Growing Pains

Since my opponent was a robot not capable of facial expressions there was no particular signal I could use to start the fight. So I just decided to go when it looked like he was ready.

Deciding to test the robot out before I got too serious I rushed straight in, fist raised for an obvious right cross. But rather than move to meet me, the robot flew to the side and shot an energy beam of some kind at me.

I countered with a quick Ki blast of my own and flew up and over the resulting smoke of the two attacks exploding. I was fast enough to get above Rhodes and get close enough to drop an ax-kick down on his head that he only just managed to block with an upraised arm. I could have tried to power through the block but I decided to backflip off it instead and blast the robot in the chest with a Ki attack. That turned out to be a mistake because when I tried getting closer again, Rhodes just flew backwards while peppering me with energy beams.

"Get back here and fight me!"

"You just dented a combat-rated metal armor plate with a kick! I'm not going to let you trash a multi-million dollar weapons platform that easily, monkey girl!"

I snarled and blocked another energy blast with one of my own.

The fight was quickly turning into a stalemate of the two of us shooting down the other's attacks with me trying to get closer and Rhodes trying to get further away.

One of us was going to need to try something new or this would be an endurance contest to see who ran out of energy first. And since Rhodes seemed content to just blast away, it was up to me to do it.

I fired a Ki beam far to the right but rather than just letting the attack do its own thing, I focused on it moving. Thankfully the hours of practicing my Ki manipulation meant the beam curved just like I wanted it to and slammed into the side of the robot and exploded.

"You can curve those things?!" Rhodes exclaimed as he quickly flew out of the explosion, trailing smoke but not super damaged from what I could see.

"You bet I can!" I shouted back, shooting another two beams to prevent him from getting away.

Rhodes dodged them, but since he had to make sure one of them wasn't going to swerve into him at the last second he was too slow to stop me from getting close enough to punch him. Once again he blocked with an upraised arm, the same one from earlier, but this time he didn't move to escape.

This time he actually punched back.

As happy as I was he was finally fighting back properly, I wasn't going to just let him punch me in the face. Which turned out to be a good idea since I felt something tingle across my skin when I dodged and I felt the hairs on my head stand up a little more.

"Wait, do you have shock-fists?!"

"Tch, smart kid. Yeah, the IR-0n suit had taser gauntlets for subduing tougher targets. Don't suppose you want to throw in the towel now?"

I practically vibrated with excitement and charged again. "Are you kidding? This is just getting cooler and cooler! What else do you have?"

"Making this real hard on me, brat."

I ducked under a quick jab and grabbed the robot by the forearm. Unlike the fists it didn't seem like the arm itself was electrified so I twisted and threw the robot down to the ground where it cratered into a field. I seriously doubted that was going to finish it though if a kick only dented it, so I rushed down after it.

Sure enough, the robot staggered out of the crater just in time for me to throw another punch at its head. This time, rather than blocking, Rhodes took the punch just to let him land a hit of his own. I wasn't just expecting him to let me whail on him though and blocked it.

I yelped as the electricity coursed through my arm and decided straight up blocking was a last resort.

I darted around the grounded robot like a hummingbird, not willing to let Rhodes get an opening to try flying off again, while trading punches and kicks with the robot's own electrified punches. And to my excitement, Rhodes was actually pretty good. Even though I was trying my best to dodge or redirect his attacks, a few managed to hit me and I was feeling a numb, tingly feeling in my arms when he forced me to block.

"You've gotta be kidding me. These tasers were designed to incapacitate an elephant with a single punch." Rhodes complained after I missed a block and he got a solid punch on my face. Yeah, it hurt but my adrenaline was racing and I wasn't going to get taken down by a single punch.

"It's gonna take more than that!" I exclaimed and shot forward again.

"You're right. Sorry 'bout this in advance…" A panel on the robot's shoulder popped open and before I could react a blinding white light seared my eyes. I almost thought it was a flashbomb but there was no sound. Did he just blind me with a flashlight?!

And they stole the concept behind the Solar Flare! How dare the military steal my stolen technique, I'll sue!

Putting thoughts of legal action aside until after the fight, I tried opening my eyes only to snap them shut again when everything was way too bright.

Okay…so I was temporarily blind. I could just track Rhodes' Ki to…Rhodes was piloting a remote control robot. There was no Ki to sense.

…this might be an issue.

Still, I wasn't about to let something as small as having no idea where my opponent was stop me from beating them.

"Might wanna give-" I spun towards the noise and unleashed a double handed Ki blast. "-up before you get hurt. Damn kid, you're pretty vicious." Rhodes' voice finished from a completely different location. I fired a blast towards that spot too. "But you lose this one." His voice changed location again. I figured he was probably using speakers or something like that but I blasted it anyway.

"Hah! You think this is enough to beat me? I already said it takes more than that." I said, straining my senses to the limit. Now that I was paying attention I could hear a low humming sound somewhere up and to my right.

So Rhodes was flying again. Now I just had to figure out where he was exactly…

A barely perceptible 'whump' sound came from the general area I figured Rhodes was followed by a more audible thump on the ground behind me.

"Seriously, give up. Alien invader or not I didn't sign up to beat up kids."

A toothy smile formed on my face. "Good for you cause you aren't beating me anyway." I raised my hand to where I pictured the robot was hovering and released a blast as fast as I could. Rhodes' sudden shout of dismay confirmed for me that I at least hit him. I heard something crash to the ground but it sounded too small to be the whole robot.

I tried opening my eyes again to see what happened but had to shut them almost immediately again. Still too sensitive. But I did see what I thought was a dismembered arm on the ground. Definitely hit him then.

"So what now? You going to keep talking at me while I take shots at you? Think next time I can get a leg?" I taunted.

"You asked for it!" Rhodes growled and I heard the humming sound get more intense.

Relying on my instincts I dodged to the left and felt a whoosh of air pass by harmlessly. I followed after it with a punch and when that was deflected, spun and kicked where I imagined the robot's head was.

"How are you fighting better when you can't see!?" Rhodes demanded.

"I'm awesome like that!"

A metal limb uppercutted me in the chin making my head snap back. I dove to the side and felt an energy blast cut through the space I was just in. Rhodes was finally going all out, which was perfect because I was finally starting to see again. Everything was blurry, but that was good enough.

After getting hit multiple times, the robot was now pretty scuffed up. The worst of the damage was definitely the missing arm. I think I had gotten lucky and hit the thing in the elbow joint with enough power to cut it right off because the remaining part of the arm seemed mostly fine. Hopefully the army guys fixed that for next time.

"Alright then, I'm ready to kick this up a notch. What else you got?"

Rhodes sighed. "You were going easy on me? The brass isn't going to like that. And sorry kid, these suits were fitted for a demonstration not live combat. I've hit you with everything I've got on this thing."

"Oh."

Seriously? He had nothing else?

Meh, fine then. I wasn't expecting a fight anyway and this was at least fun. I'd stop by later once they fixed the robot up and hopefully by then it would have some new tricks for me.

"I'm just gonna finish this up then."

"Don't think I'll make it easy for you."

And to give credit where it was due, Rhodes didn't. Even down half an arm and knowing he was going to lose, the guy did his best to beat me. We ended up flying all over the test range trading punches, kicks, and energy blasts. The army pilot got several good hits in and I was looking pretty beat up, but it was practically all surface level stuff while the robot was taking a much more thorough beating. The fight took a solid turn in my favor when I ended up catching a kick to the side but managed to hold onto the leg instead. I let out a victorious yell as I drove my elbow down on the vulnerable knee joint and tore the lower half of the leg right off.

Down an arm and a leg, Rhodes couldn't stop me from eventually tearing off the rest of his limbs until all that remained was a stumpy torso with a head lying on the ground.

"Well…shit…" Rhodes cursed, robotic head looking at what was left of his limbs. "We'll call it a draw?"

I smirked and held a hand up to the featureless faceplate. "Nah, I win. Better luck next time."

Then I blasted the head off the robot and turned back towards the bunker.

More Ki signatures had shown up, but they all seemed around the level of normal humans. Sure there could be some kind of supertech there, but if they had that why hadn't they sent it out here to help Rhodes fight? No, I was pretty sure it was just going to be normal soldiers. Oh well, time to stop playing and actually get what I came here for.

-o-

Lois watched nervously as the feed from the IR-0n suit flashed a bright yellow before cutting to black. You didn't have to be a genius to figure out that probably meant the suit had been destroyed, but Specialist Rhodes cursing and quickly disconnecting from the 'cradle' pretty much confirmed it.

"Sorry Lieutenant Ross. I did my best but the IR-0n prototype is KIA. I couldn't stop her."

"You did your best." Ross scowled.

Lois could sympathize. This wasn't the first time she had seen one of these examples of cutting edge military tech be praised as an unstoppable titan only for it to be taken apart by an alien using nothing more than their bare hands. Granted the last time this happened, she was pretty happy the tech lost because it was stolen by mercenaries. It wasn't so great when it was supposed to be the thing protecting her.

Sounds of fighting crackled over a console near Lieutenant Ross. The man looked at a video feed before helplessly cutting it off and picking up a handgun he had retrieved once the Saiyan had run off to fight a military robot.

"Well, our intruder has destroyed our best defense and just took out our reinforcements. I'd like to say there's no way she could get inside here, but–" The inches thick metal security door exploded interrupting the man. When the dust cleared a scuffed and bloodied, but happily grinning Califa practically skipped through the wreckage.

Lois was practically resigned to being kidnapped at this point and was ready to give herself up. Hopefully Califa would just take her and leave, because the Army sure couldn't handle her.

"Hi there." The little destroyer chirped and made her way over, shooting one of those little yellow orbs at the Lieutenant's gun and turning it to scrap in the process.

"Hello." Lois knew Califa was definitely more dangerous than any thug or criminal that had kidnapped her in the past. But her pride wasn't going to let her get hysterical when faced with a preteen when she didn't crack to those guys. "So, you wanted me for something?"

"Yep, I wanted to ask you a question."

Everyone in the room froze.

"A question?!" Lois couldn't believe her ears. Did this insane little kid break into a secure military base, fight a cutting edge robot, blast through several squads of soldiers…all to ask her a question?!

"Yeah, so, I've been trying to get a hold of Superman for another rematch but I can't seem to get his attention. But you always seem to get him to come running when you need him. So how do you do it?"

"You've got to be kidding me…"

"Oh, hi Rhodes! Good fight, let me know when your suit gets fixed up and we can go for round two."

"Wait, you didn't come here to kidnap Miss Lane?" Lieutenant Ross demanded.

Califa tilted her head. "Would that help me get Superman's attention?"

"It happens enough, so probably." Lois gave Jimmy a death glare he had the decency to flinch away from. Unless everyone managed to get out of this unharmed, she was going to have him gophering meetings for a year before he even got the chance to get behind a camera again.

"So I could have just grabbed her at the airport? Oh well, I got a decent fight out of it so that's fine. And I guess I'm going to kidnap Lois now?"

The Saiyan had been following them that long?! And no one noticed?!

"Do you think we'll just let you?" Lois had to give it to Ross and Rhodes. They certainly weren't the types to give up. Unfortunately…

"Well, unless you have another robot or something lying around…you can't exactly stop me." A terrifyingly sharp toothy grin stretched across the Saiyan's face. But just as quickly as it came, it vanished back into a cheerful smirk. Then Lois found herself scooped up into a princess carry and floating away as the alien child proved no one there could.

"Oh, and photo guy. Make sure you got my good side!"

Lois hoped someone got word to the heroes fast. She wasn't the best with kids and spending time alone with a superpowered preteen sounded like a nightmare. But she did agree with the tiny menace on one thing. Jimmy had better have gotten some good shots of that fight. If it got out that she was getting captured by children now without evidence not even the army could stop them her reputation would never recover.