A second, deafening bang made the walls of the factory hall tremble. The thick steel gate bulged inward, marked by the glowing heat of a plasma charge. Zhao cursed, cocked his scrap shotgun with a loud *click-clack* and shouted: “Take cover, guys! This is no ordinary raid, these are the hardcore enforcers of the Duck!”
With a loud crash, the gate was torn off its hinges. Smoke shot into the hall, and through the smoke marched three humanoid combat androids of the Iron Duck – shiny chrome, red, emotionless sensor slits and heavy, fully automatic pulse rifles at the ready. “Target 'Bao' located. Resistance futile,” boomed a mechanical voice in unison from their speech processors.
“Futile, my foot!”, Mei screamed. She used an overturned scrap crate as a ramp, catapulted herself into the air on her painstakingly patched hoverboard and whipped out her electromagnetic lasso. The charge hit the left android on the head, whose sensors began to spark wildly. He staggered backward, but blindly fired a burst that perforated the hall’s ceiling.
Zhao’s men opened fire. A hail of rusty bolts, compressed air projectiles and shrapnel hissed against the shields of the remaining two androids. But the syndicate’s high-tech armor shrugged off the scrap fire effortlessly. They raised their rifles and aimed directly at Lu, who crouched defenseless behind the workbench.
“Lu, watch out!”, Mei shouted, but she was too far away.
At that moment, a matte black flash shot past Lu. It was Bao. With maximum overload of his motors, the little robot threw himself into the line of fire. The pulse rounds hammered against his new lead-carbon armor with a deafening metallic clang. Sparks flew, the force pushed Bao back a bit – but the armor plates held firm. Not a single shot penetrated.
Bao’s blue lenses glowed angrily behind the protective grille. “Protocol 'Customer Satisfaction' temporarily suspended. Activating defensive cooking procedure!”
From Bao’s flanks, two modified high-pressure nozzles extended, originally intended for quickly steaming dumplings. But instead of harmless steam, a boiling hot, sticky cloud enriched with used oil and super-spicy Szechuan pepper extract shot directly into the faces of the two androids.
The extremely corrosive and sticky mixture ate through the optical lenses and the sensitive joint seals of the combat machines within seconds. Their internal systems began to warn of acute overheating. “Error. Visual sensors blocked. Corrosion in drive gears,” the androids reported as they helplessly lost balance and fell to the ground.
Zhao stared at the battlefield with his mouth open. “By all the old gods... the little guy took them down with hot sauce and steam!”
“That was just the vanguard,” Lu gasped, helped Bao back on his wheels and checked the sensors. “We have to get out of here before reinforcements arrive. Zhao, where is that subway shaft?!”