Frontier #21 - Broadening the Field pt. 3

                The sun beat down on the streets of Hopling, and the mid-summer’s heat was stifling. At a little corner café, Marian and Natalie were taking a break from shopping and enjoying the shade of an umbrella. They had been all over the shopping district of Hopling, spending the day together while Steve was doing business in West City.

                “You know, today was actually really nice,” Marian said after the two ladies sat in silence for a bit, listening to the sounds of the city.

                Natalie pulled down her sunglasses and looked over them at the younger woman. “You had doubts?”

                Marian blushed slightly, but her suntanned skin hid it from her stepmother. “Well, ya know, wicked stepmother and all that.”

                Natalie smiled and took a sip of her drink, moving the tiny umbrella straw around. “I know we don’t get along very well, but I can be a fun person, Marian.”

                “I know, I know,” Marian cut in before Natalie could get started. “It just took me awhile to figure that out.” She paused, gathering herself up. “I really am sorry I was such a little bitch to you in the beginning, Natalie. You didn’t deserve that, and I know how much you mean to dad.”

                “Oh, no need to apologize, Marian,” Natalie chuckled, “You played the part of the temperamental teenage daughter perfectly. What you did was nothing I didn’t expect to happen, and I understood the whole time. I’m just glad we’re over that hurdle now.”

                “Oh, I’m predictable, am I?” Marian countered teasingly.

                “Cookie-cutter, honey,” Natalie said with a wink. “But we are all. It’s the toppings that make us all different.”

                Suddenly, an explosion rocked the café they were at, and the two jumped up, entering superhero-mode instantly. They ran around the corner and stopped dead in their tracks. Looming over them was a fifty foot robot, its silver-colored metallic surface gleaming in the sunlight. Two yellow eyes stared down at them from a dome on top of the torso, and two retractable arms moved down to reach them.

                “Call Tony!” Natalie yelled as she lifted off into the air, flying towards the robot’s head. Marian ran back around the corner to dodge the arms and pulled out her radio, sending the S.O.S. message back to the mansion. Marian took a moment to collect herself before turning the corner once more and running back into the fight.

                Beer spewed from Tony’s mouth when he saw the giant robot on the news channel. He ripped the headphones off and heard the blaring of the siren throughout the mansion. Francis burst into the room, yelling something, but Tony was already out the room racing to the action.

                Marian flipped over the tumbling car, barely missing it by inches. She landed hard on the ground, but sprung back up right away. The two months of training with Jackson had not been for nothing; all of her combative abilities had increased greatly. Yet against a gigantic robot, she was still powerless.

                This is what I meant about not having power, she thought angrily as she looked up at Natalie and watched the telekinetic slam a car into the robot’s head. The giant staggered back but would not fall down. Marian had resigned herself to crowd control, but now that the police were here, she wanted to do something more. Unfortunately fists and kicks were useless against an enemy like this.

                A robotic arm shot out at Natalie, who threw up a force field to block it. She had been training over the months, and her force fields were now vastly stronger than before. The field held, and she countered with a steel beam that had become loose from a partially destroyed building. The beam finally breached the giant’s armor, lodging itself in the chest cavity. The robot shuddered, went down to one knee, and then fell completely on its stomach. It was not defeated, however, and its eyes started glowing brighter than normal. Marian found she was directly in front of the robot when it unleashed heat beams from the eye sockets.

                “No!” Natalie screamed, staring at the path of destruction the heat beams had caused. A building started to topple, but Natalie flew in front of it, stopping its fall and saving a group of officers underneath it.

                “She’s okay!” Natalie heard Tony yell from across the street. Natalie lowered the building gently to the ground and looked around; Tony was kneeling next to Marian, who was trying to catch her breath. “She’s just winded. Not many people are used to accelerating that fast and then stopping so suddenly.”

                Marian’s hand shot out and punched Tony’s leg. “You…could’ve…killed me…ass,” she gasped.

                “You’re welcome,” Tony said smiling. “How about we stop this guy before he blasts more people?” Tony took a few seconds to race around the robot before returning to Marian and Natalie. “Come on, this guy has to have bolts somewhere I can unscrew. What’s holding him together?”

                “Forget unscrewing bolts,” Natalie said grimly, “I’ll take him apart.” She took a few steps towards the robot and grounded herself, concentrating all her power. As the eyes started to light up again, Tony and Marian began shouting for her to hurry up. Before the heat beams could cut loose, Natalie ripped the seam along the robot’s back open, causing the giant to explode. The blast would have leveled the area, but it was all contained in a neat force field by Natalie. Once the dust settled, she let the field down, and was met with a crowd of cheers from the onlookers.

                Marian and Tony walked up behind her. “Wow,” they both said in unison. Natalie turned and smiled, but her face faded to horror. The other two turned around and saw a brief glimpse of what she saw.

                “Snake Eyes!” Marian yelled, but Tony was faster. In a blink of an eye, he had streaked through the teeming mass of the gathering crowd and smashed into the villain, sending him rolling across the street. Tony was upon him in another moment, holding Snake by the collar. “Got you this time,” Tony said in a snarl.

                “Not quite,” Snake said with a laugh. A red glow flashed in his eyes, and he was gone, leaving Tony holding nothing but air.

                Tony threw back his head and yelled in rage as Natalie and Marian pushed their way to him.

                “Not again,” Marian said quietly. She turned and put her hand on Natalie’s shoulder. “We will get him one of these days, Natalie.”

                Natalie nodded her head slowly, the fear still evident in her eyes.

                “Works like a charm, just like you said,” Snake Eyes tossed a miniature square chip on the table in front of him. “And they have no clue it wasn’t me that did the teleporting, just like you asked. Unfortunately they trashed your giant robot.”

                The room was well lit, crammed with tables and bookshelves full of experiments and information on various sciences. There were only two people in the room, and the older man Snake was talking to turned around from his current work before speaking.

                “The titan model was a prototype. I captured the fight on film, and have the necessary data.”

                “Well I hope the next one is stronger; that psychic chick tore it apart.”

                The older man smiled, smoothing down his long white mustache. “Rest assured many improvements will be made. As far as I am concerned, phase two was a success.”

                Snake Eyes walked out of the room as the man turned back to his work. “Hmph,” Snake muttered to himself after he passed the guards and left the unassuming gray building in the downtown district of Hopling. “I didn’t even know this was phase two.”