4.24 – Resurgence

As Aurora rose to meet the incoming missiles, she saw that they changed their courses.  They were tracking her!  If this villain was specifically after her for some reason, she had little time to delay and could not stay by Sarah’s side.

Concentrating, she quickly formed a construct around the missiles.  They rammed into it and didn’t explode.  Aurora lifted them as she constricted her halo around the weapons, but she felt a strange force was acting against her power.  The effect wasn’t enough to break her halo, so she constricted the field as tightly as possible, but even after compressing them, they didn’t explode.

However, the mysterious force dissipated as they ceased to move.  Aurora sighed and landed, bringing the missiles down with her.  She’d bought herself a bit of time, but she knew she was being targeted.

Reconsidering her stance, Aurora wondered if Sarah might really be able to help her. Not to mention that the collar had hurt her from the moment it touched her.  “Sarah… if only I knew what your powers were… if you had them... maybe, just maybe you could help me, but… do you know what they are, yet?”  Aurora was filled with regret, looking for a way she didn’t have to leave Sarah in the hands of the police.

“M-my oh-only power is… ugh… to m-make everyone h-hate me… even J-Jesus…!” Sarah moaned.

Aurora took a moment to touch Sarah’s cheek. “Don’t think that way. We all love you. That stuff inside you is talking and you can’t tell the difference.  Please fight its influence and stay positive. I’m going to give you my number, just in case you need me.  I’ll always look after you.”  One of the cops wordlessly removed a pad of paper from his belt and a pen.

Aurora nodded her thanks as she wrote the number for her communicator for Sarah to have.  “With this, you’ll be able to contact me for help when you need me.  Don’t forget that Leona is here for you too.  See you soon, sweetheart.” Handing the pad back to the officer with his pen, Aurora wiped tears away and zoomed to the bridge.

“Go get ‘em Aurora!!” one of the officers yelled after her.

Aurora was feeling conflicted by what she had to do, but she couldn’t look back. Before she reached Glass Bridge, more missiles flew up and trained on her position.

In the background, robots were milling around the supports of the bridge on this side of it and they were large, but were not nearly the size of the ones before.  She estimated that these were around ten or twelve feet tall.

Charging towards the missiles, Aurora puzzled at how and why this villain was going after her.  It was as though this was all just a ploy to draw her out.  There was something they wanted, either her destruction or something else.

She repeated the same tactic she used on the last two missiles. Using her halo again, she disabled them.  Capturing them was far too easy and she carried them with her as she dove down towards the robots.  “Have these back!”

She hurled them at the robots one by one.  Interestingly enough, they didn’t explode on contact.

What were they made to do if not to kill her?  Her strategy left dents on the chassis of several of the robots, however they opened fire.  There were at least twelve shooting at her.  There was a palpable impact on her shields.  Individually, their blasts wouldn’t have much of an effect, but because of the sheer rate of their fire Aurora was pressured.

Their own missiles wouldn’t do much to them, but she had her own powerful trick.  Focusing her energy, she blasted a robot after swooping down, coming at it from below to knock it up.  She spun and flitted higher and blasted it into the water.

After a few seconds, she looked things over and spotted a certain man clad in green, Utility. He wasn’t there to support her because he’d been captured.

“STOP!” the voice of Mr. Mechanical echoed out from one of the robots.  The most noticeable thing about these robots was that they looked less 50’s sci-fi than the first set and these had a more efficient design with more rounded corners.  These robots were less blocky.

A robot spoke in a loud voice, “I have already captured your friend, the Midnight Avenger, and he is at my mercy. My explosives may not have the destructive effect I would prefer, but they will certainly end HIS pathetic life!” That robot pointed at Utility.

What the hell? Didn’t they have memories of what Midnight Avenger looked like?  If this was truly Mr. Mechanical, how would he not know the face of one of his nemeses? He continued to monologue, “You have managed to avoid the effects of my rockets so far, Vanguard, but rest assured that HE will not avoid the explosive effects of my bombs, unless you surrender!”

This had to be another robot with a short circuit.  Had the one she captured before escaped somehow? An officer did drop him on his head.  Sweat drops.

The robot speaking started to unfold itself and opened to reconfigure itself into some kind of a pod.  “Surrender yourself and I will not destroy your friend… yet. Decide now what you will do.” The other robots ceased their useless firing.

Aurora rolled her eyes. “HEY!” She created a megaphone again and bellowed a response, “HE’S NOT THE MIDNIGHT AVENGER! I’m not going to say you’re being an idiot, but I have freaking BOOBS! I’m not VANGUARD! Here’s some logic for you, VANGUARD DOES NOT HAVE BREASTS!” She squeezed her breasts to emphasize her words.

Aurora went on in a more reasonable tone, “Why don’t we have a little chat, one person to another, Mocha? I’m getting the feeling that you want to follow his footsteps or something, but I don’t really recommend it.”  She had an inkling of who Mocha was, but this was just a guess.  Harlan was dead.

“Analysis complete.  You are not Vanguard.” The robot replied in a very non-Mr. Mechanical tone of voice.  There was an audible ‘click’ and the robot resumed speaking with the Mr. Mechanical voice. “Whomever you are, Lady Vanguard, Miss Vanguard, I don’t care what your nom du bataille is, but you will surrender yourself to me and your energies, or else I will end the…” There was another clicking noise and the robotic voice returned. “... likely the Midnight Avenger…” And Mr. Mechanical’s voice took over, “... ‘s life. Nyahahahahahaha! Ignore my demand at your peril and that of…” with the robotic voice it continued, “S-s-s-San Isidro... “ Mr. Mechanical took over, “this city!”

Whew.

Aurora shouted a response again, “You got that right at least, but you’ve got a screw loose!”  She flew straight at it to wrap this robot in a construct and tightly constricted its movement, lifting off with it.  She pulled it away from the other robots, having learned a trick or two since the last attack.

It began speaking when she brought it high into the air above the bridge. “ERROR! ERROR!” it said in the robotic voice again. “Power data incorrect! Power data incorrect! Profile not found!”

When they were far enough, Aurora began, “What’s your deal? Are you just another robot shorting out, or is there a person inside to speak with?”

“This unit’s designation is PS-0031. I am a loyal servant of Mr. mechanical. You are designated as the enemy,” the voice responded.

“How do you know that?  I’m a superhero, this is true, but you don’t know who I am? Why am I the enemy? Who activated you?” Aurora pressed.

“Temporary designation Lady Vanguard, you are an ally of the Society of Sentinels and the *bzzt* likely *bzzt* Midnight Avenger. You were involved in our assault when the *bzzt* likely *bzzt* Midnight Avenger was captured. As Society of Sentinel’s ally, you are an enemy of the orderly future planned by Mr. Mechanical, my lord and creator.”

“Okay, I’ll buy that.  My name is Aurora, by the way. Be consistent. The last time you attacked, your fake Mr. Mechanical bot knew more about me.  Also, the guy you have is not Midnight Avenger.  He’s not even IN the Society like I am.  He’s a local hero and goes by the name Utility.  What’s your goal? Who programmed you? Was it Mocha? Megan?”  Aurora threw these names at the robot. Since it was as chatty as the last was, perhaps it would reveal something new.

“Our goal is to drain Lady Vanguard’s power for the use of powering more units to aid with gaining control of Meridian… *bzzt* San Isidro *bzzt* … We are holding the bridge hostage as a measure of ensuring your compliance. Autonomous sabotage robots have no completed explosives routine.  Full destruction of *bzzt* Glass *bzzt* Bridge now ensured. Return this unit to the ground and submit to Mr. Mechanical, else the bridge will be destroyed in five seconds.”

“Mr. Mechanical is dead.” Aurora released the robot, putting her hands together, she released a blast to destroy it.  If it wanted her energy, she’d give it a slice.  It exploded as she dove through its remnants, moving as quickly as she could, finding that several more of the robots were destroyed below.  Utility was still restrained on one of the supports of the bridges, but she looked around and spotted one of the bombs that had a small pocket watch with its hands all turned upwards hanging from it. Midnight Avenger was here and was helping with defusing the bombs.

Aurora laughed gleefully.  “MIDNIGHT AVENGER!” She flitted over to Utility and cut his restraints.

“I see that he didn’t have time to cut you free.  He’s sure tough on new heroes.” Aurora chuckled.

Aurora looked closely at the restraints that held him, seeing that they were improvised robot arms that were embedded into the concrete.  Midnight probably could have used a tool to cut Utility free, but defusing the bombs was more important.

Utility was unconscious, Aurora noted, so she slung him in a hammock with her halo and tethered him to her waist.  Her communicator buzzed and she checked it to see that it was a message.

Meet me in 5 minutes. - MA

An address was enclosed and Aurora recognized it.  He wanted to meet her at the prospective clubhouse.  It was probably one of the best places he could have chosen to meet.  Aurora looked down at Utility.  His padded costume was torn in some places.  If he needed healing, she could get him back on his feet, just as soon as they got to the meeting place.