6: Chicks Do Not Dig Giant Robots.

A small, childish woman of twenty four fights the US army and their badass robot using the powers of God.

Ace woke up in a motel she got for the night.  The fact she woke up there and not in a government facility means Cambell might’ve given up the search.  The idea of harming an innocent still stuck with her.  When the time came that she’d have to confront Cambell, and she knew it was only a matter of time, Ace would have to decide to either harm his troops or only knock them out.  She knew that she’d lure him into an open area away from any towns, that much was certain.  And so, Ace did just that.

A day had passed since she woke up, but it wasn’t a big deal to Ace.  She had found an abandoned park on the outskirts of Laconia that she felt was both big enough to sustain any fight that might occur and was far enough away from civilization to be decent.  And she waited.  Ace didn’t leave the park once during her time there, knowing that if she fell asleep she would be ambushed by Cambell.  Soon enough a rumbling of tanks, military-grade trucks, and various other weapons overtook the air around her.  At the far end of the park, Cambell appeared in a larger-than-normal tank.

“I think it’s unusual you’re just waiting here, Ace.   I expected you to run from us until you got to Europe.”

“You’d follow me there too.” Ace replied.  Cambell nodded.        

“I suppose you wanted us, what do they say, out of your hair?  It’s not that easy.”  Troops began  pouring in and surrounding her.  The tanks available were aimed directly at her, the trucks had their guns armed and ready.  Ace could easily crush them, but was hesitant.

“Please tell me these guys are all robots, or ex-criminals.” She said.

“No such luck.  Our finest men and women are here to apprehend you.  And if you’re break down in the hospital’s any indication of how you feel about that, it’d be best if you don’t fight back.”

Ace was going to take Cambell up on his offer.  She didn’t want to harm them.  The guilt would destroy her, much more the massive bounty already on her head escalating for such crimes.  She was about to drop her guard and surrender when a voice in the back of her mind said otherwise.  It wasn’t her conscience or any voice she’s heard before.  A male voice, sounding about 30, whispered. To her.

“Take it easy.”

For some reason, possibly an epiphany, Ace got the idea to fight back without harming the soldiers.  With quick reflexes she leaped into the air and hovered.  Cambell ordered his men to fire at will, causing a hail of bullets and shells to plaster Ace’s diminutive form.  The bullets bounced off her and she deflected the shells.  Each shot was slightly more and more painful to her, causing her to double over and protect as much of her body as she could.  What started off as a slight itch became an unbearable endurance as her body was pummeled with wave after wave of ammunition, a single one of which would’ve killed a normal human. 

After 20 minutes of continuous fire, the hail began to diminish.  Clicks of empty guns could be heard all around, until finally everyone was out of ammunition.  Ace dropped to the ground with a massive thud but got back to her feet soon enough.  The largest shells left welts all over and the smaller ones managed to tear through her clothing.  Although she wasn’t naked, it looked as though she had worn the same clothes all her life.

Cambell cradled his head in his hand, frustrated.

“Did you really endure everything we’ve got, just to wait until we’re out of ammo?” He groaned.  Ace didn’t answer.  Cambell gave a second order- to use hand-to-hand combat to take Ace out.  The soldiers pulled combat knives from their holsters and rushed Ace.  Resisting the urge to fly away or send a shockwave of force through the ranks, she instead tried countering the soldiers.  One man swung at her, but Ace ducked and grabbed his arm.  She flung him into another oncoming soldier, who fell back and took down a group behind them.  Another tried stabbing, but Ace side-stepped and pushed him away.  One managed to slash her neck from behind, but not before she spun around and kicked the man into the masses.  With each attack from one soldier, Ace took out at least five by sending them back at one another.  Soon the soldiers, in pain but still alive, had given up their attack and were on the ground, groaning in agony.  Ace had received cuts across her head, neck, arms, and even her legs.  She was bleeding badly. 

“I hate this.” She griped. “I hate having to lower my guard for you.  I hate having to hold back.  Why can’t you send someone I can fight on even grounds?  Sending innocent people to fight me is a cheap move.”

“Fine, you want to fight something on equal grounds?  I’ll make that happen.” Cambell said.  He pulled a small device along with a walkie-talkie from his holster.  Using the walkie-talkie he called in something he called “Thud” and threw the small device into the air.   Moments later a giant robot landed near Ace seemingly from the sky.  A red monstrosity about the same size as the monster from before, the robot was very round.  Its body was spherical with two thin arms leading up to rounded wrists that held thick armored hands.  Its legs were like redwood tree trunks.  Its head, or what Ace could discern as a head, was sticking out of its torso just enough for it to see.

“I want you to meet the Supernatural and Unexplained Occurrence Eliminator.  The S.A.U.O.P.  Or what I liked to call, ‘Thud’.” Cambell called out.  The soldiers had retreated to a safe distance before the odd device Cambell threw up moved to about 100 feet above Ace and the robot before letting out a burst of light, creating a pink-tinted dome that fell and covered a circular area.  Ace tried to break through it but was bounced back with tremendous force.

“What the hell is this?”  She said, getting back to her feet.

“Your tax dollars at work.  It’s a force field that covers an area.  Nothing can get through there. The only way out is to blow up the source” Cambell said, pointing to the device.  Immediately Ace jumped and flew to the device before being shot down with an energy cannon from the robot.  She instead tried shooting energy bolts at the device, only for them to be swatted out of existence again by the robot.

“Yes, because we’d make it so easy for you to get out.  No, just ignore the giant robot we placed in there to fight with you, go right ahead and destroy a multi-milliondollar device. It’s not like we had any intention of testing it on you.” Cambell sarcastically grumbled to himself.  Ace somehow picked up the last part.

“Testing on me?  What’re you talking about?”

“It’s simple- if you by some chance decided to fight back against my men, we had a backup plan where we’d test our latest technology- both the robot and the force field.”

“Is there someone in that thing too?” Ace said bitterly, grasping her arm to slow the bleeding.  Her wounds had begun to heal so it wasn’t as bad as before.

“No, no, like I said- it’s brand new.  Top secret AI program brought to us by the boys at the Pentagon.  I’ll admit I wasn’t a big fan of scientists, but after seeing this I’ve warmed up to them.  It’s remote controlled.”

“Why send hundreds of innocent soldiers to fight me then get me in a ring with a robot I can easily tear apart?”

Cambell laughed. “I would honestly love to see you do that.  It’s tempered to resist even your strength.  Some sort of new metal they won’t tell me.  All they said was it’s made to test your limits.”

“But why?  Why not just take me in?”

“Oh we will, we will…” The smile on Cambell’s face slowly vanished. “But I want to see Him again.”

“Who?” Ace questioned sincerely.

“That ghost that saved you from before.  I want to know what kind of power He possesses.  I think it’s God trying to get out.  You’re going to fight Thud at full power, and I’m going to see Him again- video proof and all.  And none of that poorly shot amateur quality from before.  We have here lab conditioned combat made specifically to bring that spirit back out.  So enjoy yourself.”

Ace turned back to the robot.  It was getting into some sort of combat stance.  Feeling better and most of her wounds healed, Ace grabbed her goggles and covered her eyes with them.

“Time to ace this.”

Ace immediately shot an energy bolt at the robot before it dissipated across his chest.  The robot’s arm transformed into a giant cannon.  He held it steady with his other arm while a beam of red energy began charging inside.  Ace dashed away just as the robot fired, leaving a massive crater at the corner of the still-intact force field.  She leaped and punched the machine in the head.  The robot staggered back but grabbed her soon after and flung her into the force field.  Before she could even hit the ground the robot shot three short bursts of yellow energy at her, juggling her in the air before collapsing to the ground.  With the fourth shot Ace knocked it into the ground and advanced on the robot, who swung at her like a child swatting a bee.  Ace dodged through the robot’s attacks, delivering futile punches and kicks across its body.

Finally frustrated, she exclaimed “Oh to hell with this!” and grabbed the giant machine by its torso.  She raised it over her head as though it was merely a barbell before rocketing into the air.  The robot flailed, but to no avail.  Ace smashed the robot into the force field which shot out electricity from the impact site.  The robot seemed to shake in pain from the energy coursing through its body before Ace flung it across the park into a corner of the force field, near the crater from before.  She concentrated like when she fought the demon and yet again a white aura appeared around her in the shape of the same man.  Cambell grew excited.

“There!  Begin recording!  I want this all on film.” He ordered a nearby soldier.  The robot rose to its feet- or tried to before Ace began body slamming its head over and over.  Each hit barely dented the armor but made the robot flinch on impact.  Ace dashed backwards and began charging an energy ball while the robot rose to its feet.  By the time the robot was up the energy ball was as big as Ace, who was holding it over her head like a giant beach ball.  She hurled it with all her might, but not at the robot- she sent it towards the force field.

No effect.  The robot shot another beam quickly, dispersing the energy orb in an explosion that just missed the device.  Ace was beyond annoyed at that point.

“Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuck you!” She screamed, with extra emphasis on the first part of the sentence.  She began charging another orb, but much more quickly. The aura of the man became more distinct and mimicked her movements, even adding extra white energy to the ball.   The robot rushed at her but before it could reach her Ace released not an orb but a whole beam of pure white hot energy straight at- and amazingly through- the torso of the robot.  The orb smashed against the force field on the other side before Ace slowly forced the beam to move upward, slicing through the robot.   Eventually the machine was chopped in half from its stomach up, but the beam kept going until it hit the device, destroying it entirely.  She separated her hands and fell back from exhaustion while the army stood shocked at what they witnessed.  General Cambell didn’t share these sentiments.

The two stared at each other for a while before the soldier near Cambell reported he got everything on tape.  This was enough to snap Cambell out of his gaze.

“Go.” He said silently, a look of defeat and victory fighting for control of his face.  Ace, who had lost the white aura of the man and was back to normal, staggered to her feet before floating away.  The soldiers only watched.

“Sir, why can’t we go after her?  She’s weakened, we can finally kill her like this!” Exclaimed one of them.

“Government wants her alive, and we’re out of ammo.  Even our best war machine wasn’t enough.  Pentagon has something else planned, they just won’t tell me what.”  Cambell said stepping down to the street. “From what they say, though, it’s the end-all plan assuming this wouldn’t work.  They’re calling it Project Planet Five.

Author's Note

Despite all the possible problems with the last couple chapters, my biggest concern is the distance traveled. Ace goes from Ohio to Laconia in four days. Feel free to call me out on it if you think this can't be done via bus.

Reviews

[Tai Ryens]

Government conspiracies, how lovely. Like the last chapter, you left me in wonder about the new prototype weapons. Detailing was amazing, except for when she kept getting shelled by bullets. I feel like the pain could have been described much more efficiently than what you did now. Keep up the hard work though! It'll pay off later.