A Fighter's Story

Chapter 6 (1/2): Showtime!

"How did it end up like this?"

Jessie peeked from around a small circular robot, "End up like what?"

"This!" he was currently standing in the middle of their sandy backyard. Covered in an extensive amount of padding from chair cushions and foam they had around the house. The duct tape holding his makeshift body armor together was peeling off in random spots. Before him, Jessie worked on her latest creation. "What is that thing anyway, Jess?"

"I already told you. Special. Compact. Robotic. Artillery. Power. Pellet. Yeeter."

"Or SCRAPPY for short," Marci came out from the back door carrying a tray of snacks and drinks. Her son equipped in his barely functional ballistic suit was always a nice sight. They didn't share many similarities, but Colt was always the test dummy for Jessie's inventions. Seeing them working together like this, even if it was only beneficial for one of them, made her happy.

"But why do I have to be the test subject?" Colt complained.

"Well I can't do it, I'm old," Marci chimed in.

"Then why can't she just target a wooden doll or some cans on a fence post."

"Because dummy, if I program it to target just any old target how will it know to target active enemies in the field?" Jessie ducked under her robot tweaking a couple more instruments within. Suddenly the robot began to make a low humming noise as it suddenly shifted. The top extended upward, a muzzle popping out from the front pointing off into the distance. On both sides, two blue flaps popped out hanging lazily. Jessie jumped up from beneath it with a wild grin. "Okay bro-bro, ya ready?"

"W-W-"

"Sick 'em Scrappy!" she pointed to Colt who was now holding up both hands feebly trying to brace for the attack. The robot snapped in his direction and began to vibrate. Colt ran over to the side of the house trying to evade its muzzle, but Scrappy quickly locked onto his movements.

'This is it; this is where my sister finally kills me,' he thought to himself curling into a safety ball on the side of the house. He braced for impact, but the onslaught never came. Slowly uncurling, he saw Scrappy facing the ground, no longer humming.

"Aww, what happened," Jessie grumbled as she walked up to her busted bot. Colt grabbed a chair, left the wall, and rested his startled heart in the middle of their sandy yard. "I swear, it couldn't have overheated, I installed a special cooling system for extended combat potential."

Marci slowly walked up inspecting the panel her daughter had opened. She noticed the small red fail-safe that she had installed without telling Jessie. She flicked it and watched as Scrappy came back to life, setting his sights on Colt. He unleashed a barrage of scrap metal directly into Colt's chest knocking him out of his chair and onto the ground.

"What did you do?" Jessie looked up at her mother with awe.

"I turned friendly fire on," they both laughed as they watched Colt run frantically through their fenced-in yard, screaming as Scrappy shot him down with extreme prejudice. The further Colt ran the more bullets that missed until he was out of Scrappy's range. The girls were officially rolling on the ground now as they watched Colt try to catch his breath over 100 feet away.

"Turn that stupid robot off!"

"Okay... okay. You're out of his range anyway." Jessie pressed a button on his back, and it shrunk back down to a wide circle with no muzzle or little ears. "I wonder if I can make this even smaller. Then I can take it with me to Colt's missions."

"I will be more than glad to help you with that, baby." Marci crouched down a gave her a small kiss on the head before heading back inside. "When your brother gets back yall come in here, I got a surprise for ya."