Metallic Mayhem

Wearing a green shirt with black skirt and white tennis shoes, Victoria hurried to Motor City, the site of a robot uprising. Well, the "uprising" was composed of a lone robot, but according to reports it had done plenty of damage already. So far the damage consisted of four police cruisers perforated by machine gun fire, a police helicopter forced to retreat after sustaining damage from the robot's machine gun, and a SWAT van turned on its side, but the occupants of the vehicles had managed to escape with only minor injuries. Victoria had been hurriedly contacted and commissioned to disable or destroy the robot before it could do any more damage. First she had to get to the doctor's lab.

The doctor was a man by the name of Doctor Edward J. Hanlon, a robotics expert noted for his work in cybernetic replacement limbs and robotics. He liked to create various labor-saving robots, including some worker models used around Motor City in a limited capacity. They were mostly used for construction work since their durable metallic frames could handle working longer hours and withstand workplace accidents a lot more easily than the human body could. They excelled in heavy lifting and other tasks too dangerous or unfeasible for human workers to perform. Human workers were wary of being replaced, so to keep them happy only a dozen worker robots were used on any given construction site.

Victoria found his lab on the outskirts of the city and entered. Inside he found a small but clean lobby. A nervous man was hunched over a counter while watching a computer screen and wiping his forehead with a white handkerchief. After a few seconds he looked up from his screen and noticed her.

Dr. Hanlon was a hefty man with a prominent receding hairline, but what hair he did have was solid black. For some reason his mustache was long, thin, and pointed at each end. It looked like an antenna of some kind. He also wore a white lab coat with a white shirt and brown dress pants.

"Oh, hello there! You must be Victoria Sheridan of the magic guild Black Rose!" He said.

"Yes. I'm from Black Rose." She replied in the affirmative. He extended a hand to greet her with.

"I'm Doctor Edward J. Hanlon. I'm sorry that I'm so sweaty. You see, I'm the one who contacted you about the robot going rogue." He introduced himself to her. He then put a hand around her waist and guided her into his lab without any further delay.

"I'm sorry if I violated your personal space, Victoria. The situation is rather urgent." Dr. Hanlon apologized. His lab boasted high-resolution monitors that lined each wall. All of them were currently displaying images of Motor City and replaying police footage of the robot's attacks on their vehicles.

"What's the situation like?" Victoria asked him. The doctor wiped his forehead again. That must be a sign that things were a lot worse than he let on. She waited in silence for him to speak.

[Word Count: 512]
[Total Word Count: 512/7,500]

Dr. Hanlon's Appearance:

"This is most distressing to tell, but I will tell you anyway." Dr. Hanlon started. He picked up a remote that sat on a table littered with what looked to be design schematics and pressed a button, changing the monitor displays from news to a large display of a robot with moss green armor. It was labeled "DH-M01."

"This is my first military robot, hence the designation M01. I created it in an effort to aid the Rune Knights in their duties. You see, they are spread quite thin across Earthland." He explained the purpose behind the M01's creation.

"Paying for the lab and purchasing parts for all of my creations is not cheap, my dear. I have to make ends meet somehow." Dr. Hanlon headed off the obvious question of why he would create a military-grade robot. The lab was full of cutting-edge technology and had roughly as much floorspace as the Silver Moon Inn's restaurant area. She could only imagine how many Jewels it took to pay for it all.

"You have a point." Victoria admitted to him.

"The Rune Knights did not show much interest in the DH-M01. They said that they could get along without it. That setback put me in quite the quandary... I had invested many thousands of Jewels in its creation. So I marketed it to the Motor City Police. They showed considerable interest in it and wanted to make a deal... until today's unfortunate events happened." The doctor added. Victoria could tell that something was weighing on him.

"My oldest son James is a Rune Knight. My youngest son Nathan wants to follow in his brother's footsteps. I was hoping that the DH-M01 could help them and save their lives. Machines are a lot easier to replace than human lives. I can make M01s until the end of time, but James and Nathan... cannot be replaced so easily." He revealed to her.

"If anyone gets hurt because of the M01's rampage, I face criminal charges. But if you can stop it, I will not have to face prosecution. But no matter what happens, the damage may already have been done." He said wearily. He slumped into a lab chair with a look of defeat on his face. She saw that same look plastered on Chief Vernon's face not too long ago.

"I wanted to be known as a scientist who helped people. But now... now I will be labeled a lunatic, a destroyer. I do not know if I can recover from this fiasco." He lamented.

"Don't give up yet, Doctor Hanlon. I'll help you stop it." Victoria asserted. She had to stop it. Black Rose's reputation was on the line.

"You'll help me?" He asked quietly.

"I'll help you, but first you need to help me. What do I need to do to stop the robot? What do I need to know about it?" Victoria asked him. Feeling a surge of hope, Dr. Hanlon shook off his defeated facial expression and came back to life. He seized the remote and pressed a button to display more detailed schematics than the ones currently on the monitors. She did not quite understand what they meant, but they looked impressive.

"Here is what you will need to know in order to stop it." The doctor launched into another explanation. The tone in which he spoke now was in stark contrast to the tone he had used earlier. Victoria could tell that he was feeling renewed hope. With her help he had a good chance to save both the city and his reputation. Now she just had to follow his instructions to stop the rampaging robot and add another glowing success to Black Rose's reputation.

[Word Count: 620]
[Total Word Count: 1,132/7,500]

"You will have your work cut out for you, Victoria." Dr. Hanlon started his explanation.

"The design is a basic but effective all-around performer. It may not have a particular area it excels at, but it also has no easily exploitable weaknesses. About the only thing that may qualify as a weakness is that it is not designed for underwater combat, but there are not any convenient bodies of water nearby and its circuits have been waterproofed in case it came into contact with Water mages. It was designed for military use, after all." The doctor informed her.

"I suppose that electricity won't work on it either?" Victoria asked him.

"No, my dear. I made it highly resistant to Electricity as well. It will take exposure to a power plant or a very powerful electric mage to shut it down that way." He replied in the negative. Victoria frowned. He did not make this easy on her.

"It also can equip a range of weapons for different missions. One of them is a machine gun that is useful for most combat situations. As you saw from the footage earlier, it was used to drive back the local police. Unless they can bring anti-armor firepower, I fear that it cannot be stopped with conventional arms." He discussed its armament. Victoria frowned again. Was there anything this robot did not have?

"I was able to lock down the armory before it went rogue, so all you should have to deal with is its machine gun. However, in between its rate of fire and extended magazine capacity, it might have enough weaponry to give you plenty of trouble." Dr. Hanlon informed her while absentmindedly twirling the right end of his mustache. That information was a mixed blessing. The robot could not get any more weaponry, but what it already had was more than enough to make her life difficult. An extended magazine meant that it would be able to fire longer before having to reload.

"It's just one robot, Doctor. I can handle that." Victoria said to him. He began to wipe his forehead. That was not a good sign.

"Unfortunately, I was not able to prevent the robot from freeing a few more of my designs." Dr. Hanlon stated. Victoria hit the roof. The doctor awkwardly brought up more design schematics on the monitors. One of them looked like someone had slapped a cannon and a pair of claws onto a metal ball. Another looked like a green ball with a face that was meant to be a children's mascot. The last featured heavy white armor, some kind of black devices on its back, and wielded an imposing cannon of some type and a circular white shield with a golden eagle design.

The weaponized ball was called "Defense Sphere H-01."

The children's mascot was called "Entertainer H-01."

The white robot was called "Cavalier H-01."

"Well... are there any other robots on the loose that I should know about?" Victoria asked, fighting to keep the sarcasm from dripping into her voice. She could handle the first two robots with ease. The M01 could be a challenge. The Cavalier could be the most difficult of them all.

"This time I can tell you with absolute certainty that there are not any more." Dr. Hanlon told her with a straight face. Victoria had little choice but to believe him. The fate of Motor City was at stake and time was of the essence. Hopefully the good doctor could help her defeat his creations while the city was still standing.

[Word Count: 594]
[Total Word Count: 1,726/7,500]

Dr. Hanlon lifted himself out of his chair and walked to a gray metal cabinet. He pulled out a slender black headset with a microphone and gave it to Victoria. She placed it on her head and flicked the switch to the ON position while Dr. Hanlon walked over to a microphone on the right side of the room.

"Can you hear me?" He asked.

"Yes, I can hear you." Victoria replied with a thumbs-up.

"Good. That is how I will keep in touch with you during your excursion. It was designed by a colleague of mine, a young woman named Amanda Barnsworth. It can take a beating and still keep working, a trait which will serve you well." He informed her.

"I will try to contact Miss Barnsworth and get her help with this... predicament. In the meantime, I want you to locate my robots and stop them. I would suggest looking for the Entertainer first. It is the easiest of my creations to defeat. Simply kick it in the face and it will shut down." He told her. The Entertainer had a face that was easy to kick, so she would have no problem complying with that request. It had soulless black eyes and a trench along its equator that curved upwards in the middle and was supposed to resemble a smile. All the features did was make the thing look creepy. Its name hinted that it was marketed towards children... why any child would want to be around that thing was beyond her.

Victoria left the lab and had barely gotten out of the door to the shop in front when she spotted it hovering nearby. It slowly turned to face her like something out of a horror movie. She did not have to search for the creepy green sphere because it had come to her. Victoria was moved to comment.

"Looks like one's come home to daddy. It's that Entertainer thing." Victoria dryly commented.

"It was made as a children's mascot and a babysitter, so it has virtually no fighting ability. But I did give it arms and legs that it can deploy at will." Dr. Hanlon chimed in.

"You did WHAT?!" Victoria asked. Soon she saw it slowly descend to ground level, then deploy small mechanical arms and legs from holes in its body that were covered with sliding doors. Its unblinking eyes began to glow red.

"I hate this thing already." Victoria complained.

Entertainer H-01:

[Word Count: 410]
[Total Word Count: 2,136/7,500]

Victoria stared down the creepy spherical robot and looked into its red eyes. She did not like what she saw. It looked back at her and waved a hand at her in greeting. The brunette shuddered. It was time to shut it down.

Victoria ran at it and swung her right foot in a kick, but the small robot refused to play ball. It quickly retracted its flexible limbs and hovered off to the left and her foot connected with nothing but air. It emitted a synthesized laugh as it hovered just beyond reach. If she wanted to, she could turn it into Swiss cheese with her Pistol spells or her magic weapons, but she had promised to bring the rogue robots back in working condition. She would keep that promise as long as the lives of other people were not directly threatened by the automatons.

It floated roughly at Victoria's head level and watched her intently. Victoria did not like that.

"Hey Doctor, your Entertainer's watching me pretty closely. Does it have some kind of super-smart program that can help it learn new things?" Victoria asked Dr. Hanlon. She heard silence, then a faint sigh.

"Yes. All of them have a Cortex Mainframe that lets them think and evolve." He admitted. Victoria groaned. The Entertainer lowered itself to the ground, brought out its hands and placed them on its sides where its "stomach" would be. It then started laughing while rocking back and forth, kicking its little feet the whole time.

"OK. Your little green robot's laughing at me. Does it have the super Cortex?" Victoria asked.

"It does, but it has an earlier version of the Mainframe with fairly limited learning ability. It was meant to entertain children, not be a war machine. It can still be outsmarted." The doctor replied.

"OK. Thanks." Victoria said before hanging up. She then thought of something. Since it was not a military-grade model, maybe it was vulnerable to sudden bursts of light, like from a Flashbang. Victoria stuck one hand behind her back and created the flashbang. The Entertainer stopped laughing and started dancing in place. That was her chance to nail the annoying ball.

Victoria waited three seconds, then wordlessly rolled the Flashbang towards it. The small robot picked up the gray cylinder and turned it over in its hands. It was analyzing the Flashbang and trying to figure out what it did. It would see soon enough. On the silent count of five the brunette turned away from the cylinder.

The robot emitted a high-pitched child's scream and covered its eyes with its tiny gray hands. Taking this chance, Victoria ran over and delivered a powerful kick directly to its face, knocking it into the wall of the building behind it. It emitted a brief scream before its limbs flopped and hung limply from their ports; it had powered down. Why did the doctor program screaming into the robot's voice? That was a question for another time.

"The Entertainer's been shut down. You can collect it at any time." Victoria reported.

"Good, good! I've located the second of the four robots. The Defense Sphere's been spotted near a local restaurant called Mechanic's Mess. It hasn't harmed anyone yet and it hasn't tried to break in, but it's trapped a lot of customers inside. I'll give you directions shortly!" Dr. Hanlon said while a blue-haired young woman walked up to the small green robot and scooped it up in her arms.

"I'm Amanda Barnsworth, Dr. Hanlon's colleague. He called me here to help with the situation. I'll handle this little guy." The young woman introduced herself.

"I'm Victoria Sheridan of the guild Black Rose." Victoria introduced herself.

"You're the second mage I've dealt with lately. The first one was this blonde girl from a guild called Sil-" Amanda started before Dr. Hanlon rushed out of the lab and onto the street.

"I've got the directions to Mechanic's Mess. Go down the street away from my lab, then take a right and follow the road to its end. I'll give you more directions in a minute. Get going!" He directed. Victoria obeyed and started running down the road. She hoped that the restaurant's occupants were still safe.

[Word Count: 706]
[Total Word Count: 2,842/7,500]
One of four robots has been disabled.

Victoria followed the instructions given to her until she came across the restaurant known as Mechanic's Mess. The logo had a giant neon wrench that tilted left and right over the words and the letters had black lights on the bottom that made it look like oil was dripping from them. The restaurant certainly lived up to the name. However, she was not here to try the food or to admire the architecture. She was here to stop the Defense Sphere before it harmed anyone.

Speaking of which, Victoria spotted the robot hovering close by. It was a spherical robot with a pair of arms ending with pincers and a small cannon placed on its head. It had not noticed her yet.

"Victoria, are you there? This is Amanda!" Amanda's voice asked over the headset.

"Yeah, I'm here and I'm looking at the Defense Sphere. It hasn't noticed me yet. How do I stop it?" Victoria asked the young woman.

"Let's see... according to Dr. Hanlon's schematics and notes, the Defense Sphere H-01 was made for home defense. It has two claws and a taser cannon that can fire non-lethal bolts of electricity from its cannon. It can also switch its cannon to a lethal bullet-firing mode if needed." Amanda answered.

"Dr. Hanlon said that all his robots have a Cortex Mainframe that lets them think and learn from experience. Do our Defense Sphere have one?" Victoria asked while watching the armed robot float in a patrol around the restaurant.

"Yes. It has an earlier version, but it can still think and learn." Amanda replied.

"OK. How do I stop it? Shoot it in the eye?" Victoria inquired. The Sphere floated on its patrol route, its one eye occasionally glancing her way but not really seeming to pay any attention to the mage. It also did not make any effort to break into the restaurant to get at the people hiding within. Why was that?

"Actually, yes. The eye's its most vulnerable point. If you put out its eye, its accuracy will drop off drastically and you should be able to shut it down by accessing its back panel and pulling a red lever." Amanda informed her.

"OK. I'll shut it down. It'll take just a second." Victoria said before signing off for the time being. She brought out her sniper rifle, took aim at the eye, and gently guided the crosshairs onto the single green eye. She focused and fired a Kinetic Shot aimed right at the eye. However, the robot's eye flashed red and it spun to its left side, being sent soaring back but preventing the shot from damaging its optical sensors. How did it do that?

"Damn! It spun around to protect its eye!" Victoria commented. That thing was smarter than it looked. Its Cortex Mainframe might be old, but it was still good enough to help the robot protect its weakest point. That was actually a smart move.

"Yeah. I think we really outdid ourselves when we came up with the Cortext Mainframe..." Amanda lamented. Victoria kept negative remarks to herself. She would need help to stop the rogue robots. The Defense Sphere floated towards her at human walking speed, its single red eye giving off a sinister flash as it floated. She needed to come up with another idea to stop the robot and she had better do it fast.

Defense Sphere H-01:

[Word Count: 566]
[Total Word Count: 3,408/7,500]

The Defense Sphere was a tough nut to crack. Victoria tried firing at its weak point, but it deftly spun its body to block the Kinetic Shot using a stronger part of its armor. Now it was after her and her alone. That was fine with her... the besieged customers were using the distraction to escape from Mechanic's Mess, which was exactly what she wanted. Now she could deal with the home defense bot without worrying about accidentally hurting someone.

Unfortunately for her one of the customers, a burly bald man in oil-stained denim overalls, thought that it would be a good idea to hurl verbal abuse at the robot.

"HEY TIN CAN! YOU CAN'T EVEN GET INSIDE A RESTAURANT WITH GLASS DOORS AND WINDOWS! YOU DESERVE TO GO BACK TO THE SCRAP HEAP!" He shouted with greasy hands cupped over his mouth.

The automaton took umbrage to the harsh words because it spun around and faced the offender. It began floating towards the man, who sensibly ran away. Victoria got a clear look at the access panel Amanda had talked about earlier. It was a square black panel which contrasted with its gray armor... it looked kind of flimsy, so one good pull on it ought to pry it loose.

Victoria put away her rifle and did her best to sneak up on the sphere while the man served as an accidental distraction. She crept until she got her fingers on the edge of the panel and pried it open with ease, exposing the red lever she needed to pull to shut it down. She had just wrapped her fingers around it when the Defense Sphere suddenly spun around and flung the brunette to the ground. It knew what she was up to and acted to prevent its shutdown. That Cortex Mainframe was good for an earlier version.

It then began snapping at her with its pincers. Victoria began walking backwards while avoiding being grabbed and trying to aim a spell at its eye. The whirling pincers made getting a clear shot hard enough, but then it began shooting bolts of electricity at her. Aiming a Hand Cannon spell, Victoria fired and somehow struck it in the eye, but her right hand was numbed by a sudden shot that hit her. There would be no more Hand Cannon shots for awhile, at least not until the hand regained feeling.

Victoria stepped back and noticed that the spell had chipped the lens a bit, but otherwise did no damage to speak of. It hovered towards her slowly while firing more bolts of electricity. It then raised its pincers and darted forward, catching the brunette completely by surprise. It clamped its pincers around her wrists and resumed trying to electrocute her now that dodging would be more difficult. Now she was in a bad place.

Victoria's wrists were being squeezed and she was unable to meaningfully retaliate. The robot began hovering backwards, snatching Victoria off her feet and dragging her along the concrete. Her bare legs and knees were being scraped against the ground and made life difficult for her. It was a good thing that she learned from the Haunted Guild excursion and wore bike shorts under her skirt because otherwise she would be giving the blue-haired girl a show. Wait... a blue-haired girl?

Amanda put a finger to her lips and waved while brandishing a large rifle. Victoria immediately understood what she was about to do, so the brunette decided to draw the robot's attention to her. So she painfully hauled herself up and began tugging at its arms, forcing it to stop and deal with her before moving on. It lowered its taser cannon and zapped her, making her scream and fall to her knees.

Seconds later a yellow beam of energy slammed into its eye, causing it to release her and flip over backwards until it crashed into a wall, badly damaging its arms. It fell forward and the red lever was exposed to Victoria. Before it could right itself, Victoria forced herself up and hobbled over to the lever, then gripped it with her left hand and yanked down as hard as she could. The robot ceased struggling and powered down.

"The Doctor said you could use some help!" Amanda called out. Victoria hobbled over to Amanda, who handed her the rifle. It was one with a large square scope with a blue lens and a bulky rectangular box that acted as a magazine.

"He said that the DH-M01 was kinda tough, so he sent me to give you this weapon. He says that if you can't reach the killswitch hidden behind its circular back panel, just shoot out the legs and then go for the switch. Still, he'd prefer if you could keep it in working condition." Amanda informed her. Victoria took advantage of the momentary calm to let her right hand regain feeling. That Defense Sphere was deceptively tough to beat and it was not even a military-grade robot. Now she would be going up against one specifically designed for military use. Dr. Hanlon had designed his creations to be a bit too durable.

[Word Count: 860]
[Total Word Count: 4,268/7,500]
Two out of four robots have been disabled.

"I'll take the Defense Sphere back to the lab. You go and deal with the DH-M01!" Amanda instructed while picking up the deactivated robot. Victoria switched the rifle over to her right hand because it had regained feeling. Moments later Amanda disappeared in the direction of the lab, leaving Victoria to find the military robot that Dr. Hanlon had contracted her to defeat to start with. But where to begin? There was a whole city to comb in order to find it.

Aside from seeing it through the police footage at the lab, she had not seen or heard anything from it. Where should she look first? That question was answered for her because a cluster of screaming people gave a hint.

"IT'S AFTER US!" A middle-aged man yelled while running by Victoria. Six other people followed behind him and did not stop to talk. A straggling purple-haired teenage girl in a white t-shirt and denim shorts leaned on her for support. Sweat was running down her face and her breathing was shallow and rapid.

"It... it's after us." She said.

"What is?" Victoria asked.

"The... the. The green robot!" She answered between breaths.

"Where is it?" Victoria asked again.

"The. Doctor Poe's office. It. It's there." She answered, pointing towards a building just down the street. More screaming people were running from that location and she spotted police lights in the distance. That had to be where it was.

"Thanks. You get going. I'll handle this!" Victoria assured her before sprinting off. It was not too hard to find her quarry. All she had to do was follow the flashing lights.

-Outside Dr. Poe's office-

Victoria arrived to the sight of four perforated squad cars and frightened police officers taking shelter behind what hard cover they could find. She spotted the moss-green robot standing outside the doctor's office and reloading its weapon. That was her quarry.

"Victoria, can you see it?" Dr. Hanlon's voice asked.

"Yes, Doctor. It's outside Dr. Poe's office in the downtown area." Victoria answered. It had not spotted her yet. Maybe it was busy trying to get line of sight on all the police officers.

"Oh my. That complicates matters. The rifle Amanda gave you fires beams which can punch through concrete and steel without any issue." Dr. Hanlon said. Victoria groaned. Concrete and steel were exactly what the structures surrounding her were made of. That made her beam rifle more of a liability than an asset.

"Try luring it away from the area to somewhere remote where you can use the weapon without much risk of hurting people." Dr. Hanlon suggested. Victoria groaned again. They were in the middle of a city. There was nowhere remote in a city.

"Hang on. Amanda just told me about an abandoned construction site where you can carry the fight!" Dr. Hanlon reported excitedly. Victoria was listening intently. Maybe there she could use her newfangled weapon without running the risk of hurting bystanders. Her thought was interrupted by a police officer who crouched next to her.

"You the mage they sent to deal with this crazy robot?" A young brown-haired male officer asked. He had window glass all over his black leather bomber jacket and some on his blue pants. In his hand was a service pistol.

"Yeah. Victoria Sheridan of Black Rose." She answered while crouching down and showing her guild tattoo.

"Oh, thank the Wizard Saints!" He exclaimed.

"Listen. We've gotta get those people out of the doctor's office, but that bot's got some serious firepower. We need your help." The officer said.

"OK. What do I need to do to make the plan work?" Victoria asked him. He looked nervous. She knew where this was going.

"We... we need you to be a distraction. You get its attention while we rescue the people." He replied with reluctance. She could see the distaste and reluctance written on his youthful face. She could respect the fact that he could make hard choices but still show that he did not take the potential sacrifice of life lightly.

"OK. What do I do?" Victoria asked again. She was going to help them. Innocent lives were at stake. This was no time to get cold feet.

DH-M01 With Machine Gun:

[Word Count: 706]
[Total Word Count: 4,974/7,500]

"We need you to get its attention and keep it while we evacuate the citizens trapped inside the doctor's office. I don't care how you do it. Just get its attention." The officer told her. Victoria was happy to oblige, but she needed to know what the limit on property damage was. She had just learned that the beam rifle she was carrying was able to punch through steel and concrete with little trouble.

"OK, but one thing before we start. Dr. Hanlon just told me that this rifle can blast through steel and concrete. I don't want to do any more property damage than what's already been done." Victoria informed the officer. He gazed at the robot and then at her. He looked like he was weighing his options. After a few moments the young officer took a breath and spoke to her again.

"If there's gonna be a city and people left to rescue, then something's gotta give. If you can stop the robots, then do it. Just aim that weapon carefully and try to limit property damage. We can rebuild the city, but we can't bring people back to life." He told her. That was all the brunette needed to hear. Now that she had free reign to stop the doctor's rogue creations, she would do everything she could to stop them.

"OK. Dr. Hanlon told me that there's a small armored panel on the robot's back that shields a bright red killswitch. If I blast off the panel and hit the button, it won't be a threat anymore. That's what I'm aiming for." Victoria said to him.

"Once I shoot at it, you guys go in and do what you have to. I'll keep its attention." Victoria stated while aiming carefully at its back. She noticed that the robot could turn its torso independently of its lower body. Its attention was currently occupied on something inside the doctor's office and the small circular panel was exposed. Victoria crawled into the middle of the street to get a better aim and to make sure its return fire only ran the risk of hitting her.

Victoria looked at the officer and held up three fingers to indicate how long it would be before she started shooting. Once she fired there was no going back. She aimed the rifle and mentally counted down.

Three.

Two.

One.

Fire!

Victoria squeezed the trigger and a yellow energy beam was fired. It hit the circular panel dead on and made a small explosion, blasting it open and exposing the killswitch for everyone to see. The robot immediately turned its torso around and began firing in her direction. Victoria then aimed for its knees to keep its attention focused on her while the police did their jobs. If it was as smart as the previous robots it could focus on eliminating the threat to its weak points before it turned its attention to the officers.

It began tromping towards her while firing its machine gun, its heavy mechanical steps accented by empty shell casings clattering onto the pavement. Victoria sprinted and jumped behind a concrete planter for cover. She crawled on her stomach and tried to peek around the corner for a shot at its knees, but it predicted that maneuver and opened fire wherever the rifle barrel went.

"Victoria? Victoria, your plan's working! I'm looking at the footage now. The officers are evacuating the people trapped in the area and the DH-M01's attention is focused only on you!" Dr. Hanlon reported.

"Good. But your bot's a bit too smart, Doctor. I can't get a shot on its knees because it shoots whenever I try to aim at it!" Victoria gave a report of her own.

"It's got a more advanced model of the Cortex Mainframe than the first two robots. It can ascertain threats and work to neutralize them. When combined with its armor, it's one tough customer." He added.

"I can tell. I shot out the circular panel on its back. Now it knows I'm a threat and it's focusing on taking me down. It seems like it's trying to take out my rifle." Victoria commented as bullets bounced off the pavement around her. The sound of its heavy footsteps was getting closer. She had to do something soon or she would get turned into Swiss cheese. Her best hope was to lure it to the construction site and fight where few people were, but she might not have that luxury. It was approaching fast and was not in the mood to negotiate.

[Word Count: 762]
[Total Word Count: 5,736/7,500]

Victoria sheltered in place as the machine gun chattered. She had an idea that might let her keep the beam rifle safe. Maybe she could fling a Sticky Grenade and hit the robot's knee to cripple it. It was worth a shot. Waiting for a brief break in the fire, Victoria formed a Sticky Grenade in her left hand, waited for the right moment, and lobbed it at the robot's left knee.

She heard rapid movement, then five seconds later a detonation. Victoria waited for the smoke to clear, then risked a peek over the planter. Weapons fire quickly made the brunette duck down again. After a few seconds she took another peek. She had blown only a tiny gap in its knee armor.

The gap was roughly fist-sized and the damage done was not nearly enough to cripple the war machine. Victoria cursed under her breath as the machine closed in. It was now or never. She popped out and fired a shot at the gap in its knee armor, just barely missing the hole but widening the gap as more armor was destroyed. That was a blessing, but Victoria had to survive in order to capitalize on the opportunity.

The robot returned fire, forcing Victoria to duck down. It was a rock's throw away from her now, so she had to retreat. Preparing a Flashbang, Victoria rolled it to the robot's feet and covered her head as the BANG sounded. Not waiting to see what happened, the brunette quickly ran for a side alley to the right of her current position and hoped for the best. She raced to shelter under a hail of fire and dove, just barely keeping her head as five rounds clattered above her head as she crawled forward to make good her escape.

Unfortunately for her she had chosen to take shelter in an alley with a dead end. The brunette sighed. There was no fire escape to climb on, no kind of sewer grate to duck into. She had just trapped herself with a war machine bent on her destruction. As if to highlight the magnitude of the mistake it strolled right into the alley's entrance and trapped her.

Victoria aimed for the knee and fired a single shot, but it hopped to the side and the shot missed. Victoria aimed for the yellow window that was its "face" to blind it and hopefully get a chance to hit the killswitch before she caught a case of lead poisoning. It deployed a thick metal slab to protect its "face" and the shot bounced off harmlessly. It maintained the shield as it advanced on her.

Running out of time, Victoria fired a shot that rendered the machine gun unusable. The robot simply cast the weapon aside, ran at her, and grabbed her by the neck. It lifted her into the air by the neck and its "face" glowed blood red. Victoria kicked at the robot as its cold metallic hand began squeezing her throat. As she struggled for life she noticed the officer from earlier sneaking up behind the robot.

Victoria made a half-conscious decision to keep kicking at the robot to distract it long enough for the young policeman to hit the killswitch and save her. The brunette made it a point to kick it in the face... surely it could not ignore kicks to arguably the most important part of its body. She kicked it twice before it walked forward and shoved her back against the alley wall. It then drew a fist back... it was not going to finish strangling her, but instead it was going to cave her face in!

The robot threw the punch and Victoria screamed as the black fist hurtled towards her face. The officer dashed forward and jammed his hand into its back, hitting the switch and stopping the fist mere inches from her nose. Victoria was abruptly dropped to the ground thanks to her captor's hand relinquishing its grip. Her neck was throbbing as she panted and wheezed on the asphalt, grateful to still be alive. A hand extended down to help her up, a helping hand that she eagerly took.

"That was close, kid." He said to her. Victoria brushed herself off and the officer examined her neck, which was hurting badly. He raised his radio and was about to call for medical help when distressed radio chatter loaded with law enforcement jargon cut in.

"Victoria! Victoria, are you still there?" Dr. Hanlon asked.

"Y-yeah Doctor, I'm still here. I managed to stop the DH-M01 thanks to the police. Don't worry... it's been shut down, but it's still functional. It has some damage to the left knee, but I'm sure it can be fixed." Victoria reported. The doctor did not seem happy. Rather, he sounded worried.

"I just got some bad news. The Cavalier's been spotted near the police station!" Dr. Hanlon told her in a distressed voice. That was indeed a cause for alarm. The officer heard radio chatter that reinforced what the doctor had just told her.

"We're needed at the police station. It's under attack by a flying white robot. Follow me!" The officer ordered. Victoria picked up the beam rifle and followed him at a jog. They had to hurry before the station was reduced to rubble.

[Word Count: 888]
[Total Word Count: 6,624/7,500]
Three out of four robots have been disabled.

-Outside Motor City Police Station-

Victoria and the officers watched as a white robot hovered over the police station and occasionally fired the long cannon attached to its right arm. Plumes of smoke were rising from the station's rooftop helipad. Radio chatter sounded over the officer's radio.

"That thing's taken out our helicopters!" He said to the gathering of officers and the Black Rose mage. That seemingly random move actually made sense. By taking out the helicopters the Cavalier limited the amount of opposition it could face. The police realized that and were not very happy.

"At least none of the pilots were hurt. It actually waited for them to get out and get clear before destroying the helicopters." An older officer with thin black hair commented.

"That's great, but that's not helping our motor pool. We've lost all our helicopters and half our patrol cars." Another older officer lamented the loss of expensive vehicles.

"Looks like we're gonna be walking on patrols for the next eight months." A middle-aged officer with black-rimmed glasses commented. All the officers present groaned.

"I'll do what I can to stop it. But this is Dr. Hanlon's strongest design to date. It's got all the bells and whistles." Victoria warned the police.

"This is all his fault!" One of them bellowed. The officers shouted their agreement.

"If he'd quit trying to make so many complicated gadgets and tinkering with robots, we wouldn't be in this mess!" Another one asserted.

"He's been doing everything he can to stop them. How do you think I got this fancy gun? Mail order catalog?" Victoria asked them, waving the beam rifle for emphasis. Their blank stares made her think that the men took her rhetorical remark a bit too literally. At any rate, they were not moved by her defense of the doctor.

"That's great, kid. But where's the great doctor and his fancy gadgets? He should be the one cleaning up this mess!" The glasses-wearing officer countered.

"He's right, you know." Dr. Hanlon said to everyone present. In his hands was a large rocket launcher. He was wearing moss-green metallic armor and had a look of determination on his face.

"There he is!" One of them said in a contemptuous manner.

"Yes, here I am. I know that I'm not the most popular person in the city, but that doesn't matter. I'm here now. I'm here to fix this mistake." He answered calmly. He turned to Victoria.

"You've done well up to this point, Victoria. I shouldn't even be asking you this. But I... I need your help. One last time." He said to her.

"What do you need, Doctor?" Victoria asked. She had been through a lot of danger over the last couple of hours, but she was going to finish what she started. Black Rose was counting on her to build its reputation as a champion of the people.

"I'm just an old, fat, and out-of-shape lab rat, so I can't win this fight alone. I'll need you to act as a distraction while I try to hit the Cavalier with an EMP rocket." He requested. She could see all the years of his age on his face. He also looked tired and ready for this fiasco to be over.

"So you're gonna fry all our electronics to stop this robot?" The bespectacled policeman asked sarcastically.

"If you have a better idea, Donald, I'm all ears. If you don't, then kindly stay QUIET." Dr. Hanlon shot back with obvious irritation. Called out on his sarcastic remark and not having any viable alternative to offer, the chastened officer quickly backed down.

"Now, Victoria, we must focus on the business at hand. That robot won't wait for us to make a complicated plan, so I'll keep it simple. You distract it with that beam rifle. I shoot it with the EMP rocket." He said to her. The brunette could understand that.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Victoria replied. The chastened officer stepped forward.

"Look, Ed. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be angry at you. No one could have predicted this." The officer apologized to the doctor.

"Don't get soft on me, Don. We'll discuss who's to blame after the Cavalier's been stopped." Dr. Hanlon firmly replied. The Cavalier took notice of them and lowered itself to the ground on large boosters. Its feet made contact with the ground with a THUD. Was it challenging them?

"I'm sorry, my old prototype. The world doesn't need either one of us. We tried to do good, but all we can do is destroy." Dr. Hanlon said to his creation. Its eyes flashed blood red. it was time for Victoria and Dr. Hanlon to finish what they had started.

H-01 Cavalier:

Dr. Hanlon's Armor:

[Word Count: 790]
[Total Word Count: 7,414/7,500]

Victoria raised her beam rifle and the Cavalier darted upward into the sky. Dr. Hanlon attempted to aim at it, but it aimed its cannon in return. If either one of them fired, the other would be destroyed. Amanda came in over the radio.

"Victoria, where's Dr. Hanlon? I can't find him!" Amanda said.

"He's at the police station trying to defeat the Cavalier with an EMP rocket." Victoria replied.

"What? IS HE NUTS? He'll fry all the electronics in the area if he uses it!" Amanda protested.

"What else can we do? We can't wait. The Cavalier needs to be stopped NOW!" Victoria countered. Amanda sighed.

"Hang on... I might have an idea. Lemme search his logs on the Cavalier." Amanda said. the Cavalier darted downward in a swooping attack and swung at her with a beam sword. Victoria ducked and kept her head.

"You'd better hurry... it's switched to a beam sword!" Victoria answered.

"OK, but I'll need time. Can you buy me some time?" Amanda requested.

"Yeah. Just lemme know when you find what you need!" Victoria said before cutting contact. Dr. Hanlon was dodging for his life as the Cavalier performed a series of diving attacks that narrowly missed the armored man. The police were plinking away at it with their service weapons, but the Cavalier's armor was just too strong. Victoria aimed and fired her beam rifle at it, but the white shield on its right shoulder bounced the beam, which hit a building and shattered the glass.

"Damn." Victoria remarked. The robot swung its beam sword and the doctor blocked with his rocket launcher. The weapon was sliced in half and rendered useless. Dr. Hanlon panicked. Victoria tossed him the beam rifle.

"HERE!" Victoria shouted. The doctor caught it and fired from the hip, punching a hole in its left booster. The robot swung a fist and knocked the doctor into a perforated police car. It turned its attention to Victoria, who was waiting with a Sticky Grenade. She flung it at the robot's chest and ducked.

It flew towards her and attempted to grab her before the explosive went off, but she rolled aside just in time and it slammed head-first into the wall behind her. The Sticky Grenade exploded but only made a scratch on its chest armor... it did not make a hole, not even a small one. It recovered, activated its beam sword, and came after her with renewed determination.

"I think I found something!" Amanda exclaimed into Victoria's headset.

"What is it?" Victoria asked as she began to dodge sword swings. First one to the right, then one to the left, then a stab. The brunette dodged them all as Dr. Hanlon re-entered the fray and used the beam rifle to turn its cannon to slag.

"I think it's... it's a killphrase!" Amanda exclaimed. Victoria had a faint idea what that meant.

"OK, so?" Victoria asked.

"It's... it's..." Amanda started. The robot turned its head and glared at her. Did it know what they were about to do?

"Yeah? Come on, please!" Victoria pleaded.

"Ignis..." Amanda said the first word.

"Ignis." Victoria repeated as it stabbed at her again.

"Aurum..." Amanda said the second word.

"Aurum." Victoria said.

"Pro... Probat." Amanda said.

"Probat." Victoria repeated. The robot kicked her and sent her flying. She landed next to Dr. Hanlon, who was busy firing at the Cavalier. Victoria felt her head. Her headset was missing! To her horror the Cavalier stomped on the headset, crushing it into fancy electronic dust.

"Dr., Amanda gave me three words." Victoria said.

"What were they?" He inquired. His face was sweating profusely.

"Ignis. Aurum. And Probat. I don't know what they mean." Victoria answered. Dr. Hanlon's eyes lit up. He then smiled.

"I know what they mean. It's the Cavalier's killphrase." He informed her with a smile. Suddenly a car tire came hurtling at them. Victoria and the doctor screamed as it slammed into the car they were standing beside and moved the car a few feet back while embedded in the driver's door.

"Yeah, well, you'd better say it fast. It knows what's coming and it's trying to kill us!" Victoria urged him.

"So you can stop this thing by talking to it?" Don asked.

"Yes. I only need a distraction." Dr. Hanlon answered.

"I can do that." Victoria said as she produced a Flashbang.

"That'll do nicely." Dr. Hanlon said.

"We'll make some noise for you." Don said as he and the other officers began shooting with their pistols. Dr. Hanlon picked up a dropped megaphone and turned it on. He knew what he had to do.

"I'll throw this and blind it." Victoria announced before flinging the device to it. The Flashbang landed at its feet and stopped, then went off with a blinding flash. Dr. Hanlon raced over to the blinded robot and shouted.

"IGNIS AURUM PROBAT! IGNIS AURUM PROBAT!" Dr. Hanlon shouted through his megaphone. The robot dropped to one knee and powered down. The threat was over.

"Well, it's over." Don said.

"Looks that way." Victoria remarked.

"I'm sorry, Ed. None of this was your fault." Don apologized.

"No, Donald. You were right. I made a lot of mistakes in my research, mistakes that cost this city dearly. I shouldn't have gone into military technology." Ed admitted. The pair embraced. Amanda came roaring up to them on a motorcycle.

"You stopped the Cavalier!" Amanda exclaimed to Victoria, Dr. Hanlon, and the police.

"Yeah. We did. We all did." Victoria said.

-Hours later-

"Good news, Victoria. Thanks to you, I'm not going to be charged with any crimes. I was given a stern warning not to research or develop military robots ever again." Dr. Hanlon told Victoria.

"You can't unring the bell, Doctor. It's all over the news. Everyone and their brother will want your military designs." Victoria expressed concern.

"They can't have them. I just deleted all the schematics. I'm also going to get Amanda's help to make sure that all the schematics are destroyed." He happily informed her.

"What will you do for money now?" Victoria inquired.

"I just got a large order for Entertainers from Capital Crocus. The police also expressed interest in my body armor designs." He stated. Victoria cringed. Not those ugly green robots again.

"I'm gonna stay and help rebuild this city. It's only right that I do so." Dr. Hanlon added.

"Is there anything else that I need to do?" Victoria asked.

"No. No, my dear. You've done more than enough. Take this, along with my compliments." He answered, throwing a large bag of Jewels at her.

"Thanks Doctor. Good luck with your new projects!" Victoria said before leaving the doctor's lab. She walked through the sliding glass doors and into the city streets. Entertainers were one day going to be all over Capital Crocus. That was yet another good reason for the brunette not to go there.

[Word Count: 1,156]
[Total Word Count: 8,570/7,500]
Four out of four robots have been disabled.