Marco's despair ran soul deep as he looked on at the dust storm, but the jerking halt of his car brought him crashing back to reality, forcing consciousness of the world around him. He saw Robot 28 lifting his car by the front end.

  Marco's grip on the steering wheel tightened and released. He cursed and slammed the side of his fist on the dashboard.

  "It is not advisable to continue your chase into the storm, Sergeant Cervantes. The vehicle can not handle the storm," said Robot 28. Marco exited his car and sprinted with R28 to the nearest shelter. As they ran, Marco tried to find the person in black who had attacked Doom alongside Robot 28 but couldn’t locate them in the storm. The wind whipped and howled, flinging debris this way and that, lighting pealing loud bolts for agonizing hours on end. When they came out of the shelter, the rubble from the wall and spread scatter shot down the street. It looked as if a war had just passed them. Marco and R28 made their way to the police station and set an amber alert for his daughter. Emily Juno arrived at the precinct and asked to see Sergeant Cervantes.

  Marco explained the events that had happened.

  "Who was supposed to be watching that section of the wall?"asked Marco.

  "Sergeant Rodgetts, I believe," answered Juno. "He was in my office the other day making a complaint about you. We are looking for him as we speak."

  Marco clenched his fist, glaring at Emily. Overseer Juno raised her hand to assuage Cervantes.

  "He was complaining about your arrest record but I think after this incident his complaints will be- hold on a moment," she said as she swiped open her phone. "He's nowhere to be found? What do you mean turn on the TV?"

  She did so and to Marco's shock and anger, he saw Sergeant Rodgetts in Doom's get-up.

  "People of Neo-City One, I have come bearing your destruction! By the time you see this, I'll have had your new hero captured and soon she will build me an army of unstoppable robots to conquer you all! For too long have I lived among vermin like yourselves, your cancer of crime has gone too long untreated and I, the surgeon, am here to cut out the tumor! Your Robot 28 and Sergeant Cervantes will not save you now! I will--"

  Marco threw a chair at the TV, the sudden outburst of violence taking everyone aback except the robot.

  "Have we traced the signal back to its source?" she asked, speaking into her phone. "What do you mean you can't get a trace on it?"

  "The signal is being bounced around multiple relays and it keeps looping back on itself," explained the person at the other end of the line. She hung up in frustration and stood there pondering what to do next.

  "You said someone threw a knife into his back?" she asked either Sergeant Cervantes or Robot 28.

  "Affirmative," said Robot 28.

  "Yes, some sort of ninja threw one into him while we chased the Highwaymen. I saw him draw it out and throw it to the side somewhere along the street," said Cervantes.

  She called a number and told the person on the other end to close the street and sweep for a knife with blood on it. She turned to the two of them and told her to come with her.

  They entered a nondescript building through the underground parking lot. Emily swiped a key card on a wall mounted terminal and the door slid open into a pristine, white room with lab equipment.

  "Sergeant Cervantes, Robot 28, I'd like to welcome you to the lab," Emily announced. She gave the two of them a tour of the facility until they stopped in front of the cell of some long haired,red headed thin man with jagged teeth. Emily introduced the both of them to Basil.

  "Basil, why don't you show them your special trick," she asked as nice as she could. Basil told them to piss off, in not too kind a manner. Juno gave him a look that put ice in his veins. Basil sneered and stepped forward and with a groan he transformed from man to Beast Sapien in front of their eyes.

  "Basil is a human-animal hybrid we made by combining his DNA with that of a honey badger and shapeshifting Ascendants. Through the recombinant process, he has attained heightened senses on top of the ability to transform in his altered form. He can sniff our target out," she explained to them as Basil transformed into his humanoid badger form. Sergeant Cervantes had been placid as he and the robot watched Basil transform. Juno herself did what she could to keep herself from shivering as she talked over Basil's muscles and bones snapping and straining as he transformed. She let Basil out of his cell and they all made their way to the vehicle engineering bay. She had George show the three of them the vehicle they would be taking.

  It was a prototype of a modified Humvee with specialized tires, built-in GPS, and built with Robot 28 in mind.

  Overseer Juno stood calmly as Mr. Rivera explained the features of the vehicle. As the presentation ended, Emily turned Marco and R28’s attention onto her.

  "I am lending you the prototype and my two employees in finding your daughter. Go get her, you have my full authorization," said Juno. Perhaps with this, my experiment may turn out in my favor after all. I should thank you Hank but I cannot condone kidnapping children, she thought.

  And with that, Marco, Robot, and company left for the great wastes at dawn the following day.

  Sarah wanted to chase the Highwaymen into the storm, but the explosion kept her from pursuing them beyond the wall. Making matters worse, the heavy hand of the storm bid her to stop and find shelter. She did not, could not hide with Sergeant Cervantes and Robot 28. She beat a retreat to a nearby Torchbearer hideout after the storm died down in a couple of hours. She took stock of her equipment and went looking for the knives she used in attacking the Highwaymen. Pulling up the tracker on her phone, she began her search at the nearest one. When she got to the site of the explosion, she saw that the street had been closed and a team of MPs were scouring the area. Shit, she cursed. The knives were untraceable but he hated losing them after the work she went through getting them. Hammer was going to be pissed at her.

  Right on cue, they found her knife and put it in an evidence collection bag. Sarah disappeared into an alley and climbed up to the rooftop to spy on the MPs. She followed them as they drove to a nondescript building and parked in the underground lot. Sarah staked the building out for the entire time until she saw Marco and Robot leave the building. She ensconced herself to tell the Torchbearers of what she saw.

  "What are we supposed to do now?" asked Rebecca, her concern evident for everyone in the meeting.

  "They went to some building in the farside of town and I have set up eyes there," said Sarah. "I imagine they are helping Marco find his daughter as soon as possible."

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  What the building held inside would have to wait for another day, for now the immediate matter was what their next course of action should be. They too had received Doom’s announcement. The Torchbearers argued long and fervently, some proposing attacking the police station and removing Marco and Robot28 off the board, others saying to wait and see who wins the fight between the military police and the Highwaymen. They debated the merits of their plans, citing theory and making arguments from practicality.

  Sarah put forth finding and rescuing Maria from the Highwaymen.

  "We have been trying to find them for years, Ghost, what makes you think we'll find them this time?" asked Hammer.

  "This time we have the government putting resources behind Marco and his robot," offered Sarah. "They have plenty of interest in keeping him on their side and we can use that to our advantage. Whatever was in that building will help them help us find the Highwaymen.”

  “It’s too dangerous,” said Fox, “How are you going to survive out there?”

  “She won’t be going alone,” said Rebecca. “I’ll be going with her. She and I were both scouts as kids. We can handle ourselves out there.”

  Silence came over them all, pregnant with anticipation. Fox broke the stillness and gave the go ahead to Sarah and Rebecca to find Maria and bring her to safety. As the conspirators left, Sarah called to Hammer before she missed him.

  “What do you need from me?” he asked.

  Sarah flashed her most pleasant smile and said, “I need new knives. Mine got taken by the police.”

  Hammer sighed, exasperated.

  Maria woke up feeling groggy and lying on a dirt floor. Her head swam as she tried to get her bearings but as she grasped her wrist, a splash of cold realization hit her. Her wrist communicator was missing. The highwaymen must have ripped it off her as they transported her to wherever this place was. She tried to remember when this happened but a pang of pain overtook her thinking mind. She must have also received a blow to the head. Misery laid its hand upon Maria.

  "Ah good, you're finally awake," said someone in an unplaceable accent.

  Cradling her head, Maria groaned and asked, "Where am I?"

  "A prison, somewhere out in the middle of nowhere," answered the man of no discernible origin. As Maria mulled over his words, she finally pinned the accent as slightly British.

  She looked around her cell and found it barren with the exception of a bed and sink. It was walled with brick and mortar and the dust was thick. On the top of the wall was a small window with iron bars. The same went with the door to her cell. The man she had been talking to was in the room across from her. After taking stock of all this, she asked the strange man, "Who are you?"

  "My name is Dr. Allister Sean," said the doctor, extending his hand to her through the bars of his cell. "I guess we are stuck working together for a mad man."

  "Shut up you two," barked someone not too far away from them. "Doom is here."

  Maria craned her neck to see where the voice came from and saw that it came from Doom himself. The man beside him, the jailer probably, bowed in reverence alongside a few other men. As she inspected the man, she saw that Doom was one of dad's former coworkers, Hank Rodgetts. He stood with his muscular, pallid arms crossed around his chest, a haughty look on his face, and contempt for Maria burning in his eyes. Maria shrank back from the door.

  "You two work for me now, you will not speak unless spoken to," said Doom. When he did not receive any word back from either of them, he continued, "You both will build me an army of robots, and you may see the light of day."

  "I won't," said Maria. Dr. Sean looked at Maria with suppressed shock. Doom walked to her cell door and looked at her with calm contempt.

  "I'm afraid your compliance isn't a factor here, girl. You're lucky I haven't killed you yet," said Doom. "Take them to the parade grounds," he barked to the cronies behind them.

  Their doors flung open, their wrists tied, and made to walk behind their captors, Maria and Sean were escorted around Doom's compound. They passed farm fields where haggard people in chains, slaves, worked on growing food. They passed metal shops with their machines whirring and welders sparking, the workers in them unbound but watched hawkishly by guards with stun batons and rifles. The vehicle yard was alive with the sounds of motors running and roaring.

  They reached the parade grounds, filled with highwaymen practicing drills and empty aluminum bleachers, and a horn sounded off at Doom's command. The highwaymen that were there stopped what they were doing and gathered on the bleachers. Soon enough a sea of white covered the stands and the floor below them held the multitude of slaves in compelled silence of the people on stage. Maria gulped and shrank from the gathering crowd. Dr. Allister Sean kept himself placid as things went on.

  Doom raised his arms, impressive considering the bandaged wound on his shoulder blade, and the crowd in the bleachers quieted down. The slaves did not need any such instruction from what Maria could tell from their worn, weary faces.

  "Citizen soldiers! Subjects! Do you know why I have brought you all here today?" shouted Doom. No answer came, a heavy air of anticipation coming from the highwaymen in the bleachers. The heat bearing down on them all did not temper their enthusiasm one bit.

  "I bring you, our salvation! Our means to destroy the wretched Neo-City One! I bring you the daughter of the man who is part of the very cancer that poisons the city and fights against us! I bring you, Maria Cervantes!" Doom grabbed Maria's wrist and yanked her up high for the crowd of highwaymen to see and cheer at her discomfort. The slaves bowed their heads and looked away. Once the cheering died down, Doom threw Maria back to her escort and he continued on.

  "Her mind has been wasted serving the rats and it has especially been wasted working for the biggest purveyor of domestic terrorism: Sergeant Cervantes!" Doom shouted, the snow white crowd in the bleachers cheering. The slaves were forcibly compelled to cheer Doom on. Maria drew back partially because the cheers made her headache worse and mostly because the fervor of the crowd scared her.

  "You ask how we'll strike back at the city? By what means will we conquer it? We shall turn their weapons against them! We shall have Maria and Dr. Sean build us an army of robots and crush those that oppose us! They will forge for us armor that will shield us from their bullets and they will forge for us new weapons to kill their soldiers and the hated Torchbearers! My hammer, made by the doctor here, almost killed Sergeant Cervantes! With an army we can and will kill more," he roared.

  You guys have jump packs, what the hell do you need me for? Maria thought in a mixture of shock and bewilderment. A small screen propped up behind Doom and he began to explain his plan.

  "In two weeks time, we shall acquire a factory with which to begin production of our robots. In that time, these two shall be put to the task of making our new weapons," Doom explained. At the end of his presentation, the highwaymen and slaves were dismissed to their regular duties and Maria and the doctor were taken back to their cells.

  "Rest up you two, tomorrow you're being put to work," said the jailer. And with that he went to sleep at his post, snoring loudly. Maria sat on the floor, hugging her knees, a million anxieties playing out in her head.

  "Are you alright, child?"asked the doctor. Maria had been so caught up in her own troubles that she had almost forgotten about him. She needed a distraction and she concluded she might as well learn what she can of her fellow captive.

  "Y-yeah, hopefully," she said. She still hugged her knees, but talking helped free her of the miasma of anxiety. "You said your name was Dr. Allister Sean, correct?"

  "The one and only," answered the doctor as jovially as he could. "I have a doctorate in robotics engineering. Apparently these brain trusts think that means I can also make weapons for them."

  "How do you explain the hammer then?" Maria asked.

  "I made that under protest," he said. "They threatened someone dear to me, and forced me to make it. By the time I had finished it, they had already killed them."

  "I'm so sorry," said Maria, a pang of hurt in her voice.

  "Thank you, child," said the doctor, a slight warmth in his voice.

  "Shut up and go to sleep you two," said the guard with disdain.

  They obeyed the guards command for fear of retribution and went to bed. Maria had a hard time of it, lying awake for hours on end. She thought of escaping but did not know how to go about it. Soon enough, exhaustion took her and she fell into an uneasy sleep. Tomorrow would bring its own challenges for her to face, and she would face them with bravery, just like dad.

  Yes, tomorrow would bring its own challenges, thought the doctor as his doppelganger feigned sleep. And the doctor shall be watching the policeman’s daughter to see what she would do every step of the way.