Whoosh.

Alex squinted against the wind that rushed around his face as he fell toward the giant robot. It was easily as tall as a three-story building, and with his gate open and his magnetic senses running, it didn't register at all. It wasn't made out of metal, or something else was happening.

He clenched his teeth and pulled his fist back into his first punch. His metal arm was large but wasn't nearly large enough to damage the thing. He needed something else to land a good hit. That was where the ruins below and their metal content came into play.

Wind rushed faster and faster across his face. Alex reached out and attached himself to the metal below, pulling himself toward it and accelerating. The robot below had him in its sights, and Alex saw Benbeck pointing up and yelling from its shoulder. He would need to make the first punch count.

"Acceleration Piston."

With the pull of his magnetism and the weight of his arm, Alex shot down like a bullet toward the machine. Benbeck reacted to his movement, and the machine raised one fist to block the blow.

Boom.

Whatever Alex hit felt as hard as metal, and a reverberating vibration shook through his arm as his much landed against the robot's fast. His teeth clattered, but the machine's body didn't budge. It had been a solid hit, but whatever the robot was made out of was as strong as his junk arm.

"Not enough." Alex let his body fall onto the fist and heard Benbeck yell a command.

"Throw him, Robismo!"

Robismo swung its fist to the side, and Alex went with it. It slung him toward the ground and away from it. When he was in the air, Alex pushed out along the magnetic lines around him, using the temple's metal below to slow his fall and land softly.

"Hrrt." he grunted as he slid to a stop with his junk arm's fist buried into the ground.

Hoon. Thump.

Alex looked up at the massive robot as it stepped down from the building and approached him. He paid close attention to its feet as it walked. While it was heavy, it hadn't crushed the building, and its feet didn't make impressions in the ground as it planted each foot.

"It isn't metal," Alex whispered, forcing himself to stand and looking up at where Benbeck stood on the machine's shoulder. "It isn't heavy, but it was weak enough to fold with a punch. There's no way—"

As Benbeck approached, he noticed that the man had Ikal in his arms again. Alex loosened the fingers on his junk arm as he stared up at the man. Benbeck was sweating, and his golden suit was askew as he glared down at Alex. He held his gun up against Ikal's head as he looked down on Alex.

"We're going to try this again, Ortega!" Benbeck yelled from Robismo's shoulder. "I'm giving you another chance—your life for this kid's life. No games. No deception. Give up now, and I'll have Robismo crush you and let the kid go."

That wasn't an option. Alex wasn't about to give up. The fact that his plan hadn't worked out was just another problem to solve. The gun in Benbeck's hand was a dull grey in his senses. He couldn't pull it away. He needed another option, and his curse wasn't enough.

"This robot, it's your curse, right?" Alex asked.

"Why should I tell you?" Benbeck sputtered back. "Just give up and roll over so we can all go home!"

Alex smiled, rolling his shoulders before extending his left arm. He focused on his gate's power and took a deep breath as he channeled his electric power through the non-covered arm.

"Junk Arm."

"I said stop fighting back!" Benbeck yelled, holding up Ikal to show that he still had a gun pointed at his head. "I could kill this kid any second. Why do you keep standing up to me?"

"You don't understand something." Alex laughed. "Ikal's all that's keeping me from going all out on you right now."

Benbeck tilted his head, looking down at his gun and then back at Alex. "What do you mean?"

"If you kill Ikal, I'll rip you limb from limb," Alex said, shaking his head as he flexed his new metal arm. "Simple as that."

Benbeck visibly shuddered at those words, and Alex held up his new metallic arms, ready to take on the massive machine that was Robismo. He had no idea what it was made of, but he had a few guesses. The only way to find out if he was right was to start ripping it apart, piece by piece.

"But that's not the plan!" Benbeck yelled. "You're supposed to give up and not let the kid get hurt. Aren't you a good guy?"

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As Benbeck said that, Alex could tell he was close to doing it. He truly didn't want Ikal to die, but he also wasn't about to bend over and let himself be killed to save a life. However, he didn't need to worry about that.

A shadow flitted near Robismo's legs, about as high up as the building's roofs could get to the top of the massive machine. Alex smiled. There were three likely possibilities for who it could be, but he felt that he knew who the vague person he sensed climbing up the back of Robismo was.

Sayed would have jumped up to the top and cleaved Benbeck in twain. Jean would have practically teleported with a kick to catch him off guard. No. Alex was sure it was Erin, covertly climbing up the back of the machine on one of her vines, the embodiment of stealth and fulfilling their plan.

There was a reason he had sent her the back way.

"Well," Alex said, continuing his distraction. "You can't always have a plan go right. Here's my counteroffer: Put the kid down and turn your little robot away. I'll let you go with a light beating if you do that."

Benbeck glared at him, and Alex saw the gun begin to waver as it pointed at him. However, Benbeck didn't keep it there long. Even it it was a regular gun, it wouldn't be as simple as a single shot to take Alex down. Benbeck paused, his eyes widening as if he had seen the same problem.

"Screw you," Benbeck said, readjusting his aim on Ikal's head. "I'm going to kill this kid, and you can live with that. Then I'll kill you and your friends and bring the prince back for all your bounties."

"Vine Whip!"

Thwip-crack. Bzzt.

It happened faster than Alex could see. A vine shot out from behind Benbeck, near Robismo's head, and caught hold of his gun, ripping it out of his grasp and causing it to fire up into the air. Benbeck flew back toward the whip, landing hard as Ikal fell nearby. Erin was already there and gone, though, running forward and grabbing Ikal before running off the side of Robismo's shoulder and out into the night.

"Finally." Alex laughed, shaking his head as Benbeck recovered his footing. "I thought she would never get here."

"What have you done?" Benbeck demanded, his eyes roving over the flat shoulder around him. "What was that? Where did the kid go?"

"That." Alex smiled, looking up at Benbeck, "Was all part of the plan."

He leaned back on one leg, flexing his metallic fingers as he drew in deep breath. Now that Ikal was safe, he could go all out. With his leg, he pushed off, tapping into his well of aether, and he also flung his body forward with the full force of a magnetic push. It was what he wanted to do when he first came down from Robismo's punch. With his Path of Step and his magnetic control, he flung himself as hard as he could at Robismo, aiming right for the massive machine's chest.

"Acceleration Piston!"

Boom. Crack.

Robismo wasn't really a threat by itself. Alex was too small for it to deal with easily, and without Ikal making him hold back, Alex was certain he could break through it, regardless of what it was made of. His fist broke through the outer layer of Robismo's black armor as he crashed into it, and with a grunt, Alex passed through the entire thing, crashing through a hollow core and the other side.

"No! Robismo!" Benbeck yelled.

Thud.

Alex shot out the other side like a bullet, pulling on the magnetic lines around him to slow himself down. He had managed to grab hold of a piece of Robismo's armor in his metal fingers, and as he floated to the ground, he looked down at it. It took him a moment to recognize it, mainly because he hadn't seen the material in over a decade. However, as he crushed the material in his hand, he was even more certain what it was.

"Plastic," Alex whispered. "It's a giant toy."

Above him, Robismo faltered, its body shaking along with Benbeck on its shoulder. Benbeck grabbed hold of Robismo's neck as it clattered to the ground, pieces breaking off and shattering as it collapsed. Alex sighed. All of these problems, the hole in the ship, were caused by a curse that allowed Benbeck to animate a toy and make it grow massive.

Thump.

Robismo crumpled to the ground, and Benbeck fell with it. They landed together against a building, and Benbeck fell onto the roof. Alex sighed, throwing a pulse of magnetism against the gold around him to push himself into the air and above the roof. As he looked down at Benbeck, he saw who he had really been fighting.

Benbeck might have been a planner and might have been able to even out plan Alex, but he didn't have the strength to back it up. His crewmates were probably his heavy hitters, who had followed him because he had a vision to put their strength to use. Beyond that, Benbeck was just a bully. The moment Alex could push back, the moment Ikal was safe, it had been over for him. Already, Benbeck was scrambling across the rooftop, running for the edge to disappear into the night.

"Now, we can't have that," Alex said, pushing himself through the air with the aid of the metal around him before reaching out and grabbing hold of Benbeck's golden suit. "You've got a lot to answer for. So I'm not letting you go anywhere."

"Let me go!" Benbeck wailed, rotating his arms and legs in a furious motion as he tried to escape Alex's grasp. "Leave me alone, or I'll—"

"You'll do nothing," Alex said, turning Benbeck so that they were face to face. "You cause a lot of problems for someone so weak. I'm not about to let you go scot-free without answering to the people you hurt."

"When my crew gets a hold of you—"

Crack.

Alex let go of his curse on one arm, reducing its size and letting the metal disappear in flashes of light before slapping the man. He had enough of his words. All of this trouble is just having to deal with a bully. And now he was trying to talk his way out of the consequences of his actions. Alex couldn't stand it. Already, Benbeck's eyes swelled, and his ears burned. The fact that Benbeck couldn't even comprehend his situation made everything worse.

"Just shut up," Alex said. "Until this is over, just shut up. Otherwise, I don't know what I'll do to you."

Benbeck whimpered but did as he asked, curling up into a ball mid-air as Alex floated to the ground. Alex looked around as he landed. If he was right, he might need to help Sayed and Jean. The fight wasn't over until all of Benbeck's crew was accounted for. However, he also couldn't just leave Benbeck alone.

As he was debating what to do, he noticed a long vine slithering across the side of a wall. It wrapped up the side of the building and up the roof, congealing with a mass of vines above. Alex squinted. That wasn't right. Vines didn't normally move like that. He sighed. More curse shenanigans were going on in the ruins, and he felt his fight was far from over.

"I see my faith in his abilities was misplaced," a woman's voice came out from the rising vines. "It looks like I will have to deal with you and your crew myself."