Liam spun from the chair, pulling up his staff as he sprung to his feet. Nudge, finally breaking out of his focus, turned towards the noise. Wire outclassed both of the men. She was already standing next to Tank by the time the other two were up and ready. Three drones taking off from her back to buzz around her.

Liam didn’t see an opponent coming and didn’t have time to figure it out as the glass on the bridge’s room length window exploded inward. The sparkling shards splayed past Tank. Wire behind the larger Hero. The golden crown on Tank’s head looked regal in the sparkling light.

The robots Liam had seen on the screen only moments before were now very much real. Their long clawed arms skittered towards the closest Hero, Tank.

She took the first two with ease. Punching a hole through the middle of one before backhanding the other to the side.

While more of the mechanical foes darted in, many towards Tank, others swarmed around her. Like the parting of a river, this second group raced towards the other Heroes.

Liam’s staff darted at the first one, catching one of its arms with a shocking blast. He’d expected the machine to drop, like they had in the simulator. Its inner circuitry finding a fried end. Yet it kept coming, defying his expectations. Whoever created these things knew what they were doing.

Liam didn’t have time to appreciate the skilled build for long as the machine barreled into him. Taking the Hero off his feet. The two were on the ground wrestling when a vine as thick as Liam’s calf swung over his head. The plant took out the robot with ease and sent it flying into the back wall. Broken beyond repair.

Crawling to his feet, Liam got into position as the next robot arrived. This time, Liam was prepared. Keeping the robots approach at bay with his staff. Liam parried claw after claw. The two circled each other as metal struck metal.

The robot launched a probing attack, its clawed hand streaking for Liam’s faceplate only for the Hero to bash it away with a well timed parry. The move was followed by the butt of Liam’s staff striking towards the machine. The metal menace saw the attack in time and spun out of the way.

The robot redoubled the attack and pushed forward again. Claw coming in low, aimed at Liam’s foot. Liam jumped back, avoiding the attack, and then swung his staff down. The blow crashed into the robot’s arm and crippled the appendage.

The robot’s defenses were breached and Liam moved forward, only to hesitate. Wasn’t this too easy? He’d seen what the creator, or who he assumed was the creator, had done. How could he know to counter electricity, but let the robot fall to a simple attack from a staff?

Operating out of a hunch, Liam pulled back his attack and jumped to the side as a blot of red blurred by where he’d just been. A robot on the other side of the room was aiming to help its companion. Noticing Liam’s gaze, the second machine turned and raced towards Tank, its surprise attacks wouldn’t work now that Liam knew where it was. Yet Liam was under no delusion that there wasn’t another robot out there, waiting to take up its discarded mantle.

This was going to get annoying, Liam thought. What with more of the robots soaring into the room by the moment. How long could he stand? Liam’s mind went up a gear as he tried to solve the problem. Wait, couldn’t he do something about that?

Needing a distraction, Liam fired a taser bolt out of his chest at the robot in front of him. Despite its broken arm, the creature was rushing him again. When the dart sailed towards it, the robot swerved to the side. No longer rushing at Liam as it avoided his attack.

Taking advantage of the gap in the fight, Liam pulled out his three concrete foam grenades and tossed them at different sections of the broken glass windows. In a moment they went off and coated the openings in a thick foam. The soft texture turned hard in moments.

It wasn’t enough to cut off all the windows, but did a good job at bottlenecking the attackers. Forcing any new machines to go to the far side of the room. Nudge responded to Liam’s move. Using his vines he rushed to the remaining windows and pushed the attackers back.

Liam didn’t have enough time to see how the rest of the team was doing as his first opponent was there again. Good claw scraping over his suit.

The attack slammed Liam’s staff to his side and prevented him from getting any leverage with it. Dropping the staff, Liam turned to his hands. Both Hero and robot clawed at each other. Trying to pry the others shell off.

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With a claw attacking the back of his suit, Liam grabbed the robot’s eye and pulled at it. With a pop, it came free.

Rolling the struggling robot to the side, Liam reached up and grabbed the hole with both hands. Then pried the sides apart.

The robot, realizing Liam was about to win, went from attacking Liam to a desperate defense. Its clawed hand tried to pull away Liam’s grip while it used its disabled arm as a club and swung it down on Liam’s back.

Ignoring the attacks, Liam pulled harder, and the metal groaned under the pressure before giving way. Leaving a large enough hole for Liam to see inside. His mind wanted to study what was within. Over riding his desires, Liam balled his hand into a fist and slammed it into the robot. His gauntlet lighting on fire as it went into the machine.

Once inside, Liam swung his hand around, looking for anything important. Something that wasn’t difficult as he broke apart the robot’s circuit boards and the machine went limp.

With his foe felled, Liam climbed to his feet and regarded their situation. To one side, Tank was surrounded by opponents. Liam watched as she grabbed one in either hand and slammed them together. Beating them against each other until the two dropped to the floor. The broken parts of both machines littering the ground. Tank hurled what few parts were still in her hands at anything within reach.

Knowing Tank was in control of the situation, Liam turned to Nudge. The Hero had worked his way past the glass and was fighting in the open space outside the ship. Large vines were holding him aloft and twirling him through the air. Like an acrobat Nudge avoided attack after attack. With a deftness Liam expected in robots, not humans. The man’s attacks always reached home.

The battle raging outside the bridge dwarfed what was going on inside. If there wasn’t the imminent prospect of death, Liam would love to watch Nudge taking a fight seriously and going all out.

Despite the number of drones Nudge was taking out, a few were still sneaking past his defenses. Reaching the gap in the window towards the end of the bridge where they could scurry inside.

With a shake Liam turned to the last Hero in the group. Wire was standing in the midst of robots. Only one of her drones flew near her and one of the enemy robots was at her side. The other eight machines were facing them.

Grabbing his staff, Liam raced forward. No one was going to attack his teammate while he was nearby.

Knowing more robots were coming in through the window Liam threw his staff there. Triggering a subroutine as it traveled. The pole landed next to the window and sprang upright. One end digging into the deck with little clawed feet, while the side sparkled with electricity.

When the next robot came into range, the top of the staff bashed down on it. Swinging of its own accord and using its grip on the floor for an extra push.

The attack caught the robot by surprise, crumpling it against the ship’s hull, where it was repeatedly hit by the possessed staff until the robot fell to the ground, unmoving.

More of the machines attacked, and the staff swung on its pivot. It wouldn’t be able to stop the robots forever, but it would buy the Heroes within some time.

With the entrance guarded Liam pulled his second staff from his hip. The pole extended as he reached his enemies.

Liam bashed one of the machines forward, into the waiting claw of the robot Wire was controlling. The friendly robot dug its claw into its flailing brethren. Ripping out the parts from within. Like Liam had done to the machines before this enemy robot dropped a second later.

Wire nodded to Liam as he jumped over the fallen machine and took up a position next to her. The robots didn’t give him time to get comfortable as they attacked a second later. Launching themselves in waves at the Heroes.

Wire and Liam worked in tandem. Liam’s staff deflecting attacks as Wire controlled one robot after another. Tripping up their attack or using them to destroy themselves or their compatriots.

The two found a wall of debris forming around their feet. A graveyard for their mechanical enemies.

The fighting continued for minutes until Liam was looking down at another fallen opponent. His staff, dented and near broken from the fight, was planted in the robot. The thing’s eyes faded to black as he moved the staff around the insides of the metal casing.

Looking up Liam found the room had quieted. The pristine room was gone, a scrap yard of robotic parts taking its place. Around Tank the pieces were ground finer than Wire or himself, yet the effect was the same.

Outside the bridge, vines held Nudge aloft. The wriggling plants looked like his real appendages. His suit burned from the robot's attacks. On his arm his skin showed through. Liam would have to warn his teammate before they went back into the green gas. The last thing they wanted was to win a fight only for a silent killer to get them afterwards.

In front of Nudge was one final robot. One of its eyes was missing, while the other was broken. Flickering to life as the Heroes grouped by the window to inspect the damage.

The machine shook. Nudge turned to it and raised one of his vine arms. Ready to bring the fight to a close.

“I like the new team,” the robot said. Its voice crackled like a staticky radio.

Nudge’s vine lost some of its force as it wrapped itself around the machine.

“And you are?”

“Bad Touch, how could you forget me” the voice cackled.

Before anyone said another word, their chance was gone as the machine fell apart. Everything holding it together crumbled away.

“I knew it was you,” Nudge whispered. Liam’s microphones picking it up over the crash of the metal pieces hitting the deck.