*All characters copyrighted to Poseidon Simons

Chapter 17

Kain's Back!

 

                "Move in and get him out."  Kain cut off the intercom after that.  He wanted to think, "That Griffin is resourcful...I don't think even I would have thought of such a thing without help!  Beremin trained him...what else does Beremin know that I don't?  I MUST get every scrap of information possible out of Griffin.  I have to know everything Beremin did...a rational, thinking mind, accompanied by one of the strongest bodies on the island...an incredibly strong genius...a living version of what I wanted to create..."  He frowned.  Babe had become the Protector.  An almost unbeatable force, with Billy Brown to act as the brains...the place Kain had wanted, "I was supposed to tell him what to do, how to act..."  He looked at himself.  He was made of metal now, like Babe, the Protector.  He was the brain of this creation...but Griffin...Griffin had a flesh and blood BODY, along with an intelligent mind.  Kain wanted that...he wanted a REAL body, not some hulking piece of scrap metal!!!!.."Wait...is that possible?.."  He mused over the idea that had entered his mind, and shook his head, "No, not yet...I have to catch him, find out everything he knows...THEN I will try...if it fails, I'll just turn him into another Robot soldier...either way, I'll win...but I HAVE to catch him first.  That comes before everything else."  He went back to the intercom, "Anything yet?"

                "No sir...he's stayed put, so far."

                "Have you sent anything up into the shafts after him?"

                "I was just about to, sir."

                "How much weight do you think those can handle?"

                "Sir?"

                "Would it hold if we sent one of the robots up there?"

                "I don't know sir...I might..."

                "Good.  Hold off whatever you were going to send up.  I'M going instead."

                "Yes sir."

 

                Griffin jerked and looked behind him, "What the hell was that?"  There it was again!  Something was coming up the air vents!!.."Oh, SHIT!!!  How the HELL am I supposed to get out?!!!"  He wasn't strong enough to break through BOTH metal slabs!..not at the same time, anyway...he needed to get one more up before he broke out or his surprise attack would be ruined, "Think, Griffin!  There has to be SOMETHING you haven't thought of yet!"  Whatever was coming up after him was slowly getting closer, "It must be big, or heavy if it has to move that slow!"  Well, that gave him time at least.  Now, he had to think...what could he do to get out?  If he didn't think of something, the thing coming up after him was going to get him easily!.."What am I missing?..come on, what am I missing?!"  He tried to move the second slab again, but it was still stuck.  Griffin even tried pushing with his hands and his chip, but that didn't work either.  It moved a fraction of an inch when he pushed with his FEET and the chip, but he could barely hold himself in the air shaft when he tried that...it was a way out, but a VERY slow, and VERY risky solution, "I could close the metal slab behind me...it would take whatever's following me some time to get that out of the way."  He closed the first slab with his chip, trapping himself between the first and second slab..."Okay...I hope that bought me enough time!"

 

                "Sir, do you want us to keep waiting?"

                Kain answered.  There were loud, metal banging sounds while he spoke, "Yes.  He's resourceful...I've almost reached the top myself.  I can see the first slab all the way down. like it hasn't been touched, but this IS the way he went.  He's up there...don't get caught by surprise."

                "Yes sir."  He groaned and sat down near Griffin's only exit, "Damn, this is boring...I don't want to just sit up here and wait."  He glanced at the shaft exit, "Hurry up, why don't you?"  He mumbled softly, "You're going to get caught as it is.  You might as well get it over with."

                A few of the men gathered around the exit, "Hey...you hear that?"

                "What?"  He quieted down and listened.  There was an almost silent, high pitched, whining sound...like the TV was on but kept on mute..."What the hell?.."  He leaned in a little closer to the exit...the closer he got, the louder the sound became, "What's going on down ther--"

                The rest of the men shouted and leaped back.  The one who'd leaned closer now lay dead by the exit, a large metal piece of shrapnel imbedded deely in his forehead.

 

                "Sorry...I'm just trying to get away."  Griffin thought as he saw the man he'd killed.  It had caused enough confusion for all the NORMAL men down there to never catch him.  Two robots took chase and caught up almost instantly...They slowed down when they were side to side with him.  He wondered why they didn't shoot...until he saw the third one coming.  As it got closer, Griffin could see this one smiling, "So it's Kain then..."  He scowled and took control of one of the robots with his chip.  The programming and wiring were incredibly resistant.  He almost fried the chip in his forehead rather than the main curcuitry in the robot...but he managed.  The robot lifted its cannon and fired a shot at the other robot, damaging it enough to force it to land.  Griffin had a feeling that such a simple tactic wouldn't work on Kain, so he waited.  He'd have to time this if he wanted to do it right...

                ...he didn't get a chance.  Kain blew up the robot Griffin had taken control of with a single shot.  Griffin swerved to avoid the flying metal shards, "Either that's one HELL of a weak spot, or these robots aren't nearly as good as Father's."  Well, whichever, Griffin had to think of something new or he'd be hit next!

 

                "What the--"  Babe swerved around.  An explosion?!  He started back, thinking it might just be a robbery.  A few seconds later, he picked up two signals on his radar.  Both were flying, and ONE of them was going faster than any normal anthro could!.."No...damn it, no!"  He put more power to his rockets.  This couldn't be happening!!!!  Babe readied his arm cannon, took aim, and fired.  The shot sailed forward...a blue shield suddenly sprang up out of nowhere at the spot he'd aimed, "Damn it, I got rid of you!!!!!!"  Babe shot again and again, "KAIN!!!!!!!  HOW DID YOU COME BACK, KAIN?!!!!!!!!!!!"

                "Babe, what's wrong?"  Sarah's voice asked through the frequency.

                Babe shouted back at her, "IT'S KAIN!!!!  GET EVERYONE SOMEWHERE SAFE NOW!!!!!!!"  But who was that person with Kain?..Babe growled and fired again.  Whoever it was, Babe didn't want to take any chances.

                The shot somehow swerved away from the second person and hit Kain again, "What the hell?.."  He got close enough that he could start seeing facial features, "DON?!!!!!!"  No, wait...Griffin!  It was that guy Babe was trying to find!  KAIN wanted him?!.."Figures...if that was Griffin who made my shot swerve like that, what else can he do?!"  There wasn't much time for thinking after that.  Kain shot back at him, swearing.

 

                Kain couldn't turn back now!  He ALMOST had Griffin!!!!!  DAMN that Protector!!!!.."I was THIS close to fixing everything without you EVER knowing!!!!  DAMN YOU!!!!!!!!!"  Kain repeated himself out loud, adding a few extra swear words for good measure.  He glanced between Griffin and Babe, "Damn it!"  The easiest way out of this would be to shoot Griffin, claim his prize, and retreat, but THAT would lead Babe right back to the factory.  Kain could FACE Babe, but Griffin would get away, and Kain would have to capture him all over again!.."DAMN YOU!!!!!!!!!"  He didn't dare use his tranquilizers on Griffin.  Beremin had said that Griffin's immunities were perfect.  A tranquilizer--even a deadly poison!--wouldn't stop Griffin for more than a couple seconds!  He had to do something!!

                Kain shot Griffin at as close a rnge he dared.  The shot started to swerve away, but it still HIT Griffin, which was what mattered.  Griffin had to land, which would make him much easier to find when Kain was finished with Babe.  With Griffin falling to the ground, Kain could focus on Babe, "I'll get you yet, Babe.  There's still a way to reprogram you!"

                "I'LL KILL YOU FIRST!!!!!!"  Babe shouted back.

                Kain smiled, "Not a chance."  He had a shield.  Babe couldn't protect himself except by swerving, and THAT endangered the people below.  If Babe was still thinking like Babe, he'd not let the shots hit the ground.  Kain fired a shot, aiming at Babe in such a way that, if he didn't move, it would hit a building right in the window.  If there was anyone IN that room, they'd soon be full of glass shards!

                Babe saw what Kain was doing and didn't do a thing to protect himself except throw his arms over his face.  Kain shot again, already in a new position.  He'd seen someone walking on the ground that wasn't Griffin.  Babe let the blast hit him, this time in the back, "Hmm...Babe's thinking.  He won't let me hit a vital spot..."  The back should have been a vital spot, but Babe could think and learn.  THAT meant that he had protected that area as best he could, like Kain had.  Kain hadn't done that to his robots because he wanted to build up and army as fast as possible.  Once they were completed, he would modify them and make them as unbeatable as possible.

 

                Babe grimaced and held his position.  He couldn't do anything by firing back, he had to get close!  The closer he got, the the worse the blast would be whenever Kain shot at him.  He watched the guy down below start running away, then saw Griffin join him, "Good...they're both gone.  I can at least stop worrying about someone getting directly hit."  There were people in the buildings around them, but they had seen Babe and were taking cover or already HAD taken cover.  Babe swerved around to face Kain again.

 

                Griffin got the lady out of the way and looked back up at the two fighting.  He could help...but how could he tell whoever that was up there?  His chip didn't allow him to speak along any frequencies, and making that blast swerve away had been harder than he'd thought!  He could help any more people who were still running around, but that wasn't doing much..."Hey...maybe if I..."  He ran into the first building he thought might have a phone.  Unfortunately, they were all pay phones, and he had no money!  That lady he'd helped out was somewhere else, and it looked like no one was in here..."Hello?..anyone?.."

                Griffin shielded his head when he heard an explosion.  It came from another floor up...without thinking, Griffin made his way upstairs, "Hey, is anyone up here?!"  Plaster had fallen from the ceiling because of the explosion...one door creaked open...he could tell by looking taht it was only hanging on by the top hinge, "Is anyone in there?!"  He shouted as he made his way to the door.

                A small and very frightened voice squeaked out, "C-c...can you help, mister?.."

                Griffin saw a small girl huddling under a chair, glancing at him and a blown out window.  Griffin could hear two sets of jets zooming around outside it, "Sure kid...what can I do?"  He made his way to the girl slowly, watching the ceiling and everywhere else to make sure he didn't get something dumped on him.

                "M...my dad's stuck...he's u--under...under that..."  She pointed to a heap of what used to be a desk, and some broken bits of plaster..."A shot blew up daddy's desk...he was hiding under it...to stay away from the people shooting outside..."

                Griffin nodded and went over to the pile, "Hey, are you alright in there?"

                A muffled voice called out, "I can't breathe...get my daughter out of here...I'm a goner...there's no way anyone could lift--get her out of here..."

                "Hold on, I'm getting YOU out first."

                "No!"  He called back.  His voice was about as loud as a whisper, "Get my daughter away..."

                Griffin ignored him and grabbed a big piece of the desk.  It was heavier because of all the plaster and things piled on top, but Griffin got it off, "Can you breathe now?"

                "Yes...get my daughter out..."  Griffin could tell the guy was lying.

                He frowned and used his chip to get rid of the rest.  Nearly all of the broken plaster, desk, and whatever else came off before Griffin some part of the man trapped underneath, "Let's get you out of here..."  griffin set the broken pile of junk down by the window.  It might help stop the blasts if they came back through this room.  By the time Griffin had gotten the man and his daughter down the stairs, the man could walk again.

                "Thank you..."  He said, breathlessly, "If there's anything I can do..."

                "Coulld you spare some change for a phone call?"

                The girl laughed, thought it was funny, but her father handed over some money, "Thank you...um...what's your name?"

                Griffin shook his head, "Don't worry about it.  I just need to make a phone call.  Thanks!"  He headed over to a phone and found Don's phone number.  After putting in the change, he dialed the number and waited, "Hey Poseidon..."

                "Griffin?!!!  Where are you?!"

                "No idea...all I know is that there're two robot people fighting right outside where I'm at.  I want to help whoever the brown one was, but if he doesn't know what I'm trying to do, he'll probably turn on me.  Any ideas how I can get past that?"

                "I'll call my friend who knows someone who--"

                "Yeah yeah...if it'll help.  I hope your calls are fast...I'm going out to help right now."  Griffin hung up.  It didn't look like the second robot was going to stand up for much longer.