CURRENT DATE: July 11, 2299. 11:30 hours.

"Charge, toss the wrench over here," Breaker said in an obviously bored tone.

"Here," Charge replied in an equally bored voice as he threw the wrench to Breaker.

"I can't believe we've been relegated to repair duty. Why do we have to be the ones to fix this thing? The weather's miserable, and I have better things to do than spend the day out here fixing gun turrets."

It was midday and it had been raining steadily since the night before. To make matters worse, a dense fog had blown in earlier in the day, making it difficult to see. Breaker and Charge had been out all morning repairing one of the four gun turrets that surrounded the city of Last Haven. Neither of them was particularly happy about it and had been complaining to each other the entire time, but orders were orders.

"This thing sure is a mess. We're not even half finished yet." Breaker paused for a moment, "Uh... now I need the welder."

Charge handed the welder to Breaker while he typed in some commands on the turret's computer with his other hand. "Circuit 4 is still nonfunctional. The power's not getting through." Charge sighed and continued typing. "Why can't the humans fix this? I mean, it is protecting their city."

"True, but we built it. Besides, that's what you get for being a member of Shadow Force. We chose not to continue the rebellion like the Dark Shadow robots did. So it is still our duty to protect the humans."

The event to which Breaker was referring to were the Metal Wars. Even though it had occurred almost 78 years ago, it was something that neither Breaker nor anyone else could ever forget, even if his programming would let him.

The year 2221 marked the development of an advanced form of artificial intelligence. The humans were using this new technology to create sentient robots that would perform various tasks to help them in their daily work. The robots were all extremely complex, possessing the ability to think with efficiency. In order to make it easier for the robots to work in society, they were given as many detailed features as possible, including a power distribution system that was designed to appear as if a person was breathing. Other features included impact detectors that permitted the ability to feel pain, sensory input devices that provided the capability of taste and smell, and a law that prevented anyone from building duplicates of a particular design, no matter how useful or effective, in order to give the robots a sense of individualism. The only real difference between the humans and the robots was physical appearance.

Robots were built and separated into five different categories. Military Offence (MO) robots were designed for combat while Military Defence (MD) were built for the protection and guarding of special facilities. Robots in the Intelligence/Surveillance (IS) division were used for intelligence gathering, information retrieval, surveying and geographical analysis. Research/Development (RD) robots were used to aid the humans in scientific and medical research. The fifth division was Construction/Maintenance (CM). Robots in this sector were responsible for the repair and construction of buildings and machines. CM robots were also used for mining, handling toxic waste and general clean-up. As extra incentive to work, robots were assigned a rank of 1 to 7 which was based on the military ranking system where 1 was equivalent to ensign and 7 was equivalent to admiral. Excellence in the performance of the robot's tasks would earn promotions and more privileges. Most robots were equipped with special devices or features that would aid them in performing their tasks, including energy and projectile weapons for the military divisions. With all of these complexities the humans were, in essence, creating a new lifeform.

Unfortunately it was too little too late when the humans realized the mistake of using intelligent beings essentially as slaves. The robots very quickly decided that they were not to be treated as slaves and on August 14, 2223, they rebelled. Being stronger, and in general, much larger, it did not take long for the robots to overthrow the humans. After only a few months the humans were reluctantly forced to grant freedom to all the robots. The more aggressive robots, however, did not simply want freedom; they wanted revenge.

September 28, 2223 was the beginning of the Metal Wars. The more peaceful robots had sided with the humans, their creators, feeling that their freedom was enough and that it was their duty to protect their creators. The subsequent battle raged on for close to 22 years before a truce was declared. The aggressive robots' self-appointed leader, Magma, called an end to all hostilities on June 7, 2245, giving no reason as to the nature of the decision. However, the reason became evident very soon after - they were losing the war and needed to regroup. The war had literally annihilated everything on the planet. Most of the cities were smoking wastelands and less than 40 million humans were still alive. Of the nearly 42 thousand robots that had been created only 416 were still left. The technology used to create the robots had been lost, and due to the fact that all the robots were, by program design, incapable of building other robots, along with the obvious reluctance of the humans to try and rediscover the technology, no more robots could be built. Over the next few months all was fairly quiet, but intelligence reports showed that strange changes were occurring at the aggressive robots' home base. Then, on October 6, 2245, Magma announced the formation of a group to be known as Dark Shadow and that they were officially at war with all robots who had sided with the humans. He also declared that they were no longer at war with the humans, but they would not hesitate to destroy any humans who got in their way. The very next day the robots still loyal to the humans formed their own group, to be known as Shadow Force, led by a robot known as Ace.

It was now the year 2299, and only 21 known robots were left: 11 Shadow Force members and 10 Dark Shadow members. Last Haven was the only surviving city and it contained all 23 million remaining humans on the planet. The city and its inhabitants were protected by the four gun turrets surrounding the city and the members of the Shadow Force team.

Charge looked up from the console and noticed that Breaker had stopped working. "Breaker? Hey, Breaker! Wake up! We're never going to get this finished if you're just going to sit there."

Breaker came out of his trance and turned to his companion. "Huh? What? Oh, sorry, Charge. I was just thinking."

"Thinking? About what?"

"I was just thinking about how this whole war started. About Shadow Force and Dark Shadow, and how there's so few of us left."

"Y' know, Breaker, maybe we should join Dark Shadow. I'll bet they're not out in the rain fixing some stupid piece of machinery," Charge said jokingly.

Breaker laughed. "That might not be a..." His voice trailed off as he heard a faint rumble. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"I thought I heard something." Suddenly, the ground shook violently, accompanied by a much louder rumble.

"What was that?!" Charge yelled as he turned around to identify the source of the sound. "Oh my..." were the only words he got out as a bright energy flash erupted around him.

Ace sat back in his chair, staring at the blank computer screen sitting on his desk. Dark Shadow hadn't done anything in months and intelligence reports had shown nothing unusual. Ace was beginning to wish that they would attack, just to relieve him of his boredom. He was about to shut down for a short rest when a beeping sounded from the door. "Come in," he responded to the noise. Ace looked up to see the 9-foot silver form of his second-in-command standing in the doorway.

Ace smiled. "Come to release me from my boredom, Maxim?"

"I'm afraid not," came the reply. Maxim turned to the side so the wings and jetpack on his back would fit through the door - his equpment from being an MD model - then proceeded to walk in. "You think Traxx would be willing to widen the doorway? It's really annoying not being able to fit through any of the doors."

"Good luck trying to convince him. And besides, everyone else fits through the door. Look at it as a small price to pay to be able to fly."

"I guess so. It is a great advantage."

"So, what is it you wanted? I assume you didn't just come here to complain about the size of the doors."

"No, I didn't. I came to deliver the status report that Tech and Metal Storm were working on. Also to tell you that Breaker and Charge never checked in yesterday, and sensors indicate that the gun turret is still off-line."

Ace's smile quickly faded at hearing the news. "There's no way that it should take more than a day for a routine repair mission."

"It is possible that there's nothing wrong. You know how those two can get when they're together."

"Maybe." Ace thought for a moment before leaning forward in his chair. "But just to make sure I want you to take Skids and go investigate. Be quick and report back immediately if you find anything unusual."

"Yes sir," Maxim replied as he turned to leave.

Maxim walked into the control room where he found Skids working on the main computer. "Skids, Ace wants us to go find out what happened to Breaker and Charge and why the gun turret is still off-line."

Skids turned around and responded with nervousness. "Why me? Can't you find someone else to go?"

"Ace said you. You're the fastest one here." Maxim answered, pointing to the wheels on Skids' feet that were responsible for his name.

"Wh... Why do you need speed on this mission? Unless you know that something is going to go wrong and that we'll need to get out of there fast." Skids sounded even more nervous than before.

Maxim was beginning to get angry. "He probably just doesn't want to take any chances. And it's not my place to question his orders unless there's something obviously wrong with them. Ace is my commanding officer. And in case you forgot, I am your commanding officer. Now let's go."

Skids quietly muttered something rather rude to himself as he reluctantly stood up and turned the computer off. "Fine. Just don't expect me to stick around and fight if we run into trouble."

Maxim and Skids left the base and proceeded to the site where the gun turret was located. It had stopped raining the night before and the sun was out, but the ground was still wet. Along the way, Maxim's annoyance from the previous incident was replaced with curiosity. He had been wanting to ask Skids a particular question for a long time, but couldn't find the right moment. He thought for a second, then figured that this was as good a time as any. "Skids, why are you so afraid of fighting? Every time you get sent on any kind of mission that might involve the possibility of fighting, you always try to find some way out of it."

Skids looked at Maxim with a distressed look on his face. "Um..." he started to say.

"Look, if you don't want to tell me, that's okay. I'll understand."

"Well... ah..." Skids stuttered. He had been fearing this question for a long time and hadn't really ever wanted to tell anyone the answer, but it was constantly bothering him, and lately it had been getting worse.

"Well, for one thing, I was built for surveillance, not combat. But that's not the real reason..."

Skids stopped moving. "Shortly after the war had started, I guess about a year, the lab at which I was working was attacked. In the fight my best friend was destroyed and the human who had created me was killed. The entire place was demolished and I was the only one who survived."

"The lab wasn't even involved in the war!" Skids exclaimed as a look of anger flashed across his face. "We were simply performing a geographical survey of some mountains. It was the middle of the day and five robots just stormed into the lab and opened fire." Skids' expression darkened further. "There was absolutely nothing of value for them to take. The only reason for them to be there was to destroy something! It took only a few minutes for them to shoot out the foundation and then the entire building collapsed. Part of the roof landed on me and my computer system shut down.

Skids calmed down slightly. "When my computer system came back on-line I was alone, lying in what was left of the lab. I got up and looked around and all I could see were destroyed buildings and a few smoldering fires. Since that day I have vowed to avoid fighting at all costs."

Maxim apologized again. "I'm sorry. I never knew."

"Really, it's okay. It actually feels better to tell someone." Skids forced a smile. "However, this doesn't mean that I'm going to be any less adamant about not fighting."

"I know. But you know that as long as Dark Shadow is around you're going to have to fight on occasion."

Skids nodded slowly. He and Maxim resumed moving and neither of them spoke again until they had reached their destination.

Within the hour the pair had arrived at the location of the gun turret.

"What happened to this place?!" Skids cried out in surprise. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Skids was staring at a barren wasteland in a 20 metre radius around where the turret was supposed be. There was absolutely nothing; no trees, no vegetation, no gun turret; nothing but dirt and a few small pieces of broken metal. "It looks like a huge energy ball just landed and vaporized everything."

"Well... now we know why the turret is still off-line," Maxim stated matter-of-factly while he stared at what was left of the site. "It doesn't exist anymore."

"Oh no," Skids said looking at the ground.

"What?"

"Look." Skids picked up a small metal square off the ground and handed it to Maxim. "It's Breaker's data chip," he said solemnly, knowing that it meant that Breaker had been destroyed.

Every robot was built with a special data chip that contained all of the robot's memories. The chip was the equivalent of the black box in the ancient airplanes of the 20th and 21st centuries. Whenever a robot was destroyed, the data chip would be downloaded into the main archive listing and recorded. Archiving a robot's data chip was representative of a funeral service.

Maxim took a few steps, stopped, and then bent down to pick up another piece of metal. "Here's Charge's data chip."

"Maxim, what is going on here? What happened to Breaker and Charge?!"

"I'm not sure, but we better report back to Ace before we investigate further." Maxim turned to go back to the base and hadn't taken more that three steps when he stopped so unexpectedly that Skids ran into him.

"Hey! What are you doing Maxim?"

"Quiet! Someone's here."

"I don't hear anything. I don't see anything either."

Maxim looked around for a moment, then pointed to a tree on the edge of the vaporized area as he realized who was there. "All right, Shroud! We know you're there!"

Nothing happened for a few minutes then suddenly a black form materialized out of thin air in front of the tree. Skids and Maxim instantly recognized the figure as Shroud, a member of Dark Shadow. Shroud was one of the few robots programmed with a female personality. She had the very unique skill of being able to blend into the surroundings like a chameleon. In her normal form, she was completely black except for a blue-tinted visor that covered her eyes. Shroud also had a personal vendetta against Maxim, largely due to the fact that Maxim was the only one who could detect her when she was invisible.

"Well, I see that your sensors still work," Shroud snapped.

"So, what brings you here, Shroud? Did Magma finally kick you out?" Maxim stated sarcastically, knowing that Shroud had a reputation for questioning Magma's orders.

Shroud glowered at him. "Just observing you two. How are your friends doing?" Shroud laughed as she gestured to the data chips Maxim was holding.

"How dare you..."

Shroud continued laughing. "Aww, don't worry, Maxim. You and your other little friend behind you can join them if you'd like. Because here comes my friend right now." As she spoke the ground started to shake slightly and a soft rumbling sound could be heard in the distance. "Enjoy." With her last statement she vanished as suddenly as she had appeared.

"Where's that noise coming from? Skids queried as he turned on his external camera, hoping to capture an image of the object.

"Over there," Maxim stated, pointing towards a mountain that was less than a kilometre away.

Skids looked towards the mountain and almost fell over in surprise when he saw what was approaching. "Look at the size of that thing!"

Maxim and Skids watched in horror as a massive, dark grey, humanoid-shaped robot emerged from behind the mountain. The robot was well over 150 feet tall and its weight was obvious from the vibrations in the ground as it walked slowly towards them. Each arm was built as large plasma cannons and it was evident from their shape and size that the two weapons were responsible for the area of destruction around the gun turret.

Skids recovered from his stunned state and noticed a glowing light coming from one of the plasma cannons. "Maxim! It's going to fire!"

"Run!" Maxim screamed as he took off towards the base with Skids close behind. All of a sudden an explosion erupted behind them, sending the pair flying through the air.

Skids slowly picked himself up off the ground, noting that he was undamaged, save for a number of scratches on his armour. "Maxim!" Skids shouted, noticing that his partner was still on the ground.

"I'm all right," Maxim said, his voice quavering slightly.

Skids helped Maxim to stand up. "No you're not. Your left side is badly damaged."

Maxim turned his head to the side and winced, just realizing now that he could no longer move his left arm and that the end of his wing was bent out of shape. "I can still run. And we had better start. The robot's going to fire again!"

Maxim and Skids resumed their run back to the base just as another explosion sounded behind them, but this time they were out of range. "At least that thing is slow," Skids said seriously.

"But it's so huge. I don't know how we're going to stop it. And it's heading straight for the base."

The two continued back to the base as fast as they could while some distance behind them the giant robot continued its slow pace toward the Shadow Force headquarters, crushing everything in its path under its massive feet.

Ace and Aura were talking to each other when a loud thud interupted them. They turned to see Skids stagger through the main entranceway holding Maxim up with his left shoulder.

"Maxim! What happened?!" Aura cried, rushing to his side. "Are you okay?"

Aura was another one of the rare robots who was programmed to be female. As in the case of Shroud, she also had a personal relationship with Maxim, albeit of a much different nature. Aura had been part of the Military Defence division and had the ability to emit an extremely bright light around her that would temporarily blind an opponent. She was also able to project holograms and other forms of light. When Aura was built, an unintentional, and in Aura's opinion, rather annoying side effect of these abilities occurred, causing her to glow different colours whenever she felt any strong emotion.

Maxim smiled weakly. "I'm fine."

"What happened?" Aura repeated, this time directing the question to Skids.

"We were attacked," Skids answered bluntly.

"Aura, take Maxim to Surefire to get repaired," Ace ordered, then turned to Skids. "So, what did happen?"

Maxim handed the two data chips to Skids as Aura helped him out of the room. "First of all," Skids started, passing the chips to Ace, "We found Breaker and Charge," he said grimly. A shocked expression appeared on Ace's face as he examined the chips. Skids waited for Ace to regain his senses before continuing. "We know what happened to the gun turret." Skids proceeded to explain what had transpired on their mission while Ace listened intently.

"The robot is only moving at about ten kilometres per hour, so we've got slightly less than four hours before it gets here," Skids said, finishing the debriefing.

"Yes, but from what you've told me it's not really going to matter how long we've got unless we have some way to stop it."

Skids suddenly remembered something. "The video!"

A confused look crossed Ace's face. "Video?"

"I turned on my external camera just before the robot appeared." Skids looked at the camera mounted on his right shoulder and noticed that the lens was completely shattered. "I hope the recording disk is still intact," he continued, taking the disk out of the camera and handing it to Ace.

Ace looked Skids over carefully. "I'll take a look at this while you join Maxim and get yourself repaired." Skids nodded and left the room.

Ace put the disk into the main computer. A partially distorted image of a massive dark grey robot appeared on the screen and Ace sat down to carefully study the image. The amount of usable image was only about 40 seconds long and Ace was on his third run through the video when he noticed something odd. "Wait a minute..." Ace thought to himself. "Computer, freeze," he said abruptly. "Computer, zoom factor 500." The computer did what it was told and zoomed in closer on the head. "I was right!" he said quietly as he stared at the picture.

Ace continued to look over the video carefully for the next half hour before deciding that it was time to act. He held down a button on the control panel and spoke into the speaker next to it, "All personnel, report to the main control room immediately."

The door to the training room opened and Metal Storm and Lockjaw walked out. Metal Storm and Lockjaw were the fighters of the Shadow Force team. Both of them were equipped with tails which gave them an odd appearance. Lockjaw's tail had a retractable steel jaw on the end that acted as a grappling hook, while Metal Storm's tail had four electrically charged spikes on its end. In addition to being a fighter, Metal Storm was very good with electronics and often worked closely with Tech, the scientist of the Shadow Force team, and Metal Storm's close friend. He was very outgoing and had a habit of making jokes at inopportune times which often got him into trouble. Lockjaw was extremely aggressive and thought that fighting was the best way to deal with any situation. He had also made it quite clear that he disliked Skids due to his continual avoidance of fighting.

Tech and Traxx emerged from the doorway of the science lab arguing about an experiment on which Tech had been working. Tech was extremely intelligent and was overly obsessed with research. Although a fairly good fighter, like Skids, Tech preferred to avoid combat. Traxx was responsible for maintenance and construction duties around the base. Traxx often felt that he was unappreciated and constantly tried to prove that he was good for something other than basic maintenance.

The rest of the members of the team walked in from the hallway. In the lead was Maxim, who appeared to be completely repaired. He was followed closely by Aura, and behind her were Skids and Surefire.

"Feeling better, Maxim?" Ace queried.

"I'm fine," he replied. "It looked worse than it really was. It was really just a few damaged circuits."

Surefire stared at Maxim. "It was a few damaged circuits for your arm. Fixing your wing is another story," he said in a displeased tone. "It's still not fully fuctional." Surefire was responsible for all repairs and often stayed at the base. He was constantly overworked but usually tried to stay positive about it. Next to Maxim, Surefire was the largest member of Shadow Force. However, he was built like a tank and was extremely strong, which actually made him look bigger than Maxim.

"What's the deal here?" Lockjaw asked, looking quite annoyed. "I was rather busy doing something."

After everyone had gathered around, Ace proceeded to quickly explain the situation to those who didn't already know. "We have about three hours until the giant robot gets here, but I would prefer to confront it in the open before it gets too close to the base."

"How could we not have noticed that Dark Shadow was building this thing?" Tech asked.

"I'm not sure. Right now it's not important how or where they built it. The only thing that matters now is that it's here and we have to stop it."

"What's your plan?" Maxim queried

Ace played back the video recording and paused it in the same place that he had before. "This is a video that Skids took before he and Maxim were attacked," Ace explained, pointing to the picture. "I noticed this earlier. If you look closely, you can see that the front of the head is actually a window and that there is a faint shadow in it."

"So?" Lockjaw interrupted.

Ace shot Lockjaw an angry look. "This means that there is someone inside controlling the robot. In other words, if we can get inside, then we can disable the robot by stopping whoever is operating it. I scanned the rest of the robot carefully and found a hatchway at the bottom of the right foot."

Lockjaw interrupted again. "Why don't we just attack it outright? I doubt that it could withstand our combined firepower."

"Sure, if you want to get us all destroyed!" Skids snapped.

"Only cowards like you who don't have the courage to fight!" Lockjaw shouted back.

"That's enough you two!" Ace yelled. "I have an idea about how to get inside. Since I'm sure that some of the members of the Dark Force team will be with the robot now, Aura will provide a distraction by using her Light Halo to blind anyone who happens to be there. While they're distracted, Traxx, Skids, Tech and I will go for the hatchway." Ace looked at Traxx. "Traxx, you will use your Hyperdrill to get the hatchway open, but I want you to stay outside."

"Gee, thanks," Traxx growled.

"Um..." Skids was about to protest about the assignment. He and Maxim exchanged glances and Maxim smiled slightly. "Uh...Never mind."

"Anyways," Ace continued, "While the three of us are inside the robot, Maxim, Aura, Traxx, Metal Storm, and Lockjaw will keep the Dark Shadow members occupied. Surefire, I want you to stay here."

"Understood," Surefire answered.

"Well then, let's go!" Ace shouted enthusiastically.

It took less than fifteen minutes to catch up to the giant robot, which was still on its slow and steady pace towards the Shadow Force base. The eight Shadow Force members hid behind a group of bushes a few hundred metres away, waiting to make their move.

"It's moving a little faster than I thought, but it's still over an hour away," Skids commented.

Metal Storm peered through the bushes. "You were right, Ace. They've brought out

the cavalry. There's five of them around the robot - Diamond, Slash, Aero, Cube, and Thunder."

"There's six," Maxim corrected.

Everyone gave Maxim a quizzical look. "Six?" Metal Storm said with confusion.

"Shroud's there too. I can sense her."

"Why isn't Magma there? Or even their second-in-command, Volt?" Skids asked, already knowing that no one else knew the answer either.

"I'm not sure. They might be the ones inside the robot, but I doubt it," Ace said.

"I always knew their leader was a coward," Lockjaw added.

Ace gave Lockjaw a strange look. "Yes, well." He turned his attentions to Aura. "Aura, are you ready?"

"Always," she responded with confidence.

"Then go. It's almost here." Ace looked at the group, "And when you're fighting, try to stay near the robot. That way it can't use its plasma cannons without hitting the Dark Shadow members too."

With that, Aura jumped out of the bushes and stood in the middle of the clearing. "Hey there! Take a look at this!" Aura started to glow a bright white colour and then emitted a bright flash, impairing everyone's vision.

"Go!" Ace said quietly.

Ace, Traxx, Skids and Tech ran as fast as they could towards the robot's foot. As soon as they got there Traxx immediately powered up his Hyperdrill and started to take off the bolts on the hatchway. "Hurry up Traxx! Aura can't hold the light beam for much longer."

"I'm working as fast as I can!" With his last word the hatchway door fell off and Ace Tech and Skids jumped inside. Traxx quickly put the panel back on, so nobody would know that someone was in the robot. As the last bolt was put back on, Aura's light beam failed. "Just made it," Traxx said, relieved.

"Now it's our turn!" Lockjaw screamed as he, Metal Storm and Maxim joined Aura and Traxx in the field and began to fire on the Dark Shadow members.

The inside of the robot was very dark and there was a lot of noise from the mechanical parts that controlled the giant machine. A faint string of lights lined one of the walls and travelled up the length of it for at least a hundred feet. It was difficult to maintain balance due to the shaking from the robot's movement. Beside the string of lights was a ladder that followed it up the entire distance.

"Well, let's start climbing," Ace said, reaching for the ladder.

Tech followed closely behind him and Skids brought up the rear. "Hold on carefully. It's a long way down," Tech said in a semi-joking tone.

"Thanks for the confidence boost, Tech," Skids replied nervously.

"No problem."

It took ten minutes to reach the halfway point inside the robot. There was a large platform off to the side with a computer panel and view screen on the wall.

"Can we disable the robot from here?" Ace asked.

Tech jumped off the ladder onto the platform and checked the computer. "No. This operates the drive mechanism, but we can't get access from this terminal. We've got to get to the control room at the top." Tech looked up and saw a large glowing object. "There's the power core. If we can gain access to the main computer in the head we can probably set it to self-destruct."

"Self-destruct. My favourite words," Skids said sarcastically as Tech climbed back onto the ladder.

Ace looked down at Skids. "Come on. The faster we get to the top the better."

Within another ten minutes the trio had reached the top of the head. Another platform was off to the side and marking the entrance to the control room was a large doorway. There was a small window in the door and to the left was a control panel.

"We're here." Ace said moving silently over to the doorway.

"Who's inside?" asked Tech.

"Cyclone and Terrapin. Cyclone's at the controls and Terrapin is behind him looking at a computer screen."

Cyclone was the resident scientist of Dark Shadow and Tech's counterpart. Although not as intelligent as Tech, he was a better fighter. On his left arm was an air blaster called a Wind Ribbon that could blow an extremely powerful wind. Terrapin looked very much like Surefire Extremely strong and built like a tank, he also had shell-like armour that protected him from most types of attack.

"What's the best method to get in?" Tech asked.

"How about we politely knock and ask them if they would be kind enough to stop the robot and leave peacefully?" Skids quipped.

Ace gave Skids an odd look. "Very funny. But I think that we should use Lockjaw's method this time." Ace then raised his ion gun and prepared to shoot the door open.

Meanwhile, the battle outside was continuing. Both sides were running around in a rather disorganized fashion, taking random shots at each other. Most of the time they missed but a few lucky shots had connected.

"I hope Ace stops that thing soon. This battle is really heating up." An ion beam whizzed by Maxim's arm. "Whoa. That was close," he said softly, and fired back at the shooter.

"Not as close as this!" Maxim heard behind him just as he felt a sharp pain in his back and fell forward. Shroud stood over him and sneered, "I guess I was wrong about your sensors." She laughed evilly and vanished into thin air.

Maxim got up slowly and felt the pain again. "I can't believe the humans figured that giving us the ability to feel pain was a benefit," he thought to himself. Maxim looked at his left wing. "Surefire's going to have a fit; he just fixed this." He then began to move his arm. "At least I can move my arm this time." Maxim's thoughts were cut off as a sudden rain of fire came from above as Aero flew overhead. Maxim fired back but missed.

Metal Storm looked up and fired at Aero, missing as well. "We've got to take him out! He's got a big advantage over us in the air." Metal Storm glanced at Maxim.

"Don't look at me. I can't fly anymore," Maxim said dejectedly.

Traxx had an idea. Suddenly he pointed his weapon into the air and began to shoot rapidly, not aiming at anything in particular. "Dodge this." Traxx said silently. One of the shots finally connected, sending Aero careening into the ground.

"That's one way," Metal Storm laughed. Metal Storm looked at Aero and noticed that he had landed directly on top of Diamond. "Nice shot, Traxx. Two for the price of one," He laughed again before turning around to watch a duel going on behind him between Lockjaw and Thunder.

Thunder raised his trademark triple crossbow and fired at Lockjaw, missing by a mile. Lockjaw returned the favour andy. Lockjaw felt the wind as three steel bolts flew by his face and imbedded themselves into a tree behind him. "You missed again, Thunder," Lockjaw shouted.

"Are you sure?" Thunder shouted back, smiling.

Lockjaw quickly realized his mistake. He turned around and cursed loudly as the tree that had been struck with the bolts toppled over on top of him.

"Such language, Lockjaw! Next time you'll pay more atten..." Thunder's gloating was cut off as a massive ion beam hit him in the chest and knocked him to the ground.

"You're the one who needs to pay more attention, Thunder," Metal Storm said, looking at the fallen tree. "What's the matter, Lockjaw? Life got you down?" Metal Storm laughed as he picked the tree up with his tail.

"I can't believe you're making jokes in the middle of a battle!" Lockjaw growled.

"Lighten up. You have no sense of humour." Without warning a patch of ice appeared beneath Metal Storm's feet sending him reeling backwards and onto the ground.

"I guess it's your turn to slip up, huh, Metal Storm?" Lockjaw laughed.

"Oh, shut up," Metal Storm said, as he got up.

"Would you two stop fooling around and start fighting?!" Aura yelled from across the clearing as she fired at Cube, the originator of the ice patch. The blast hit him squarely in the head, putting him out of commission.

Metal Storm and Lockjaw both turned around. After pausing a second, they simultaneously fired in Aura's direction. Aura stood there in surprise as an ion beam whizzed by on either side of her head. "Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" she screamed, and started to glow bright red.

Metal Storm and Lockjaw grinned and pointed at Aura. "Look behind you," they said in unison.

Aura turned around slowly and saw Slash lying on the ground, an ion blast in each shoulder. "Um...thanks," she said as her red glow changed to a light pink.

"You're welcome'" they replied together, still grinning.

Maxim looked around. "Only one left," he thought to himself. "So, where are you hiding, Shroud?" Maxim stopped short as an ion beam flew by.

"Over here..." a voice echoed through the air as another ion beam shot past.

"That was a mistake, Shroud. You're just making it easier to find you." Maxim slowly scanned the surrounding area and stopped when he came to a tree a few metres away. "There you are!" Maxim shouted, as he fired into the top of the tree. A black form appeared out of nowhere and fell to the ground. "That was for earlier," Maxim sneered.

Aura, Metal Storm, Lockjaw and Traxx joined Maxim in a group. "That's all of them," Maxim said as his companions caught up with him.

"That was easy," Traxx said happily.

"They were disorganized because neither of their leaders were here. Next time it will be a lot harder," Lockjaw responded darkly.

"Do you always have to put a damper on everything?" Traxx asked.

"Hey, you take what you can get," Metal Storm added.

Maxim looked at the giant robot which was still walking toward the base. "Well, we've done our part. Now it's up to Ace and the others."

The door blew open and Ace, Tech and Skids ran into the control room. Cyclone and Terrapin turned around, shocked.

"How did you get in here?!" Cyclone exclaimed.

"Never mind. Now get away from the controls," Ace said, raising his weapon menacingly.

"Yeah, right. Terrapin, escort our guests to the door." With that, Terrapin charged at the three and ran through them like a steamroller, smashing them into the ground.

Skids stood up, dazed. "Oh..." he moaned. "What hit me?"

"That would be me!" Terrapin yelled as he raised his weapon and fired. The weapon discharged and impacted on the back wall, narrowly missing Skids.

Ace stood up and dove at Terrapin, knocking him out the door. Terrapin got up quickly and lowered his gun to fire at Ace, who was back on the floor. "Goodbye, Terrapin," Tech yelled as he fired his weapon at him. The ion beam hit Terrapin, doing no discernable damage. The blast, however, caused him to lose his balance and he fell backwards off the platform.

"Thanks Tech," Ace said.

"If you want something done right..." Cyclone muttered. He got up out of the chair to the controls, turned around, and fired his Wind Ribbon at the three robots. Not expecting the attack, the wind blew their weapons out of their hands. "Now, if you don't mind, I really am rather busy here," Cyclone said with annoyance. He raised his other arm, which was holding an ion gun, and prepared to fire.

Without thinking, Skids suddenly raced forward right at Cyclone with his arm raised. Cyclone was caught off guard and before he could react, Skids' fist connected with his face, sending him flying through the outside window and crashing to the ground below.

Ace and Tech stared at Skids in disbelief. "I can't believe you just did that," Tech said, not quite sure what had just happened.

"Neither can I," Skids answered with as much surprise as Ace and Tech.

Ace picked their weapons up off the floor. "We can talk about this later. Tech, you better try and stop this thing before it walks through our base."

"Right," replied Tech as he went to the controls.

"How long is this going to take?" Skids asked.

"Not long. Dark Shadow was never much for security protocols." After typing in a few commands the computer began rapidly scrolling through files. "There, we're in." As the computer continued to search through the files something caught Tech's attention. "Huh, what was that?" he mumbled.

"What?" Ace questioned.

"I'm not sure. One of the files was labelled `Sandhill Data Storage Library - access denied`. It just didn't seem to belong in there."

"Forget about it. We don't have the time." Ace said quickly.

Tech waited for a few seconds while the computer resumed its scrolling. "Here's the file. `Power Distribution`." Tech typed in a few more commands. "Access granted," he said triumphantly. "I just have to reconfigure the program to self-destruct." Tech paused again. "Self-destruct set in...uh-oh! I couldn't set the time. It's going to go in ten minutes!"

"Ten minutes?! It took us twenty to get up here!" Skids exclaimed.

"Then we had better hurry!" Ace responded, rushing for the door.

Ace grabbed the ladder and literally jumped down the shaft, with Tech and Skids close behind. In their hurried state, they managed to get to the bottom in less than eight minutes.

"Where's Terrapin? I saw him fall down the shaft," Tech inquired, puzzled.

Ace replied quickly, "His shell armour must have protected him enough to survive the fall." Ace pointed to a hole where the hatchway had been. "Look, he must have escaped."

"Which is what we had better do," Skids said, rushing through the entranceway.

Maxim and the others watched as Skids, Tech and Ace emerged from the robot. "There they are!" Maxim shouted.

Before Maxim could say anything further, Ace yelled to him and the others, "Run! It's going to explode in less than two minutes!"

Everyone immediately took off running and within a minute, Ace, Tech, and Skids had caught up with the others By this point the giant robot was so close to their base that the eight of them could see it in the distance. "There's the base!" Aura cried, but her voice was drowned out by a deafening explosion behind them. There was a sudden rush of air as the shockwave blew by, throwing everyone to the ground.

A few minutes passed, but it seemed like an eternity. Ace got up carefully, debris from the blast falling to the ground. "Is everyone okay?" he asked, concerned.

A chorus of nods came from the group, answering Ace's question. "I don't know about okay, but definitely functional," Maxim replied.

Skids turned around and looked back at where the robot had been. A large cloud of smoke had filled the air and a faint orange light could be seen underneath it. "We did it," he said excitedly.

"Yes..." Ace said slowly.

"What's wrong?" Maxim inquired.

"By the time the robot exploded, it was too far away to catch any of the Dark Shadow members in the blast. Terrapin escaped, and Magma and Volt weren't even there. In short, they'll be back."

"And we'll be ready," Maxim said, trying to lighten the mood. "In the meantime, let's get back to the base and get repaired. Then we can at least celebrate our victory before we start thinking about Dark Shadow again."

Everyone agreed, and started walking back to the base. When they arrived, Surefire was there to greet them. "I take it the mission was successful?"

Ace responded, "Yes."

Surefire sighed as he stared at everybody. "I think I'm going to be busy for awhile fixing everyone."

"Starting with me," Maxim smiled, pointing to his damaged wings.

Surefire almost fell over. "Your wings?! Again?! Do you know how difficult it is to fix them?!"

"I think I have a pretty good idea," Maxim replied, his smile growing bigger.

Surefire sighed again and looked at everyone else. "It's a good thing I don't need sleep." Everyone laughed. After everybody had finished laughing Surefire sighed a third time and motioned to the door of his repair lab. "Come on, Maxim, let's go."

Working all night, and with a little bit of help from Traxx, Surefire miraculously managed to repair everyone by morning. Ace had called a meeting in the control room and was the last to arrive. The solemn look on everybody's face when he entered the room told him that they already knew the reason for the meeting.

Maxim handed something to Ace. "Here."

"Now that the robot danger no longer exists we can turn our attention to something of a different nature." Ace held up two data chips. "I've called this meeting so that we can honour our fallen comrades, Breaker and Charge." Everyone gathered around. "Breaker and Charge were destroyed while performing a routine repair duty. It is our job to honour..."

As Ace continued talking, Tech was feeling a little guilty. Instead of thinking about Breaker and Charge his mind was elsewhere. Tech couldn't stop thinking about what he had seen inside the robot. "Why was that file `Sandhill Data Storage Library` in there? Why did the name sound familiar? And why were Magma and Volt not there during the fight?" Tech continued his musings for a few minutes, then stopped. "I shouldn't be thinking about this right now." With his last thought, he managed to temporarily push it out of his head and he focused back on Ace's speech.

Ace was beginning to conclude his speech. "We shall never forget Breaker and Charge or any who have fallen before them. We will continue the fight against Dark Shadow as long as they are a threat and we will fight in their honour." With his last statement, Ace picked up the two data chips and entered them into the computer.