Mechanical Maniacs: Life After Life

CHAPTER 13: Trap


The Middleman turned and, laughing, flew up the stairs. It only took us a moment to shake off the terrified awe of Cityman's return and we launched after him, Topman leading the charge.

It was a testament to the construction of the steps that they remained in tact as I ran up them. Normally, I'd be digging deep holes into the monument, but whatever this thing was made out of was tough.

The Middleman arrived at the top first, and Topman leapt after him, only to bounce uncerimoniously off another swirling purple barrier. I caught my small friend as he bounced down the stairs and put him back on his feet, but it was too late. We could hear the Middleman addressing the assembled world leaders, all of whom were probably the picture of mass fear and terror.

But as we reached the top, as close as we could get with the barrier in the way, we saw something radically different. Dozens of men and women in suits of all types just sat there, looking at the Middleman impassively as his laughter died out.

"Why are you here?" asked one of them.

"Wh... what?" the robot managed, momentarily thrown off his game. "I'm here to kill you all!"

"Oh, well that could prove difficult," another one said.

"Oh? And what meager means to defend yourself could you wretched biological pests have?"

The entire assembly stood as one, and six of them stepped forward, putting themselves between the Middleman and the rest. "Trust us," one of them smirked, "this is NOT going to be easy for you."

"Oh no?" The Middleman lunged, purple fire engulfing his hands and he plunged them into the chest of one of the men who stepped forward. He let out a silent scream, and then fizzled out of existence.

Our new robot bad guy took a few shocked steps back. "What trickery is this?" he demanded.

"Oh, this?" asked the first man who spoke nonchallantly, looking at his nails. "This is a hologram."

The image of the calm men and women disappeared, replaced by a lone figure in the center of the conference area, clad in black ninja-like garb with a long red scarf blowing in the wind off the ocean. He would have looked almost generic if not for the four-pointed shuriken that seemed to be pasted to his forehead.

Also present were five other men, but they were all identical. Black armor covered with shiny, iridescent plates, and an arrogant smirk that I'd never been so happy to see before in my life.

"Impossible!" the Middleman feebly cried, "you're both supposed to be dead!"

The Geminimen laughed as Shadowman sighed. "That was a hologram too," he said. "Honestly, how long does it take for people to expect that?"

"Yeah, it's not like you have anything else that you do," one of the Geminimen remarked.

The leader of the Mechanical Maniacs grinned. "Look, Middleguy, it works like this. While you were keeping track of my friends, Gem and I here were keeping track of you. It was easy, mostly because you thought we were dead, just like we wanted everyone else to think. I think what the best part of all this is that you never even questioned how they all got their robot forms back. I mean, honestly, who doesn't ASK that question?"

All of the humor in the Middleman's face had vanished, and if he could foam at the mouth, he probably would have been. As it was, he shouted incomprehensible words before his rage subsided enough to allow him to use English again. "You think you've won? I still have my minions!" The barrier around the conference area immediately died, reforming as a much more personal bubble around the Middleman himself. "Cityman! Open fire!"

Most of us swore loudly. I turned and grabbed as many of the other Mechs as I could, leaping off the top stair down to take cover on the other side of the Memorial than Cityman. Topman, who I hadn't grabbed because he was way faster than anyone else, actually sped up, grabbed one of the Geminimen, and took off, actually passing me on the way down. Shadowman himself leapt out of my own shadow as I landed, just as the thunderous report of eighteen ship-sinking guns went off.

The world exploded noise and shrapnel as the surrounding area tore itself to pieces. For some reason, though, the Memorial Park remained well intact, only shaking a little bit. Even as the buildings around us began to collapse, hugh thick metal tendril reached out, snaggin the larger pieces of architecture and reeling them in, adding to the already impressive armor Cityman's current incarnation boasted.

"Whadda we do, Boss?" I asked, still placing myself between the rest of the Mechs and the top of the Park, in case the Middleman tried something.

"The first thing we do is run," Shadowman grunted, "and the second thing we do is plan. We need to deal with a few other annoyances before we come back and try to take out Cityman, or they're just going to hurt our progress and probably get us and a lot of other poeple killed."

"The Sterling Sentinels?" Snakeman asked.

"Exactly."

"Good," the snake-headed robot master grinned, punching one hand with the other. "I call Hornetman."

"Good to see we haven't changed much as a group," Geminiman commented dryly.

Sparkchan smiled. "Aw, Lennon, it IS good to see you again, you know?"

"Yeah, I was missin' my daily reccommended dose o' asshole fer th' last fifteen years," I grinned.

"What about the Middleman?" Topman asked.

"What about him?" Geminiman scoffed. "He's a rookie bad guy with a broken plan and his only ability is making barriers. Not necessarily a threat."

"Could be," I cut in. "He's found a way ta harness evil energy. That might make 'im pretty dangerous 'f he figures out 'ow ta use it fer more 'n just protection."

Shadowman shook his head. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now, we have to take out his lackeys."

"What about all the civillians here? Cityman is going to turn the whole District into a wasteland," Sparkchan said.

"The evacuation started almost as soon as Hardman hit the pavement back there," Magnetman assured her. "We've always had allies within the MPD. They knew what was coming just like we did."

"Hang on, does that make us an officially sanctioned team again?" Snakeman asked.

"Pending the succes of this operation, probably," Shadowman replied.

"Hot damn. No more hiding," I grinned.

"Split up, guys," Geminiman nodded. "They'll come to us, but if we're all in one big pile, Cityman can take us out with ease."

"Takin' him down is gonna be a bitch," I remarked.

"Yeah, another one of those bridges to cross, right bro?" Needlegal said, nudging Shadowman. He just shook his head and smiled.

"One thing at a time guys," he said.

There was a massive sound and water washed over the rubble around us and the minimal sunlight was blocked out by a massive shadow. I looked straight up to see Cityman looking straight down at us.

"Time ta go!" I shouted, and leapt up and away. The rest of the Mechs scattered as ordinance usually reserved for artillery bombardments slammed into the ground where we'd been standing. The explosion picked ME up and hurled me backwards, with enough momentum to punch cleanly through the wreckage of a building before bouncing twice off the street and coming to a halt.

I coughed to dislodge a piece of rubble that had ended up in my mouth and spit it out, standing up and shaking the dust off of me. Half an hour ago, I'd have been a fine red mist after something like that. Now, I was mildly irritated.

Still, a direct hit from that many big guns would probably put me down, and staying in the line of sight of the gigantic monster that was even now casting a sightless glare over the ruins to look for us was a very bad plan. I spun on my heel and ran, digging gouges into the concrete below me and crashing through another batch of walls to put more distance between Cityman and myself.

Bricks and mortar slid off me like water as I powered down the street, and without warning the whole thing buckled upward, throwing off my balance and causing me to fall face first to the ground.

"I told you before," a familiar voice said with an edge of nastiness that had been absent before, "Stop, in the name of the law."

"What law?" I growled, getting to my feet and glaring at Concreteman. "Yer workin' fer a goddamn psychopath who's planning on killin' everyone! What fricken' law lets ya get away with that?"

"The law of the strong ruling the weak. The humans are weak, we robots are strong," he said, as if reciting a mantra. "Robots SHALL rule the world, and only THEN can there be peace."

I took him in, studied his frame as he spoke. Concreteman was roughly my size, maybe a little taller, and was maybe just a bit wider, except that could be attributed to his much blockier build when contrasted with my own smooth, rounded armor. He sported a Gutsman-like lantern jaw, and a spiked helmet design that was actually more reminiscent of Gamma. He also apparently could bend and move concrete within a certain distance of himself.

Me? I had a legendarily tough hide, rocket hands, a jet engine in my core and a deployable one-shot cannon in my chest.

Oh yeah, this was gonna be a fun fight.

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