"BWA HA HA HA!" laughed the madman in his twelve foot tall mech. Vernon Heledy was pleased at how the loudspeakers conveyed his evil laugh. Heledy had worked on that laugh almost as much he had worked on his Pilotable Robotic Armored Walker Nonpareil or PRAWN as Heledy affectionately had dubbed it. Heledy felt the name was fitting as his collogues always called him a bottom-feeder. They are the real bottom feeders, Heledy thought as they had stolen his design for a gyroscopic stabilizer that was now allowing his Prawn to maintain its balance. It had taken him forever to think of an N word to make the Prawn complete. Heledy was an army weapons developer who was constantly looked down upon for his radical ideas of making mechs like the ones found in science fiction tales. Everyone told him it couldn't be done, or it wasn't feasible. Then the Variants came, or more specifically, Scientist and Mechanic.
Scientist was making things people had claimed were impossible. And even the brain damaged Mechanic had managed to develop a motorcycle that put all other land vehicles of any variation to shame. Scientist had lightsabers, laser guns, energy shields, and even a hover board, although he had yet to find his accurate balance on the last one.
And as far as the military was concerned, as long as the Variants refused to share their inventions, an arms race was on. And the first person they had gone to was the very person they had spurned: Heledy. Heledy graciously accepted the increased funding as if he had completely forgotten their prior transgressions against him. But Heledy had been simply biding his time until his prototype was complete. Immediately, he leapt into the cockpit and started rampaging through his base, easily destroying anything he set his sights on.
He had spared no expense of the government's funding. The mech was made almost completely of solid titanium, down to the very screws, nuts and bolts that held it together. He had even needed to order special titanium tools as the parts kept breaking his steel ones. The legs were programmed to work almost completely on their own in response to an acceleration peddle similar to the ones in cars, and would compensate for any terrain. The arms on the other hand were more articulate, responding to massive gloves Heledy was wearing to give him the strength to demolish a building or the precision to pick a flower.
Heledy had spared no expense on firepower either, and mused on this as he opened fire on one of the police cars in his path with his arm mounted Gatling gun. Perhaps I shouldn't have wasted all my rockets on those tanks. Heledy pondered, But it was fun though. Heledy would have preferred to have more kills attributed to his masterpiece, but a combination of his lack of combat experience and the discipline of the military personnel had led him to have caused only a handful of casualties and a single death. But it was the one death he had wanted most. The very commander who had spurned him one week and then praised him the next. Heledy had even gotten a chance to deliver the one liner he had been working on for weeks: "Who's crazy now?!" before he had crushed the life out of the commander. Now it was time to show the world the true meaning of power. Time to see who was the better Mechanic.
As always, Lopez and Curtson were on the front lines of the situation. However, with the current threat, Curtson had ordered the front lines be pushed back to a three block radius away from the robot, and the current mission of the police was to evacuate citizens out of the streets and away from windows and buildings. "Last building secure." Came Lopez' voice over the radio, "At least it will be until that thing starts walking again." "Affirmative Lieutenant, get up to the roof and keep an eye on it." Curtson had found himself thrust into the leadership role as the nearest military base had been this thing's first target. Now he was trying his best to keep his men and the civilians alive until backup could arrive. Officially, backup was the national guard. Unofficially however he was waiting for the very person Heledy had demanded. Mechanic, where the hell are you?
"Mechanic, where the hell are you?!" yelled Heledy, echoing Curtson's thoughts. "Clearly, you have been lying all of those times you said you had no fear." Heledy's Prawn smashed another car, ripping out its engine and hurling it through the window of a building. Screams of fear and pain came from within the building and Heledy began laughing at the sound. His laughter was cut short as something hit his Prawn in the head. It wasn't a hard blow, but enough to make a *clang* that hurt his ears. At first, Heledy thought that one of the people from inside one of the buildings had thrown something at him, but then his motion sensor picked something up and he looked down to see the Scientist, attempting to balance on his hover board.
Scientist had dropped from somewhere above, bouncing his hover board on the Prawn's head before coming to a semi stop at his current location. "I got it." Said Scientist referring as he always did to his balance, "I got it, I got it..." then he started to lean forward. "You don't got it." said Curtson, Lopez, and almost every cop within earshot. "I don't got it." Jake agreed as he pitched forward off the hover board, sending it soaring and stabbing into an already ruined car. Jake stood up, brushed himself off and looked up at the Prawn, his goggles glowing as they analyzed the mech.
"I said I wanted Mechanic," said Heledy, barely containing his fury, as another thought came to him, "but I suppose I could use a little warm-up." Jake finished his appraisal of the mech, "Mostly titanium: that must have been expensive. Impressive gyroscopic stabilizer. And the articulation in the upper extremities is more elegant than anything even I have created." Heledy was somewhat taken aback by Scientist's complements, "Thanks, but I'm still going to kill you." Jake shook his head, "No you won't. You are going to surrender." Heledy's laughter once again boomed over the megaphone. "Surrender? To you?!" Jake crossed his arms, looking somewhat insulted, but shook his head once again, "No, not to me, to her." *BOOOM!*
Something huge had smashed into the ground behind the Prawn, and sent an unknown fear running down his spine. All around him, Heledy could see the previously petrified people staring out of their windows in amazement at something right behind him. Heledy slowly turned his Prawn to face the thing, and found that it was so big he had to take three steps backwards to see it completely. The giant, like the prawn, was humanoid and looked like some form of robot, but that was where the similarities ended.
The giant was a good six stories taller than the Prawn, and consisted of what looked to be a patchwork of solid titanium plating and super-dense stone. The giant's hair that could be seen consisted of thousands of multicolored wires, and its eyes appeared to be projected as glowing yellow holograms. If the yellow hadn't been enough, the tattered tarp it was wearing like a hooded cape would tell anyone exactly what it was. To be more precise, it told Heledy who she was: Sorceress.
Heledy quickly turned away from the seven story Sorceress back to Jake, "I'd like to surrender now please!" "Too late!" came Ferris's booming voice, altered by both sorcery and science, as she pulled her leg back for a kick. Heledy ejected from the prawn just before Ferris giant foot connected with the Prawn, and sent it flying so far into the sky, the last anyone on the scene saw of it was a slight twinkle.
