Bixir
Cape Connoisseur
- "Instruments check.. one, two... check. Three, four... check. Five, six..."
"You know this is the third time you've done this, right, Ada? They work fine."
"Well, excuse me if the control room isn't the peak of excitement with Jenkins here."
Robo could feel the glare from the other side of the radio. The jury was out on whether it was aimed at him, Ada, or the control room in general. If he had a mouth to smile he would have, but he managed with his eyebrow frames, and a slow shake of his head. The latest string of adventures had been a bit much for his liking, which is why he was finally being allowed to have something quiet for once: for the past couple of years, Tesladyne had stepped up ahead of the other Metropolis City-based companies to take the climate observation initiatives into their own hands. Joker, Scarecrow, Stockman, and too many other villains to count in this town were notorious for adding to Mite-World's air pollution, and damn if Tesladyne wasn't going to be its own Captain Planet for a change. Every couple of months, a Tesladyne weather jet flew over the region, almost always without consequence, and usually not at all noticed, if not for how fast it was going, then for how busy the city was dealing with problems in the streets instead of a non-issue flying overhead. After yet another run-in with a greater number of sapient dinosaur madmen than was tolerated for Robo's threshold, this nothing flight was just what the doctor ordered.
"What's our forecast, Robo? You could at least give me that."
"Clear, red skies, just like... usual..."
Just like every other harmless jet flight, a building up and exited the ground and was now careening towards the Tesladyne plane; if not directly, then certainly at an angle that would cleave it in two.
"Come ag...? I... atch tha... ...art... ere's... tic."
Robo jerked on the stick, forcing the plane to take one barrel roll, two barrel roll, nearly three barrel roll up and away from the building. Not that that was going to stop the collision. That ship had sailed after whatever had caused a building to eject into the air. This was the plan, anyway. A few extremely risky - but very possible, with Robo's skills and how Tesladyne's planes handled stress on a dime - maneuvers, and he'd be out of danger of being struck by an errant building.
"Applesau
Instead, the electromagnetic pulse ruptured the plane. Most of Tesladyne's vehicles were equipped for that kind of contingency, especially where Action Science
was involved. A weather observation plane wasn't one of those. Partway through the first barrel roll, the entire aircraft shuddered, turning Robo's cockpit into a spastic bull ride for a few moments before going completely dead. There wasn't enough time for it to begin nosediving downward. It sheared against a side of the building first, completely tearing out the plane's lower chassis, just shy of ripping off Robo's legs. Then the building finished its current revolution, blowing through the rest of the machine like an iron pinata. Its pilot wasn't much better off, knocked several blocks away like a baseball launched away by the bat that had just obliterated the pinata. Robo spun like a limp doll, his body completely inert for the power that had surged through his systems. When he finally came down to Earth, Robo rolled through asphalt and concrete, bouncing a few times as he tore through the street before he came to a Robo-sized halt in a Robo-sized crater. Robo tried to get to his feet from his new steambed, only to slip and slump back into the earth with a dull, metallic thud.
"..ce."
Garficcino
