​     SMACK!​ Alacran hit the floor of the auditorium hard, upright, standing firm on two feet, making a loud CLANK! with armor coated feet as he did. The music continued, the robot trapeze artists continued to tumble and spin overhead, but no one paid the slightest bit of attention to them anymore. Everyone's attention was now focused on the metallic being that had just crashed their party in a most spectacular manner. 

     Alacran spoke, and his voice boomed, Axel's voice enhanced and heightened so that it came out sounding like rolling thunder. "WHERE IS SHE?" he bellowed. "WHERE IS THE WOMAN WHO DARED TO BETRAY US? WHERE IS LIVIA MONTCRIEF?" These were not words he made up by himself, by the way. He read them from a prompter Valtair provided for him. The words ran along the bottom edge of his visor, making them easy for him to read. "THE TIME OF RECKONING IS AT HAND!"

​     Livia's three-foot robots didn't know what to do. A half dozen came up to Alacran bearing drinks and small bits of fish and crackers. "Can we help you in some manner, sir?" they asked with their high, artificial voices. "Something to nibble on perhaps?"   

​     Alacran smacked at them with his long, metal tail. One well-dressed man held up his arms in defense as a robot slammed into him, shattering his wrists. He howled in agony. That did it. Just about everyone else at the party immediately decided that it'd be a great time to be anywhere but there. 

​     A dozen more robots converged on Alacran. "What is the manner of your complaint, sir? Would you enjoy..." 

     Alacran wiped them away with his tail like ants at a picnic. "RID ME OF THESE TOYS! THEY WILL DO NOTHING TO DETER ME! I TELL YOU, I AM ALACRAN! I AM THE DESTROYER! WHERE IS SHE? WHERE IS LIVIA MONTCRIEF? BRING HER TO ME, AND I MAY ALLOW THE REST OF YOU TO LIVE!"                       Then, 

​     BAM!

     It was like the robot flew at Alacran to hit him hard in the chest, thrown with force and power by the only being in the room, perhaps the only being on the planet, strong enough to be a true counter threat to the behemoth that was the Silver Scorpion. 

​     "Howdy Scorpy!" Adam Forwarder exclaimed. "Hey, I've got an idea! Let's make like eggs and scramble!"

CONTINUE