Chapter 6

"Stop screaming for God's sake!" Clyde hushed the citizens of the city. Not that they were to blame as a large robotic creature was invading their town and crushed a few small vehicles in its path.

Some police vehicles stopped in front of him, and police officers emerged with guns aimed at the former human.

"Woah! Please don't shoot—AHH THAT STINGS!" Clyde winced at the bullets hitting him. He leaped over them and began to run off. "I need help! Somebody help!"

Military soldiers came in with tanks. The general was on a helicopter ready to give the order. "We must keep it in one spot once troop five has evacuated all civilians".

"Tanks?! No, don't shoot me! I did nothing wrong!" Clyde yelled.

"That thing can talk?!" Female agent Danielle gasped. "You guys think we should hear it out?"

"No way! It could be trying to trick us into NOT shooting", Agent Kane figured.

Clyde pleaded, "Please listen to me—"

"Giant tasers, now!"

Clyde held up his arms to signal that they should stop attacking when a red energy blast shot out of his palm, destroying one of the tanks.

"OPEN FIRE!" General Hamdon ordered as the tanks fired cannonballs. Clyde needed to leave but the police and army soldiers surrounded him from all road directions.

A new black vehicle stopped by and Beatrice walked out with Delacacie. As the doll-like robot was walking, some people started cheering with joy.

"Woohoo! Doll girl is here to save us!" Some bystanders cheered.

"Why are there still innocent civilians?" Hamdon glared and the two soldiers near him gulped.

"They threw wooden planks at us, sir. We thought we succeeded in chasing them away but apparently, some of them snuck past us while others started throwing bricks", the soldier explained as he rubbed the back of his helmet.

"You wussies". Hamdon hissed. He had to get them away from the scene and it wasn't helping that one of them managed to post their video recordings on social media.

Delacacie glanced at the bystanders with intrigue. Among them were a few boys asking her to marry them, and she arched an eyebrow in confusion. Then she saw the threat approaching them.

"Please! You guys need to help me—" Clyde paused at the sound of them screaming, flinching in fear of him. Wait…are you all too afraid of me to hear me out?" Clyde was in disbelief. He raised his arms, and the palms started glowing red. The bystanders screamed in fear, but Delacacie jumped from behind and held on to the back of his neck. Clyde screamed in discomfort at the woman being on him.

"Get off me, you crazy woman!"

The bystanders cheered, "Yeah! Rip off the head!"

Clyde immediately jumped backward, purposefully landing on his back where Delacacie was clinging. The civilians gasped as Clyde pulled himself up and turned to look at the doll who was lying on the concrete ground.

One man shouted, "Get up Miss…Miss…dude what should we call her?"

"Superwoman?" The other man thought.

"No! That's lame!"

"How about Bar—ow!" A woman capped him from the back of the head.

"Doll Face?" A plus-sized kid suggested.

"Dollita! You got this!" A young girl called out and everyone looked at the girl in surprise and then murmured in agreement.

"Wait…did she name her after the movie Alita—"

"Dollita!" Everyone began chanting. As they chanted the name, Delacacie jumped back up and quickly used her hand to pierce straight through Clyde's leg. He howled in pain and the doll flipped him onto his back on the ground.

Clyde then heard people chanting for her, and some shouting insults at him. "No! I am not the bad guy!"

Delacacie tilted her head as she walked to the side of his head, "You are a threat to humanity, is there any reason to see you as the opposite of 'bad guy'?"

"I'm a reporter! Clyde Buford!"

"News reporter…?"

A few soldiers came to contain Clyde, "Let's take this freak and lock him in a hole".

Feeling enraged by those words, he immediately stood up and started firing his beam at the soldiers.

"GET DOWN!" the soldier ordered the innocent bystanders. Clyde started to flee. As he ran faster, he felt like he was roller skating. As he skated away, he somehow formed the shape of the car he was in as a human.

The soldiers had lost him and some tried to tell the civilians to leave, "Movies over people, move along nothing to see here".

One sergeant reluctantly answered his phone, knowing it was the General. "Yes sir?" He moved his phone inches from his ear at the sound of General yelling on the other end.

"Not only did you fail to capture the threat but none of you could escort civilians out of the area! This scene is all over social media!" He shouted before pinching the brink of his nose, "It is now clear that training will have to be intensified to defeat the alien threat".

The soldiers who were in the commissary heard the General and started murmuring complaints quietly. Hamdon whipped his head in their direction, causing them to run back to the training field.

As the soldiers, Beatrice, and Delacacie returned, General had already had a boardroom meeting with a group of higher-up associates.

"We still know little about the enemy, meaning they're unpredictable", council member Hal Rossman stated.

"Thank you for stating the obvious", Council member Louise added as she rolled her eyes.

"Shouldn't we find information on this 'car' mech that our weapon was battling earlier".

"Way ahead of you Jenette", Hamdon used a remote to reveal a holographic screen. "Dr. Butteroil reported the threat and identified himself as…"

"Clyde the news reporter?" Louise muttered in confusion. "How do you turn a person into a real-life figure from that car-built robot cartoon?"

"Don't ask me, ask the witnesses who were with him right before he transformed", Hamdon switched to the camera footage of men being interrogated. "Oh wait, we already did the interrogation for you".

"So what did the men say?"

The hour before, soldiers brought in the men who claimed to have witnessed Clyde's transformation.

Agent Kane and Agent Lydia were there for questioning or as Beatrice Kenji suspected it to be the Good Cop Bad Cop routine.

"Start spilling, or I get rough", Agent Lydia narrowed her eyes at the witness named Ross. "You knew Clyde professionally or personally?"

"Well I was being paid to be his driver but then we became work friends I guess…"

Agent Kane hummed, "So Clyde was a reporter with a cameraman by his side, how come the incident wasn't recorded?"

"It was recorded but its power died before we called for transport".

Meanwhile, the cameraman who was being interrogated in another room was feeling intimidated by Agent Lydia's aggression. "You telling me you recorded the whole disaster on camera but you no longer have it?" She asked.

"It ran out of power and my bag was left in the car while I ran to the nearest town" he explained. "So I had to sell it for food".

"That was idiotic! You could've called your news station you dumb—"

"Hey Lydia, give my role a turn to speak", Agent Kane interjected, "So uh…Donnie…how much do you know about Clyde?"

Donnie rubbed the back of his head and Lydia grew impatient, "Tell us what you know, we don't have all day!"

"He was a typical arrogant celebrity, and loved being on TV. He was not the type of person who believed that looks don't matter".

"That's pretty common for anyone whose profession is about being on television or the internet", Kane thought. "Can you explain how Clyde transformed?"

Ross on the other hand explained, "The cameraman saw something falling from the sky and asked Clyde and me if there was supposed to be a meteor shower or something and Clyde said no, then oddly the meteor headed towards us".

The general switched off the screen, "The meteor or comet hit them like a missile tailing a locked target, that means…"

"The nonhuman threats are using their tech to somehow mutate individuals on Earth", council member Alden concluded.

"It could be planned or random, we don't know for sure", Hamdon figured, "But we do know enough about Clyde to know where he could be headed".

"And where exactly is he headed?"

Clyde was driving to Clifton City. "Never thought I'd drive myself, and use a GPS system", he thought to himself.

As he approached the News Station, he found it weird that there were few people in the area. Then he saw the individuals he was looking for.

"Shamil! Trish! I'm so glad you got my call!" He yelled as he drove towards them, only for them to…glitch. "Huh? What—"

"ACTIVATE THE TRAP AND FENCE!"

Delacacie landed down right before Clyde and formed a small crater on the concrete floor. Soldiers appeared from all angles ready to fire their guns. The car shifted into his tall mech suit form. "A set up?! How did—"

"The men you had spent your last human moments with confessed a lot of information about you", Delacacie explained. "I am still conflicted about annihilating a former human unless you surrender right now".

Clyde looked ahead and noticed his fiancé and friend looking at him with distaste, as they turned their backs and went into the helicopter.

"They helped plan the trap…" He gritted his teeth and looked at the soldiers in rage. "I have nothing to lose…because of YOU!" He started blasting at the soldiers who barely moved away from the incoming blasts.

Delacacie used her strength to punch Clyde up the chin and used her hand to pierce through his chest area. She gasped when she touched the red orb.

A vision of the Spixans looking in her direction seemed to be smiling. "Commander, this is our greatest achievement!"

"Yes deputy, this could save us—"

The doll snapped back into reality as Clyde threw her to the ground and moved his foot to step on her. Fortunately, she rolled over and stood up. She used her strength to leap to his arm and overthrow him straight into the private parking lot.

Delacacie walked to Clyde and attempted to touch the glowing object in his chest. "You think you're a big shot like I was huh?" Clyde spoke, "This whole alien thing ruined my life and I'll make you all pay".

The doll noticed Clyde's hand had raised to blast her off, and moved the hand to his torso. He screamed in pain. A group of soldiers came to the scene and electrocuted the threat who then went unconscious.

The soldiers used a vehicle with a containment force field to transport Clyde. Beatrice smiled as Delacacie approached the chopper. "Well done! Would you like to pick a hairdo?"

"Ma'am…that threat was human yes?" the doll asked as she sat with her creator. Beatrice nodded. "And you said my purpose was to defend humanity" She then turned her head to Beatrice, "Did I do the right thing?"

Beatrice studied the doll thoughtfully, "I'll tell you back at the base".

In an unknown location, a figure was watching the whole action scene on the news and smirked, revealing canine teeth. "She can fight robots, but how would a robot doll superhero fight something…magical?"