All right, no more waiting," I say, sliding the helmet over my head and locking it in place. Only a second later, the HUD came online, showing me the battery's life and a single green dot inferring the electronics were working correctly and my suit was ready for action. I step out of the van I used to get here, parked in a wooded area not far away and wearing the first version of my own power armor. Granted, it was mostly just an exoskeleton covered in ballistic cloth, with a few metal panels strapped to the outside and what looked like a metal backpack on the back. I probably looked like a cheap cartoon character, but it was simply the best I could do with what I had.
The readout in my HUD let me know the batteries were working at 100%, but I knew they wouldn't last long. I pulled my blaster off my hip and checked the display on the back to make sure it was ready. It was charged fully, which only accounted for six shots. I slid it back into its holster, which doubled as a charger for it, and looked up at my target.
The warehouse-looking building with a power substation sticking out the back stood foreboding in the dark night sky. One of the smaller facilities owned by a superhero, Dr. Techshield, the foremost tech-based hero in the world. And today I was going to steal from him.
I pulled a black, sleek device out of a pocket and checked its blinking yellow light. "Still not close enough," I said to myself. I hadn't built the device, and what I paid for it was still making me nervous, but it was a deal I simply couldn't avoid. With a big huff of air, I returned the device to my pocket and started toward the facility—and the true start of my second life.
It wasn't a long walk before I hit the fence. Simple chain-link, but I'd bet it had an alarm connected to it. I again pulled the device out and checked the light—solid yellow; it was ready. With my heart pounding, I pressed the little button on the top and waited. The light alternated between yellow and green, then, without fanfare, turned solid green. I looked up at the fence. Nothing looked different, but I supposed it wouldn't. This little wonder device should have gotten into the facility's computer and frozen all the security: no cameras, no alarms, and hopefully no sentry bots.
With a flick of my wrist, I had a small jet of flame shoot out of a little nozzle in my wrist, and the fence now had a me-sized door. I waited a moment, ready to run if I heard a siren or things started shooting at me. Nothing. I proceeded through the hole, and at a lumbering run I approached the nearest door.
I picked a side door, hoping it would be less defended. I looked at the panel next to the door; it read unlocked. Guess I could stop worrying whether the device worked or not. I drew my blaster, checked again that it was still at full charge, took a deep breath, and pressed "open."
"Halt. This area is off-limits," came a robotic voice from a thin-looking robot with green glowing eyes, holding up its hand, palm out. I think I tensed hard enough to leave a dent in the floor, then fired twice. My two energy bolts smashed into its chest, leaving two burnt, smoking holes. The bot's eyes went out, and it fell over without another word.
My own heavy breathing was nearly loud enough to drown out the other bot's demands.
"You are under arrest."
This bot looked the same as the first, except its palm had opened to allow a barrel to poke out. I calmly panicked, whirled on the second bot, and fired three poorly aimed shots in the time it fired once. My first shot bounced off its shoulder armor—which may have saved my life, as it threw off the bot's aim. Its shot whizzed over my head to the right. My second shot missed entirely, but my third hit at the bottom of its head, sending the head flying straight up and skittering away across the small room.
As the second bot's body clattered to the ground, with my heart in my mouth, I quickly checked the room for more. The room was a small security checkpoint, nothing in it but the door I was standing in, the bots, and another door I presumed led into the facility itself. On the wall, in some kind of docking station, were two more bots. I pointed my shaking blaster at them and waited. They appeared offline, maybe charging. I looked at them for a second longer before I figured it out: the device—it didn't allow the active bots to signal the inactive ones for help. That meant I'd probably have to deal with more bots once I got inside, but only the ones already active when I used the device. At least until the device stopped working.
I finally noticed the display on my blaster: 16%. "Great job," I abashed myself. "Only got one foot in the door before I used five of my six shots." I jammed the blaster back into its holster/charger, hoping I wouldn't need it again. A quick glance at my suit's power let me know it was already down to 94%. "Can't waste time," I said, opening the next door.
I slowly stepped into a cross-section of hallways. They looked straight out of a science-fiction movie: clean metal walls with lights along the floor. I didn't see any more bots yet, but the hallway turned not far in either direction. I moved into the hallway. I couldn't get a layout for the building, but I knew from the TV interview Dr. Techshield gave when he opened the place that it wrapped around a large central room. He also said the facility could easily power the whole city—could and currently did. I knew what I wanted had to be there. Choosing to go forward, I started looking for the door I wanted. This wasn't one of Dr. Techshield's labs or assembly buildings, so I probably wouldn't find anything useful here apart from my goal, but it didn't hurt to look.
Then I found it.
I opened a door that led into the large central room, largely dominated by power cabling running to the back wall and outside. But in the center of the room, I could see them: sun cores. A bunch of them. Those cube-shaped wonders were how Dr. Techshield had done so well as a superhero without superpowers. In his words, they held micro suns and had an unbelievably high power output. One of those could power any of my designs easily and definitely more. I looked at my HUD, which showed my power down to 84%, draining faster thanks to my blaster. I couldn't create anything like a sun core, so I was going to take a few of them.
They sat on three separate tables in ports they fit into. Each table had four on them. I guessed from the layout that the grid only pulled from one group at a time—probably to avoid overworking any of them. I was so focused on my goal I nearly missed the six bots patrolling around the room, and the several dozen hooked up around the room.
"No one said it would be easy," I thought as I slid back into the hallway.
I pulled my blaster out and saw a 39% charge—just over two shots. I put it back.
So long as the device was working, I didn't need to worry about the small army of offline bots, but that still left the six active ones. Like the world had been waiting for me to think of it, I heard:
"Intruder detected."
I turned just in time to take an energy bolt off my bulky shoulder armor. The blast tore a chunk of metal off and sent me tumbling down.
"Surrender now or be subdued," it warned belatedly. Another shot hit my back plate, undoing my progress as I struggled to stand. I gasped in pain, trying to rip my blaster free, when the next shot hit my shoulder. It ripped the whole plate off.
"Drop the weapon," it repeated. My left arm tingled and my back burned, but I wasn't going to be stopped by a hopped-up toaster with a gun. I rolled onto my back, taking another hit to my chest plate, and finally managed to bring up my blaster, firing a single shot into its chest. The damned thing jerked back, but instead of going down, it righted itself and kept coming. My second shot sent it smoking. I slowly relaxed my shaking arm and just sat there, breathing.
It took a figurative decade, but I got the blaster under control and checked the damage. My left shoulder armor was gone, torn right off the suit, leaving wiring and mechanical muscles exposed. The chest plate had a black burn mark but hadn't been penetrated. I looked down at the burnt twisted metal that had protected my shoulder.
"Well, I guess I don't need that anymore."
I gave the spent armor a kick.
"God damn it," I muttered. "One bot nearly did me in. How am I going to take six?"
Shaking, I pushed myself back into motion. I didn't need to check the blaster to know I had no shots left. My suit power, now down to 80%, told me I couldn't waste time—but maybe there was something here I could use. Slowly, I moved away from the central room to find some advantage.
I walked carefully down the hallway, my suit humming, not really sure what I was looking for. I needed to find something useful or at worst give my blaster time to charge. I didn't know how I could fight six of them, but I knew I wasn't leaving empty-handed.
I opened the first door I came across and nearly had a heart attack—another room full of offline bots in charging stations. I backed out quickly. Even off, those things worried me, and backed into something.
"Intruder detected."
I turned and came face to face with glowing green eyes of another bot.
"Shit."
It raised its arm, barrel sticking out. I grabbed it, trying to keep it from firing. I pulled out my blaster and shoved it under its head, pulling the trigger. Nothing. A second time—nothing! The bot grabbed my hand and pushed it away.
"Why didn't it work?" I thought, struggling to free my right hand while holding off the bot's weapon. My mechanical muscles were the only reason I could resist at all, and I could hear them straining. These bots might not look huge, but they were strong—I could hear a few pops as parts of the suit started to fail. I glanced down at the blaster: 9%. Well, that explained it. I let it drop and used my free hand to push back in earnest.
Time to really test the suit.
I dug my feet in and pushed. The bot struggled for a second, then its resistance vanished. I shoved it into the wall, drove it to the ground, and finally freed my right hand. I quickly stepped on its chest, grabbed its weapon arm, and pulled. It fired a few shots into the air while I yanked. With a metallic ripping sound, the arm came free. I staggered backward with it, letting the bot get back up, unbothered by its missing limb.
"Surrender now or be subdued," it stated again, moving toward me.
I tried the same tactic, and this time, when I got it down, I stood on its back, holding its head. I tossed the still-sparking head down the hallway.
Damn it. These bots were a lot more dangerous than I thought. After getting lucky with a few earlier, I had underestimated them. I picked up my blaster—still at 9%.
"Why didn't I just make it show how many shots I had, instead of power percentage?" I muttered, returning it to its holster.
I stood in the hallway, thinking I should give up, maybe make a real plan and hit a softer target. My suit's power on the HUD read 59%—that fight had drained almost 20% on its own.
A chirp from my pocket interrupted my thoughts. Pulling out the device, I saw the solid green light now blinking. Not good. Blinking green meant the virus—or whatever it was—was losing control of security. I moved quickly down the hall. If I didn't find something, I'd have to either go with what I had or give up.
I came to a larger, thicker door than any of the others. Unlocked, of course. Taking a deep breath, I tried to open it, but my left arm struggled to move. It took a little bit before it started to move smoothly. I tried again, opened it, and stepped in.
The room must have taken up the entire back half of the building. It was lined with cells, force-field projectors in place of doors, with one huge cell at the back, all empty. Across from each cell, two bots were embedded in the wall—but these weren't like the others. These ones were huge: around seven feet tall, broad, thick-limbed, holding axes as large as they were tall.
"These must be the holding cells Dr. Techshield uses when he captures villains in this area," I muttered, walking down the row of cells. Broken only by a large exterior door, I added, "Before sending them off to prison so they can escape and do it all again."
Near the end, I noticed another door, unlabeled like every other room. I wasn't sure what I'd find.
The lights flickered on, and my eyes widened. The room was full of weapons and armor—everything. Dominating the center was a large cube with one open side, some kind of glass protecting all the weapons. Mechanical arms and bits lined the inside walls. It had to be a quick maintenance pod for Techshield's suit. I could see all manner of weapons and suit parts that could be quickly added. There was probably enough here to build an entire suit, and all certainly better than anything I had.
If I could get even one of his pulse weapons, I could clear out every bot in here like it was Duck Hunt. I approached the pod but found no control panel. After a quick search, I guessed it was run wirelessly—meaning that even if the device had left it unlocked, I couldn't get inside. Running out of time, I gave up on the pod and turned to leave—then noticed a regular-looking weapons locker next to the door. I must have overlooked it earlier.
On the door was written: Supreme Soldier. Of course Dr. Techshield would stock weapons and ammo for his closest friend and crime-fighting partner. I tried the handle, but it was locked. A manual lock wouldn't have been overwritten by the device, but that also meant the locker probably lacked surprises. I leaned into the power of my suit—it hummed as the suit applied power needed—and ripped the door off.
Inside was one of the Supreme Soldier's signature rifles: sleek, blue and gold, alien-looking. He could change the ammo type on the fly—non-lethal to knock someone out, or max power to blow through reinforced steel walls.
This thing was awesome.
I also noticed a data line hooked into it—my best option.
Standing in front of the central room's main door, I held the Supreme rifle tight to my chest. Loaded—and thanks to the device not caring that I wasn't a registered user—I was ready. I opened the door and ran in.
The first bot turned its head.
"Intruder detected."
I fired a stream of rounds set to normal—they tore the bot apart.
The remaining five turned on me and opened fire, all shouting, "Surrender now or be subdued." I ducked behind a large support beam, taking only one hit. I popped out, sent another stream at one of the bots, and missed. They didn't miss—two shots slammed into my chest, sending me sprawling backward. A warning light went off in my HUD, and my power started dropping. Something must have broken. No time to investigate.
I got back up, and one bot came stomping toward me.
It was awkward to hold a rifle over my head while lying on my back, but I wasn't here to be comfortable. The next burst of bullets tore one of the larger bots in two just as it was reaching down to grab me. It fell apart in chunks, and I dragged myself behind cover as the others advanced and fired.
Two down. Four to go.
It took me a few seconds to figure out how to remove the empty magazine and slam in a fresh one. The bots slowly got closer, firing and chewing away at the pillar I was hiding behind, still repeating, "Surrender now or be subdued."
He couldn't have given them even a couple different things to say?
I popped out from cover to shoot one of the bots, like I'd seen in every military movie. I missed completely and took a hit to the chest that sent me right back down.
"Ah… ow," I groaned as pain throbbed out from my chest, trying to roll onto my right side. My left arm didn't respond at first, then slowly came around. Now on my knees, the first of the bots rounded the corner. We shot each other simultaneously—I went down hard again, and the bot staggered back out of view. The abused chest plate began flaking apart.
Before I could do more than sit up, a metal hand grabbed me from behind and dragged me into the open. I still had the rifle and emptied it into one of the two remaining large bots. It clicked empty, and the rifle was quickly ripped out of my grip.
Down to 37% power and wearing a mostly broken suit, I wasn't feeling the same level of confidence I'd had walking in. But I was too far in to stop. I reached over and grabbed the wrist of the bot holding me. I tried to crush it. In response, it forced me to the ground face first. When my vision cleared, I saw cracks on my visor; my HUD was gone. I tried again. It took a second of effort, but the wrist crumbled under the force of my powered grip. I was a little surprised the other two bots just watched as I ripped the hand off their friend—maybe they considered me "arrested" at that point.
With a metal tearing sound, I pulled the hand free, drew my blaster, held it over my head, and shot the handless bot. I didn't wait to see where the body flew. I turned the weapon on the larger of the remaining bots and missed completely. The weapon did nothing the third and fourth times I pulled the trigger.
"Fuck."
I tried to stand, but my left arm was responding poorly. I'd only gotten halfway up when the larger bot grabbed me and shoved me down.
"You have been subdued. You must wait for the proper authorities."
The other bot just stood there, holding the Supreme rifle upside down like it was confused by it.
"Fuck that."
I reached across with my right hand, grabbed my left arm directly, and triggered the flamethrower. It probably wouldn't do much to a robot, but I wasn't spoiled for options.
Flames erupted, engulfing the bot's midsection. I felt heat and burning as fire found gaps in my suit.
"Stop resisting. You are under arrest."
The bot shook violently as its internals melted. The lights in its eyes went dark, and it collapsed on top of me in a heavy, hot, limp heap only a second or two after my fuel ran dry.
"Surrender now or be subdued," the remaining bot said.
"Oh, shut up."
I pushed the charred bot off me—it still twitching and saying something too garbled to understand—my left arm finally cooperating. The last bot stared at me. I could almost imagine some little hourglass flipping in its head as it tried to decide between dropping the rifle or shooting me.
I got to one knee, picked up the blaster, and pulled the trigger.
Nothing.
That must have helped it decide. It dropped the rifle and aimed its arm-gun at me.
A heartbeat later, a white-hot pain ripped through my right hand as my blaster became a blackened stump of melted metal.
I let out a cry of pain. The bot, uncaring, lined up another shot.
My left arm hadn't been reliable, so I didn't even try it. I launched myself forward, going from a kneeling position to a football tackle in a step or two. The suit hissed as it applied power to add to me and a fraction of a second later I slammed into the bot—a frantic, almost uncontrolled run followed by a sudden stop.
The bot, now broken in half as I slammed it into one of the tables holding the sun cores. Shattering both the case covering the device and the bot I turned into a battering ram. I slumped over the table, broken glass, bits of robot, and fragments of my own suit falling like rain to the floor.
That's when I noticed the incessant beeping.
I looked at the device, blinking red. Whatever it was doing to hold the security system at bay was about to fail.
I forced myself up as fast as I could, ignoring the pain. I checked the power—only a cracked display, but bad enough. I ran to the tables with the cores. I grabbed three and shoved them into the built-in case. Two for me, one for the deal. The case locked to my back. I couldn't risk more.
I ran for the exit. It was difficult; the suit didn't handle higher speeds well before all the damage. Luckily, I didn't see another active bot on the way out. I was halfway through the me-sized hole I'd made when the alarm started screaming.
I sprinted for the van. He would be coming, and I had to be gone before he showed up. I was no match for him even if my suit wasn't scrap.
I was a long way down the road before I was calm enough to stop and properly remove my suit. I had just gotten in and removed my helmet. The seat groaned with strain the whole way. I checked the battery on the back plate, next to all the black shot marks and torn armor.
2%.
I let out a long breath, looked at the case, and suddenly none of the pain that radiated around my body mattered. I reached out for it with my metallic black left hand and opened it.
They glowed slightly and I could feel the warmth on my face.
I did it.