The team scattered as the robot opened fire, huge twin guns blasting away. Chunks of concrete evaporated from the floor and far wall as heavy bullets slammed home.

Liza misted and rushed the bot, surrounding it in a black cloud. A few shots flew wide, sailing overhead and pummeling the ceiling.

Rip took the opportunity while it was blinded to run for the robot, pulling out his enhanced wrench. He made a wide arc and jogged up behind the machine, jumping onto its back in the mist.

Hanging onto the head and dangling off the torso, he found a smooth metal back. No bolts were present, and he could see no way to open the machine up.

“There’s no access door!”

“Intruders! Attention!”

Rip let go and dropped off the machine’s back. Liza’s mist rushed to one side and she reformed, breathing hard.

The robot pivoted, taking on the threats behind it. Both guns aimed at Rip and Liza.

Finley poked her head up above a crate and fired off her Tommy gun. The bullets plinked off the machine’s back, but it remained focused on the sergeant.

It aimed point blank at Rip and he tucked into a roll using [Vampiric Speed]. When he gained his feet he burst into a run, heading for cover behind some crates.

The robot spun around, intent on tracking him, but Hilda misted this time. Her dark cloud rushed over and surrounded the robot, blocking its view once more.

“Aim for the eyes!” Blair shouted, “That Achilles thing!”

Hilda’s mist headed toward Liza, where she reappeared. They both had guns out and aimed for the head. But the machine’s eyes were focused toward the train and other team members now, so they held their fire.

Rip popped up from the crates with a Tommy gun and let loose on the robot’s head. Finley and Blair joined in the shooting and a massive amount of bullets hit it. They all bounced off.

“It’s not working,” Rip said. “The eyes must be enhanced, too. Our bullets aren’t even leaving a mark.”

“All of it’s enhanced,” Chance said from behind a crate. “Everyone hold your fire, we’ll try and distract it.”

Together, he and Twig tossed a dozen wind-up toy mice on the floor near the robot’s feet.

The machine’s head tilted down as the toys moved in circles. Then it looked back at the crates where the two infiltrators hid. It raised a gun and fired, sending a spray of splinters from boxes into the air. Twig and Chance yelped and hit the floor.

“It’s been upgraded!” Rip said. “The old tricks won’t work.”

“Then how, pray tell, do we defeat this infernal contraption?” Sharp growled.

“Fight fire with fire.”

Rip pulled out his Webleys loaded with enhanced ammunition, stood and aimed at the machine’s center, shooting them both simultaneously.

Twin indentations appeared on the front torso. Everyone stopped, staring. Even the robot paused to look down at its chest.

“That’s the first thing to make a dent,” Bixby murmured.

The robot’s eyes moved up again and locked with Rip’s across the floor, identifying him as the primary threat. It raised both giant 9-50s and aimed at him.

“I got the aggro. Now I gotta get closer.”

Rip burst to the right just as it shot, pouring on [Vampiric Speed], then he raced toward the bot at an angle.

It turned to adjust its aim and Rip ducked into a roll as another bullet sailed above him, barely missing.

Bixby yelled, “Everyone distract it!”

The others stood and fired, including the sisters who yelled from their position on the side and slightly behind it.

The sounds of automatic gunfire filled the cavernous room, 45s pinging off the enhanced metal.

But the bot kept its guns trained on Rip, who zigged and zagged closer in jerky movements.

At the last second Rip pulled the hammers back on both Webleys and jumped just as the robot fired again. Bullets scorched the floor, missing him.

Rip threw both arms out and squeezed the triggers. Enhanced bullets slammed into both robotic eyes, blowing them out with sparks flying.

Rip hit the ground and burst left, his [Vampiric Speed] activating again. The bot fired blind, wasting four more rounds in the area Rip would have been without his skill.

The sergeant ran wide and angled back again. He jumped and grabbed onto the head.

“Chance! Throw me a stick!”

Chance’s head popped up from behind a destroyed crate. He nodded and pulled out a stick of dynamite, striking a match to it.

The robot’s servos whined at it tried to shake off the sergeant, turning this way and that. It put one rifle over its shoulders and fired off a round. Rip grimaced at the roar in his right ear, but held on.

“Here it is!”

He looked up over the bot to watch Chance toss a lit stick of dynamite overhand. It sailed in a perfect arc right toward him.

With one free hand Rip reached out and snagged it out of the air. He pulled it into a busted eye and released his grip on the machine’s neck, dropping to the floor.

Then he ran toward the vampires.

The explosion thundered through the underground cavern, blowing chunks of shrapnel from the robot’s head and knocking both rifles out of its hands.

It also knocked down Rip and the girls, but they were far enough from the blast radius to escape serious harm.

He stood back up and looked at the robot, now headless with smoke coming up out of its middle.

The machine stood still, arms hanging loosely at its side.

“The control panel is in the chest, but maybe the blast broke some vacuum tubes or something,” Rip said, thinking out loud.

He walked back up to it, fishing out a health potion to drink, silently hoping the elixir would stop the ringing in his ears.

He took a sip while examining the bot. The others approached as well.

“Give me a hand up, Bobby. I want to peer down in there,” Twig said.

Chance laced his fingers and formed a stirrup for Twig to jump on. The smaller man pulled up onto one of the massive shoulders and waved away the smoke, looking down inside.

“Aye, there’s nothing left. You’re right, Sergeant. The blast obliterated the innards.”

Rip nodded, taking another sip of the potion. Already his ear felt better.

“Let’s hope we don’t run into too many of those. They’re harder to take down than the old kind.”

“Is this what those scum feeders were doing with all those parts?” Finley said, walking over and looking up at the robot.

Bixby said, “An interesting hypothesis. One we should be able to prove or disprove by going through that door.”

Everyone turned and looked at the round vault door, once more closed and sealing off the passage.

“Lady Brooke?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem, Colonel. I’ll go take a look.”

While Blair walked over to examine the entry electronics, Bixby turned to the other team members.

“Right, then. Rest up everyone. As soon as she cracks that door, we’ll make our way inside. And then, we’ll have a chance to start this venture and live up to our society’s name.”