Бесплатный фрагмент - Rats against martian cats

RATS AGAINST MARTIAN CATS

A team of rat detectives with advanced weapons investigates a daring robbery at the Galactic Cheese Exchange. All clues point to mysterious Martian cats. To solve the case, the rats will have to travel to Mars, face cunning cats and their technologies, and figure out themselves and their team.

MAIN CHARACTERS

Cheddar (leader) — a charismatic rat detective, slightly obsessed with cheese, master of tactics and wields a cryostasis laser (freezes).

Gadget (tech specialist) — a young genius, creator of all the team’s weapons, carries a reducer/augmentor laser (shrinks/enlarges).

Spark (fighter) — a hot-headed and impulsive rat, responsible for power operations, armed with a pyrolator laser (burns).

Shadow (infiltrator) — a quiet, stealthy rat scout, master of disguise, uses a hologram/illusion laser (disorients).

Protagonist-cat (implicit ally) — a young cat from Mars who disagrees with his kin’s plans, keeps a secret.

Laser Decoding:

Cryostasis — for immobilizing, creating obstacles.

Reducer/Augmentor — for changing the environment, accessing crevices, enlarging small details.

Pyrolator — for breaking through barriers, cutting off paths.

Holograms — for reconnaissance, disorientation, psychological overcoming of fears.

Chapter 1: The Disappearance of the Century

The silence at the Galactic Cheese Exchange was special. It smelled of parmesan, edam, and stardust. In the huge domed hall, where giant cheese heads floated in weightlessness, perfect order reigned. Until this morning.

Supervisor Brick, a fat and important rat in a uniformed vest, froze in the middle of the hall with his mouth open. His whiskers twitched in panic.

«It… it’s gone!» he croaked into the communicator. «The «Galactic Delicacy’! It weighed like a small asteroid! It’s gone!»

Where the legendary cheese had rested just yesterday — a milky-golden sphere with streaks of blue mold that shimmered like the Andromeda Nebula — there now gaped emptiness. No break-in, no traces, not even crumbs.

Sirens, sounding like a mouse’s desperate squeak, tore through the silence.

A hundred kilometers from the Exchange, at the orbital station «Burrow,» which looked like a tangle of space debris with engines attached, at the same time… cleaning was underway.

«Gadget, if you don’t turn off this hyper-suction vacuum cleaner right now, I’ll shrink you myself to the size of a dust particle and send you to that same bag!» Spark roared, jumping away from the noisy unit that was trying to suck up her tail.

«It’s only 7% off the specified trajectory!» came a guilty voice from behind a pile of microcircuits and wires. «I’ve almost fixed the algorithm!»

In the center of the command hall, on a leather (actually — very high-quality synthetic) chair, sat Cheddar. He methodically gnawed a piece of cheddar, studying a news hologram.

«They’re robbing a convoy with space cheese again,» he grumbled. «Amateurs. Real art is stealing what’s under the best guard.»

«Like our «Delicacy’?» from the shadow in the corner came a quiet, almost inaudible voice. Shadow detached from the wall, proving to be not a play of light, but a small gray rat with piercing black eyes.

««Ours’?» Cheddar snorted. «It belongs to the whole galaxy, Shadow. Though, I agree, we would be more worthy guardians of it than this bureaucrat Brick…»

At that moment, all screens on the station flashed red. An emergency beacon blinked.

«URGENT MESSAGE. CODE 001. GALACTIC DELICACY STOLEN. ALL LICENSED DETECTIVE AGENCIES…»

Cheddar froze with a piece of cheese halfway to his mouth. His eyes narrowed.

«No,» he whispered. «They didn’t dare.»

«Who ’they’?» Spark turned off the vacuum cleaner with a shot from her laser (a small black spot on the floor was now smoking).

«I don’t know,» Cheddar answered honestly, jumping up. «But whoever managed to steal this… this is a challenge. Personally to me. Personally to us! Team „Cheese Eaters,“ fall in!»

Three minutes later they stood before him: disheveled Gadget with a tablet in his paws, smoking with excitement Spark, and silent as a ghost Shadow.

«Details?» asked Cheddar.

Gadget displayed data on the main screen. «Security: 50 guard robots of the 5th generation, gravitational barriers, mass and DNA scanners. Time of disappearance: between 02:00 and 02:05 galactic time. Witnesses: zero. Traces: zero. This… is perfect.»

«Nothing is perfect,» said Shadow. «There’s what scanners don’t see.»

«Exactly!» Cheddar slapped his paw on the console. «We’re flying to the Exchange. We’ll check everything ourselves. Gadget, prepare the ship. Spark, check the weapons. Shadow… be ready for anything.»

«I’m always ready,» Shadow nodded, dissolving into the half-light.

«And what will we do?» asked Spark, whose eyes were already burning with excitement.

«What we do best,» Cheddar smiled, finishing the cheese. «We’ll sniff. Search. And, if needed… shoot.»

He glanced at the rack where four stylish blasters of unusual shape rested in their holsters. His «Ice Squall,» Spark’s pyrolator «Hot Embrace,» Gadget’s multi-functional «Sizer,» and Shadow’s mysterious «Mirage.»

The challenge was accepted.

Chapter 2: Training and Character

The ship «Cheese Hole» was far from perfect. It creaked, crackled, and sometimes turned off artificial gravity mid-sentence. But for the «Cheese Eaters» team, it was home.

While they rushed to the Exchange, Cheddar decided to conduct unscheduled training. «You need to go into battle as a honed team,» he declared.

The «Burrow’s» training hall was a spacious room with a changing interior. Today it was a labyrinth of boxes very similar to cheese packages.

«Scenario: protection of a small cheese warehouse from a raid by marauder robots,» Cheddar announced, taking a position behind a hologram control panel. «Goal: neutralize everyone without damaging the ’cargo.» Gadget, begin!»

Three training droids rolled out of the ventilation shafts with a hum — spherical, with tentacle-grabbers.

Gadget, nervously adjusting his glasses, pulled out his «Sizer.» The laser looked like a scientific calculator with a barrel.

«U-uh… reduction mode!» he squeaked and fired.

A blue beam hit the first droid. It began to shrink rapidly with an unpleasant squeak until it became the size of a ping-pong ball and rolled under a box.

«Great!» Cheddar shouted. «Spark, next!»

«Already doing it!» Spark, who couldn’t stand waiting, jumped out from behind cover. Her «Hot Embrace» was a short, brutal barrel with a radiator grille. She aimed and pulled the trigger.

A bright orange stream of flame hit droid number two. It began to smoke, blinked emergency lights, and helplessly spun in place.

«30% power, as you asked!» she reported proudly.

«I asked for 10%!» Cheddar sighed, looking at the scorched box. «Alright. Shadow, clean work.»

The third droid seemed to simply not be there. It just froze in place, its sensors spinning wildly. Shadow emerged from behind a neighboring box, stepping silently.

«Its sensors see five identical targets,» she explained quietly. «It can’t choose. Hologram trap.»

«Perfect,» Cheddar nodded. «And now my exit. Group target.»

Five more droids emerged from the hatches, this time armed with shields.

«Watch and learn,» Cheddar said, smoothly raising his «Ice Squall.» His blaster was the most elegant — with a silver body and blue backlighting.

He didn’t shoot point-blank. Instead, he released a wide fan of sparkling white-blue particles. The beam hit the floor in front of the droids, and instantly a wall of uneven, glittering ice rose up, blocking their path.

«Beautiful!» Gadget admired.

«Efficiency,» Cheddar corrected him. «Ice doesn’t just stop. It confuses, reflects beams, and after three minutes evaporates itself without a trace. But enough games…»

He was about to give a new command when suddenly the smallest droid, which everyone had forgotten, rolled out from under the box and poked Gadget in the side with an electroshocker.

«Ow!» Gadget squeaked and in passive defense fired randomly.

The blue beam hit… Cheddar.

«Oh,» Gadget said.

«What ’oh’?» Cheddar asked, but immediately understood. The world around him began to rapidly expand. No, he began to rapidly shrink! In a second he stood on the floor, no more than ten centimeters tall, next to his giant blaster.

Dead silence fell. Even the droids froze.

Spark was the first to break. She snorted. Then giggled. Then burst into such loud laughter that she almost sat on the floor.

«You… you’re so… tiny! And angry!» she could barely breathe from laughter.

Even Shadow hid a smile with her paw.

Cheddar, mouse-sized, shook his fist at them and shouted something in a thin, squeaky voice. From the side, it looked incredibly funny.

«Ga-ga-Gadget!» Spark managed to make out. «Immediately… return… as it was!»

«Now, now!» Gadget, red with embarrassment, adjusted the blaster. «Just switch the polarity… enlargement… carefully…»

A pink beam hit Cheddar. He began to grow. Quickly. Very quickly.

«Stop! Stop!» Cheddar shouted, already reaching his normal size.

But Gadget, overexcited, missed the button. Cheddar continued to grow until he bumped his head into the hall ceiling.

«You… me… into the ceiling… you GROOMED!» a muffled roar came from above.

Spark was already rolling on the floor, holding her stomach. Gadget in horror poked at the blaster interface. Shadow quietly approached and carefully took the «Sizer» from his trembling paws. She calmly switched the mode and fired.

Cheddar sighed with relief, returning to normal size. He brushed himself off, adjusted the fur on his head, and looked strictly at the team. Then at Gadget.

«Alright,» he said finally. «Remember two rules. First: never shoot at the commander. Second: if you do shoot anyway — make sure he has a good sense of humor. You’re lucky I have one.»

He turned to the others while Gadget nodded joyfully.

«Jokes aside, but at the Exchange everything will be real. There’s no ’undo’ button there. We work cleanly, understand each other from half a word and half a look. We’re a team. And we’ll find this thief, even if we have to dig up the whole galaxy. Clear?»

«Clear!» Spark and Gadget answered in chorus. Shadow silently nodded.

«Cheese Hole» exited warp jump. In the porthole froze, glittering with lights, a huge rotating structure — the Galactic Cheese Exchange. The crime scene awaited.

Chapter 3: The Scent of Catnip

The «Cheese Hole» station docked with the Exchange with a quiet hiss. The airlock opened, and the team was met not by air, but by a thick, saturated aroma — the tart smell of aged cheese with notes of nuts, herbs, and something cosmically elusive.

— Mmm… — Cheddar couldn’t help but exclaim. — Five-star aged Cheddar… Camembert with truffles… Roquefort…

— Focus, boss, — Spark poked him in the side. — We’re on the job.

Brick was already waiting for them. The supervisor looked as if he had not just been robbed, but personally insulted.

— Finally! — he grumbled, leading them down the shining corridors. — The Galactic Police were already here. They said — «clean job». What kind of cleanliness can there be when the main asset of galactic cuisine disappears?!

— Calm down, respected sir, — said Cheddar, although his nose was already working, analyzing thousands of smells. — We specialize in dirty work.

The storage hall of the «Delicacy» was impressive. It was a huge dome, in the center of which now gaped emptiness. Around it, held by force fields, floated other cheeses — smaller, but also impressive. Everything shone with sterile brilliance.

— Show us, — ordered Cheddar.

Shadow was the first to get to work. She froze in place, closed her eyes and seemed to dissolve into space. Her «Mirage» was not just a projector. It amplified her natural ability to notice the tiniest inconsistencies.

— The force field was turned off remotely, — she spoke after a minute, without opening her eyes. — Not hacked. Turned off by code. The mass scanners were… deceived. They were sent a signal that the object was in place.

— So, an insider? — asked Gadget, launching his scanners.

— Or a genius, — said Cheddar. — Spark, inspect the perimeter. Look for any stain, scratch, hair.

Spark, impatient to act, rushed to inspect the walls, armed with a magnifying lens.

Gadget meanwhile waved his tablet through the air. — Strange… very strange… Here, in the epicenter, a full spectral vacuum. As if the cheese wasn’t stolen, but… erased. But on the borders…

He approached the place where the force field ended. His instrument beeped.

— What? — Cheddar jumped.

— Microparticles, — whispered Gadget. — Very small. Organic. It’s… fish scales?

— Fish? — Spark wrinkled her nose. — Who eats fish in such quantities that…

She didn’t finish. Everyone exchanged understanding glances.

— ...to leave its traces everywhere? — Cheddar finished for her. His eyes lit up. — Cats.

Shadow suddenly crouched at the very edge of the platform. She ran her paw over the perfectly clean floor and brought it to her nose.

— And not just cats, — she said quietly. — It smells… of catnip. But not natural. Synthetic. Expensive.

— Martian cats, — Gadget breathed out, and fear sounded in his voice. — They are… they are semi-legend! A highly developed, secretive race. They never leave Mars!

— Looks like they left, — Cheddar stated grimly. — And robbed us all.

— But why do they need cheese? — Spark was surprised. — They are carnivores! They eat fish!

— It’s not about the food, — said Cheddar, circling the crime scene. — «Galactic Delicacy» is not just food. It’s a symbol. Stealing it… is a challenge to the whole galaxy. Or… — he stopped. — Or it’s needed for something else. Gadget, full analysis of these particles. Everything you can squeeze out.

While Gadget worked his magic over the samples, Cheddar gathered the team aside.

— Martian cats, — he repeated. — High technology, secrecy, no diplomatic contacts. We know nothing about them.

— We know they love fish and expensive toys, — Spark joked grimly.

— That’s what will help us, — Shadow said unexpectedly. Everyone looked at her. — They are secretive, but not flawless. Synthetic catnip is a luxury, a habit. Whoever did this was stressed. They needed calming down. This is not a cold-blooded professional. This… is someone who was nervous.

— Brilliant, Shadow! — Cheddar almost clapped his paws. — So they have a weak link. And we will find it.

— Here! — Gadget ran up to them, waving his tablet. — Scale analysis! This is not ordinary fish! It’s… «Moon Loach», a rare deep-sea fish from Enceladus! It’s served only in the most expensive restaurants on Mars! And… and I found a hair!

On the screen under the microscope lay a single, almost invisible hair. It was an unusual color — not white, not gray, but with a shimmering silver sheen, like expensive metal.

— Nano-coated fur, — Gadget gasped. — For camouflage against the environment. Ultra-modern technology.

— A perfect trace, — Cheddar whispered. — They are so confident that they didn’t even think anyone could detect it. They left us a business card.

— What do we do? — asked Spark, and her paw was already resting on the blaster handle.

Cheddar thought. His gaze slid over Brick’s frightened face, the shining hall, the endless space in the porthole.

— They are playing their game by their rules, — he said finally. — We can’t fly to Mars with a fight. They’ll blow us to pieces before we enter the atmosphere.

— So we surrender? — Spark asked disappointedly.

— Never, — Cheddar smiled. The smile was cunning, cheesy. — We’ll just change the rules. We won’t fly as detectives. We’ll fly as… traders.

— Traders? — Gadget repeated.

— Space junk, — Cheddar nodded. — Martian cats, according to rumors, have a weakness for ancient artifacts, strange trinkets. We’ll gather the most colorful, most useless cargo and go to the Red Planet. And there… we’ll sniff, search and, if needed…

— ...shoot, — Spark finished for him, and her eyes lit up again.

They walked back to the ship, and Cheddar was already making plans. Martian cats. Detectives against cats. It sounded like the beginning of a very bad joke.

But he wasn’t laughing. He smelled victory. And a little bit — of catnip.

Chapter 4: Plan, Cheese and a Little Panic

The «Cheese Eaters» headquarters plunged into chaotic but productive activity. It smelled of soldered microcircuits, lubricant and slight panic.

— Trash traders? — Spark crossed her paws on her chest. — Boss, I’m ready to do a lot for the sake of the case, but pretending to be a walking dump is too much!

— Not trash, but «rare artifacts of the pre-colonial era», — Cheddar corrected her, scrolling through catalogs of space auctions on the tablet. — Gadget, what do we have in the hold from the most useless and shiny stuff?

Gadget, nose-deep in an inventory statement, muttered something: «…17 broken holographic projectors of the third era… a collection of rusty bolts from the ship «Invincible’… ah, here! A whole box of ’self-playing music boxes’ that only play the march of the space infantry!»

— Perfect! — Cheddar almost rubbed his paws. — Cats love useless curiosities. This will be our legend. We are small traders, roaming the expanses in search of strangeness. Modest, inconspicuous…

— We have a ship at the sight of which even meteors cry shamefully, — Shadow noted, appearing out of nowhere with a canister of lubricant. — This will help.

— You see! — Cheddar pointed a finger at her. — Now everyone listen. Plan «Fluffy Lie», phase one: penetration.

He approached the holographic map of Mars, which flickered in the center of the room.

— Martian cats live in the city under the dome «Alpha-Felis». The settlement is strict, they don’t like strangers. But on the outskirts there is the so-called «Market of Quiet Paws» — a place where they sell alien curiosities and where they don’t ask unnecessary questions. That’s where we will land.

— And phase two? — asked Gadget, writing everything down in his tablet.

— Phase two: sniff and listen. Cats are proud creatures. If they pulled off such a deed, someone will definitely boast about it in a half-whisper. Look for any conversations about «big cheese», «galactic delicacy» or «update project».

— And phase three? — Spark was already twirling her blaster in her paws.

— Phase three: don’t get caught, don’t cause an inter-species incident and quietly get on the trail, — Cheddar looked at her strictly. — No heroics. We are mice… that is, rats in the cats’ home. One wrong move, and we will become not detectives, but a snack.

Everyone dispersed to prepare upon command. Gadget fiddled with the ship’s signal suppression system, Spark checked and cleaned weapons (managing to burn a hole in the wall of the training hall), Shadow silently packed equipment for covert observation. Cheddar compiled a list of «legendary junk» for sale.

Three hours later, the «Cheese Hole», stuffed to the brim with the most ridiculous junk, departed from the «Burrow» and set a course for Mars.

The journey took several jumps through subspace. Gadget used the time usefully, studying everything that could be scraped together about Martian cats.

— Interesting… — his voice came from behind a stack of ancient data crystals. — They didn’t always live under domes. Legends say that once Mars was greener, and they were free hunters. But then the atmosphere began to leave… and they went under the domes, hating the very idea of «unreliable nature».

— Hence their love for control and perfection, — Cheddar nodded. — I understand. Stealing perfect cheese for something of their own, an ideal plan… this is in their spirit.

— Hey, what’s this? — Spark, who was wandering around the ship from boredom, peeked into one of the boxes with «goods». She pulled out a strange object, like a medallion in the shape of a fish with a ruby eye. — Gadget, did you put this?

Gadget tore himself away from the screen. — No. This is not from our collection.

Shadow, like a shadow, appeared nearby. She took the medallion, touched it, smelled it. — Fresh trace. Nano-particles, like those hairs. But… it smells of fear.

— What? — Cheddar became alert.

— Whoever put this was in terror, — Shadow stated without emotion. — The medallion is warm. It was put recently. While we were at the Exchange.

A chilling silence reigned in the hold. Someone had been on their ship. Someone who smelled like Martian cats, but was mortally frightened. And left them… what? A warning? A trace? An invitation?

— Everyone on alert, — Cheddar said quietly. — Our mission just became more complicated. We not only have a target. We seem to have a secret patron. Or a provocateur.

The ship exited the last jump. In the porthole hung, like a rusty ball, Mars. And at its pole shone, like a diamond pin, the dome of the city «Alpha-Felis».

The «Cheese Hole» received shaky permission to land on the outer docking ring of the «Market of Quiet Paws». The procedure was humiliating: dozens of scans, cargo inspection (the cat customs officer snorted at the sight of the «artifacts»), fees and duties.

Finally, the airlock opened. A stream of sounds and smells poured onto the team. The hum of voices, meowing negotiations, the smell of ozonized air, fried fish, foreign spices and… something metallic, clean, lifeless.

They went out to the market square. It was not a chaotic bazaar, but a perfectly organized space under a low, glowing artificial sky. Stalls stood in even rows, goods were laid out with pedantic precision. And everywhere were CATS.

Tall, graceful, in simple but impeccably tailored clothes. Some flaunted natural fur of all shades of red, gray, black. Others — with fur shimmering, like that hair, with silver, bronze, emerald. Their eyes, large and bright, slid over the foreign guests with curiosity and slight contempt.

— I’ve never felt so… so rumpled and hairy at the same time, — Gadget whispered, pressing into Cheddar’s back.

— Hold on, — Cheddar hissed through his teeth, trying to look obsequious like a trader. — Break up. Shadow, go reconnaissance, look for rumors. Gadget, help me lay out this… uh… antiquity. Spark…

— I’ll watch the perimeter, — Spark said quickly, her paw already itching near the blaster.

— No. You will smile and invite buyers, — said Cheddar. — Your charisma… uh… fiery nature should attract attention.

Spark looked at him like he was crazy, but obeyed.

The first few hours were hard. Cats approached, looked at their junk with polite bewilderment and left without saying a word. Cheddar began to despair. The atmosphere was pressing. Everything was too clean, too quiet, too perfect.

And then a cat approached their stall. Not like the others. His fur was not groomed and shiny, but slightly ruffled. There was not arrogance in his eyes, but sharp, lively curiosity. He was young.

— Greetings, travelers, — he said. The voice was soft, without the usual cat arrogance. — Interesting… collection.

— Oh, a connoisseur! — Cheddar perked up, putting on the mask of a servile trader. — Look at this holographic projector! Pictures from lost Venus!

— The pictures are rusted, — the cat noted, squatting down. He took the fish medallion in his paws. And froze. His whiskers twitched. — From where… is this?

— Our… uh… goods, — Cheddar became alert.

The cat raised his eyes to him. The look was serious and smart. — No. This is not goods. This is a key. And it’s not yours. Someone threw it to you.

Cheddar felt goosebumps run down his spine. He exchanged a glance with Gadget. Shadow, watching from the balcony, froze.

— Who are you? — Cheddar asked quietly, dropping the mask.

— My name is Barsik, — the cat answered just as quietly. — And I seem to be the only one who is glad to see you here. Because you are looking for cheese. And I know who took it. And I know what they are going to do with it. And this… this is terrible.

He looked around and lowered his voice even more, almost to a whisper.

— If you want to know the truth, come today at 20:00 to the sector of abandoned ventilation shafts, level Delta. Come alone. And… be ready for anything. Your «trade» here is over. They are already watching you.

And, putting the medallion back, Barsik dissolved into the crowd as quickly as he appeared.

Cheddar, Gadget and Spark stood, digesting what was said. Above them, on the artificial sky of «Alpha-Felis», floated an advertising hologram — a huge, smiling cat face, advertising a new batch of synthetic salmon. The smile was unnaturally perfect.

Phase one, «penetration», had just ended. The phase of real danger was beginning.

Chapter 5: First Clash and Cat Language

The sector of abandoned ventilation shafts was located on the lower, almost unserviced level of «Alpha-Felis». The perfect order of the dome was replaced here by desolation: dim light, rusty pipes, quiet hiss of leaking air.

— Are you sure this is not a trap? — Gadget whispered, stumbling over some bolt. His «Sizer» was ready, but his paws were shaking.

— Everything that happens on Mars is a trap, — Shadow answered just as quietly, walking ahead with a silent gait. — But this cat… there was fear in his voice. Sincere.

— I liked him, — Spark said unexpectedly. — He has honest eyes. And cool whiskers.

Cheddar walked last, looking around. His «Ice Squall» was strapped to his belt, but his paw did not release the handle. — Silence, everyone. We are in territory where even the dust seems to report on us.

They came out to a small platform where there used to be a control node. Now only a skeleton remained from the console. And in the center, illuminated by a lone emergency lamp, sat Barsik. He was nervously licking his paw.

— You came, — he breathed out with relief. — And without tails. Good.

— We know how to be careful, — said Cheddar, taking a step forward. — Now speak. Who are you? And what do you know about the cheese?

— I am a third-level technician of the air recycling systems, — Barsik began. — And I… disagree with what our Council is doing, especially Count Meus. They stole your cheese not for food. They…

At that moment, a synchronous buzzing came from all tunnels. Red dots of target indicators flickered in the darkness.

— They found us! — Spark shouted, instantly taking a combat stance.

Three mechanisms on six limbs rolled out of the tunnels, resembling giant metal spiders with the inscription «MOUSE-TRAP-3000». Their optical sensors gleamed coldly.

— Stop! It’s not me! — Barsik shouted, but his voice was drowned in the roar of sirens.

The «Mouse-traps» extended shields and released nets made of titanium thread alloy. The first net flew at Gadget.

— Enlargement mode! — Gadget squealed and fired a pink beam at the net.

The net began to rapidly grow, its cells became the size of a hatch. It covered… the mouse-trap robot itself, tangling it in its own nets.

— Wow! — Gadget was surprised. — It worked!

— Don’t rejoice too early! — Spark shouted, dodging the tentacles of the second robot. She fired from «Hot Embrace», but the beam only left a black stripe on the shield. — Shields reflect thermal attacks!

— Then we need to cool it! — Cheddar aimed and fired a fan of ice particles not at the robot, but at the floor in front of it. An uneven, glittering wall of ice instantly rose up, blocking their path. The robot, stepping on it, slid and crashed into the wall.

The third robot was smarter. It fired not a net, but a stream of sticky foam. Shadow barely managed to jump aside, creating a hologram of herself in the old place. The foam covered the hologram, and the robot froze for a second, analyzing why the prey was not resisting.

— Now! All together! — Cheddar commanded.

He fired an ice beam at the robot’s shield, covering it with frost. Spark immediately struck the same place with her beam — a sharp temperature drop caused micro-cracks. Gadget enlarged the crack, and the shield cracked with a crash. Shadow at that moment created several holograms of robots, confusing its navigation system.

The robot spun in place, trying to understand where the real enemies were.

— And now the final chord! — Cheddar fired an ice beam at the floor under the robot. Ice shackled its limbs. — Spark, slight heating!

Spark carefully sent a weak stream of flame. The ice did not melt, but turned into steam, which got into the mechanisms. The robot crackled and froze.