Big guy and rusty the boy robot #41: The machine master.

Big guy is the property of dark horse comics and Tristar.

The sun rises over the city. Peace blankets the city. Everything is happening in an orderly fashion. Not even a single crime is being committed. That peace ends…

Suddenly loud sounds of honking and crashing sounds. In the intersection the streetlights are going wild and vehicles are in a huge pileup. Drivers are yelling at each other placing the blame.

“I had the green light you idiot.” One driver yells.

“I know what green looks like and my signal was green.” A driver coming from the other side says.

Meanwhile elsewhere an ATM is spewing out money to the delight of a couple of pedestrians who are grabbing up the money and even fighting for it. Meanwhile at the military base Melissa is watching the chaos with concern and confusion.

“Computer show me all instances of malfunctioning technology.” Melissa says.

The screen splits up into 6 different windows. Two shows intersections with bad wrecks. Another shows the ATM spewing money. The other 3 show garbage trucks going wild and dumping trash in the middle of the street. Melissa shakes her head.

“What is going on here?” Melissa wonders.

Thorton enters and frowns when he sees the monitor.

“Any clue on what is causing this yet?” Thorton asks.

Melissa shakes her head.

“I’ve contacted the companies responsible for monitoring these services but they say it’s not on their end.” Melissa responds.

She frowns and does something on the console.

“Computer scan for any abnormal signals that may disrupt machines.” Melissa says.

But all of a sudden the chaos stops. On every part of the monitor the chaos stops. Traffic signals come to order, the ATM stops spewing money to the disappointment of the pedestrians and the dump trucks continue their route to the incineration plant. The computer beeps negative.

“Damn if there was a signal then it wasn’t able to catch it in time.” Melissa says.

“Assuming that it was a signal causing this.” Thorton says.

Thorton places a conference call between Mack and Dr. Slate.

“Slate did anything strange happen at Quarks? Like machinery going haywire?” Thorton asks.

Slate shakes her head.

“No. Why?” Slate asks.

“There were several instances of machinery going out of control. But just minor ones and not everywhere. We are trying to pin the source of the problem down.” Slate says.

Mack snorts.

“Dang pieces of crap. Probably was just another case of cutting back on quality to save money.” Mack says.

“Yes things have happened before because of that but nothing like this. Nothing so small.” Thorton says.

For the rest of the day they try to find an answer but are unable to. The next morning Slate goes to the bank to deposit some money. She stands in line and smiles back at a man’s smile. The line goes pretty quickly as most of the teller machines are online. She steps up to the window and inserts her slip and bankcard.

“Transaction com…” The computer says.

Suddenly all hell breaks loose. All tellers short circuit causing Slate to dive down to avoid getting hit. Everybody else screams and gets on the floor. Suddenly the security droids come to life and point their weapons at the bank customers.

“You are all under arrest. Stay where you are until the proper authorities arrive.” A robot says.

Slate remembers her conversation yesterday and wonders if this is related.

“Why are you doing this? We have done nothing?” A woman asks.

A robot fires at her and it hits right above her head.

“That was just a warning shot. Now be quiet!” The robot says sternly.

Slate reaches down and pulls out her device and discreetly pushes it. Back at Quarks the big guy signal goes off.

“Oh the big guy signal!” Rusty says.

He flies up through the tube and outside. Soon after the legend 1 appears.

“What’s going on?” Rusty asks.

“You probably know more than I do. Slate cannot be contacted. But we got her location.” Thorton says to Dwayne in the cockpit.

The city map appears and a location beacon is shown.

“I have no idea son. Looks like we will both find out at the same time.” Big guy jr. responds.

Rusty follows the legend 1 to the site. Dwayne frowns when he notices it’s a bank.

“A bank. What am I handling bank robberies now?” Dwayne asks.

Melissa comes on screen.

“Be careful. Things are happening all over the city. Machines are going mad again and it’s worse this time. I have a feeling that Slate Is being held hostage by the machines in that bank going wild.” Melissa says.

Back at the base the monitor shows chaos far worse than yesterday. This time major robots are attacking the city. A police vehicle is trying to run down innocent bystanders and firing on armored police officers. In an office building the security system is keeping the entire building’s occupants pinned.

Dwayne frowns.

“Looks like it’s up to you son. I’m a bit too big to go in there.” Big guy jr. says.

Rusty flies down.

“Be careful.” Dwayne says.

Rusty tries the front door but finds it is locked. He looks inside and sees that everybody is on the floor and several robots are standing over them.

“Locked huh? Well I think I have just the key.” Rusty says.

He blasts the doors wide open and rushes inside.

“Rusty!” Slate yells.

The same robot that threatened them to be quiet aims at Slate but Rusty blasts him before he can fire at her. Rusty easily takes out the other robots. Slate gets up but the others are too scared to get up.

“Thank god you came. I’m glad I always keep the signal with me.” Slate says.

The others finally get up realizing that they are safe. They all start exiting the building but a huge blast from a police droid forces them back.

“This is the police!” The droid yells.

Rusty hides around a corner and quickly gets a blast at the droid but it’s armor is too thick for Rusty’s blaster to penetrate. Suddenly another blast comes from big guy jr. and hits the droid head on. The droid turns around and faces big guy jr.

“You are under arrest for aiding criminals.” The Droid says.

“Damn it didn’t even scratch it. What the hell is that armor made of anyway?” Dwayne wonders.

“I hate to recommend this since we need all the police power we can get, but use your main weapon and finish him off.” Thorton orders.

Dwayne frowns. He powers up the main weapon.

“Computer lock on target and fire on my mark.” Dwayne says.

The bgy-12’s chest opens up and the cannon comes out.

“F…” Dwayne begins to say.

But suddenly everything stops. The droid falls and remains motionless. Dwayne hesitates at first but then brings the weapon back to standby mode.

“It’s over again. The chaos has stopped.” Melissa reports.

Suddenly her face is replaced with a strange man. Everywhere all over the city, anywhere there is a monitor, his face appears.

“I am sure you have noticed the chaos that has occurred today and yesterday. I am here to tell you that I am responsible.” The man says.

Thorton scoffs.

“This signal is everywhere. This man has incredible power to do this. I believe he could be behind what has happened.” Melissa says.

On the monitor the man smiles.

“Now I suspect that you are skeptical. To prove I am right, I will make a security droid self destruct at this bank.” The man says.

The signal is replaced with a picture and name of the bank.

“5 minutes.” The man says.

The signal goes dead.

“Okay people. We have five minutes. Speculation?” Thorton asks.

“I was able to catch the signal this time. It was a signal that was disrupting the machines. But it was weird. It could of just caused all machines to go haywire but only certain types of machines were targeted.” Melissa says.

Thorton ponders.

“Maybe it was just to show the scope of his power. After all it is more powerful to control only certain kinds of machines over a large area than it is to control all machines.” Mack says on one of the monitors.

“Could you get a location on the source of the signal?” Thorton asks.

Melissa shakes her head.

After the five minutes are up reports come up showing that a droid did self-destruct causing massive damage. Luckily nobody was there. Almost immediately the man appears again on all screen.

“So now that I have proven myself, I have a demand. The military possesses a new experimental chip called osirus. It has the ability to control all machines all over the world. With it I will have true control. You will send the chip to these coordinates in an hour.” The man says.

The man scowls.

“If you don’t then what just happened today and yesterday is mere child’s play. I have the power to cause death and chaos 10 fold to what you have seen.” The man says.

The man sits back and smiles.

“One hour.” The man says.

The monitors go dark.

“Okay how in the hell did a civilian find out about a top secret chip?” Thorton asks angrily.

But nobody can come up with an answer.

“Okay we have an hour to find this guy. He will not get his hands on the chip.” Thorton says sternly.

Melissa returns to scanning the signal for anything. Any clue to its source. After 10 minutes of trying she finally throws her hands up in frustration.

“The answer has got to be somewhere.” Melissa says.

She gets an idea and runs a search on the database of people. She runs a picture that she captured during the signal. The engine gets a match and she clicks on it. But words that she never thought she’d see appear on screen.

“Records classified.”

“What the….” Melissa wonders.

Thorton sees the screen and frowns. He puts in his own login and pass code but the screen remains the same.

“It’s even classified to me. Who the hell is this guy?” Thorton wonders.

Melissa and Thorton trade a glance and Thorton nods his head. Suddenly Melissa seems to go into a trance and starts typing at a speed that is a blur. The screen changes as Melissa is trying to hack into the computer to get those records. Suddenly the man appears again.

“Uh uh uh. You won’t find out about me this easily.” The man says.

Melissa’s eyes go wild and she shoves Thorton back and jumps back just as the console explodes. Thorton gets up.

“What the hell was that?” Thorton asks.

Melissa frowns.

“It appears that he left some kind of a safeguard if someone tried to access his files. Must have sent some kind of overload into the system. Thank god it wasn’t connected to the rest of the base system.” Melissa responds.

Thorton paces and thinks.

“If his records were classified then that means one of several things. One he used to be in the military under a top-secret organization or mission. Two he is wanted by the government for a reason that may violate national security if just anybody found out.” Thorton says.

“I have always known there are sections of the government that aren’t even known by the president but….” Melissa ponders.

Soon the hour is nearly up. Melissa is startled by another signal on the monitor.

“I have changed my mind on the delivery. I want the bgy-12 to deliver it to me. I will not be there personally so don’t get any ideas on attacking the messenger.” The man frowns.

The screens go dead again. Dwayne looks at Thorton.

“Okay but I want Rusty to go with you. But make sure he isn’t seen. Have him hiding as far from the coordinates as he can. We can’t take a chance that the messenger will find him out.” Thorton says.

“So that’s it? We are just going to give up the chip?” Dwayne asks.

“I’m afraid we have no choice. We can’t take a chance that this guy is bluffing. We won’t let him get away with this though. We will find him.” Thorton responds, fist clenched.

Dwayne docks with the bgy-12 and flies outside. On the way Rusty meets him and they head to the coordinates.

“Okay this is as close to the meeting place that Thorton wanted you to get to. Do not, any under circumstances show yourself.” Big guy jr. warns.

Rusty nods and lands behind a small device that allows him to view the meeting place anyway. Dwayne pilots the bgy-12 to the meeting place. Almost immediately a small flying droid appears.

“Give me the chip.” A voice says.

Big guy jr. hands over the chip.

“Who are you?” Big guy jr. asks.

The small droid stops for a second.

“I am simply known as the machine master. That is all you need to know.” The droid responds.

The droid scans the chip. Suddenly it blasts big guy Jr.

“It is a fake! Did you think you could fool me?” The droid screams.

Suddenly a huge energy blast flies up into the sky from an unknown location. It forms into a huge circle of light. Suddenly droids and machines from all over the city fly into the center and start to form a huge robot.

“Uh oh.” Dwayne says.

“It’s time for you to taste my true power!” The machine master yells.

After 30 seconds the robot is formed. It flies straight at big guy jr. and knocks it to the ground. Then it lands. Dwayne quickly brings big guy jr. back to it’s feet.

“And it’s time for you to taste justice’s true power!” Big guy jr. yells.

The arms open up and all the machine guns come out. The all fire on the robot but don’t even scratch it. The robot returns with a punch that nearly rips off the head of big guy Jr. Inside the cockpit warning alarms are going off everywhere.

“Damn can’t take much more of this.” Dwayne says.

He fires missiles at the robot but they explode on the robot’s surface and don’t do any damage.

“Computer activate main weapon.” Dwayne says.

The chest opens up but the robot reaches inside and rips the cannon from the chest leaving the hole a big sparking mess. Meanwhile Melissa is working on the newest signal.

“I think I can disrupt the signal. But I need time.” Melissa says.

“You don’t have any time.” Thorton and Dwayne both say at the same time.

Melissa concentrates and her hands become a blur once more. On screen frequency’s fly by at a speed that human eye can’t read. At the battlefield Rusty appears and blasts the robot. The robot backhands Rusty.

“Rusty…get…out…” Dwayne says.

The robot turns back to big guy jr. and suddenly a huge energy surge starts forming in front.

“If that hits…” Dwayne says.

He doesn’t need to finish the sentence to convey the situation. Suddenly Melissa stops and smiles. The robot blows into pieces and it’s separate components separate and fly all over the place. The surge dissipates harmlessly. Dwayne breathes a sigh of relief and wipes his brow. Later on Dwayne enters Thorton’s office.

“Yes?” Thorton asks.

“You set me up as a trap didn’t you? With a fake chip.” Dwayne accuses.

Thorton just stays silent but looks down.

“DIDN’T YOU! ANSWER ME YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Dwayne screams.

Suddenly a bunch of soldiers flood the room. Thorton waves them back.

“I’m sorry. But that chip was not to fall in enemy’s hands no matter what. My hands were tied.” Thorton responds.

Dwayne suddenly lunges forward and punches Thorton. The officers raise their guns and advance on Dwayne.

“Lower them.” Thorton orders.

The officers hesitate.

“Now!” Thorton orders.

The soldiers finally lower their weapons. Dwayne slowly walks out.

“Let him go.” Thorton orders.

The soldiers leave and Thorton turns towards the window and ponders.

“How far is too far?” Thorton asks.

“Nothing is too far when it comes to national security.” A voice says.

Thorton turns and looks at a dark corner.

“I will never betray a friend again. I don’t care what you do to me.” Thorton says.

“I hope you don’t mean that.” The voice says.

A dark figure leaves the room.

Epilogue.

The machine master is having a temper tantrum, throwing things around his place.

“They will pay. They haven’t seen the last of me!” The machine master yells.

He spins around and sees a strange floating device in his doorway. The screen comes to life with the sight of a cyborg.

“Who are you?” The machine master asks fingering a weapon.

“I am a mere representative of a group that could use your talents.” The cyborg responds.

“And what if I refuse?” The machine master asks.

“You won’t.” The cyborg responds.

Meanwhile at an unknown base the feedback of the machine is being played on a screen.

“Why do we want the services of weak human?” A cyborg asks.

“He is not a mere human. He has a special gift. The time is coming soon when we will announce our presence and we will need all the power we can get.” The other cyborg responds.

Soon the machine master is brought in front of the two cyborgs.

“So can I know who I am working for?” The machine master asks.

“You will merely call us by our designations.” The second cyborg says.

“Number one.”

“Number two.”

To be continued….