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Love Hurts
by Danny Dyer
A white-haired man in a lab coat stood at the
podium facing the crowd of press members, government agents, and
curious onlookers. “Friends, family, people who can help me boost
my career, I have assembled you here today to present the newest
addition to the city of heroes.
“As you all know, Sirens Call is a dangerous area that we are
desperately trying to keep control of. The villains are ruthless and
have sent many heroes to the hospitals repeatedly with stab wounds,
burns, and many other various boo-boos. Well, no more! With this new
android I have created, we will push the villains back into their hole!
I present to you, The Sonic Call!”
The crowd cheered as the scientist whipped off
the sheet covering the android next to him. Her armor shined in the sun
as she activated and began to perform actions the scientist commanded.
She gave the man layers of protection and demonstrated how difficult
they were to break.
“She will be sent to Sirens Call this
afternoon for her first patrol, and don’t worry, I don’t
need to be thereto give her orders.” The scientist opened her
back and pressed a button. “Her artificial intelligence is now
activated. She will help take back Sirens Call and send many villains
home crying in the process!” The crowd cheered more as the
android activated her rocket boots and sped off to do what she was
built for.
Sonic Call landed in front of the security
chief who briefed her on hotspots and the bounty awarded for victories
and what would happen should she be defeated. She wasted no time
heading to the nearest hotspot where men and women in red and white
were desperately fighting off a large group of monstrous spider like
men.
“Command: Halt in the name of the law!
Threat: I’ll destroy you if you do not comply!” said the
android. The spiders looked up at her and laughed as they threw various
energies and psionic assaults at her. She quickly dodged them saying,
“Warning: I am about to retaliate, brace yourself for the trip
home.”
She dropped down into the midst of the
Arachnos troops and uttered a high-pitched wail that shook the ground
and assaulted the soldiers. The Arachnos members fell to the ground,
clutching their heads in agony as they disappeared. The Longbow thanked
her and ran off to the next battle.
Temporarily unable to attack, Sonic Call flew
to a rooftop to recharge some of her energy. As she did so her infrared
scanners detected someone coming towards her. She shifted to a normal
view but did not see the person. Confused she reverted to infrared just
in time to see the figure draw out something long and cold to attack
her. She dived out of the way just in time to avoid being stabbed by a
man in a black and red costume.
“Command: Halt in the name of the
law!” The man didn’t listen. He turned and flew as fast as
he could before she fought back. Sonic activated her rocket boots and
took up the chase, following the man through twists and turns until
they reached an area that looked like it had suffered from some sort of
explosion.
The man looked at her and with a wave of his
hand disabled her vision. By the time she regained sight he was gone.
She switched to normal vision and zoomed in on
a large structure ahead of her. She saw what seemed to be a lighthouse
and many people rushing about in what seemed to be a small base.
She flew closer to this structure and saw that
the people were more of those Arachnos troops. She quickly turned
herself invisible and moved in for a closer look.
The villain who had attacked her was talking
to a man near a helicopter and before she could get at him he had
hopped inside. She ducked as it rose into the sky, carrying her
assailant with it.
She almost left to find another hotspot but
she saw something as she turned to leave. There by the heli-pad was a
robot that she couldn’t tear her ‘eyes’ away from.
“Question: Who is that?”
With his compact, round, hovering body, blue
eyes, and dangling legs she felt him irresistible. She flew down in
front of him saying, “Introduction: I am Sonic Sire-“ she
was cut off as he used a laser blast that disintegrated her, sending
her to wake up in the hospital.
“Question: Why did he do that?” A
nearby doctor, obviously unaware the question wasn’t directed at
him, said,” That was an Arbiter Drone. Those things will take out
anything that isn’t one of Recluse’s boys or a
super-villain.”
“Question: So he can’t feel anything for a hero?”
The doctor laughed, “’He’ is
a robot, kid. Robots can’t love anything.” He looked up
from his clipboard and saw what he was talking to. “Oh!
I’m…. I’m sorry miss I had no idea.” She
didn’t listen to him, she just ran straight for the door and back
to the villain’s base.
She watched the drone she convinced herself
she loved as he zapped heroes who attempted to sneak into the bases
hospital. She gave out the robotic equivalent of a sigh when she heard
the familiar sound of a sword being drawn. She turned to face the one
who had attacked her earlier and just barely deflected the blow with
her arm.
“I’m not flying away this
time,” he said as he struck again. This time the sword cut into
her armor sending electrical shockwaves to her core systems. Enough of
those could shut her down permanently. He hacked again and she rolled
away, making the villain’s sword get stuck in the earth. As he
attempted to free it, Sonic lept to her feet and blasted the villain
with a wave of sound.
The force of the sound knocked him, sword in
hand, back a few yards. Sonic quickly rushed to attack but the villain
kicked her as he stood, sending her into the villain base. He lept in
after her and stood with one foot on her chest, and his sword aimed at
her head.
“One less hero in Paragon City,”
he said. He raised the sword as she looked pleadingly to the watching
Arbiter Drone. As the sword fell a beam of light struck the villain and
disintegrated him, same as Sonic had been before.
She looked over at the drone she loved and saw
his ray emitter smoking from the blast. She jumped to her feet and
embraced him. “I knew he was wrong, I just knew it.” She
carried him out of the base and took him home to live with her in her
lab for as long as they were both functional.
In a lab in Peregrine Island Sonic
Call’s creator watched another scientist finish typing commands
while they watched everything Sonic was doing on another monitor.
“Sir, should we inform her that we hacked into the drone network
for that to happen?”
The creator thought for a moment before
saying, “No, of course not. She’s as happy as anyone can
be.”