Sam: Imprisoned (Book 3)

Lesser's Backup

  The robot shot forward faster than I could blink until it was hovering in front of me. Before I could react, Arsenal grabbed the back of my head then slammed me down until I crashed into the roof. In shock, I groaned at the face plant into concrete. Fortunately, the suit protected me but it still knocked the wind out of me and dazed me.
  When my brain finally stopped spinning, I tried focusing back on the fight. My sensors told me that the robot was right on top of me so - before its fist could collide with my back - I rolled out of the way of its punch. The roof collapsed under the force but didn't cave in completely. I jumped to my feet and stared wide-eyed at the force that the robot had. The damn thing was stronger and quicker than I was. But I was trained and had to believe I could at least attempt to take it down.
  In determination, I raised my hands and began firing at the robot. It was good at dodging but I locked in on the target and fired the mini-missiles I had stored away in my suit. Arsenal was able to dodge most of them but then a few caught him which forced him backward.
  Since it was a machine, it didn't need any time to recover as it lifted up its own arm and fire sprang from the robot. I just barely managed to dive out of the way but some of the flames caught my shoulder. Fortunately, I didn't have to put it out because the fire couldn't stick to my suit. So I continued firing blasts at the enemy but it was so fast.
  Before I knew it, Arsenal sprang at me again but this time with its knee. I didn't have time to react as it rammed into my stomach and shot me backward. Even though it made a jolt of pain shoot through me because of the force, I was able to catch my balance with the thrusters. I flinched through the attack but quickly got stable.
  The next attack was - again - unexpected. This time, Arsenal used laser beams from its eyes to shoot at me. How typical of a robot.
  Somehow, I managed to dodge most of the beams but unlucky for me one caught me right in the torso of my armor. The force caught me off guard and I was thrown back. I missed landing on the rooftop and instead toppled to the ground beneath me. I wasn't quick to get up this time.
  Arsenal appeared out of nowhere and slammed its fist into my chest. The blow felt like it almost stopped my heart and I could feel the armor bend as if it was only made of plastic. I wasn't near enough as strong as Arsenal.
  The robot didn't give me any chance to recover as it continued to throw blow after blow. So much pain radiated through me that I couldn't even locate where it was coming from. I tried throwing my own punches but to no avail.
  With a desperate scream, I thrust forward and a large beam shot from my chest. The attack was successful in throwing the robot off of me. So I didn't waste any time jumping to my feet and exhaustingly stagger towards Arsenal. My hands were at the ready and I was going to kick its butt before it got another chance at an attack.
  Which was something I hoped for.
  Even with the confidence boost, the robot disappeared from my sight before reappearing behind me and kicking me back down. Damn Howard Stark was good at making robots. It almost made me want to give up altogether.
  Arsenal's eyes glowed red to signal it was about to fire another laser beam from its eyes. I flinched and lifted my hands up to protect my face.
  Out of midair, a blast fired and made Arsenal go tumbling backward. I turned my head to follow the source of the blast to see Tony. A wave of relief came over me.
  "What's going on, Sam?"
  "Your dad's trying to kill me!"
  "What?"
  "JARVIS you can bring him up to speed," I ordered then kicked on the repulsers in my shoes to lift me off the ground. "Tony, if you need backup Banner is downstairs," I assured him before taking off.
  Fortunately, Tony was better at dodging Arsenal's attacks than I was and it distracted him so he wouldn't follow me. However, it didn't stop him from questioning, "Where are you going?"
  We were far enough away from each other that I had to use the comms to answer him, "I'm letting you handle it!"
  With that, I disappeared from the scene and continued to follow the horizon. There was a map on my screen that I used to track the power source. Terrain thought he could use Arsenal to give himself more time but I was tired of his schemes and intended to end it all today.
  As we had predicted, the base was located in Canada so it would take me a hot minute to get there but I was determined. Of course, I wasn't suicidal. I planned on letting the rest of the Avengers know where I was but I needed to check out the compound first and make sure it wasn't another distraction. It should not take them long to catch up to me. Especially if I laid low and didn't get spotted.
  At first, I intended to call and ask Bruce if he knew how to shut down this hypothetical device if I saw it. However, I figured that would give away my position and I didn't want us running out of time. The professor had been one step ahead of us this whole time so now it was my turn.
  I landed a few yards from the entrance of the compound. It was a lot smaller than what I expected but when I had JARVIS scan the building, it showed that it was a lot bigger underground. The information also showed me that Hydra owned this base... Interesting. Obviously, the place was heavily guarded which meant it wasn't going to be a walk in the park but I was sure that my suit had everything to get me through it.
  Remembering my suit had a dart gun mechanic, I used the screen to lock on to the guards before firing. The blast was quiet and muffled so it wouldn't be heard. When the darts connected with the guards' skin, it was almost immediate that they passed out.
  Before I could celebrate early, I snuck past the entrance and used the suit to hack the scanner that opened the door. Within seconds, the entrance opened up to me. With a smirk, I crouched and carefully stalked my way into the building. There was equipment everywhere that I was able to hide behind and make sure that I wouldn't be spotted. I kept telling myself that I just needed to lay low, find the device, then call for backup instead of getting into trouble.
  After checking the map of the building, I noticed which room was radiating energy from the device. So I crept down the hallway secretly until I found myself in an empty room. The sensor in my suit let me know that the energy was coming from below me. I turned on the laser in my suit and began to cut away at the ground until it gave out which allowed me to hop down to the floor below.
  There were no enemies on this floor and it was oddly quiet but it gave me the opportunity to look around. Judging by all the equipment, I guessed that this was the lab so the device had to be around here somewhere. I stepped around the corner and noticed some machine. Off to the side, there was a panel with buttons that appeared to be the way to turn on the device while the machine itself was a metal circle that looked like the entrance of a portal. There were some blinking lights flashing but the portal was dark and didn't seem to be turned on.
  As I stepped closer to the machine, something moved out of the corner of my eye. Before I could fully turn to see it, a metal arm appeared from behind the shadows and snatched my neck. I couldn't process what was happening while the the figure slammed my suit against a nearby wall with so much force that the wall almost crumbled.
  When I was finally able to peer up, I noticed it was a familiar-looking suit of armor. It took me a while to figure out where I had recognized the metal man. It wasn't until the helmet lifted to show an unfamiliar man that seemed to be in his late twenties.
  "Hello, Sam. I was expecting you," the man admitted with a slight - sarcastic - smile.
  "Hi, do I know you? Are you like a lawyer or something? For some reason, you just give off lawyer vibes, and if I have to beat anyone up then I assume I'll need a lawyer," I rambled but left the helmet of my suit on.
  "Shut up."
  "You know, maybe it was the way you said 'hello'. I don't know a lot of lawyers but that sounds very lawyer-y," I kept going, blatantly ignoring whoever this guy was.
  The man's glare was obvious and he shouted in fury, "I said shut up!" Then he threw me and my suit across the floor and skidded against the ground.
  Fortunately, it didn't hurt but it definitely dazed me for a moment. As I managed to slowly get to my feet, I questioned, "Is this where you say 'you've been served' or something? Some dumb one-liner like that."
  "I will end you. Tony will know what I felt when he ended my father," the man in the suit growled.
  With a deep breath of realization, I noted, "Oh, you must be Ezekiel! Obadiah's son? I'm impressed, did you make this suit all by yourself? I'm sure with the help of your father who stole the designs for that suit from Tony." At this point, I wasn't being nice. This guy clearly had a grudge against Tony but I still needed to focus on the machine that Lesser had created before it was too late. So, knowing I was going to have to stop this guy before I could stop Terrain, I muttered to JARVIS, "Send Tony my location."
  "Already sent, miss," JARVIS hummed back. The AI must've sent my location to Tony when Ezekiel had showed up. Which was fair, because this was going to get ugly.

(Sorry for the cliffhangers! Leaving you guys in suspense is fun though lol! Just a few more chapters left, I hope everyone is enjoying it. Thank you guys for reading :) 
~~~~~ LL2z)