by Mia Archer
I had to stifle a giggle at the way she was turning this way and that, moving her hands and trying her best to cover up but never quite succeeding. I only hoped there was nobody with a camera pointed in our direction, although that seemed unlikely in this suburban neighborhood in the middle of the afternoon.
"Computer, could you please transport Fialux's clothes up here?"
A flash. Her clothes appeared in the air beside her and started falling to the ground. With some of that famous lightning speed she dove for them and a moment later, so fast that my eyes didn’t even catch the movement, she was floating above me wearing her signature bright green t-shirt that barely covered her stomach and tits, and that wonderful skirt below. My mouth watered just looking at her.
I wondered if maybe we had a little time for some more fun before we got down to business.
A massive explosion from the city center pulled my attention away from Fialux. Damn it. Of course there wouldn't be time. Stupid CORVAC.
I turned and looked out over the city and sure enough there was the giant death robot making its way downtown. It looked like it'd already cut a path of destruction that led through the university, past some of the docks, and now it was going straight for the city center.
I rolled my eyes. Of course it would be going straight for the city center. CORVAC had no sense of style. No originality.
Fialux flew down and floated next to me.
"Okay Night Terror, how do we defeat that thing?"
I cocked an eyebrow at her. Was she serious?
"What are you talking about?"
"That's a giant death robot do you designed, right?"
"Well yeah…"
"Then I'm sure it has all sorts of nasty tricks up its metallic sleeves to defeat me, right?"
"Well there's stuff I thought would defeat you, but if we're being perfectly honest with each other there's nothing on that thing you couldn't take care of easily. There's a reason I never actually deployed it seriously. Although I don't think CORVAC knows that…"
The giant death robot idea really had always been CORVAC's baby more so than mine. He seemed enamored with the idea of wading into the city center and destroying things left and right from the depths of a hardened military grade robot. The idea really took hold after he discovered some old Japanese monster movies that I never would’ve added to my media library if I'd known it would get him started on that waste of resources. But because it was CORVAC, because I respected him, and partly because I feared that if I didn't meet his demands he’d go rogue just like he was right now, I built the damned thing.
But I never voiced my suspicions that the giant death robot wouldn't last more than five minutes against Fialux. He liked it so much, enjoyed talking about how he’d be able to defeat the world's greatest hero and I wouldn’t have to bother with the anti-Newtonian stasis field if I'd just let him go play with his new toy, that I never had the heart to point out several of the severe design flaws.
Like the fact that the hardened outer shell was steel that was only about 3 feet thick. That wasn’t nearly enough hardened steel to keep Fialux out.
"Honestly? The thing's a paper tiger as far as you're concerned," I said. "Well, I guess it's a reinforced steel tiger, but you get the idea."
"What are you talking about?"
"You'll see," I said. "Just zip in there, blast it with your heat vision, and go to town."
Fialux grinned. "I think I could have some fun with this."
I held up a hand to stop her before she went zipping off towards the city. "Wait!"
She skidded to a halt. Well, saying that she skidded to a halt probably wasn't the proper analogy considering we were floating midair, but you get the idea. She floated back, her hair blowing in the breeze and her clothes looking amazing attached to that tight body.
"What's up?"
"Can you wait until I give you a signal to blow him to smithereens?"
Fialux shrugged. "Sure, whatever you say."
And with that we were off. Fialux shot off towards the sound of distant explosions and I followed. I was surprised to see that the antigrav units built into my suit were apparently more than enough to keep up with her, though I wasn't sure if she was deliberately slowing down to allow me to keep up. I'd have to ask her about that later.
Even before we reached the city proper we saw signs of a giant death robot going on a rampage. Telephone poles were thrown to the side like toothpicks. Houses had been flattened, looking for all the world like footage of a tornado going through town. Only tornadoes didn't leave the telltale signs of focused energy blasts charring the sides of houses.
Looking down on the destruction it occurred to me that maybe we didn't have time for that little tryst in the lair after all.
Oops.
Luckily it was the middle of the day and I figured most people were still at work. Unluckily "still at work" meant they were all in the city which was where the giant death robot was currently rampaging.
Suburbia gave way to the outskirts of the city proper and here the path of destruction started to get more noticeable. I looked down and hoped people had managed to get to the city mandated shelters before stuff started to go down. Targeted destruction in service of a plan to take over the world was one thing, but the wanton and indiscriminate destruction CORVAC was engaging in was another thing entirely. I wondered what his game was.
I wondered if maybe we were walking into a trap. Nothing drew in a hero faster than wanton and indiscriminate destruction.
But no time to worry about that. I caught a glimpse of the university flash by, including the journalism building which looked slightly different with a large chunk ripped out of it, and then we were over the city again and heading downtown.
We rounded one of the mid-rises that gave way to the skyscrapers downtown and I caught a glimpse of something spherical and metallic out of the corner of my eye. Fialux must have seen it too, because she darted off in that direction.
As she rounded the other side of a skyscraper a blast of high energy from a beam weapon slammed into her. Only she didn't miss a single beat. No sooner had the weapon hit her than she was charging forward.
I decided it would be better to take a more pragmatic approach. After all, I was pretty sure my suit could stand up to some beam weapons, but I wasn't covered entirely. And not having the advantage of invulnerable skin meant I was in danger of getting one hell of a sunburn if I managed to walk into the path of that particular light ray.
So I flew to the top of the skyscraper Fialux had just rounded and looked down.
The robot chassis was a massive sphere with telescoping metal tentacles along the bottom that allowed it to scuttle around like a giant metal spider. It sported a single eyestalk with a glowing red eye on top. I worried about CORVAC looking up, but overall I figured I was pretty safe. He wouldn't be using anything useful like the radar or laser guidance packages I built into the machine. Oh no. That arrogant bundle of silicon wafers was strictly old school with this bot. I knew because I had to listen to him going on and on about that damned eyestalk and how "efficient" it was while I was designing the bot. After the first few conversations I'd discovered that efficient was megalomaniacal supercomputer slang for bitchin'.
I'd argued with him over the benefits of having an omnidirectional sensor package, but he'd insisted on having that single glowing red eye looking out from the top of the stock on the main sphere of his death robot chassis. I put in the other stuff anyways, but I knew he'd refuse to use it on principle. And I'll admit that the glowing eye definitely looked impressive, downright terrifying if you looked at it from the right angle, but it also had the definite drawback of reducing visibility.
I breathed quiet prayer of thanks to any higher power that might care to listen that CORVAC's ego had gotten in the way of practicality. Even the most intelligent supercomputer in the world was no match for villainous hubris.
I peered over the edge of the skyscraper, definitely not one of the taller on
es but still enough to tower over CORVAC in his death robot chassis. I saw cars being flung to the side and people running in the streets trying to get away. Apparently they hadn't taken the warning seriously down here. Either that or everyone in the city was so blasé about an attack at this point that they figured it couldn't possibly happen to them. And so they ignored the sirens. And now they were running in terror while cars rained down around them.
Idiots.
Fialux was a green and white blur darting around the robot which was waving a telescoping metallic tentacle through the air trying to swat her. Doors opened on the side of the robot and laser beams shot out, but Fialux was taking them out with her heat vision almost as quickly as CORVAC could fire. Other times the doors would open and a missile would go flying out and home in on Fialux. Most of the time she managed to stop it, or send it on a trajectory straight up where it could explode harmlessly, but the occasional missile did slam into a skyscraper.
I winced. This definitely wasn't going to come without a steep price tag.
But I had work to do. The city could worry about insurance claims.
I pulled out my wrist computer and watched. A screen popped up and the signal I was looking for appeared. Faint, but definitely there. I smiled.
The only problem was I wasn't going to be able to get a bead on exactly where the signal was coming from unless I was able to triangulate. That meant hopping to another building. And risking CORVAC seeing me.
Oh well. There was nothing for it. If I was going to do this stupid hero bit then I might as well go all in.
I leapt from the building and over the death robot as a flurry of laser blasts flashed around me. I didn't think he was aiming for me, I was slow enough that if CORVAC was aiming there wasn't a chance I would escape a blast though I might survive it, but it was still nerve-racking finding myself in the middle of a super powered turkey shoot and me not being the one who was doing the shooting.
No, it definitely wasn't fun being the turkey.
I flew to the top of a skyscraper that was farther from the action. I looked down at my wrist and yup. The signal was definitely there, a little stronger. I leapt to another building. This time several missiles flew just over my head and I barely managed to swing out of the way. I almost went into a spiral. Then I remembered I was using antigravity to keep myself up and not a traditional jet pack or fixed wing flight, so there was no such thing as a death spiral. I righted myself and turned to look at CORVAC.
He was staring straight at me. His giant red eye narrowed. I had to admit he was right. I’d argued about installing those steel shutters so the eye could scowl, but they did look suitably menacing.
"Hello mistress," his voice boomed through downtown and off of skyscrapers.
Shit.
I flew to the next building as quickly as possible and took a quick reading. I almost had enough information. Almost. I looked over my shoulder and saw one of CORVAC's beam weapons on the end of a metallic tentacle pointing towards me. Crap. Crap. Crap. I leapt into the air and a moment later the beam weapon flashed where I'd just been standing.
It was much more difficult to get my readings when I had a crazed megalomaniacal robot doing its best to kill me while I was trying to work. It was the sort of thing that really served to break a girl's concentration.
I landed at the top of the tallest building in the city and looked down. Almost there. I glanced up to CORVAC and saw one of his larger missile bays open up. Damn it. If I didn't hurry up then the tallest building in the city wasn't going to be the tallest building in the city for much longer. I saw the head of a spherical antigrav missile appear at the dark entrance to his launch bay and I leapt in the air.
The missile launched, the sphere coming straight for me.
One of the advantages of using antigravity technology is that it made me far more maneuverable in the air than if I was using traditional chemical propulsion. One of the disadvantages of fighting a giant death robot I designed and manufactured that was inhabited by the malevolent spirit of my supercomputer and former partner in crime was he had access to the same antigravity technology, antigravity technology that was built into some of his missiles and which could maneuver just as well as I could.
In fact, they weren’t even really missiles in the traditional sense that people usually imagined when they heard the word “missile” even if they fit the classic definition. They were actually spheres with a healthy dose of high explosives surrounded by an antigravity field, and they would really ruin my day if they got close enough.
I zigged. The missile chasing me zagged. I tried flying up but that seemed to only encourage it as it went into a vertical climb behind me.
Damn it.
I was concentrating so hard on the missile that I didn't have time to dodge any of the other attacks CORVAC was sending my way. I was a sitting duck for a laser attack, or maybe a plasma bolt, but it was all I could do to try and get away from this damn sphere chasing after me.
A flash of green. The missile abruptly went from a vertical trajectory to horizontal as that flash carried it off. There was an explosion and a moment later Fialux appeared next to me. I was about to say something when there was a bright flash. Only she was between me and the flash, and so the beam weapon CORVAC had been aiming at me glanced harmlessly off her superhuman, and thankfully invulnerable, skin.
That was the first time I was actually happy Fialux was so easily able to shrug off the weapons I'd designed.
"You can't defeat me mistress," CORVAC said.
I didn't say anything. I was too busy concentrating on the readout on my wrist computer. With Fialux running interference between me and CORVAC's weaponry I suddenly had a moment to pause, breathe, and make sure I had all the information I needed.
"Are you almost done?" Fialux asked.
"Almost there," I said.
A green light blinked on my wrist computer. Bingo. The map popped up and I grinned. Just as I suspected.
"Okay, I've got everything I need," I said. "Get to work."
Fialux grinned at me. I grinned back at her. And hefted my wrist blaster. I figured she was probably going to be doing most of the work, but I might as well have a little fun too.
I turned and looked down at CORVAC. I went into a dive. And I couldn't help but go for a little dramatic flair. I held one arm out in front of me as I dove towards him. My only regret was I didn't have a magnificent cape flying behind me trailing in the wind and looking amazing.
As I descended towards him he started firing at me, only I was in full supervillainess mode now that I was no longer distracted by trying to solve the little mystery that had been bothering me ever since my fail-safes failed.
And I was pissed.
A bolt of plasma shot out towards me. I reached out and a shield flew in place in front of my hand just as it was about to make contact with my body. The bolt glanced off harmlessly.
Now I know you might be asking yourself something right now. If I had a shield, why wasn't I using it the entire time I was running from CORVAC just a few minutes ago, right?
I've discovered this business is all about trade-offs. For every power there is a weakness. Take the shield, for example. Sure I could deflect a high-power plasma blast from CORVAC, but it also took a hell of a lot of energy to do that. Which meant that if I tried to design a shield that covered all of my body all of the time it would be so ineffective that a kid with a slingshot could get through it.
Okay, so maybe that was an extreme example, but you get the point.
The point is if I wanted to be able to deflect a plasma blast from CORVAC, or anything else he or another villain might throw at me, or even Fialux's heat vision for that matter, then the shield had to work in short, directed bursts.
That meant directing it with my hands, which I definitely didn't have time for when I was busy trying to triangulate the answer to my little mystery. So you can take your skepticism and plot hole digging and shove it up your own plot hole.
&nb
sp; A missile flew towards me but I blasted it out of the sky with my wrist blaster before it had a chance to get close. I grinned. This was one area where I had a decided advantage over CORVAC. He always talked about how he wanted to be the one to go out and rain destruction on the city, but I was the one that always got to go out and play with the toys. I was the one with the reaction time. I was the one with the skills.
He was no match.
Add Fialux into that equation and we were almost invulnerable. Well, she was invulnerable, but you get the point.
A thumping sound over my shoulder pulled my attention away from the giant death robot for a moment. A helicopter! Bearing the logo of the Starlight City News Network, of course. Those idiots. And my suspicions proved true a moment later as an antigrav missile flew up and made contact with the chopper. This one didn't even explode. All it took was a kinetic weapon to really screw up the rotors and send the thing plunging to the ground. Gravity took care of the rest. I had a fleeting hope that Rex Roth was on that chopper, but I didn’t think my luck would run that far.
I shook my head. This was proof positive that they really needed somebody doing a better job teaching the Surviving A Heroic Intervention course at the University.
But I didn't have time to worry about that right now. There was still the matter of CORVAC and his annoying robot chassis to take care of. Metallic tentacles writhed through the air and I dodged. Another one tried to smack me from behind and I flew around it as well. For good measure I sent few focused blasts down to the hatch where those tentacles were sticking out of CORVAC's main body.
I was starting to wonder where Fialux was. That single red eye continued to stare up at me with malevolent hatred, narrowing that stupid shutter he insisted I put in place after I installed the facial recognition and expressions subroutine into his databanks. He said something about needing to look menacing and impressive at the same time, though now that I was in full villain mode instead of running scared trying to get a triangulation it wasn’t quite as impressive.
