Meet The Steel Colosseum Robots: Insectoid

In the World of Steel Colosseum

Hanna tucked her hair behind her ear as she focused on the fight unfolding in front of her. Everyone knew she was the most stylish Operator, but she reckoned she was also the meanest. That’s why Insectoid was her favourite. Cruel, quick, and terminally dangerous. It took a firm operator’s hand to master the devilish robot. But once you knew how, you could make an unbeatable team.

She was facing off against Indira right now. Hanna had to admit her rival was fast, especially when she was operating Relay. But wicked trumps quick every time, and her sights were set on the former data-runner. The speedy robot was lapping the arena, taking potshots that were chipping away at Juggernaut’s heavy frame. Hanna sent Insectoid forward, grinning at the crowd’s reaction to the way its hideously jointed body seemed to flow across the wreckage and debris.

Suddenly, Juggernaut lurched forward. Hanna heard Indira cursing under her breath as she jinked the small robot aside, narrowly avoiding the deadly wrecker arms, then coming about to line up a one-two punch of its own. 

Insectoid didn’t give it a chance to strike. 

The creeping horror reared up behind Relay. Its saw-toothed blades glittered in the arena lights as they struck, stripping away a swathe of jagged plating amid a shower of sparks and oil.

Indira spun her robot to face its attacker, but Insectoid was already out of reach of any counterattack, writhing and undulating away like a massive centipede. Instead, she punched Relay’s matter translator. 

The lightweight robot was shunted across the arena with a clap of displaced air. The crowd applauded the scratch-built innovation, and even Hanna had to give a grudging nod. It was a good move… but one that she suspected would only work once. And if her rival was using her one-shot moves, it meant she was on the back foot. Every moment was only weakening Indira’s hand.

Insectoid wasted no time closing the distance again, but Indira still had a trick up her sleeve. She’d translated her robot onto a holographic activation node, and as the insectile monstrosity moved in for the kill, a flared device mounted on Relay’s shoulder came to life. 

There was a bright flash, and Hanna could feel the massive energy discharge even through the command pod’s armoured walls. She didn’t hesitate, tapping furiously at her control panel even as the crowd erupted into cheers. 

‘You seem pretty unbothered for someone whose robot just took a direct hit from a disintegrator.’ Indira said over the comm. 

‘So that’s what that was,’ Hanna replied coolly. ‘Pretty deadly. Although… I don’t hear the siren yet, do you?’ 

She could almost hear Indira frowning in confusion.

The cloud of steam and smoke in the arena was slowly clearing. Insectoid lay amid a tangle of debris, its limbs splayed at all angles. The crowd gasped as it twitched, its eye lenses lighting up… then juddered back into life, its joints jerking back into motion.

‘You built in a failsafe!’ Indira groaned, cycling through her control profiles in the hope of finding something she’d somehow missed. ‘What’s it going to take to swat that thing?’

‘More than you’ve got, I suspect,’ Hanna laughed.