Chapter 36: Factory Rampage

The holo-call ended abruptly after a few curses were thrown at Arron.

Arron tapped the HQ quick contact and began a call to Toothbrush.

The person that answered was Lexa. She looked every bit like a teacher with her black hair bun and glasses.

“How can I help you two?” she asked in a direct no-nonsense manner.

“We're on our way to the disturbance in sector 10 zone 2. Can you tell us where his home or any friends' houses he might try to flee to?”

“His Address is sector 10 zone 3 mega-apartment 2, floor 69 room 42. Be advised that the target is considered armed and dangerous. As far as we know he has not killed anyone. You are to apprehend him and hand him over to the police who will be picking up the Chicken bandit as well.”

“The APC will not be able to take many hits from the Mechanized worker bot. A new prototype APC v7 has been sent ahead to your destination. There are only 2 differences from the APC v6, the v7 is made out of A9 Parasteel and doesn't have a cell in the back. I am sending you the coordinates. Be sure to make full use of it!”

“Got it! We will update you when we complete the mission,” said Arron.

As the call ended Arron looked over to Kix who was controlling the speeding APC.

Several loud curses could be heard over the blaring siren, all of them coming from the back cell as they made several swerves through the crowded afternoon traffic.

“After weeks of patrols, we finally have another big mission. How are we going to handle this?” asked Arron.

“We'll use the new AP prototype to go directly where the target is. If he doesn't try to escape I'll get out with my exoskeleton and try to deal with him. If that happens, I need you to take over driving the APC v7 and help me box him in if he tries anything,” said Kix.

They shot past the zone 3 checkpoint and into zone 2 not even bothering to stop for an inspection.

Several minutes later Kix jerked the steering wheel to the right and swerved 180 degrees coming to a complete stop behind the parked APC v7 prototype.

Loud retching could be heard from the rear of the APC as Arron and Kix exited the vehicle.

Arron only had his service weapon and the metal case containing the Portable motorcycle v1.

While Kix had to grab the large case containing his exoskeleton. A loud clunk was heard when Kix closed the door and placed the APCv6 into lockdown mode.

The dark blue APC v7 prototype was far smaller and slimmer, looking like an obtuse triangle. It seemed like all the most recent prototypes coming from the researchers were slimmed down or miniaturized versions of previous projects.

Hovering above the new APC prototype, were two ball security drones that had been tasked with guarding the vehicle from any ruffians or hackers that might be stupid enough to try and steal government property.

With a quick scan, the hover security bots ignored Arron and Kix. They instead moved to float over the APC v6.

The two hopped into the new prototype which felt far more cramped.

“Let's see what this baby can do!” said Kix as he pressed his foot down on the accelerator pedal. They did not bother to turn on the sirens as they wanted to make a more stealthy approach to the target.

With a roar of its engine, they shot off at a high speed, heading towards a nearby large factory that had black smoke rising to join the gray smoke from the factories.

“This is way better than that large boat we have been using!” said Kix as he pressed the pedal down even harder, causing everything to become blurs as they shot forward.

It was true, the turns and the weaving was far tighter, and Arron felt less of a drift as they made their way through the crowded streets.

As they rounded the corner of another factory that was blocking their view, they came to a stop and scanned the area for their target.

Ding!

The helmet's visor immediately found the target, zooming in on a nearly 8ft tall Mechanized worker bot, that was in a large flat parking lot in front of the factory.

It was currently standing next to a pile of 4 hover cars that looked to have been smashed up and were now on fire, letting out the black smoke they had seen earlier.

The Mechanized worker bot was painted a bright yellow and had far chunkier than the exoskeletons that Arron had seen before.

As they watched from a distance It lumbered over to an undamaged hovercar and grabbed onto it. It slowly raised the hovercar and started to swing its upper torso around, slowly picking up speed as it spun around and then... released the car sending it flying into the pile of 4 burning hovercars.

BAM! Boom!

The hovercar crumbled as it crashed with the others and the power source exploded sending up a bright yellow mushroom fireball.

Arron and Kix were far enough away that the Mechanized worker bot did not notice them as it lumbered over to its 6th hovercar.

“What an inefficient use of space,” said Arron as he looked at the large parking lot.

Kix quickly exited the APC and dragged the portable Exoskeleton case out of the car pressing a holographic button as he placed it on the ground.

The four sides of the metal case all popped open and fell revealing the thinly armored exoskeleton that was crouched down in a compact and neat cube.

Immediately the legs stood up, the arms extended out, the head raised itself to look forward, and all its other parts locked into place.

In less than 30seconds the nearly 6-foot tall exoskeleton stood fully erect with its arms, legs, chest, and helmet open for its user to enter.

“The information said there was someone inside the Mechanized worker bot right? They're not holed up somewhere else controlling it?” asked Kix as stepped into the open exoskeleton.

As he leaned back a harness extended out from the back and went around his shoulders and waist locking him in before the thin armor closed around him.

“That's what the info says. The fail-safe backdoor was hacked so there is no way to remotely shut it off,” said Arron as read the details on the AP's dashboard.

“Alright, stay close just in case I need your help. But be far enough away so you can block him if he tries to run.”

“I'll give it my all.”

“Moe, by order of Mother and Father, you are to stop and surrender yourself!” said Kix, using the P.L.E's loudspeakers as he nimbly jogged through the thousands of parked hovercars.

Moe, who was in mid-swing, stopped and let the hovercar fly off in an opposite direction than the pile of burning hovercars.

He turned the lumbering Mechanized worker bot towards Kix who was rushing towards him.

“Stop? Stop what? My existence is pointless, why stop! I am going to be stuck in the same job, living in the same apartment, driving the same Hovercar, forever stuck on the 1st level due to my SCS!” shouted Moe in a slurred voice.

Clearly, the man was either drunk or high on stims.

Moe picked up another hovercar and spun once before launching the red Prontic 89' at Kix.

Kix used the enhanced exoskeleton legs to jump to the next aisle of cars.

Behind him, the red Prontic crashed into the paraconcreet and …

BOOM!

...It exploded.

The concussion from the explosion nearly knocked Kix over as he reoriented himself.

He dashed forward once again heading towards Moe.

Moe was able to pick up one more hovercar and fling it before Kix reached him. But I missed him as well.

Kix shot past Moe and skidded to a halt behind the lumbering Mechanized worker bot that was slowly trying to turn around to bring Kix back into view.

Kix turned his right armored exoskeleton hand into a jackknife and lunged forward to pierce the armor of the Mechanized worker bot in order to disable the engine...

...or that was what was supposed to happen. His armored jackknife fist skidded off the rear armor. A second later the thick armored arm of the Mechanized worker bot swung around and close lined Kix sending him flying.

“You idiot! The factory owner reinforced all his Worker bots with a layer of A6 parasteel to make sure no one could steal them! Such a puny attack won't damage it!”

“What are you doing M1? I called you to stop him, not destroy my Mechanized worker bot! They are expensive to repair! Don't damage it!” shouted an angry female, whose voice was echoing through the parking lot from loudspeakers in the lampposts.

“Kix, you okay?” asked Arron. He saw a grimacing Kix in the top right of his visor.

“Just peachy,” said Kix, as got back up onto his feet.

As he did so, he muttered a few choice curses at both the female speaker and Moe. Arron only caught the last parts of it “... what does she expect me to do? Throw flowers at it?”

Moe once again picked up a hovercar and started to rotate, but this time he did not launch it towards Kix, he continued to swing it as he slowly moved towards Kix.

Kix dodged out of the way several times as he tried to figure out how to take down the Mechanized worker bot.

“Screw this!” shouted Kix as he dived forward trying to tackle the Mechanized worker bot around its waist underneath the spinning hovercar.

Unfortunately, he misjudged the jump and the hovercar clipped him sending him flying at least ten aisles away, crashing into a hovercar, and falling onto the paraconcrete.

He tried to get up but there was no response from the exoskeleton.

“Fuck, the Exoskeleton’s been totaled! I'm stuck inside, help me out!” said Kix.

Arron, who was ready for such a situation, looked at the pedal. “I think... If I just press this like Kix and it should work....?!”

Arron was pressed back into the driver seat as he shot off down the aisle plowing through the hovercars in his way.

At such a fast speed he did not have enough experience to make any steering adjustments like Kix, all he could do was keep it aimed at Moe who was also smashing through the hovercars slowly making his way towards the immobile Kix!

CRASH!

Arron slammed the front of the new APC prototype into the rear legs of the Mechanized worker bot, crumpling both the front of the APC and the legs into a tangled mess.

The APC airbags activated on impact punching into Arron stopping him from flying through the reinforced armored paraglass.

The Mechanized worker bot's torso fell forward and continued to skid along with the APC, yellow sparks flying everywhere as the leftover speed from the impact pushed them forward in an uncontrolled spin.

Silence...

Arron took a few seconds to stop his swimming vision and regain the breath that had been knocked out of him.

“These damn helmets are crap, I nearly broke my nose,” said Arron as wiped the blood from his nose.

He deactivated the seatbelt and pressed the button to open the door.... nothing.

Arron grabbed onto the handle and had to manually push the door open.

As he opened the door he found the immobile Kix right next to his open door.

“Could you not cut it so close next time? I nearly died from a heart attack!” complained Kix.