Voretober 2022 - VILLAIN & HERO

The automatron first appeared, loudly, through the ceiling of the bank’s main lobby. It had boomed with a commanding, robotic voice, “ATTENTION CITIZENS. YOU ARE NOT THE TARGET OF THIS ASSET REALLOCATION. DO NOT INTERVENE AND NO HARM WILL COME TO YOU.” Of course, it was difficult to make out its exact words past the sounds of shattering glass and tile as it landed. It seemed to be made of stainless steel and boasted an incredible height, over double that of anyone in the room. It wouldn’t be stoppable even if anyone wanted to.

Fortunately for it, and them, no one did. Its head turned towards deeper into the bank, where the vault lay. It walked straight through the front desk, the tellers there narrowly dodging debris and the incredibly heavy, clawed footfalls of the robot. A path of destruction followed until it reached the vault door, at which it paused. If anyone had been watching they would’ve seen its right arm transform in an instant, changing from a humanoid hand to a thin metal tube. The end sparked abruptly and burning metal began to shoot out into the door.

For all its might, this took a few precious minutes. Ones in which authorities would certainly mount a response, though even that was of no concern to it. What was, was inside the vault. It had carved a hole directly in the door, allowing it to fit inside even if it seemed to bend much lower than something of its size had any right to be capable of. Once inside, it briefly scanned the room before finding its target: Lockbox 2520. It rammed its fingers into the wall around it, then tore the entire box out.

Its contents were easily verified via x-ray. So it opened its metal maw and inserted the box inside. A light gulp sent it sliding down a slick, silicone ‘throat’ while aluminum plating bulged outside. It shortly thereafter landed securely in a holding stomach. Primary objective complete. And according to police radio, it still had time for the secondary objective. It walked to the corner of the vault and turned around, facing the rest. Then it stomped in place, mounting its clawed feet in the ground, following with its hands as it fell into a quadrupedal position.

Its jaws opened wide, much wider than for the lockbox. There was a click as a vacuum started up in the back of its mouth. Within seconds this became a whirlpool of dust and cash as bundles of bills flew apart and down into that holding stomach. The force was even enough to get bars of gold to shudder, then join the relentless suction into the automatron. Those were very visible going down its abyssal gullet, and even started to add up into a moderate bulge beneath abdominal plating.

Officers Johnston and Reed were first into the bank. They quickly made their way to the vault, where they could hear a whirling tornado as they approached. They nodded at each other before Reed peeked around the corner and saw more money than he would ever make disappearing into a black hole. One that was quickly pulling on him as well. His hat flew off into the automatron first, but then the rest of him was pulled around the corner too. The only thing holding him back was Johnston, who had the reflexes to quickly grab ahold of his leg.

The automatron had felt them coming ahead of time, but chose not to cease. It was bulletproof, of course, and two patrolmen weren’t going to be an obstacle. It stared coldly ahead as one started to get sucked towards it, only his fellow officer’s failing grip sparing him. While its maw, throat, and stomach could all easily accommodate a fully grown man, even a large one, the simple truth was that it would put him over capacity.

As soon as Johnston lost his grip on his partner, the suction cut off. Reed, bricks, and bills all fell to the ground at once while the automatron once again stood up. It coolly stepped over the officer on the ground, who covered himself as if it would protect him had the robot chosen to step on him. Commands and then bullets ricocheted off the back of its head as it walked straight through a wall, out into an adjacent alley.

*/^\*

Amazing Ace was flying over the city of Mestoburg. Not on patrol, as he had a life to live separate from that of Amazing Ace, but in seeking of a major incident. He was listening to his radio earlier when he heard that there was a robbery in progress at the Grand Miles & Davis Bank. Some sort of monstrous automatron, capable of tearing through the building like it was nothing. It sounded like just the job for the Amazing Ace!

He had never fought anything that was even approaching his newfound strength before this. He wasn’t entirely sure he would be able to stop it either, but he had to try. If the police couldn’t, who else could? He scanned the streets as he flew above them. Not that he had telescopic vision to identify anything, but simply to try and identify the bank from above. Fortunately, he was able to eventually spot it thanks to a large police presence outside.

Captain Adams was standing outside, directing police when he heard something billowing behind him. He turned and saw that red-costumed, masked superhero with his cape blowing in the wind. A black ace of spades on his chest was the main visual draw otherwise. Adams waited until he was on the ground to say, “Ace! Am I glad to see you. I haven’t laid eyes on it myself, but I’ve seen the trail of destruction it’s leaving and I’ve heard about it from eyewitnesses. I doubt we have anything to stop it short of calling in the army!”

Amazing Ace looked past him, towards the bank. The front was remarkably pristine, but he could make out debris through the glass doors. “Where is it now, Captain?”

“I sent some officers in to determine just that, we should find out--”

There was a sudden explosion from the side of the bank, in an alleyway. The superhero disappeared in a blur as he moved to look down the alley straight-on. It would’ve been visible to anyone. Next to a large hole in a brick wall, there stood a robotic monster. The scale was hard to tell, but its head was nearly reaching the bottom of the fire escape on the next building. It seemed to make eye contact with him, cold, empty, and yet distinctly aware.

He readied for a fight, or at least to get blasted somehow, but nothing came. Instead, he watched as the robot’s legs shifted into a cylinder. What was it up to now? The answer came shortly thereafter, as it began to rumble louder and louder, followed by the light of the sun underneath. Amazing Ace turned away for just a moment, reflexively, and then he heard the blast he was waiting for. But nothing actually hit him. He turned back and looked, seeing nothing left but a scorch mark on the ground and smoke. “Did it self-destruct?” he muttered to himself.

Fortunately, the police captain had been watching from a healthier distance. He shouted, “Up there in the sky!”

Ace looked up and saw a trail of exhaust connecting to a twinkling light in the distance. It was incredible that anything could move even close to as fast as him. But he was still faster. “Rest easy, Captain, I’ll get it.” He didn’t wait for a response as he shot off into the sky behind it. He had to admit, it was a fast thing. Faster than anything he’d encountered before, but he had never tried to chase a rocket. He pushed himself a little further, starting to gain on it.

The automatron could tell it was being followed. It knew the course of action was likely, but it was also its best chance of a successful escape. It stole a glance behind it. The vigilante was going to catch it in under a minute if it didn’t change its course of action. There were a few different possibilities, but within seconds it calculated what it believed to be the most desirable one. It cut its engines.

Amazing Ace, much quicker than expected, closed the gap. He hadn’t expected it, nor could he react in time. At incredible speed he rammed into the machine, squarely inside the very rocket that had been active moments ago. He wasn’t sure how-- he wasn’t an engineer-- but he ended up lodged in an incredibly cramped metallic chamber with what smelled like gasoline. In fact, he was drenched in it. But soon that wasn’t the most pressing matter, as he could tell they were falling.

It wasn’t a major concern for either of them, but it would be most uncomfortable for the superhero stuck inside the machine’s fuel tank. Both of them could easily survive a rough landing. And so they did, the automatron leaving a long and deep rut in the field it crashed into, some distance from the city. While the immediate threat was dealt with, there was still the issue of being over capacity. It couldn’t fly away until the hero was gone.

He struggled feebly against hard, metal walls that didn’t seem to ever truly give despite having some flexibility to them. He wished he had some different power, because strength alone wasn’t going to get him out. He heard the automatron speak around him, “ENCOUNTERED OBSTACLE RETURNING. OBSTACLE CURRENTLY SUBSUMED BY SELF; REQUESTING FURTHER INSTRUCTION.”

He banged on a wall with his fist. “Hey! I’m not some obstacle. Tell your master to surrender, or I’ll bring him to justice myself!”

There was silence. Then he heard the automatron simply respond, “UNDERSTOOD.” He wasn’t sure what it meant by that since he couldn’t hear the other half of the conversation it was having, but it didn’t seem good. Especially not when he could hear something whir to life around him.

“What are you doing, you mechanical fiend? Let me go!” He was still trying to fight his way out, but he wasn’t going anywhere. Some other fluid started to pour into his chamber and at the same time, a constant rotation started. It was like he suddenly found himself inside a washing machine. It got louder and noisier and wetter until he felt like he was coming apart... And he was. The solvent and mechanical mixing worked together to quickly transform him from the strong hero of Mestoburg to a red slurry and then to an experimental biofuel for an equally experimental machine.

The fuel was still heavy, as his mass hadn’t actually gone anywhere. But now it could redistribute that liquid weight along rubbery pockets just beneath its outer casing. The process gave it the illusion of thickening up along its abdomen and sides, much like fat on an organic. Now it was once again fully fueled and could fly home. The launch process started up once more, rattling the gold bricks in its belly and then sending it flying into the sky, leaving only cinders in the field. Amazing Ace would soon fade into obscurity, having only been active for weeks before vanishing entirely.