Operation M.I.A: Missing in Action (IN NEED OF REVISING)

Chapter XXVI

Back in the hallway, the four guys are doing a decent job of keeping watch. Our freed captives don't seem terribly frightened by them, but the seven-year old does tremble ever so slightly when she walks near them. Luke and Heath don't make her fear any better, as they just shake their heads and roll their eyes.

From there, it's just a simple matter of walking back out of the dungeon the way we came. The hovercraft is waiting for us when we make it back outside, and it tilts itself to let a weird circular pad slide off of it. Avery told me earlier that that's the teleportation device they've been using to send whoever they rescue back home.

"Not now, boy," Sam tells the hovercraft. The hovercraft "nods" and uses a claw to pick the teleporter back up. We then walk out of the woods and to the front of the gigantic headquarters building. I've only been inside of the building one time, but I remember enough about it to know that this will probably be a piece of cake for us.

"Hovercraft, wait here with the girls. We're going in," Sam says to the hovercraft. He then motions for the five captives to step onto the hovercraft so it can protect them with its force field.

When the last girl, the troubled teen, steps on, a loud slamming noise comes from the building, and the girl looks in the direction of the noise, points, and screams.

SEAN

Music: RoboBrood Battle from Super Mario Odyssey

Initially, no one's really sure as to what's making the girl scream, or where the noise is coming from.

Then we all take one look at have to take a few seconds to just gape at the sight.

A gigantic robotic bull marches out of a doorway hidden in the front walls of the building, taking slow, heavy steps that pound and clang. The robot is around ¾ of the building's size, and is about four times as tall as we are. The whole thing is grey, save for its eyes, which are yellow and look like they're made of some sort of glass.

The girls we rescued start screaming in horror at the sight of the robobull. The rest of us, however?

Perfectly ready for battle.

The eleven of us get into a single file, horizontal line, and start warming up. Sam, Heath, Luke, and Mia start messing with their guns, Avery does some weird thing where she huffs out breaths quickly and hops back and forth between each of her feet, Elle starts taking deep breaths and fixing up her posture, and the rest of us start stretching out a bit too dramatically.

Let's do this.

Avery, Brielle, and Mackenzie are the first three people to start charging forward at the robobull, which has now stopped and is puffing out smoke from its nostrils. Mackenzie uses the parkour skills she learned from illuminati training to climb straight up the robobull's face, all the way to the top of its head. Avery and Brielle, on the other hand, start running all the way behind the robobull, to the tail. Brielle bends down and allows Avery to climb on her shoulders, and then lifts her up so she can start climbing up the tail. Sam and Heath start shooting at the robobull, all of their shots hitting but none really doing much.

Mackenzie punches one of the robobull's eyes out and finds a small red wire. She yanks it and rips it out. This causes the robobull to let out a computerized growl, make more smoke come out of its nose, and lean forward. The final action causes both Mackenzie to fall off and for Avery to be launched forward off of the tail.

"Avery!" Brielle shouts, reaching a hand out.

Once situated again, the robobull stutters in place for a few seconds before shaking its head a few times and stabilizing again. During this time, Sam tells Mackenzie, "The thing's bulletproof."