—Exactly. How often do we get to do that?

—Vincent!

—All right! I’ll turn on the shield if you can move your arm.

—I can hold it up. Getting us up will be harder. Ready?

—Say the word.

—AAAARRRRGGGHHH! I’m pushing! We’re up! Turn! Turn! Turn! Gimme the shield, now!

—Shield to maximum.

—SON OF A BITCH! AARGH!

[Kara, what’s happening? The helicopters turned away when the robot started shooting. We lost visual. You’ll have to talk us through while we switch to satellite.]

We’re getting pounded here! I see him, about a mile away. He must have gotten closer while we were down.

[Have you tried firing at it?]

Not yet. We’ve been busy getting our ass kicked. Vincent, give me the sword, midsize…DAMN! Ready…FIRE!…Did we hit him?

—Yeah. You got him right in the—

—Where?

—You got him right in the legs. He didn’t even budge. Rose, we can’t fight this guy.

[Can you—]

Kara, what are you doing?

[What’s going on?]

Kara’s…engaging in diplomacy.

[She’s what?]

She’s giving him the finger. Very mature, Kara.

[This is—]

—Run, Vincent! My shoulder can’t take much more of this.

—One at a time, please. What did you say, Kara?

—I said run!

—I’m not turning my back to this guy. He’ll have us down in one shot.

—I mean run at him.

—Why would I do that?

[I don’t think that’s a good idea.]

—AARGH! Damn, that hurts! Because fuck him, that’s why!

—Kara, the sword won’t go through his shield.

—I don’t care about the sword!

—Kara—

—Trust me, Vincent. Run!

—Tabarnak…EDC Control, we’re about to do something really stupid. It was nice knowing you all.

—Faster Vincent! Come on! Faster! Run his ass down!

—I’m trying!

—Almost there! Turn our shield off. UUUGH! You felt that one, didn’t you?

—All right, so we tackle him. Now what?

—Now he’s not shooting at us, that’s what. Get ready to discharge Themis.

—It’s not working.

—What do you mean it’s not working?

—How the hell should I know? I’m pressing the button and it’s not working! Might be his energy shield. How long can you hold him? Kara?

—Not long.

—We’re feeding off that shield of his. Themis will discharge all on her own if you hold on long enough.

—He’s too strong! I can’t hold on! Gimme the sword, midsize.

—There!

—Fire!

—Kara, you’re pointing at the ground!

—Shut up and fire the damn thing!

—There! You just made a big hole under our feet! We’re knee deep into a giant crater now!

—Make the sword a little longer. Fire! Vincent! I said fire!

—I am! But what are you doing? You’re just making the hole deeper. This is bedrock. We won’t be able to move!

—Again!

—Ok, that’s it! We’re in up to our neck! We’re stuck! I can’t even move my legs!

—Well, he’s stuck in that hole with us. Betcha he can’t move either.

—That’s…kinda cool.

—Better than being shot at, isn’t it? Now let’s see if I can just…twist…my left arm. Damn, this is tight. There we go. Gimme the shield! Now!

—Wha—

—Shield!

—What size?

—Doesn’t matter! Maximum size!

—All right, it’s on…I don’t think it’s working. There’s no room!

—It’s doing something. I can see the energy field around him.

—You’re right. It’s getting brighter…It’s flickering! Ohhh, I love you, Kara Resnik.

—You love me because I thought of a way to save your ass.

—Hey! It might not work. I’ll love you even if it doesn’t. That’s like 50 percent selfless.

—You’re so romantic.

—Kara! Listen!

—What?

—Hear that sound? That’s metal grinding on metal. His energy field is down. Is our shield still on?

—It’s on all right. I can feel it pushing against my arm.

—Do you think it’ll cut through the metal?

—Look!

—YEAHHHHH!

—Booyah! You messed with the wrong girl, asshole. Oh, you like me now Vincent, don’t you?

[What’s happening? Are you OK? We can’t see anything on satellite.]

—Hi, Rose! Yeah, we’re good. We’re just looking at the sky above us. Kara’s crazy, we’re stuck in a giant hole, but we’re OK. A little banged up, but you should see the other guy.

[We can’t see anything. Are you sure he’s disabled?]

I think so. We cut him in half. Don’t wanna sound overly optimistic, but I’m pretty sure we won this one.

[How?]

He couldn’t move anymore. Neither could we. We just let Themis’s shield grind against his energy field until it gave out. Then the shield just kept on going.

[Congratulations! Military folks here are really impressed. No one here would have thought of that.]

Didn’t think of it either. You can thank the psychopath who told me to run at the robot and tackle him.

[You said yes.]

Have you tried saying no to Kara? I’d rather face the bad guy.

—Can you stop talking about me like I’m not here? Vincent, what do you say we get out of this hole?

—Sure. Wanna tell me how?

—We could let Themis discharge, like we did in Denver.

[No Kara! Don’t!]

Why?

—They want the other robot.

—You said we couldn’t vaporize it.

—Probably not, but we sliced it open, and the pilots might get wiped out.

[Vincent’s right. It wouldn’t hurt if we could talk to them.]

—OK, fine. So how do we get out?

—Can you move your right arm? We can shoot around with the sword, make a bigger hole.

—Nope. That arm’s stuck pointing down. Any other bright ideas?