The Year Of Robo Chapter 17
July 2300 (3)
By Robo
July 31, 2300
Although Atropos was officially in charge of the forces at Lab 32, Death was the one who called the shots. His first action was to send all forces that could be spared from the Arris, Trann, and Bangor Domes which nearly doubled their power. Death then decided to lay back for the rest of the month of July and fight a more defensive war. It was a success, because now the humans had to come to them. Johnny led as many troops that could be spared from the Keeper's Dome and led numerous attacks on Lab 32, but each time Death's forces wiped them out.
The humans were completely unaware of Death, they still thought Atropos was in command. But today he decided to let his enemies in on Mother Brain's secret. "Atropos! Gather all forces!"
"If I recall, Mother put me in charge, so why don't you gather them!" demanded Atropos.
"Hear me loud and clear, Atropos!" cried Death. "After this victory you will be no more than a mere foot soldier. I have been built to accomplish that which you were incapable of." He drew his sword and stabbed in several feet in the ground to emphasize his point. "I would suggest you save the energy you planned to spend arguing on begging Mother to spare your existence, once she sees how superior I am." Atropos stormed out of the room and ordered all the troops along the highway so that they could hear what Death had to say. Death stepped out of his room and was met with cheering from all the robots. He held his sword high into the air. "March forward to the Factory and kill all who live there or attempt to stop us!"
With a wave of his hand he dismissed them and they marched forward. Atropos stepped in front to take the leader's position, but Death had none of that. He pushed her aside and assumed the leader's position for himself. They arrived at the entrance to the Factory where they found the entrance sealed tight. There was a small sign saying: The Factory. Push button for communications. Death fired upon the door with his weapons and blew it down. He saw people suddenly stop from their tasks at hand and stare, then they began to scream and flee for their lives.
It was not hard, the Factory was almost always lightly guarded. People desperately worked at the computers to inform the other domes about this unexpected attack. They were told a small number of troops from the Proto Dome could reach the Factory in about three minutes, but that would not be enough to stop these forces. It would take much longer to get troops from the Keeper's Dome over there. The few soldiers present at the Factory assembled a semicircle around the door and blasted at the invaders. The weaker robots were taken out, but Death walked through and effortlessly shoved the guards out of his way. He approached a computer and tried to gain control of the Factory. The man working at that computer tugged at the arms of Death to try to prevent this. Death stopped momentarily and sliced the man in half with his sword.
"Temporarily seal the front door off!" cried the leader of the Factory.
"Success!" cried the leader of the Factory's soldiers. "Now let's see if we can stop their leader. If we can, it's very possible they will abort this attack." They fired their guns at Death but after taking a few shots he analyzed their weapons and created a Magic Wall to block their blaster shots. He continued his work while the soldiers tried to physically pull him away from the computer. Death lifted one of the soldiers in the air and snapped his neck as if it were a twig. He then shot out a blast of Shadow magic and disintegrated the soldiers. However, he realized that there was too much work for him to do and decided that there was only one other robot present that can help him override the Factory, Atropos.
He walked over to the door and ripped it open. He was surprised to see that a dozen humans from the Proto Dome arrived and were having relative success against the XR-Series. Three of the XR-Series had been destroyed with great effort from these twelve humans. He fired a Shadow attack at the humans to force them to retreat for a moment, then summoned Atropos. "What need do you have for me?" she demanded.
"I want your help to take control of this factory's computers," he said. Before Atropos had the opportunity to gloat, Death added, "No questions asked."
They went back in the Factory and got to work. The leader of the Factory said, "It is enevitable, they will now control the Factory if they continue at this rate, but there is still a way to prevent this."
"What?" whispered his assistant. Fortunately for the humans inside the Factory, Death thought it best to take control first, then slaughter them.
"We have to blow up the Factory," the leader said. His assistant opened his mouth to protest but the leader cut him off, "It's better to destroy the Factory than to leave it in the hands of the Mother Brain. And if we can lure some of their XR-Series into here before it explodes, they will perish in the explosion!" The XR-Series were thought to be almost invincible by the humans, but there was no way they could survive the explosion of the Factory. It is unlikely that the humans would get another chance like this to crush the XR-Series.
The assistant signaled the troops outside to come inside the Factory. As they came in, the twenty XR-Series and the various other robots that were involved in the attack followed. "Here is what we do," the leader of the Factory said, "quickly evacuate the Factory. Use the rear exits and head for the Proto Dome. I will have to stay behind and set the Factory for self-destruct."
"Will you have time to escape?" asked a soldier.
"No," said the leader, "but don't worry about me, you just get these people out of here and make your way to the Proto Dome as fast as you can. I'll give you five minutes, then I'll activate the sequence for self-destruct."
"Five minutes isn't very long," said his assistant.
"We can't spare anymore time than that," said the leader furiously. "I just hope that those two robots won't have taken control of the Factory by then, otherwise I will be unable to activate the sequence." He peeked out of the box of crates they were hiding behind and saw the XR-Series split up and search the entire Factory. "All right," said the leader. "They've left this room. Go now, but be careful they don't find you. You have five minutes."
Five minutes later the last of the humans were brought out of the Factory while the XR-Series vainly continued to search for the humans in the Factory. The Factory leader jumped out of hiding and cried, "Tell the Mother Brain that she can kiss her hopes of ever controlling this factory good-bye!"
"Stop him!" Death ordered. "Atropos! Where are the XR-Series? Get them, stop him, before he ruins my beautiful plan!"
"You were the one who ordered the XR-Series to search the Factory," said Atropos. "It would take a few minutes for me to gather them. I'll have to stop this human myself." Before she reached him, he punched in the final sequence and the Factory erupted in a pillar of flames. After burning for a few seconds, the Factory collasped under its own weight while several explosions went off, completly burning it to the ground, killing all the robots inside, as well as the Factory leader.
As the remains continued to burn, a lone figure stepped out of the flames, completely unharmed. The lone survivor was Death. He activated his communicator and was soon speaking to the Mother Brain. "Mother, the Factory was destroyed, but the twenty XR-Series we brought were killed, as well as all other units." He looked towards what remained of the Factory and noticed that Atropos was also making her way out of the rubble.
Atropos walked up to Death and anrily said, "You survived?!"
Death ignored her, but did not ignore Mother Brain's reply. "How did this happen? Whose fault is this?"
"Atropos failed to stop one of the humans in time," Death answered. "Because of that, he was able to cause the Factory to self-destruct."
"Atropos!" cried Mother Brain. "This is the last straw! You are demoted, and Death shall now take your place." Atropos was furious, while Death smirked. "Death," said Mother Brain, "you did at least destroy the Factory?"
"Yes, Mother," Death said. "Worry not, I planned well and only used a fraction of our troops on this assalt. We have hundreds more XR-Series at Lab 32, but I need more."
"Understood," said Mother Brain. "There are two thousand here in the Geno Dome. I will grant you 1,500 while the remaining five hundred will stay here. I trust you can finish the job with these numbers." Her voice ended and Death teleported back to Lab 32.
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