Blade saw Skeiron's slightly dented eyes light up, and he quickly leaped backward towards his bike, still clutching his trusty lead pipe. In one swift movement, Blade got onto his bike and hit reverse, swerving around a nearby building and out of sight. Skeiron ignored the other bikers and chased after the one who'd attacked him. Gale waved over his fellow yellow-wearing biker Gust, while the red-clothed bikers Tornado and Hurricane exchanged a few words, glancing at the WarMech as it stomped towards Blade's hiding place.
All four biker henchmen saw the lead pipe strike Skeiron again as soon as he reached the corner of the building. Then the robot let loose with his weapons at last, but Blade roared forward on his bike and dodged the attacks, speeding just out of range. Skeiron swung his body around, trying to lock on to the pesky biker.
Gust and Gale urged their bikes forward. Gust's bike slammed into Skeiron hard from his left side, sending him staggering. Gale was next, lunging out with his own lead pipe (rustier than Blade's) and managing a dent. Skeiron spun on one leg from the force of the impact, before activating his jetpack and rising into the air.
"Shit!" Hurricane yelled. "We can't reach the damn thing!"
"YOU can't," Tornado shot back as he pulled out a pistol. "I got it covered."
Tornado began firing at Skeiron as the WarMech tried to aim at the bikers, which were all zipping around on their bikes. Tornado was a good marksman - he was still driving around, but every so often he'd casually point his gun at his enemy and squeeze off a shot. A few bullets dinged Skeiron's armor, and one actually embedded in his armor. However, the bullets couldn't get past the Ultralisk plating installed over Skeiron's body, unlike the pipe shots.
At last, Skeiron connected with his laser on Gust, who yelled as his arm was burned and he lost control of his bike. The motorcycle tilted and skid, crashing into Hurricane's bike and leaving both gang members in a heap on the ground with their rides.
Blade, meanwhile, was forming a plan. Even though Manhattan wasn't his usual turf, he knew the layout pretty well from reconnaissance missions, and knew that the Excite Bikers had set up a series of ramps and platforms to do mad tricks on when they weren't making a ruckus. Hopping off his bike, he walked over to the collection of ramps, half-pipes, and metal boxes and began to haul them around.
Skeiron swung his body and embedded the street with bullets. One dinged off Gale's helmet, and the frightened biker quickly sped off to seek shelter. Tornado grit his teeth and aimed carefully as Skeiron turned to face him, still hovering in the air.
One instant, Skeiron's eye was glowing, a laser about to shoot into the red biker's chest.
The next instant, Skeiron was stumbling back, kicking his legs and blaring a warning siren. Tornado had managed to shoot out his laser eye, and the bullet was stuck, preventing regeneration.
Things only got worse for Skeiron as Blade returned to the fray, using wheelies to jump from rooftop to rooftop. The leader of the bikers urged his machine forward, and drove clear off the roof of the nearest building. Blade reared back with his lead pipe and swung, knocking Skeiron out of the air and sending him to the road with a teeth-grinding shearing of metal. Blade touched down, his motorbike's powerful shocks absorbing most of the impact. Blade and Tornado climbed off their bikes and approached the downed mech.
His gears were grinding together roughly, his weapons were all offline (at least for now), and he could barely lift himself to face his opponents, but Skeiron remained resolute. He took one slow step towards the two bikers. Another. Another.
Blade grinned under his helmet, and beckoned the WarMech closer. He reached behind him into a storage compartment on his bike, and if the scene of a heavily damaged WarMech struggling to keep fighting against two opponents in the city streets wasn't deja-vu inducing enough...
"Come on then, ya fuckin' toy. I've got a present for ya..."
Tornado, realizing Blade's intentions, quickly backed away. The leader of the bikers pulled out a small black object, yanked it to remove a piece, and tossed the rest at Skeiron's feet before quickly backing up.
The grenade exploded, kicking up dust and smoke and obscuring Skeiron from view. Blade shielded his eyes and waited patiently, his lead pipe twitching in one hand.
(2)
When the smoke cleared, all that remained of Skeiron was a pile of twisted, maimed wreckage and what was probably one of his feet.
KO
Blade dusted himself off. "Well! Guess that settles that. Come on, Tornado, let's round up the others and get a move on.
Tornado laughed as he got on his bike. "You still got it, boss!"
"Damn straight!"
The two bikers high-fived and puttered off to assist Gust and Hurricane.
-CELESTIA'S LAB-
"UNIT SKEIRON IS ONLINE."
"Oh, Skeiron, Skeiron, Skeiron. You really do take after Zephyrus, don't you?"
Celestia sighed and patted the chassis of her creation. Skeiron looked down at her.
"SKEIRON TO CELESTIA. SKEIRON TO CELESTIA. YOU ARE SHRINKING."
"No, Skeiron, I just had to put your consciousness in the ED-209 body until I can get around to building a new WarMech body. What happened, anyway?"
"THIS UNIT GOT ITS ASS KICKED."
"So I gathered."
"REQUESTING ASSISTANCE."
"How about you tell me about the ones who took you out?"
Skeiron proceeded to relate (in ridiculously detailed and obsessive fashion) the appearance and mannerisms of the bikers while Celestia took occasional notes, nodding.
"Hmm. They could be anywhere in the city. They could be doing anything to anyone, too. In my experience, the gangs of this city are quite unpredictable. At least I'm confident they won't find the lab. It's not like this is Sarah's house or anyth-"
Celestia froze and slowly put her hand to her mouth.
"Oh god. Skeiron, I think we'd better start this hunt sooner rather than later. My daughters aren't safe."
Celestia went to her toolbox and produced her staff. Skeiron stomped a foot in anticipation.
"Let's move."
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