Part 1
Part 2
Part 3


Adventures in Parodyverse - Training Session Part 4


    Yuki awoke first, placing her hand on her head before she realized what happened.  She looked toward the cockpit of the Lairjet quickly as she remembered Anna was the last one piloting.  Hatman was in the co-pilot’s seat, trying to restore engine power in the dark aircraft.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You have to do a manual engine restart.”  she quickly told him.

    Anna woke up next, and seemed a little confused.  She’d never been hit by an EMP weapon before.  It only took a second for her to reset, but in that second she felt like she missed an eternity.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh good, you’re EMP protected.”  Yuki noted as she saw Anna sit up.  “I was afraid you’d be out until we got you fixed up.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m okay.”  Anna reiterated as she gently rubbed the back of her head.  “Thank you, though.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I think we have a bigger problem than Anna’s state of consciousness.”  Hatman interrupted, his voice sounding strained as he struggled to restore power.

    Yuki sighed.  As usual, she didn’t seem as worried about the danger of falling in an aircraft as Hatman was.  “Yeah, okay,”  she said as she took the controls in the cockpit.  She pushed forward on the steering stick.  “We’re diving now...start the engines.”

    Hatman pushed and held the ‘start’ button, and he heard the engines finally groan to life.  He throttled them up, and the lights in the cabin came back on as engine power restored.  He breathed a relieved sigh and looked at Yuki.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Thought we were going to crash, didn’t you?”  Yuki asked with a sly smile.

    She was still smiling when Hatman suddenly looked horrified.  He didn’t get a chance to verbalize the cause his his concern until after the Destruct-O-Bot glanced off the windshield of the Lairjet, shattering it into a web of cracks.  There was a loud bang further back in the aircraft as well.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh, great.”  Yuki mumbled angrily as a bunch of alarms began to sound in the cockpit.  She looked at Hatman and said, “Guess what, Hatty?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yeah, okay.”  Hatman mocked Yuki’s earlier seeming lack of concern as he switched to his rockets cap.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Anna, hang on to Hatman, he’ll take you to safety.”

    The android nervously nodded, still unsure of what was happening.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m going to jump.”  Yuki answered Hatman’s next immediate question before he asked, by pulling a backpack out of a closet in the cockpit.  She brought her own parachute with her.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hatman, please tell me if I hold too tightly,”  Anna requested as she gently wrapped both arms across his shoulders.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You’re fine.”  he said as he put on the cap and threw open the door.  Hatman was surprised to note that Anna was made of lighter weight materials than Yuki, but he didn’t dare say so in the purple-haired Legionnaire’s presence.

    Yuki jumped out ahead of Hatman, diving head-first toward the ground.  As soon as she was clear of the plane, she began cheering.

    He couldn’t help but laugh as he watched, until he launched himself from the plane with Anna hanging on tight.  He was a little surprised that her body felt warm, like a human’s, in sharp contrast with the cold air.  It made him a little uneasy.

    Without being asked Anna quietly split her concentration, partly keeping radio contact with the aircraft’s auto-pilot to make sure it was aimed at the ocean, rather than the city.  She worried about where it might crash, and she hoped it would make it.  “Why did we abandon the aircraft?”  she asked Hatman.

    As he circled around, he pointed at the tail of the aircraft, which was nearly torn free by the earlier impact with the Destruct-O-Bot.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh.”  Anna looked around quickly, but didn’t see the Destruct-O-Bot.  That was kind of a bad sign.  “Do you think it might attack us while we’re in the air?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Keep an eye out for me, will you?”  Hatman asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Will do.”  Anna confirmed.  Her eye lasers were ready to repel any attack, just in case.  She glanced at Yuki, still dropping ahead of them.  Her lasers had the range in case Yuki was attacked too.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“See it?”  Hatman asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No.”  Anna replied.  “Are we going after it?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Of course.”  he said.  “We can’t let it wander the city...we’re the Lair Legion...we’re the someone who has to stop it.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“We have yet to destroy one.”  Anna pointed out.  “Hallie only disabled it.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“We’ll figure it out, Anna, don’t worry.  If we can’t destroy them, we have Al B Harper working on an alternative solution right now, just in case.”


---


    The power went out in Al B Harper’s Lair Mansion lab.  He cursed, noting that he managed to exceed the power limits of the circuits there once again.

    Just then, Lara Night walked into the entryway to the lab with a confused frown.  “Did you know the power went out?”  she asked.  Her face lost all its color when she realized why...and that Al was smiling.  “Oh.”  she said in a small voice.  She tried to quietly slip back out of the room to avoid being used as a power source.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Wait, wait!”  Al called after her.  He got her to stop with the only few words which would do it every time.  “It’s not for me, I’m helping Hatman and Hallie.”

    Lara stopped and closed her eyes.  She knew very well that she never could say ‘no’ to that...and ended up getting roped into something dangerous or painful.  “What are we doing?”  she asked, hoping to get some kind of idea how much trouble she was in.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“The Destruct-O-Bots are all interconnected.”  Al explained.  “They have a sort of private intranet of satellites and wireless radio frequency communication.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Okay, so in English?”  Lara asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“They talk to each other constantly.”  he tried to explain.  “I’m trying to disrupt their communication, which means I need a very powerful transmitter.  They’ll have to come here to shut it down.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“And you’re setting up a trap for them?”  the blonde guessed.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Uh...well, I haven’t really figured out that part yet.”  he admitted.

    Lara rolled her eyes.  Fortunately by then, she guessed what she would have to do.  “How long does the transmitter have to run?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Just until they all converge here.”  Al replied.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“How will you know you have them all?”  Lara asked.  “And what if they ignore the interference and go after Anna first.”

    Al looked a little sheepish at first...but not for long.  He smiled as he enthusiastically said, “Yes...we’ll wait until Anna is back here first.  They’ll come here because everything they want is here.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Are you sure you want them all here at once?”  Anna asked.  “Won’t the Lair Legion have problems fighting that many?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Well...I do have a backup plan.”  he said.  “But...Hallie gave me a speech about robots and not experimenting on them.”

    Lara was intrigued.  “What kind of backup plan?”

    Al produced a remote control.  “I’m not sure if this works.”  he said.  “You have to get really close to try...it should disable one of the Destruct-O-Bots...and then we can...open it up and access its software.  Maybe disarm them all using their own intranet.”

    She frowned at that and paced a small patch of floor, arms crossed.  “You know, that might be the safest option.  You have that one locked in the dungeon, and you can’t keep it there like that forever.”

    It was Al’s turn to pace uneasily.  He then stopped, looked at Lara, and said, “I’m going to need you to back me up when I talk to Hallie.  She won’t be happy.”


---


    Anna was equipped with motion and balance sensors that gave her the same sensation humans did when moving up or down rapidly.  She wasn’t used to it, however, and displayed a very human reaction to Hatman diving through the air suddenly at rocket speeds.  She held on more tightly.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Easy,”  Hatman told her as he kept his eyes on his target.  Anna’s grip was still gentle, but he remembered in the back of his mind just the kind of power her small fingers were capable of.  He didn’t want to end up with a broken collarbone.  “Don’t worry, I won’t let you fall.”

    They were relatively close to the ground.  Below them was the Destruct-O-Bot, picking up various metal objects from the docks below and hurling them at Hatman.  Yuki had virtually disappeared, she was obviously setting up some kind of stealth attack.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“How precise is your targeting?”  Hatman asked.  “I mean...can you hit something down there while I dodge--”  He stopped mid-sentence to avoid a large metal shipping container.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yes.”  Anna replied.  “But I must warn you before I fire.  The laser will be very bright, and I don’t want you to be blinded.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I came prepared this time.”  Jay said.  He pulled a pair of dark sunglasses out of a small pouch around his belt and put them on.

    Anna giggled at the spectacle.  But then she focused her attention and fired a powerful blast of blue coherent light at a tractor part the Destruct-O-Bot was about to throw.  The sudden heating caused it to explode in a shower of sparks and metal shards.

    Hatman instinctively raised a fist and held it out in front of himself, aiming it directly at the Destruct-O-Bot, preparing for a ramming maneuver he’d done dozens of times before.  

    Anna theorized that he was probably going to break his hand, and possibly his arm and shoulder, if he tried it, or at the very least she could be knocked off of his back while still at airspeed.  She was relieved to see him reach for his Steelers cap with his other hand...that might add more strength.  But then she realized they would both fall to the ground, at equal footing with the Destruct-O-Bot, putting them further at risk.  “I have a better idea,”  she volunteered.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh?”  Hatman asked, loosening his grip on the second cap.  He was surprised when Anna reached forward and gently wrapped her hand around the outer edge of his.  It felt like his fist was gently wrapped in a steel vise.  Not painful, but well protected.  “Are you sure you want to do this?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Together we are powerful.”  Anna whispered.

    Hatman nodded, and showed his confidence in Anna’s plan by stepping up the speed for the last few dozen yards.  He instinctively cringed when they both punched the Destruct-O-Bot simultaneously, expecting pain...but there was only a shudder.  The Destruct-O-Bot was thrown airborne, and crashed through several metal shipping containers.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Nice.”  Hatman said as he gently touched down, letting Anna return to her feet.  “Are you hurt?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No.”  Anna replied with a shake of her head.  She became self-conscious then, and took off her gloves to look at her hand.  It was a little pale from the impact, but was recovering its color quickly.

    It was then Hatman noticed the gloves - they were Yuki’s.  He smiled, acknowledging Yuki’s tendency to keep everyone around her prepared.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Nice shot.”  Yuki said, suddenly appearing from behind a couple of partially crushed containers.  It was almost as if she knew he was thinking about her.  She smiled and touched fists with Anna, before the android gave her gloves back.

    Anna then affectionately clasped her right hand with Hatman’s and quickly let go.  “We were a good partnership,”  she said.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What were you doing all this time?”  Hatman asked Yuki.

    There was a window shattering explosion a short distance away, causing Hatman and Anna to suddenly duck.  Yuki didn’t budge, she just blinked once and smiled.  “Nothing much.”  she said.

    The Destruct-O-Bot’s head rolled toward Yuki and bumped into her left boot.

    Anna and Hatman looked at each other seriously for a moment, but then they both laughed.



TO BE CONTINUED?


-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2008 by Jason Froikin, and may not be 
--    reprinted without permission.  
-- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow
--  Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin
--  Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin