to get up close and personal and target those openings more directly.
This was a risk though since there was no way for Tiger to match the Prototype’s strength in close quarters combat, meaning they had to play their cards right, minimizing the risk of damage to themselves.
Tiger drew a deep breath, and then they stopped flying. The Prototype, as predicted slammed right into them, knocking them straight to the ground and continuing, pushing them against the ground. The robot slammed a fist into Tiger’s face and then another.
“I told you, you were weak,” the robot droned. Another fist crashed into Tiger’s face. “I told you, you couldn’t win.”
Another fist crashed into her face.
“After your elimination, the flame wielder will die, and then the doppelgangers will,” the Prototype declared.
“You talk too much,” Tiger growled, and spat blood from their mouth straight onto the Prototype’s face.
She cracked a smile, one that made the Prototype halt. It stopped punching, its eyes appearing a little puzzled. She tapped against the Prototype’s left arm, and immediately, wind exploded from the gap at its left shoulder, blasting the left arm off entirely, exposing the cables there, sparks flying off.
The Prototype’s eyes flashed in warning.
“I don’t understand,” the robot spoke, sounding rather genuinely confused. “I am the apex of my kind. My destruction should be impossible. My victory was assured. I ran the calculations.”
“You know the great thing about wind?” Tiger grinned. “It’s pure chaos. You can’t predict the wind, and you can’t control it either. Not unless you’re me, of course.”
Tiger stared at the robot’s right shoulder, at the wind they’d willed into the gap, compressed there. They smiled, and raised a hand to its arm but the robot moved quickly, dashing backward, putting significant distance between them.
Tiger rose to their feet, spat blood from their mouth. “You know I don’t need to touch you to do this, right?”
They snapped a finger and off exploded the Prototype’s right arm, the piece of metal sailing through the air and lodging itself in the wall of a building, cracks spreading out from the point where the hand connected.
The Prototype staggered, clearly in disbelief at what was happening; if it was at all possible for a robot to feel disbelief.
Tiger took a step toward the Prototype, which took a step backward.
“You’re not afraid, are you?”
Wombat emerged from the video game store, flying right out of it, flames engulfing his entire body, his eyes appearing filled with rage. He’d wrapped thick cables around his broken hand and crafted a makeshift brace to aid its mobility.
He looked around for a moment, studying the Prototype and noticing its missing arms. Realization dawned on him almost immediately.
“I see,” Wombat said. “Tiger, might I have the honors?”
“By all means,” Tiger grinned. “It’s all yours.”
“Good,” Wombat growled, fixing his full attention on the Prototype. “You broke my hand. You have any idea how hard that’s going to make it for me to beat Dante at Mario Kart after this? You’ll pay for that.”
He surged forward, straight at the robot, which still looked to be frozen in shock from the loss of its arms to Tiger. Wombat slammed into the Prototype headfirst and flew straight into a building with the robot, punching it straight through.
They shot through building after building, Wombat unleashing furious blow after furious blow, each blow packed with incredible fire power.
The Prototype seemed to snap out of its loss of focus after a while and fired beams from its six eyes, but Wombat clasped a hand over the Prototype’s face, trapping the beams. He felt the pain from the blast, but ignored it. And it proved worth it since cracks formed in the Prototype’s face from having its own beams essentially trapped against it.
Spark of electricity escaped the cracks and the Prototype’s eyes started to flutter.
“Damage critical,” the robot warned.
“You betcha,” Wombat responded.
Wombat seized the Prototype by the neck and shot straight upward, flying straight into the clouds at rocket speed.
Once high enough, he let go of the robot and held out both hands. He drew a deep breath and cracked a smile. “Let my flames liberate you.”
A chain of sparks shot through the air, straight toward the Prototype, and then a dazzling explosion engulfed the robot, an explosion of blue-and-gold, one that lit up the sky and parted nearby clouds.
When the explosion vanished, the Prototype was still there, looking at first to be intact. And then one after the other, its limbs started to explode, flames blasting out from its gaps, blowing it apart from piece to piece while Wombat simply smiled and observed.
Seconds passed and then there was nothing left of the Prototype but the flaming pieces of it that plummeted to the ground below.
Wombat returned to the ground, landing right next to the Prototype’s head, with its eyes still glowing weakly.
“Well earned,” the Prototype spoke, its voice distorted as it powered down. Its six eyes went dim, until they were nothing but empty holes in a piece of scrap metal. Still, not interested in taking any chances, Wombat picked up the head and blew it up.
He dusted his hands off and turned to face Tiger, who looked relieved that Wombat was in one piece.
“Wombat, Tiger, come in,” Dang’s voice came through their comms. “Are you guys okay? We just saw the explosion in the sky. We’re on our way to you guys, clearing through other bots in the city.”
“We’re fine,” Wombat answered, raising a hand to his ears. “Just had to take care of a little obstacle but it’s done now. We’re going to rejoin the cleanup, get rid of as many of the other murderbots as we can.”
“You guys take everything from Sixth and after,” Daedalus said. “We’ll work our way to you guys.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Wombat nodded. He lowered his hand and drew a deep breath. With his adrenaline rush calming, he started to realize just how much pain he was in. He stared at his cable-wrapped hand and winced slightly.
“Are you okay?” Tiger asked him.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “A little bruised and beaten and whatnot but then again, who isn’t? All part of the job, right?”
“I think you should head back to HQ,” Tiger said. “I can handle the cleanup from here.”
“No,” Wombat shook his head. “I can keep going. Besides, it’s just the stupid robots we have to deal with now. Let’s finish the clean up and go grab some ice cream or something, right?”
“Right,” Tiger nodded, smiled. “Let’s do that.”
“Alright, then,” Wombat grinned, rising into the air slowly. “Time to put an end to this little incursion.”