Mecha System: Harem in The Cockpit

Elastic Beatdown

My footsteps pounded across the street. 

I closed the distance between myself and the criminals in less than a second. I must have looked like nothing more than a blur to the two of them, they didn’t even have enough time to react to the fact I’d moved. 

However, I didn’t really want to kill either of them, so before I ploughed into the one with the elasticity and super strength I stopped my momentum. 

That was when the reactions came from the two. 

The elastic man jumped back in surprise, his springy legs sending him flying into the air like a coil that had been compressed far too much. 

The laser user, on the other hand, simply fell back onto his ass and tried to scrabble away from me. 

I launched my grapple hook out ahead of me in the direction that the elastic man had jumped. 

It was childs play, honestly. 

The AI system calculated the trajectory and speed of the jump perfectly, allowing my grapple hook to wrap itself around the man’s legs like a bola. 

As he reached the peak of his jump the grapple shot became taught. My arm yanked forward slightly and I was surprised by the force that the man had managed to exert. But my suit was strong too. 

I yanked down hard. The elastic man followed. 

He crashed back down toward the ground and hit the concrete hard, his elastic body flattening like a piece of gum underneath someone’s shoe as the gold in his bag pushed down on top of him. 

For a split second I was worried that, despite the safety measures I’d tried to use in my attack, I’d somehow managed to kill the guy. 

After that second had passed, however, his body began to ripple and reform back into its original shape. It had looked gross and gruesome, but it actually seemed like he was just fine. 

“What the hell was that!” The laser guy cried out, barely managing to scrabble to his feet to scurry a little bit further away from me. 

I decided to be cocky. I figured that after that display I probably had earned the right to be just a little bit cocky. 

“That was just a fragment of the power that I have,” I said, allowing a little bit of menace to seep into my tone.

Honestly, I had no idea whether that was a truthful statement or not because I still didn’t have any real idea how much power this mecha suit actually had. 

I could tell that the speed I had been moving was pretty much the maximum that the mecha was capable of over short distances, but I had no idea if this thing had any weapons or if I was just limited to swinging grappling hooks and fists around.

“As it stands this mecha suit has no on-board weapons of its own,” The AI said, confirming what I had thought to be the case, “Though that can be rectified in the future.” 

That was a curious thing to say, something that I’d no doubt revisit when I’d dealt with the two villains that were in front of me. Defeating them and keeping the rest of the soldiers who were still alive safe was my ultimate priority.

 I was pretty sure I could do that without having to worry about using any kind of advanced weaponry.  

“Bullshit,” Said the elastic man, now completely reformed, “We get these powers and then some do-gooder like you comes along to put a stopper in my fun? Nah, mate. I’m gonna fuck you up, good and proper.” 

He had dropped the gold, I noticed, and instead had his full attention on me. 

His arms whipped out, lengthening to close the distance between us both. 

Once again time slowed down to a crawl. It must have been some kind of battle sense. The AI of the suit speeding up my thought patterns to match its own clock speed or something like that. 

Either way, I was actually going to let this attack hit me. 

If I was able to get a hold of the elastic man’s arms I’d be able to drag him to me and put him out of action properly. It’d be more than easy enough. 

The elastic arms lashed out and wrapped around my torso like a boa constrictor squeezing the life out of its prey. 

“I don’t know if that was such a good idea, Xander,” The AI said sheepishly. 

“Huh? Why not?” I replied under my breath so only the computer system of the suit could hear me. 

The criminal squeezed and the metal of my suit creaked ominously. All of a sudden a red warning screen flashed up onto my visor, claiming that the structural integrity of my suit design had been lowered by 15%. 

15% in just one squeeze? 

Okay, maybe the elastic man was a little stronger than I gave him credit for. That didn’t mean my plan wasn’t going to work. 

I grabbed onto the elastic arms and held tight before yanking hard. 

The elastic man lost his footing and went flying into the air toward me. As he got close I cocked my fist back and then launched a punch directly into his face. 

The hit sent the guy straight back down into the ground, caving his elastic face around the blow. 

His arms loosened around me as he lost consciousness, slumping down onto the floor as his face slowly regained its normal shape. 

“What… What the hell did you do to him?” The other criminal asked, taking a few more steps away from me. 

“Oh he’s fine, I think. Probably might have a concussion when he comes back around?” I said with a shrug, stepping over the unconscious form of the criminal. “Wanna find out how it feels?” 

I looked up at the other criminal and fixed him with a steely glare. 

He couldn’t see my eyes through my visor, but that didn’t stop the colour in his face from draining away. 

One down, one to go.