Super Avenged

The robot shuddered beneath my body. I rested my head on my arm and curled into a tight little ball. I felt the robot turn before beginning to run down the street. I assumed it was now running down the street, because it jolted beneath me now with each step. I moaned and curled into a tighter ball, wondering if my luck would ever change.

I mean, honestly, how much bad luck could a girl have? In high school, guys were horny jerks who thought with their other head—not the one attached to their neck—and always seemed to find such joy in smacking my ass and pinching my boob. Then, I thought I’d found true love with Brendan, but then realized that I’d only been a piece of ass to him too.

And then, I met Jimmy. My luck appeared to have changed. Jimmy respected my boundaries and limits. He sympathized with my heartbreak, and he tried his hardest to make it go away. He loved me for me, and not just because I was beautiful. He was an amazingly good guy, the only one I’d ever really met, other than my brothers of course.

And now bad luck, that goddess of misfortune, had come knocking on my door again. She brought misfortune back into my life in the form of a robot. Someone had decided that they wanted to kidnap me, and something told me it wasn’t just so I could taste their famous barbeque ribs.

Suddenly, the robot leaped and landed on something extremely hard. My body flew off of the metal floor before landing with a dull, hollow thud again. I groaned and curled ever tighter, burying my face into my arm. Judging by the sound of the water lapping against the steel, it had jumped into water of some sort. But that did not interest me, so I closed my eyes and sank into a daydream to distract myself from this horrible predicament.

((*****))

Dr. Smithis sat behind a panel of controls, along with about seven to ten other scientists. In front of them, set into the wall, was a series of televisions. On the televisions, they could see the first-person views of the robots from cameras in the robots’ eyes. Dr. Smithis controlled the largest robot, and the other scientists controlled a few smaller robots each. Anxious sweat had collected on Dr. Smithis’s brow. He knew he couldn’t blow this mission. He had to kidnap Miya Langston.

A smaller robot stepped into Dr. Smithis’s view. He could see Miya Langston flailing around on the robot’s shoulder, screaming words he could not hear (the robots had no audio). He accepted her from the smaller robot and quickly deposited her in the holding chamber in the stomach.

“Good job, team,” he said as he flipped a switch. The robot went on auto-pilot and began to run towards water that led to the ocean. The rest of the scientists deactivated their robots. All of the smaller robots would collapse, dead and useless, in the street now that they had served their mission.

“Go retrieve Mr. Kintsel,” he ordered. One of the scientists nodded and left the room.

A couple of minutes later, the scientist came back with Mr. Kintsel in tow. All of the televisions now showed a night-vision image of the inside of the holding chamber. In the center of the room lay a white-green blob that was Miya Langston.

“You have captured her?” Mr. Kintsel asked, stepping forward and leaning closer to the television to peer at the young lady inside the robot.

“Yes,” Dr. Smithis answered proudly.

“Brilliant,” Mr. Kintsel replied, his eyes skirting over the girl in the holding chamber. She looked miserable, and it brought a smile to Mr. Kintsel’s face.

Revolution was closer to being finished than it had ever been.

((*****))

I am not sure of how much time passed. I instead remained focused on my daydream, and the passing of time didn’t matter to me. Anyway, some time passed, and then another jarring shudder snapped me out of my reverie. I shoved myself up into a sitting position and peered blankly around at my dark surroundings. Water still lapped against the robot.

Suddenly, I heard a loud, keening siren that lasted for about three seconds. A giant whoosh soon followed, and I could tell that the water was draining out of wherever I was. The robot shuddered once more before seeming to turn off.

I rose to my feet and walked to one of the walls. I pressed my ear to the steel, trying to hear sounds from outside of the robot. I faintly heard voices, but I couldn’t understand the words. Then, there was a sound of wheels squeaking and something bumped against the side of the robot. I retreated back from the wall and looked towards where the something had hit the robot.

Seconds later, the panel popped open, revealing a brightly-lit room. A ramp led from the floor up to the open hatch. I could see men and women in knee-length lab-coats standing on the ground, looking up at the robot. But it was the man standing on the ramp, only feet from me, that caught my attention.

He hadn’t aged at all. He still had thick black hair that piled atop his head in handsome waves. His sky blue eyes, so closely matched to mine that no one would be able to tell the difference, still looked arrogant and cocky, and much too smug. He had a smile on his face, but behind it I could see the malice. My eyes ate at his face, and my brain still couldn’t accept the fact that it was him.

I could only think of one thing to say, and that was the one thing I said:

“Daddy?”