[mtaman02]

Story: The Archimedes Assination
Created By: Pat Fairbank
Posted On: April 14, 2006 @ 9:01PM

It was a dark afternoon in the Thomas More Community (1714). The ULTIMATE (922) storm was besieging the MadTown (1323) with Juggernaut (1394) force. Amid skies of Greybots (973) and flashes of Lightning Robotics (862), Gael Force (126) -strength winds had caused a Hurricane (1941) CAUTION (1492) to be issued. Citizens and tourists alike had abandoned the sandy BeachBots (330) and iHOT (1414) water of Argos (1756) Lake in order to hide from the ELEMENT (4)s, the children leaving their toy Devil Duckies (1266) still floating in their rush to escape.

While everyone else was huddling in their storm cellars, The Midnight Mechanics (812), being The Non Conformants (1654) that they were, continued working feverishly in their lab. Numerous Toltechs (499) toiled relentlessly under the steadfast leadership of Chief Delphi (47), trying to track down the Entropy (138) -causing Short Circuits (1743) that were preventing them from achieving the Cold Fusion (1279) of Element 945 (945).

“Pass me five WashtenNuts (1549)”, Edina (1816) called to a nearby Roboto (447).

As the mechanical assistant moved to comply, a sudden series of C.R.A.S.H. (999)-es disturbed the lab. A fusillade of XQ RobotiX (1450) bullets flew across the room from a now-broken window, slicing through several high-TeamVoltage (386) wires and destroying equipment.

“EHT (1880) tu, X-Cats (191)?” gasped Chief Delphi, before collapsing onto the floor.

“ThunderChickens (217)!!!” exclaimed Edina, rushing to his side. “He's dead, and this was no ACCident (1568): he's been shot in the Lionheart (1302)!

Montclair (555), one of the lab-TechnoWarriors (768), stepped forward. “You heard the Chief; this must be the work of the X-Cats Consortium, those Red Devils (87)! Their group of feline Mechanical Marauders (271) includes Panther Robotics (1108), PantherTech (292), and the Positronic Panthers (486).”

“But we had The Ultimate Protection Squad (1675) and their Bionic Bulldogs (60) to Hokie Guard (401) these premises, and they sure are One TUFF Team (203).”

“Apparently, they wouldn't know an enemy from Adambots (245),” Montclair replied tersely.

“What mayhem could they possibly have hoped to cause with this Royal Assault (357)?” Edina wondered. “The damage is nothing the Builders of Tomorrow (1610) can't fix in the morning, and surely the magic of our ROBO WIZARDS (522) and RoboWizards (1508) can bring Chief Delphi back to life.”

A shout interrupted their pondering. “Code Blue Bear (1367) on the Brazilian Machine (383)! No, it's worse – Code Pink (233)!”

All eyes turned to the broken machine, and watched as the RoboBees (836) that were contained within to provide power to the lab flew from it, heading out the broken window. The swarm of Killer Bees (33) headed straight for a nearby menagerie, stinging the inhabitants and thereby infecting them with the Robotic Plague (375).

“Head to the company vehicles! We'll be safe there from these Monsters (308)!” Edina ordered. The lab crew, who were by no means Warriors (585), were glad to comply and rushed out to the parking lot containing an eclectic mix of company Firebirds (433) and Explorers (468).

The result of the bees' zoo attack was bedlam. Cobra Robotics (1184) were transformed into Dragons (1595) while Falcon Robotics (1626) became Dragon Slayers (538), and they immediately set about fighting each other. The sounds and odor of Exploding Bacon (1902) emitted from the zoo's swine section. Eagle Engineering (1138) began preying on the Gator-Bots (1250)' Children of the Swamp (179), who were in turn plotting to overthrow their parents. A HYPER (69)-centage of the TEC CreW Hammerheads (226) planned and carried out a Shark Attack (744) against the rest of their brethren.

As the chaos spun larger and larger, Edina began praying fervently for a Bovine Intervention (686). The Holy Cows (1538) must have heard her prayer, because the air was suddenly filled with Metal-In-Motion (343). The RoboRaiders (75) had arrived, and their combined forces of The Blue Nights (1057), the Northern Knights (296) and the Scarabian Knights (120), all arriving on the backs of winged Robotiators (888), were more than enough to subdue the zoological fracas caused by the X-Cats Consortium's master plan. Alpine Robotics (159) and the Arctic Warriors (174) arrived shortly thereafter in a severely misnamed Viking (1803) boat known as the Bedford Express (1023), and proceeded to freeze the bees past their minimum operating temperature.

In the time following these strange events, the X-Cats Consortium was tracked down with the investigative help of the Cyber Wolf Corps (647). The F.B.I. (1723) were unable to prove that the Consortium had assassinated the newly-reanimated Chief Delphi, or, for that matter, that he had even been killed, but arrested them anyways on charges of Rocketeer (20)-ing.