Genesis End


 

Chapter Fourteen - Ambushed

The building shook as I raced down the corridor to the sounds of skirmish ahead. We hadn't faced the entire Ascendant Androids team all at once yet and, since the entire building hadn't already collapsed, I figured the same would be true this time. Chargeman was massive, after all, and would have already reduced the building to rubble all by himself. I tried to steel myself, but what was I about to face? How many of them would it take to overwhelm us? Two of them? Three? Maybe our new armour would finally be enough to match us evenly. 15 years is a long time - had our technology finally caught up to their upgrades courtesy of General Cutman?

My hopes were turned upside down as I lost my footing and fell - upwards - into the ceiling.

"So, the runt of the litter has shown up," someone shouted from above - or below? - me. Gravity Man. Terrific. The manic robot gave a thin, shrill laugh as his gravity powers threw me to the far side of the room. I sprang back to my feet and put the unique stabilizing tech in my boots on overdrive just to keep me grounded, though it meant maneuvering was going to be sluggish for this battle.

"Bombs away!" cried another voice behind me. I barely had time to propel myself backwards as missiles exploded at my feet. The attack was smart, calculated. Coordinated. They'd seen that I'd be reliant on keeping myself grounded to fight and were trying to knock me off balance.

Riding the momentum of my dodge, I veered in the direction of the voice and spin-kicked behind me, scored a glancing blow on my attacker. It was Gyro Man. Both of these guys looked different from the days when they were employed under Wily. Gravity was still recognizable by his familiar red moon-shaped torso. But he was thin and emaciated. His design was defaced, carved with intricate etchings that rumours say are self-inflicted, and the look on his face revealed a mind prone to mania. Gyro Man was a greater departure. Looking more like an apache helicopter than a robot proper, Gyro now sported missile packs glued to his arms, longer deadly blades, and dangling, shriveled legs. They were walking nightmares, and I shuddered as I wondered what Hard must have looked like as Heat Man. Or even worse, what he must have felt like.

Gravity saw that he couldn't lift me a second time and changed tactics, and I felt my legs start to buckle under the downward pressure he'd begun to exert. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a spinning blade come right at me from Gyro's direction. Not enough time to dodge, not with being weighed down like this. I tried to spin in place, but my speed was diminished. The blade bounced off of me, but it left a large gash across my shoulder and I cried out in pain.

Where were the other Maniacs? I scanned the room as my spin slowed. Gemini was close to the door, but his laser arm was sliced clean off. He was probably ambushed right as he stepped in. Even if he could get up, he was missing his only projectile weapon. Magnet was driven into a wall and was struggling against the invisible force that pinned him. Similar principles governed their powers, but he looked like he'd already taken a beating, and couldn't maintain his powers long enough to break free. Stray needles flew past me as I zeroed in on Needle Gal. She was lying on her back the wall opposite me, like something out of an MC Escher painting, but she was still conscious despite a nasty gouge along her torso. She was shooting at Gyro Man, who was having little trouble dodging her high speed bullets. Where was Snake? I tripped over one of his legs and got my answer. I guess they got him first.

My stomach lurched as I was thrown backward towards the wall. Turning into the push, I improvised a quick spin and caught the wall with enough momentum to roll along its face, emerging right next to Gyro Man. He wasn't expecting this, and I exited my spin with a roundhouse straight to his face. All the kinetic energy I'd gathered from being shunted around the room made the kick sure to hurt.

"Thanks for the push," I said hoping to enrage Gravity to slip up, to put too much focus on me and not enough on the others. I needed him to get sloppy. He leered at me and was about to say something no doubt grandiose, but it turned to a rage-filled cry very suddenly. Gyro turned to his stunned comrade to see the tip of a katana emerging from his impaled torso. Emerging out from the shadow of Gravity Man that stretched behind him, Shadow Man thrust forward, pushing the katana in deeper. "Thanks for the distraction," he muttered to me.

"Get away!" the crazed red robot shrieked as he used his powers to fling the ninja back through the shadow. He emerged through Needle Gal's shadow along the far wall and landed gracefully on his feet on the far side of the room. Meanwhile, Needle was still shooting furiously at Gyro, who was dodging them effortlessly. I suddenly realized she too was acting as a distraction, as his frame slowly became laced with yellow electricity. He screeched in pain and his propellers slowed to a halt, succumbing to the paralytic effect of the Spark Shock. He crashed to the ground with a howl. I turned and saw Spark Chan running towards me.

"Are you okay, hunny?" she asked.

"As okay as a distraction can get," I replied.

"Sorry about the wait. Shadow, Hard and I were evacuating the building as fast as we could."

On cue, the last of our team joined us, or at least his fist did, rocketing past us and into Gyro's fallen heap, sending him careening into the left wall. As the second fist flew toward him to deliver a knockout blow, the green robot ducked to the ground and dug his copter blades against the wall. With a frantic spin, the blades propelled him forward like a wheel, screeching metal and sparks flying as he tumbled narrowly out of the way of the Knuckle's collision. The impact of the fist tore a hole through the wall behind him.

"I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!" Gravity Man let out a deafening bellow of rage, and in an instant everything was airborne. And I mean everything. The Mechs, the rubble, even the limp body of a beaten and exhausted Gyro Man were thrown to the ceiling. I was the only one still grounded, an excruciating pain running through my legs as the pull of opposing forces vied for dominion. Above me, I could hear the low groans of metal bending and crumpling. The gravitational hold was starting to crush them now.

Gravity himself wasn't looking good either. I could tell he was straining himself. With a desperate kick-off I sped toward the red robot, with no plan other than to try to barrel into him. WHAM. Hard's massive body fell inches behind me, and would have flattened me if Gravity's timing had been better. WHAM. Needle Gal next. WHAM. Gyro Man's crumpled body. He was throwing everything and everyone he could at me to slow me down but he was desperate, and his aim was sloppy. I was close now. As a last-ditch effort he reversed his pull on me to push me into the ground, but this time I was ready for it. Disabling my stabilizers, I rode the pressure down into a tuck and roll, and the forward and downward momentum propelled me into him like a bowling ball, sending us both sprawling.

And that was all Magnet was waiting for. In an instant, he shot out from the ceiling like a human shaped bullet towards Gravity Man and collided with him like a speeding truck. A massive shockwave broke the floor of the building and I was pushed clear by the force. A moment later utter chaos erupted as debris and bodies came crashing down from above.

It took a second for the dust to clear enough to see even a few feet in front of me, but I could barely make out Gravity Man struggling to get up. It was unbelievable he was even still moving! His movements were slow and jerking, and I could tell the fight had left him. He looked like he was trying to activate his teleporter. I leapt up to make a second mad dash towards him, but the floor was in shambles. There was no way I could reach him in time.

But just then, from somewhere inside the dust cloud a single arm shot out, gripping Gravity's leg to stop him from getting up. The robot snarled, and with some effort managed to shake the arm loose. Then a second came, this time grabbing his left shoulder. Then a third, in a chokehold around his neck. The dust dissipated to reveal an army of one-armed Gemini clones, almost a dozen of them, swarming over him now, using all their strength to pin down the large robot to prevent his escape. Gravity was thrashing wildly, spit frothing from his mouth as he howled and cursed and screamed.

And then, with a single precise movement of Needle Gal's hand, he just stopped.

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