When we surfaced, Larry was sitting on the sand, holding a sort of communicator to his ear.
"Yo! What's the news?" I walked over to him while the others went to get their stuff.
"Look." He showed me a some familiar-looking photos. "Here's a picture of some personnel from the House of Steel. You know any of them?"
Heh. I'd recognize Joseph anywhere, with his creased face and speckled cane. Even though he's a white coat, he's still the closest thing we have to a dad, I thought. I'm sure he meant well, and I knew he was proud of us whenever he called us his children…
"You're staring," Larry told me. "Someone important, I presume?"
"Huh?" I blinked. "Y-yeah."
"Hmm, it's attached to a proposal document," Larry said, pulling out a sheet from under it. "For the… I-Rod Debilitator, Series 4. Huh, the project's sponsor is listed here too – Atticus. No last name or picture, though."
Atticus? Was he Joseph's boss?
"This is big, actually. I should have looked through this stuff when we first grabbed it," Larry muttered.
My gaze wandered down to Larry's neck. He too had those silvery lines running along it, but they were shiny instead of dull. It was so weird… they didn't look like gills, and yet he could stay underwater probably forever. How did it work…?
Before I could ask, I heard Penny's voice. "Hey guys, I see choppers on the horizon," she called. "You have your weapons?"
"Here they come," Bernicia cried. In the light of the morning sun, six aircraft zoomed through the air. Then they stopped a few hundred meters away and began dropping dozens of rod-shaped things onto the beach – I-bots? But these were blue, with propeller engines on their backs and hydrodynamic heads.
"Oh, great. Aquatic variants," Larry sighed, sealing away the documents. "Hey, Penny! Fight or flight?"
"I think those choppers are in a shock grid formation," she replied. "They'll zap us down if we fly."
"Fight it is," Larry nodded, pulling out a harpoon.
Easier said than done, as it turned out. We couldn't get too close without risking paralysis, which put us at an immediate disadvantage. Our weapons did a good job of parrying their arms, and we could deal fatal damage if we broke their eyes.
But through the combination of limited mobility and sheer numbers, these new I-bots had begun to push us back into the sea.
"Everyone, back to the hideout!" We all dove underwater and followed Penny down the shelf.
After rushing through the airlock and sealing off the entrance, we watched the army of I-bots stop, completely surrounding the hideout.
"Now what? There are too many out there to avoid," I said.
"True," Penny, nodded, "But I have just the thing. Hoho, I've been waiting for a chance to use this!"
"What is it?"
She walked over to a small metal box and hit a button on its side. Then the water outside the window lit up with a bright BZZZ-POW!
In an instant, the I-bots were fried husks of metal, and the room was now dimly lit by backup lights.
"Huh. Bold move to siphon it directly from the energy supply," Blake noted.
"Well, I didn't design this place," Penny shrugged. "The airlock should still work, I think. That uses hydraulics."
"Good – I'm outta here," I grunted.
By the time we made it back to shore, all of the aircraft had left, and the sun was high and bright. In the distance, I could see people milling about on the sand.
"So… where to now?" I wondered.
"How about we meet Roy at our other hideout?" Larry suggested. "It's a ways north, on Titan Hill. I'm sure he'll be stoked that we found Penny."
I looked northward, and noticed a humongous mountain jutting up from the horizon. "Titan Hill?"
"Yeah. Apparently it actually was just a hill when it was first christened," Pex supplied. "Weird, right?"
"Sounds like an urban legend," Bernicia said. "I dig it."
"I mean, look at us. We might as well be urban legends," Travis muttered. "You ever think about how improbable our state of being is?"
"We… have better things to do," I replied. "Come on."
~
We flew along the coast, going straight towards our destination. It took a very, very, very long time.
The sun settled on the horizon. Titan Hill's peak was now poking through some passing clouds. The beach had long given way to rocky cliffs, and I couldn't see the city anymore, so this meant we were in uncharted territory.
When we finally reached the mountain, Larry pointed out the location of the hideout, which was close to the snow-shrouded peak.
"Hey, look. There are some black things on the slope," Penny noted. "I-bots? I didn't know they could scale inclines this steep."
"Hey, wait. Those things are modded," Blake incredulously stated. "Look, they've got heavy guns and treads."
"Man, our foes have gotten busy," Penny said. "That means they must have Roy holed up in there."
"Let's crush 'em," Bernicia grinned.
Despite the imminent danger we faced, we all swooped right past the I-bots on the slope, following Penny and Roy into the hideout—
It was a firefight! All of us ducked and covered, but the half a dozen heavy I-bots in here had their fire focused on the barricade in the back of the room. Roy!
With our newly increased numbers, they didn't stand a chance. By the time the attacking heavy I-bots had registered their new threats, we had reduced them to a pile of scrap metal.
"Heh. Take that, ya tin twigs," I snarled.
"Oh, thank goodness," Roy sighed, poking his head out. "Look out! The reinforcements are coming, get down!"
"Shoot," I muttered, jumping behind cover.
"Hey! Are those Macy's gauntlets?" Roy asked as he dove down next to me.
"Yeah. What, does she want them back?"
"What? I haven't seen her in forever." He shook his head. "Um, try twisting your wrist a bit. From the inside."
"Huh?" I fidgeted with the gauntlets.
"Ahh! Er, point them away from your face first," Roy instructed. "It'll be cool, trust me."
"Hmm…" Pa-shing! A shiny blade popped out of each gauntlet like a switchblade. "Oh! This is cool," I grinned. "Let's trash the rest of 'em."
Once the last heavy I-bot was destroyed, we regrouped near the front of the hideout.
"Man, everything's wrecked," Larry sighed. "How'd they even find this place?"
"They had to have been scouting out the area for a while now," Penny figured. "That means our other hideouts are compromised too."
"INCOMING DRONE FIGHTERS," Travis shouted.
A small fleet was drawing near, and they appeared to be carrying some kind of payload. When they got closer, their payloads dropped off of the drones' bodies and ignited in midair…
"Missiles!" I spun back towards the others. "Everyone, RUN!"
All four missiles streaked into the entrance of the hideout moments after we escaped. The impact shook the air, and a searing jet of smoke erupted from its opening.
"Nooo," Larry moaned. "Our stuff… the rest of the documents…"
Larry glared at the retreating drone fighters. "It's safe to assume they blasted our other places too."
"Great. I was wondering when they'd put up their dukes," Penny muttered.
"Aww, man, is it because of us?" Bernicia ran a hand through her hair. "I feel bad all of a sudden."
"It probably wasn't you guys," Roy replied. "Worst case, I'd say it was more of a last-straw situation. I mean, two sets of aeronauts on the loose? Who wouldn't pull all the stops? I'm pretty sure we aren't even supposed to know about each other's existence."
"Well, if they're getting frisky, we'll frisk 'em right back," I decided. "And to kill a weed, you have to get it at its… leaves, I think? There were never any in the badlands, now that I think about it…"
Roy nodded. "Not bad, little lady."
"No! Shut up! Don't call me that, I'm Shurikit," I retorted. "If we're looking for weeds, why not head over to the main man himself?"
"Joseph, huh," Blake said. "Hey, you guys in Gen 1 had a keeper too, right? We should go after both of them."
"Nah," Penny replied. She sounded kind of glum. "Torvalt was chill. Sweet, even. Loved talking about ghosts and stuff."
"Then he did something to Macy, then she vanished, then the higher ups had Torvalt offed…" Roy groaned. "Man, I don't wanna think about it anymore."
"I know. We can make this quick and easy," Travis stated. "We'll just swoop in on Joseph and grab him, then force him to tell us what's going on from a thousand meters up."
"Yes, yes, then if he doesn't, we can drop him and place bets on how big of a splatter he'll make on the ground," Bernicia nodded.
"Sounds like a plan," Blake agreed.
"Hey, whoa, easy there, guys," Larry cut in. "We don't know if he's the actual threat yet."
"Well, he's the only person we know we'll get answers from if we interrogate and torture him," I reasoned.
"Are you guys always this aggressive?"
"Oh, don't be such a wuss. It's basic pressure tactics, my guy," I assured him.
"Suuure," Roy muttered.