The Year of Robo Chapter 15
July 2300
By Robo
July 2, 2300
It was dark times for the humans. Now that Lab 32 was lost to them, the robots took full advantage of the situation. It provided easy transport for their units for their attacks the Factory. Most of the battles were complicated and soon get repetitive but we will not get into that. The important thing is that somehow the Factory had been defended against every attack, although usually the cost of defending it was high. The humans found the new units to be impossible to defeat in a large scale battle. The only thing that seemed to slow them down at all was the magic of Belesthar and Doan.
"We cannot continue at a rate like this!" demanded Davis. "I don't care what you say, it's a lost cause, Doan."
"You're right, we need Rachel. If we had more magic on our side, we could win," sighed Doan.
"We don't need Rachel," said Belesthar. "We need Robo. He's been at their domes for months and had gained valuable information. And their new units aren't that different from himself. He would know their weakness."
"All right, if we had Robo and Rachel it wouldn't be a lost cause," said Davis. "But in reality, the fact that they haven't returned seems that something has happened to them."
"Let the record show," said Doan, "that I opposed their mission from the start."
"Now wait a minute, man!" said Johnny. Since Lab 32 was taken, he had been residing in the Keeper's Dome. "Rachel is a tough babe, man! And that Robo is one of the strongest dudes I've ever met, man! They'll return, man."
"Well, until they do, our next actions is up to you, Doan," said Belesthar.
"That's King Doan," corrected Doan. "I am the king right?"
"Excuse me," said Davis. "I think in a situation like this, the highest ranking general takes control. It's a policy dating back to an instance in 600 A.D. when the king of Guardia at the time was injured in battle. Ever since, during wartime, the highest ranking general is in command of the kingdom until the war is over."
"I think he's right, man," said Johnny.
"Now wait a minute, what do ya know 'bout der kingdom," John asked Johnny.
"I'VE never heard of that policy," said Doan. "So I remain in control."
"No, I'm in control," demanded Davis.
"Well, I'd like to help here, but I'm not too familiar with Guardia's government," said Belesthar.
The argument continued until John said, "Now wait jes a minute! You two," he said, looking at Davis and Doan, "are both eager fer power. We ain't gonna git anywhere 'til dis is settled. I say we settle dis in a civilized manner." He tossed a coin in the air. "Now Davis, call it. Heads or tails."
"Heads," said Davis.
It landed on tails. "Well, it's a settled. Doan is in charge fer now." They began to realize how stupid it was anyway and began to focus on ways to defend the Factory.
Things were not so easily settled in the Geno Dome. Robo and Rachel were quite successful in defeating Mother Brain's opponents. Atropos thought that they should have their prisoners killed now and be done with it. Mother Brain assured her that this way was more interesting to say the least and that eventually their spirits would be broken and they could no longer fight. Then they would kill them, she assured to Atropos.
The Mother Brain's strategy seemed to be working, at least in Rachel's case. She was ready to give up. Robo kept his spirits up by assuring himself that he would get to fight Atropos and gain his revenge.
"Give it up Robo," she told him one day. "Fighting Atropos is the very thing you want. Do you think the Mother Brain will give it to you? Killing her will only increase you moral, which is the last thing the Mother Brain wants. Mark my words, you will never get your chance against Atropos."
At that moment, a voice came into their cells. "By order of the Mother Brain, Rachel will fight a special opponent today. Robo will fight Atropos."
"Ironic, is it not Miss Rachel?" asked Robo.
"All right, you were right this time," she said. "But let's get go now. I'm dying to see my special opponent," said Rachel sarcastically.
For the first time since they were brought to the Geno Dome, they entered separate arenas. Rachel walked into her arena and saw the Mother Brain's sick idea of a joke. There awaiting her was a human. "I thought she killed all her P.O.W.'s" gasped Rachel.
"Well, I had," came the sickening voice of Mother Brain. "This is a recent captive from our recent attack on the Factory. But don't worry, the Keeper's Dome will also fall to our forces in due time."
Rachel saw she had little choice. "Try to fight me if you can," she ordered the man. Thankfully it wasn't anyone she knew, although that did not make it much easier for her.
"You are one of my own kind," stammered the man. He dropped the staff the robots had given him.
Rachel drew the Masamune and said, "Fight!"
"That will be the day, when I fight one of my own for the pleasure for a bunch of perverted robots," said the man.
Rachel did not want to do this, but knew the consequences would be much worse if they both refused to fight. She charged him and he defended himself. He was a somewhat decent fighter, but had no experience with old weapons such as his staff. Rachel tried to make the fight last as long as it could, but the Mother Brain was not fooled. She grew angry, and Rachel knew if she was angry, both of them would be killed. She decided to end this now and stabbed the man in the heart.
"I always imagined various ways I could end up dead," he said. "But never did I imagine my death at the hands of another human."
"Better this way then for both of us to be executed at the hands of the Mother Brain," she told him. It did not comfort either of them. She saw the man drop to his knees and slowly die. The robot crowd went wild and shouted insults and taunts at Rachel. The guards brought Rachel back into her cell, where she wept.
It was a happier occasion for Robo, who was getting a reunion with his old nemesis. He knew not too get cocky or arrogant, even though he had beaten her twice before, this time the advantage was hers. She fired first, using the Laser Spin. He held out the Prism Fist and deflected the shot, and it hit her square in the chest. She did not expect for him to outsmart her and grew angry. She tackled him and before he could get back up used her Rocket Punch to hit him. She was surprised to see him get up. He ran towards her and punched her. She blocked his next two punches and swung her own fist. He blocked and hit her again in the stomach. She used the Uzzi Punch and followed up with the Laser Spin. This time Robo was unable to deflect it and once again he fell to the ground. He refused to give up and got up again. Atropos grew frustrated and charged to tackle him. Robo dodged and then tackled Atropos. He stood over her, but she used her deadly finishing move, the Area Bomb on Robo. He hit the floor, but still got back up. Atropos was shocked and before she could think of her next attack he punched her out.
He looked at her and was ready to hit him when he noticed something in the back of her head. "Mother Brain, you old fool," he said to himself. "You kept the computer chip containing my weapon systems with Atropos? What were you thinking?" He opened a compartment in his chest and inserted it. He used his Shock to damage Atropos' internal systems then faced a difficult decision. He could finish her off right now, but now there were several of Atropos' bodyguards running towards him. If he killed her now then it would provide the distraction they would need to kill him. He decided it best to fight her another day.
"You got lucky, Miss Atropos," he said. He turned to the robots running towards him and fired his Laser Spin. The laser pierced through their armor and killed them. He turned to Atropos who was trying to run away. "Oh, no you don't!" he said, firing his Ice Beam. He enclosed her in a solid block of ice. He ran out of the arena and into their cell, where he found Rachel.
"Robo, what happened?" she asked.
"There is no time to explain, Miss Rachel," he said. Robo looked at her face and said, "Are you crying?"
"No!" she said quickly. "No, just get me out of here. I don't want to talk about it."
"Very well," he said. "Hmmmm, that bracelet the Mother Brain put on you never did come off, despite our efforts. Perhaps I can blast it off." Before Rachel could protest, he carefully aimed his laser and fired. It melted a large portion of the bracelet away, allowing her to slip it off.
"I feel the magic returning to me," she said. "Thank you very much."
"Yes, yes, but the Mother Brain has certainly heard of this by now. Let us escape," said Robo.
They ran out as fast as they could, but when six XR-Units stood in their way, Rachel washed them away with a wave of water. More came, so they decided to simply run. "He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day," said Rachel.
"It would seem Atropos would agree with your advise," laughed Robo.
"What do you mean?" she asked as they approached the exit.
"Never mind," Robo said quickly.
They were almost out when an army of various robots came. There was no way they could fight each and every one of them, so their last resort was a Teleporter they found. "Originally I had wanted to go through the Sewer Access on our way home from this mission," said Robo. "It seems as if my wish will be granted."
"Can't you just teleport us to the Keeper's Dome," she asked.
"Negative," Robo said. "The robots have not established transportation from the Geno Dome to the Keeper's Dome. We will have to take our chances through the sewers." And with that, he punched in the coordinates and they disappeared in a bright flash.
.