Rip said, “Uh oh.”

No one else said a word, but they all shared the same sentiment.

The metal monstrosity nearest them took a step forward. Like ice breaking, the other robots behind it in the long row reaching far back into the giant room moved in tandem, also taking a step forward.

Two blurs rushed toward them from the far side, and the girls slid to a stop at the foot of the stairs, breathing hard.

Liza said, “Colonel Sharp, Dar Caul has activated all the robots from a massive control panel. We tried to damage it, but he’s got silver everywhere!”

“Everything is in a booth, and the walls of the booth are made of solid silver,” Hilda added, a note of irritation coloring her voice. “It’s like he expected us to try and attack. He’s an evil, evil man!”

Liza said, “And all these machines up front have silver circles in their chests. Some of the ones in the back are newer, and don’t have the silver. But there are so many!”

The robots clanked forward. The closest one continued heading straight for the stairs.

Everyone aimed their weapons at the robots, but they knew it was pointless. Guns alone would not stop the bots. They backed away, leaving the stairs open rather than be trampled by these machines.

The first one ignored them, and tromped up the steps, taking three at a time. The one behind it followed, marching in perfect synchronicity. Then another . . . and another.

Rip checked his ammo supplies. Even if one enhanced bullet took out one unit, he thought, he did not have nearly enough for this many. He wondered if it would be worth it to shoot some anyway. Then he remembered how they had to use both his bullets and dynamite to take out the last one.

“Where are they going?” Bixby said, interrupting Rip’s thoughts.

Hilda replied, “Dar Caul said he is sending them out to level Ethinium. He wants them to destroy everything in the city!”

The look on her face spoke volumes. The helplessness and rage expressed in her eyes spoke in a much stronger way than words.

No one said anything for a moment. More robots in the line approached, heading for the stairs. They stared at the column marching forward, resolutely. Each robot took a step at the same time, making identical clanks, going all the way back to the far side of the room.

“Well, I say.” Bixby said, breaking the silence. “Obviously, we cannot allow that to happen. I rather like Ethinium the way it is, thank you very much.”

“Girls, can you stop these infernal contraptions? Do you have the means to do so?” Sharp said.

Liza shook her head.

“No, Colonel. They all have silver discs on the front, and we cannot get close. But those in the back of this room, the newer ones, they have not had the silver installed yet. We can mist and at least block their sight. Maybe we can damage them somehow.”

“Very good. Return to the back of the room and deter every robot you can. Maybe you can find a way to disable them.”

“How do we do that, Colonel?”

Rip said, “Can you get inside them?”

“Yes. I think so,” Liza said, nodding. “There are some holes. They are very small, but we can seep through them in mist form.”

“Inside, there should be a breadboard with vacuum tubes. You know what I’m talking about?”

“Yes. Yes, of course.”

“The old models had an off switch next to the breadboard. You could just push the button and they’d turn off. I don’t know about these new ones, I haven’t had a chance to look in them yet. But if you break the tubes on their breadboards, it should disable them. Do that, then mist back out. If it doesn’t work on the first ones, go back in and break some more stuff, then start pulling wires until they stop moving. Once you figure out what works, then you can do it on all the others.”

“Yes, we will do that! You are so smart, Sergeant!”

Liza gave him a look of pure adoration.

Blair snorted.

Both girls blurred away, running to the back of the giant room once more using [Vampiric Speed].

“Meanwhile, we need to stop these going up,” Bixby said as another bot joined the queue tromping up the stairs.

“At least they’re not hostile,” Chance said.

Twig said, “Yet.”

Rip pulled out another grappling hook gun and aimed up the stairs at the first robot, now several steps up. He squeezed the trigger and the hook shot out with a little explosion, the line flying along behind it.

The hook sailed past the unit and landed at an angle on the steps above. Rip pulled, and the metal clattered back down toward the robot’s feet.

On its next step up Rip pulled hard, snagging the hook on one leg and wrapping the line around both. He braced himself on the bottom step and pulled as the robot tried to continue going up.

It froze for moment midstride, pulling hard on the line.

Rip grunted, holding the gun with both hands.

“A little help?”

Chance and Twig ran up, grabbing hold of the line and wrapping it around their arms. They pulled as if in a tug-of-war contest, feet braced against the steps.

Slowly the robot tilted backward, until it lost its balance and tumbled down.

The rope slackened and the men fell, too.

The robot tumbled into the one behind it, then they both crashed into the two below.

Rip and the infiltrators jumped out of the way as a jumble of robots rolled down the steps and onto the floor, arms akimbo and legs tangled up in rope.

The others robots in the queue stopped.

The next one due to go up shifted its head to the left.

As one, the team members looked in the direction it faced. The huge staircase stretched out a hundred feet, and row upon row of robots faced the open stairs.

Ten stepped forward and began their ascent, metal feet clanking on the steps.