Robot Attack!

“I’ve got a plan!” Buster shouted with glee.

“Can it, Buster!” Keith said. “What kind of plan do you have that’s gonna get us out of this situation?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t hear you coming up with any ideas!” Buster shouted back. 

“He’s gotcha there, Cap.” Lindsey smiled. “What’s your plan, Bust?”

Buster’s eyes lit up with glee. “We go full on attack mode! I’m talking absolutely feral. Use everything we got to destroy those stupid robots.”

“Need I remind you that there are three of us, and 3,000 of them!” Keith shouted back.

“Well what else are we supposed to do!?” Buster said. “If we don’t take action soon they’ll find us.” He looked around at the desk the three were huddled underneath.

“How do we always end up in these situations,” Lindsey groaned as she slumped her head against her knees.

“We’ll find another way to escape without bringing attention to ourselves. We’ll be ultimate stealth!” Keith smiled.

“Ah, I see what you’re saying, Captain.” Lindsey smiled, “We’ll only take down one robot. And then we can all hide inside of it. Go undercover, I like it.”

“No!”

“Fine, we’ll take down three robots and then each have our own robot. Happy now?”

“Yes!” Buster said.

“Gah!” Keith shouted. “No. As team captain, I propose the plan. Lindsey, head over to that vent and see if you can get it open. We’ll crawl through the air shafts until we reach the west side of the building. There will be less robots over there since they know we’re on the north side. Then I’ll use my superhuman strength to break open the glass of the bullet proof window, and Buster will use his grappling hook to get us out of the building and to safety! Got it?”

“Yeah, but just one thing Captain,” Buster said. “You took my grappling hook from me and then LOST IT, REMEMBER!?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Lindsey shouted before Keith could reply. “The robots are getting closer. We have to move now.” Lindsey nimbly rolled from under the desk and to the vent. Stealthily and quietly she removed the vent’s cover, and motioned for the boys to follow her. Buster and Keith filed in, then Lindsey came in behind.

“Can’t you two crawl any faster?” Lindsey rolled her eyes.

“Don’t blame me! Blame Buster!” Keith said.

“I’m treading carefully! We don’t know if there are robots in the vents.” Buster said back.

“Oh please, there are no robots in the vents!”

“You don’t know that! Have you ever done this before? No, you haven’t. That’s what I thought.”

“Of course I’ve done this before, that’s why I’m the team captain!”

“Okay sure, you’ve done this before, but have you ever actually passed?”

“Buster gotcha again, Keith!” Lindsey teased.

“Shut up! Or I’m not letting you join next time!”

“Ugh! Rude! I’m telling Mom!”

“ROBOTS IN THE VENTS!” Buster screamed. Bang! Kapow! Boom! The three were dead.

“Game over!” Said a voice from the TV. The three siblings ripped off their VR headsets.

“I knew it! I knew there would be robots in the vents! It was too obvious!” Buster said as he pointed a finger at Keith.

“Okay fine, but did you have a better plan!?” Keith slapped down Buster’s finger.

“Yes! Attack! The game is literally called Robot Attack!”

“There are too many of them!” Keith shoved Buster, “I’ve tried attacking before! Why do you think I haven’t passed this level?”

Buster pushed back, “Maybe you haven’t beaten this level because you suck at the game! I should be team captain!”

Keith charged at his little brother. Buster screamed and started running away.

“Stop it idiots! Do you want to get us in trouble again?” Lindsey grabbed Keith’s arm and held him back from tackling Buster. 

“What was that screaming?” Their mom called from another room.

“Nothing Mom! Just the game!” Lindsey shouted back. She shot her two brothers a look. “I’m tired of having to corral you guys all the time. It’s a team heavy game, we’re not going to win unless we work together. So can you guys get over yourselves for two seconds?”

“Fine,” Keith mumbled as he put his VR set back on. His siblings did the same.

“Alright,” Buster said. “Last time we took the hallway to the north side of the building and ended up losing my grappling hook and getting stuck under a desk. So we shouldn’t go that way.”

“But the time before that we took the west hallway, got cornered, and fell down the trash shoot.” said Lindsey.

“Plus, there’s an item in the north hallway that we need.” Keith added.

“I’ve got a plan!” Buster said excitedly.

“Here we go again,” Keith rolled his eyes.

“Give him a chance.” Lindsey said as she jabbed him in the ribs.

“Lindsey and I can run towards the west hallway to distract the robots, while Keith can use my grappling hook to grab the special item!”

“That’s what I was trying to do the first time!” Keith said in frustration.

“But you didn’t tell us that, did you?” Lindsey said. “Just because you’re team captain or whatever doesn’t mean you can just expect us to read your mind. Plus, you didn’t have Buster’s idea of distracting the robots, did you?”

“. . . No,” mumbled Keith. 

“Alright. Let’s try it.” Lindsey said. Keith hit the start over button.

“Buster, pass it!” Keith shouted. Buster tossed him the grappling hook as the robots began to swarm. 

“Hide Keith!” Buster said as he and Lindsey dashed down the hall. Keith ducked under a table and watched as the robots ran after his siblings. Once they had passed he ran down the opposite hall and shot the grappling hook towards the glowing special item.

“I got it!” He shouted and smiled.

“What is it!?” Lindsey asked.

“It’s . . . 5 extra coins?”

“What!? That’s not special!” Buster said with disgust.

Alarms started blaring, alerting the robots to Keith’s presence. Bang! Bang! Dead.

“Game over!”

The three of them chucked off the VR sets again.

“Can we all agree this game is stupid?” Lindsey asked. Her brothers nodded in agreement. “Well, who wants pizza pockets?”

“Ooo! Me!” Buster smiled. 

“I’ll go heat some up.” Lindsey exited the room. Keith and Buster sat in silence for a moment.

“I’m sorry, Buster.” Keith said quietly. 

Buster shrugged. “It’s just a game.”

“Are we chill?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, we chill.” Buster smiled, and the two brothers exchanged a fist bump.