Rise of the Robot Army

by Robert Venditti

  Henry was already in motion. “Up! Secret bases are always underground!”

  It was as good a guess as any. They bounded up the steps. Two flights. A third. Henry stopped on the fourth landing, craning his ear upward. “Shhh!”

  The sounds of treaded feet grinding over stairs echoed from above.

  Henry snatched the keycard from Miles. “Exit! Exit!” He swiped the keycard next to a door marked with an L. They dove through and locked the door behind them.

  “We can’t go back in the stairwell,” Miles whispered. “We need to find another way up.”

  They crept past open doorways, but none of them had keycard locks. The rooms looked like offices, but there wasn’t anyone inside them. Papers were scattered on the floors, lunches left half eaten. Everything looked evacuated.

  “This is an administrative level or something,” Henry said. “When the alarm went off, everyone must have cleared out.” Then he looked at Lenore. “That was a pretty neat trick you pulled back there.”

  Miles was confused. “What trick?”

  “You didn’t see it? The way the robots—”

  Lenore stopped walking. “There’s a reason they locked me up in here. You don’t want to know what it is.”

  Henry raised his hands, showing Lenore his palms. “You don’t have to be scared. We all have secrets.” Henry stepped closer, reaching out slowly. “And your secret is safe with us.”

  Miles felt like he was four years old, eavesdropping on the grown-ups’ table during Thanksgiving and having not the foggiest idea what they were talking about. “Can we have sharing time later? We’re kind of in the middle of a jailbreak here.”

  “I know why the General locked you up,” Henry continued, ignoring Miles. “He thinks there’s something wrong with you. That you’re dangerous.”

  Lenore eyed Henry’s hand. It was just about to touch her shoulder. “Don’t,” she warned.

  Henry’s hand settled softly on her. “You’re not dangerous. You’re just different.”

  Lenore stared in amazement at Henry’s hand. “How’d you know?”

  “I didn’t at first. It took some observation to piece it together. Seeing what you did to those robots finally connected the dots.”

  Miles was frustrated and feeling a little left out. “What’s everyone talking about?”

  “You won’t tell anyone if we get out of here, will you?” Lenore asked. “Enough people treat me like a freak as it is.”

  “Never.” Henry squeezed her shoulder for emphasis. “If there are two people in the world you can count on, they’re Miles and me.”

  “Miles and I,” Lenore said, smiling tightly.

  “Touché.” Henry smiled back. “And if you want my opinion, ‘Skip’ would make a pretty awesome superhero name.”

  “Someone tell me what’s going on here!” Miles blurted.

  “Yes,” a voice spoke up. “I’d like to know the same thing.”

  Miles almost jumped out of his jumpsuit. All three of them spun around to discover a woman in a white lab coat looking back at them. She had a touch tablet in one hand and a stylus in the other, like she was ready to jot down whatever answer they gave her.

  Miles recognized her. It was the doctor, the one from the lab. “You.”

  “Her,” Lenore breathed.

  “Dr. Petri?” Henry said, awed. “Dr. Marisol Petri?”

  The doctor cocked an eyebrow. “That’s correct.”

  “I’m a huge fan of your work!” Henry was jubilant. “Your paper on the potential genetic link between the duck-billed platypus and extraterrestrial mammals was inspiring!” He stepped forward with an extended hand.

  Lenore clutched Henry’s arm. “Stay away from her,” she warned. “She works for the General.”

  Henry jabbed a thumb at Dr. Petri. “Her? No way. She’s the most respected mind in her field.”

  Lenore was getting more freaked out by the second. “I don’t care. She does all the tests. Once a week since I got here. She’s evil.”

  “It’s not what you think,” Dr. Petri said guiltily. “I . . . I was helping you. Making sure you were healthy.”

  “You want to keep us in cages so you can experiment on us like animals!” Lenore was furious. “You do whatever the General tells you, and you think we’re a danger to people.”

  Miles stepped forward. “You did all that?”

  Dr. Petri stared at the ground. “It isn’t that simple. The General is a very powerful man. He wouldn’t let me quit. He doesn’t need a cell to keep someone captive.” She gazed at Miles with a heartfelt look in her eyes. “If I could take it all back, I would.”

  “You’re a liar!” Lenore screamed.

  “Lenore, wait. She might be telling the truth. When the General was interrogating me, she barged in and put a stop to it. She stood up to him. I saw it.”

  BABOOOM!

  The sound of an explosion rippled down the hallway like an earthquake.

  “The robots blew the door,” Henry whined. “They’re coming.”

  Miles glared at Dr. Petri. “If you really want to make up for what you’ve done, help us. We can all get out of here together.”

  For a moment Dr. Petri seemed not to know what to do. Then she locked her jaw. “To heck with this,” she said. “Follow me.” She turned and hurried down the hall.

  Miles turned to Lenore and Henry. “She’s our best shot.”

  They chased after Dr. Petri, who ducked into a lab and began tapping at a screen on the wall. There were half-filled boxes of medicals texts and lab equipment on the floor.

  “I didn’t sign up for this,” she grumbled to herself. “I’m not some mad scientist.”

  She seemed pretty mad to Miles.

  “Um, Doctor?” Henry offered, glancing at the screen. “I have nothing but the utmost respect for you, and under any other circumstance, I’d be thrilled to go over your research. But right now we need to get out of here.”

  “He doesn’t get to have it,” she muttered, lost in her own train of thought. “Everything I did for him. He said I’d be studying the aftereffects of the extraterrestrial invasion on the local populace.”

  Images of X-rays and others scans flashed over the screen. A boy Miles’s size. A girl shaped like Lenore. Another boy, smaller than the others.

  Miles didn’t need to be a theoretical zoologist to understand what he was seeing. “That’s . . . Those are us.”

  Dr. Petri looked sorry and angry at the same time. “Yes. But the General can kiss all of my findings good-bye. What he never knew is that I programmed a security loophole into my research files. After I’ve transferred them to my device, I can wipe them from the base’s system. Medical dossiers, lab results, test data—everything. Names and personal information, too. It’ll be like you were never here.”

  Henry glanced uneasily toward the door. “How long is this going to take?”

  “Only another minute.”

  Out in the hallway, the pounding of boots drew closer.

  “Hide!” Dr. Petri whispered.

  Miles dove behind the desk. Lenore slid behind a tall filing cabinet, pressing her back against the wall. Henry stuffed himself into a storage unit filled with beakers and test tubes.

  The heavy footsteps pounded closer, then plodded into the office.

  “Hi . . . Dr. . . . Petri.” Jerry was panting and short of breath.

  “What can I do for you, Jerry?”

  “This level . . . is supposed to be . . . evacuated.”

  “I was finishing packing my things, like the General told me to. Is something wrong?”

  “Have you . . . seen anything out of . . . the ordinary?”

  “Oh, sure.” Dr. Petri feigned obliviousness. “Once I saw the fossilized skeleton of an apatosaurus with two heads.”

  “I mean . . . have you seen anything . . . today. Anything . . . unexpected.”

  “No. But there’s been a lot of noise on the level. It’s more than a little distracting.”

>   “All right.” Jerry groaned. He jogged from the office, taking his heavy footsteps with him.

  Miles poked his head out from behind the desk. “Can we go now?”

  Dr. Petri studied her tablet, then nodded. “You better believe it.”

  Lenore stepped out from behind the filing cabinet, and Henry unfolded himself from inside the storage unit. “Have you really seen a two-headed apatosaurus?” he asked.

  “I have. And why do I get the feeling that’s nothing compared to the things you three have seen? Now, let’s get to the elevator.”

  CHAPTER

  21

  THEY PILED INTO AN ELEVATOR just down the hall.

  Dr. Petri reached for a button with the letter G on it. There were six other buttons. One of them was red, and there was a keycard lock beside it.

  Miles stopped Dr. Petri’s hand. He pointed at the red button. “What’s that one?”

  “Level zero,” Dr. Petri answered. “The lowest section of the underground complex. I’ve never been down there. General Breckenridge is very fond of reminding me that it’s classified.”

  Miles and Henry exchanged a glance. “There must be something really secret down there,” Miles said. “Like, more secret than testing on live children.”

  Dr. Petri frowned at the lock. “We’ll just have to wonder. Without the right ID card, we can’t get to the lower levels.”

  “You mean like this one?” Henry held up Jerry’s card.

  Dr. Petri nodded. “Just like that one.”

  Miles had a hunch so deep down in his bones, he knew it was true. “It’s the cape. It has to be down there.”

  Miles had blown his chances of ever wearing the cape again, but he could still make sure it had an opportunity to find someone worthy. It was like Henry had told him—he was part of a grand and noble legacy. A hero’s legacy. No matter the cost, that legacy had to continue.

  Miles wished his time with the cape had been longer. For that he had only himself to blame. But in the end he was satisfied. And besides, Miles Taylor, Former Superhero, was still a pretty cool title. Even if the world would never know the things he’d done, it didn’t matter. He knew. And he was proud.

  “Henry, give me the card. After you guys get to the surface, I’ll go back down. I can’t leave. Not yet.”

  Henry’s fingers tightened on the card. “Nice try.”

  “I’m serious. All the stuff you said about me wanting bad things to happen so I could be a hero? It’s all true. I get that now. This isn’t about me not being able to let go of Gilded. The cape doesn’t belong locked up in some basement somewhere. And it certainly doesn’t belong to General Breckenridge. It belongs to the world. I’ve got to get it back.”

  Henry nodded. “You’re right. That’s why I’m going down there with you. We’re a team, remember? You stay, I stay.”

  “We stay,” Lenore stressed. She cracked her knuckles against the palm of her hand. “You two need all the help you can get.”

  Miles turned to Dr. Petri. “Are you in or out?”

  Dr. Petri was resolute. “I can’t abandon you kids here alone. I should’ve stood up to Breckenridge a long time ago. If this is my chance to make good, I won’t run from it.”

  Miles clenched his fists. “Okay. Let’s finish this.”

  Henry swiped the keycard past the lock, and the red button lit up. “Here we go.” He pressed it, and the elevator car began to drop.

  Down two levels.

  Down three.

  Miles felt as though he were lowering himself into the belly of a huge monster, one he’d never be able to climb back out of. Everything they’d done to escape and get as far as they had—so close to finally being free—and they were throwing it all away for what was most likely an express ticket back to their cells. Or an early grave. As worried as Miles was about the others, he was thankful not to be alone.

  The elevator stopped with a cheery ding! Instead of the front doors opening, the rear of the car slid back. What Miles saw next made him catch his breath.

  A war zone. Or what was left of one. And indoor, to boot.

  They were in a vast, concrete bunker the length of a football field, and maybe as tall, too. The walls stretched up until they disappeared into gloom. It wasn’t just the lowest level of the complex. It was the height of all the other levels combined, positioned beside them to double the size of the facility.

  The floor and walls were gouged with deep grooves, scorched from the heat of fires and pockmarked with thousands of holes of various sizes.

  Positioned throughout the bunker were weapons of every type and design. A rack holding rifles, chain guns, and flamethrowers. Rows of grenade launchers, mortars, and howitzers. Even a full-blown tank parked off to the side, complete with a camouflage paint job that did absolutely nothing to hide it in its current surroundings.

  The walls had to be thick to withstand all the damage those armaments could dish out. Miles suddenly found it hard to breathe, like he’d stepped into a tomb. The world’s biggest, most heavily armed tomb.

  Henry whistled. “Looks like World War III happened in here.”

  “Split up,” Miles said. “We’ll cover more ground.”

  “What exactly are we searching for?” Dr. Petri asked.

  “Ummm,” Miles stammered. “See, it’s kind of gold colored . . . and it looks like a blanket . . . and—”

  “Gilded’s cape,” Lenore said. “Miles here puts on the cape, and he turns into a superhero.”

  If Dr. Petri was surprised, she did a good job of hiding it. “So you’re the one who lives up off Jimmy Carter Boulevard.”

  Miles looked to Henry for guidance. “How should I answer?”

  Dr. Petri was matter-of-fact. “If it puts you at ease, I can keep information confidential. I’ve spent the past year dissecting extraterrestrials for the United States government. My head is filled with things the world will never see or hear about.” She paused, considering her last statement. “Hopefully.”

  Henry shrugged. “I guess she’s good. So let’s find the cape.”

  Just then the floor started to tremble. A deafening noise filled the room, like the grinding of a million heavy gears.

  “Where’s it coming from?” Miles shouted.

  Henry pointed skyward. “Take cover!”

  They scrambled behind the biggest thing they could find—the tank. Miles looked up and watched with horror as a massive metal grate lowered out of the shadows above, carried downward by cables as thick as telephone poles.

  Lenore jammed her fingers into her ears. “What is it?”

  “Must be how all the hardware got down here!” Henry answered. “You can’t fit a howitzer on an elevator!”

  As the metal grate got closer. Miles spied tripod legs and arms and eye beams he recognized all too well—battle robots. Rows and rows of them arranged in ranks. Miles realized with dread that the mere handful he’d encountered up until this point was just one small part of a far more terrifying fighting force. An army like this could mulch anyone who stood against them beneath its cold, metal treads. Anyone except a superhero. Maybe. Too bad there wasn’t one of those around to find out.

  The grate touched down. Miles peered around the nose of the tank. Puffed up with pride at the forefront of his diabolical army was General Breckenridge. He’d traded in his formal uniform and shoes for combat fatigues and boots, as though he knew a war was coming and he wanted to dress the part.

  Jerry stood behind him, toeing the ground ruefully. He looked like he’d just received the worst scolding of his thoroughly scolded military career.

  The General’s voice went off like a bomb burst. “Mechanized infantry! Attack pattern omega! Hold fire and await my command!”

  “Executing attack pattern omega, General Breckenridge,” the robots confirmed. They rolled forward and spread out, enclosing Miles and the others in a wide arc. They raised their cannon arms and flipped through their tool assortments, producing sharp bayonets two feet long. “Hold
ing fire and awaiting the General’s command.”

  The General stepped from the grate, his hands behind his back. The grate lifted into the blackness again. “I have you surrounded. Even if you could reach the elevator alive—which you can’t—I’ve deauthorized the keycard you have in your possession. It’s no longer operational.” He glowered at Jerry, his eyes hot coals. “For anyone.”

  Jerry tucked his head into his shoulders.

  The General smiled, a thin crack splitting his stone-hard face. “This need not resort to bloodshed. I implore you to spare your own lives and do the sensible thing: surrender.”

  “You don’t really think he’ll fire on us, do you?” Dr. Petri asked.

  “Oh, he’ll most definitely fire on us,” Henry said grimly. “You see the walls of this place? We’re dealing with one trigger-happy man.”

  Lenore clenched her teeth. “What do we do?”

  “I’m thinking,” Miles said, wishing they had options and knowing they didn’t. There was only one thing in all the world—maybe even the universe—that could save them.

  The General sneered. “I know what you’re thinking.” He voiced it with such confidence, Miles wondered if he’d reached into Miles’s mind and pulled out his thoughts. “You believe you can still reclaim this.”

  General Breckenridge brought his hands out from behind his back. Lying across them, folded into a tight triangle like a ceremonial flag, was the cape.

  Good news: Miles had found the cape.

  Bad news: To get it back, he’d have to beat an army of mechanical killers led by a power-mad military commander.

  They were done for.

  CHAPTER

  22

  HOW HAD IT COME TO this?

  Actually, Miles knew exactly how it’d come to this. He’d broken nearly every single rule of being Gilded. The only rule he hadn’t broken was . . .

  Nope. He’d broken them all.

  General Breckenridge unfolded the cape. Seeing his hands all over it made Miles see red. He stepped out from behind the tank. “The cape isn’t yours!” he shouted.

  “Miles!” Henry called. “Get back here!”

  Miles heard the concern in Henry’s voice, but he was too furious to care. He pointed accusingly at the General. “You stole it!”