Captain France to the Rescue
“I think not,” Captain France boomed from behind the Robolawyers.
Powerhouse grinned as his friend picked one Robolawyer up with each hand and slammed the six-foot beasts together.
He extended his hand to Powerhouse. “Mon ami.”
“You saved my life!” Powerhouse hopped up.
Captain France waved as he led Powerhouse out of the alley. “It’s nothing for ze great Captain France.” He looked in the sky. “More are coming.”
Uh-oh. Powerhouse turned. Hundreds of Robolawyers were flying like a swarm of bees.
“Let us make haste, mon ami.”
“Agreed.”
Powerhouse dashed down the streets of Seattle side by side with Captain France for two blocks before darting in front of Captain France. “We need to draw them away from traffic.”
He kept his speed within normal human limits. He couldn’t go too fast or he’d lose Captain France. Alone, the enemy would could pick off either one of them easily.
The Robolawyers closed. They rained down bullets.
Pings blared as the bullets bounced off Powerhouse’s armor like bugs off a windshield.
Captain France hid behind a building several hundred yards in front of the swarm.
Powerhouse dashed over to Captain France. “Are you okay?”
“Oui, but not for long. My suit is not bulletproof.”
“Mine won’t hold up forever either.” Powerhouse looked behind him. “A manhole cover. We can go into the sewer.”
Captain France frowned “What is it with you American heroes and ze sewer? You stereotype ze French as stinky, but we don’t go in ze sewer.”
“Either the sewer or the Robolawyers.”
“Neither.” Captain France eyed the sign on a warehouse. “Let’s run into ze warehouse and bar ze doors. I, Captain France, have a plan.”
Naomi’s cell phone rang. She peeked at the caller ID. Carmela. She smiled at her two guests seated beside her on the couch, Rachel and her cute little Rosie. “Sorry, this should be just a second.” Naomi flipped open her cell phone. “Hey Carmela. Guess who’s here!”
“Naomi, are you watching TV?”
“Should I be?”
“Powerhouse is in trouble.”
Oh no. Naomi searched for the TV remote, grabbed from between the loveseat cushions, and pressed the On/Off button
On the TV screen, the anchor said, “For those of you just joining us, the latest office wonder from Dorado Industries, the Robolawyers, ran amuck at 4:20 p.m. this afternoon, attacking legal secretaries, and reportedly kidnapping a prominent attorney. The Robolawyers ran out of law offices, courtrooms, and rental stores across the city, wreaking havoc. Unbeknownst to buyers, the Robolawyers possessed superhuman strength and also came with anti-gravity propulsion and mounted laser cannons. Dorado Industries denies any knowledge of these enhancements.”
The TV screen cut to an image of Powerhouse and a guy in a Batman costume missing the ears. They stood in front of some warehouses.
A voiceover said, “The Robolawyers are closing in on Powerhouse and this unidentified costumed crime fighter. Will Seattle’s champion be destroyed by hundreds of these rampaging robotic legal aides? What will the city do? Stay tuned to news Channel Four for all the details.”
Naomi scowled. “Carmela, I have to place a call to a certain gray super genius.”
“Okay, call me back later.”
Naomi hung up, marched into her bedroom, and dialed Zolgron’s cell phone.
“Ello,” Zolgron answered with a sleepy yawn. He purred like a kitten getting his belly scratched. “The food is in the freezer.”
“I’m not calling about the food, Zolgron. Where are you?”
“At a Turkish bath in Turkey.”
My husband’s fighting off robots and you’re lounging in a steam bath? “Get your butt out of Turkey before I cook your goose. Your wonderful Robolawyers are attacking.”
Zolgron laughed. “So why did you really call?”
“I’m serious.”
“Sorry, I thought you’d developed a sense of humor. It’d be impossible for Robolawyers to do that. Unless—” Zolgron coughed. “The Robolawyers’ design was adapted from robotic warriors that both sides used in the last great war before the era of champions like myself. I suppose they could have been reverse engineered.”
“Ya think? Get back here now.”
“Oh, I’m sure Powerhouse can handle them.”
“I’m watching it on TV. He and some guy in a weird Batsuit have been backed up against a bunch of warehouses.”
“I’ll be there momentarily.”
“You’d better be.” She slapped her phone closed, slammed it in her pocket, and marched back into the living room. Rachel and her Rosie had muted the TV and bowed their heads in prayer.
Guess there was nothing else to do. She knelt joined them in prayer.
“Now?” Powerhouse asked Captain France as they hid behind the back door of the warehouse. Fifty Robolawyers had piled into the front.
“Not quite, mon ami.”
They waited for a few stragglers to find their way in. The Robolawyers advanced two hundred feet into the massive building with crates piled on top of each other.
“Now!” Captain France shouted.
Finally. Powerhouse took off at top speed toward the front door. In an instant, he was outside. Powerhouse eyed the street. Five or six Robolawyers patrolled this side of the building, but the police had cleared the area of cars and pedestrians.
Powerhouse ran rings around the six Robolawyers at his fastest speed. They looked like movie villains stuck in slow-mo. Powerhouse grabbed one by its leg and swung it around at his top speed. Still running, he slammed Robolawyer One into its five companions.
The force of his blows decapitated Robolawyers two, three, four, five, and six. He swung number one up into the air. It crash landed in pieces on the ground.
He ran around to the other side of the warehouse.
Twenty Robolawyers surrounded Captain France with four of them on the ground.
“Where is Powerhouse?” the Pharaoh demanded over the Robolawyers’ radios.
“Now you see me.” Powerhouse sped between the robots, wrapped his arms around Captain France’s waist, and dashed a thousand feet away. “Now you don’t.”
The warehouse exploded with fireworks shooting everywhere.
“Ah, zat is a display worthy of le Festival Pyrotechnique de Cannes.” Captain France grimaced. “Let go of me.”
“Sorry.” Powerhouse released Captain France and dusted soot off his uniform. “That should take care of that.”
“Quite so.”
A bullet landed a few feet from them. Powerhouse spun around.
Another fleet of Robolawyers filled the sky.
Powerhouse sighed. “And we’re fresh out of fireworks warehouses.”
The two heroes fled.
The sky darkened as if twilight had descended.
“Mon ami, what is zat?”
Powerhouse stared upward.
An airship the size of a Walmart hovered over them a thousand feet up. It looked like a cross between a Zeppelin and a naval destroyer.
Two titanium arms reached down from the airship and clamped around the waists of Powerhouse and Captain France.
“You won’t take me that easily, you villainous, uh, creep!” Powerhouse pounded the titanium hand.
“Stop, you fool!” Zolgron boomed from the ship. “I’m bringing you up to safety.”
Oh. Powerhouse’s cheeks warmed. “We can trust him, Captain.”
Captain France folded his arms, sulking. “Zis is a most undignified way to be brought to safety.”
Four of the Robolawyers flew up and closed in on them. A laser cannon fired, and the four robots exploded.
Powerhouse whistled. “Wow, except for the ones in the warehouse, none of them exploded before.”
Zolgron’s voice came over the ship’s speaker. “This ship’s cannons have an exploding ray that will cause things to explode even if there’s no earthly reason for it.”
“Ah.” Captain France laughed. “I always wondered how zat was done.”
Mitch Farrow leaned forward in his office chair.
On the monitor, Powerhouse and Captain France were lifted up into the strange spacecraft. Mitch loosed an R-rated tirade. “They can’t get away.” He spoke into his Bluetooth ear piece. “Fournier, send a detachment of five Robolawyers to every exit from the city of Seattle. Nobody leaves until Powerhouse is dead.”
“Right away, sir!”
Powerhouse lounged in an ergonomic-adapting, feather soft, black chair on the airship’s bridge. Beside him, Captain France sank deep into his.
Across from them, Zolgron fit snugly in his chair and was wrapped in a white towel. He shook his index finger at Powerhouse. “You’ve become too dependent on your super-imagination. Your other powers will atrophy. Add manual controls to your rocketpack and use them.”
“When my super-imagination doesn’t work?”
“Try all the time.”
Captain France sniffed at Zolgron. “Pardon, but who are you?”
“I’m the hero who gave this lazy American his superpowers. I’m also the world’s top cook.”
Captain France raised his left eyebrow. “You must be mistaken.” He pointed his thumb at himself. “Zat would be me.”
“Want to bet?” Zolgron narrowed his eyes.
“A duel, non? Frying pans at twenty paces.”
Powerhouse cleared his throat. “What about the hundreds of Robolawyers crawling around Seattle?”
Zolgron waved it away. “Oh, that. I need to think about it.”
“Couldn’t you destroy them all from this ship?”
“Not without also blowing up all of Seattle.”
Captain France said, “We must also be prepared for more to come.”
“There will be no more.” Zolgron shook his head. “It seems there was a little explosion at the factory.”
Powerhouse looked out the window. “We’re outside the city.”
“We’re cloaked. Your overly suspicious Air Force lacks understanding about giant, unregistered aircrafts.”
Figured. “I’ll make modifications to my suit so I can better withstand their attacks, and then I need to fly out of here.”
Zolgron folded his arms. “You are not going back to Seattle without a plan.”
“Understood. I need to fly home for something. I’ll be back.”
“Very well. Are you going to imagine those modifications to your suit?”
“Of course.” Powerhouse visualized a control panel on his left sleeve with buttons marked, “Stop, Start, Slow Down, and Speed Up.”
Zolgron opened the aircraft’s side door. Powerhouse flew out and zoomed back to Bryerton. In his driveway, he resumed his secret identity as Mild-Mannered Dad Dave Johnson and walked in the front door.
Naomi knelt by the couch, praying along with Rachel and Rosie Farrow. Naomi jumped up and ran over to Dave. Tears streamed down her cheek as she wrapped her arms around Dave and kissed him. “You’re home.”
Rachel slipped to her side. “How long has it been since you’ve seen him, dearie?”
“Seven-thirty this morning.” Naomi nuzzled Dave’s neck.
“If my bloke and I had kissed that much after ten hours apart, we’d still be married.”
Dave flinched. “I have to research a couple things and grab dinner. Do the kids know what’s happened with Powerhouse?”
Naomi bit her lip. “I’ve decided to wait until after they’ve finished their homework.”
“Good. I’ll check with them before I head back out.” Dave sped into the master bedroom and pulled their Robolawyer out of the closet. Now to study you and find your weakness so I can defeat this manic, robotic menace.