Papa Mark's Faceoff Part 1

“Yo, man, get your f#cking hands off my boy! Are you crazy?” Mark lashed out at a Death Row Infantry-man while standing up from kneeling in front of his son. “Touch my boy again and I’m gonna break your f#cking hand! You need to back the f#ck up!” Mark shoved the soldier back while giving the man a murderous stare.

Lukas hugged his father in a tight embrace after watching him cuss at the soldier. The child wanted that warm moment back with his dad again, and he didn’t want to see his dad get upset. It comforted the little boy to feel his father’s hand caressing through his hair. A soft, resounding sentimental gasp came from the crowd of prisoners when Lukas hugged his dad. The sentimental gasping mostly came from women prisoners.

Irena became impatient while waiting for her selected prisoner to step into his robotic exoskeleton suit, which would help her prisoner fight against 2Pac. 2Pac was Princess Death Row’s robot. She modeled the machine after the late rap star. Princess Death Row made her way over to Mark and his son with her long flowing black dress dragging behind her.

“What’s going on over here?” There was a dead gentleness in Irena’s voice. She felt a slight breeze of affection come over her when she glanced down at Mark’s son. She tried to reach down to touch Lukas’ chin, but the boy moved away from her hand. “I won’t hurt you, baby,” Irena told the child, smiling down at him.

“He knows your reputation, lady. He knows you’re a killer,” Mark spoke to Irena while looking the woman straight in her eyes.

Irena giggled while shaking her head, “I’m not a killer. I’m just a businesswoman.”

“Yeah, a businesswoman who killed my boy’s mother. You fed her to those creatures and made me and my boy watch,” Mark snapped back at Irena. He became annoyed by the amused smirk she was giving him.

“Listen, honey, I know you’re still angry about what happened to your wife two years ago, but there are things in life you have to move on from. I am giving you your freedom if you win this fight. You and your child will be free. You need to focus,” Irena spoke to Mark like a football coach.

Mark wanted to do a few things to Irena, but the man kept his emotions in check. He rolled his eyes at her before putting his attention back on his son, giving the child a slight smile. Mark loved looking into his son’s eyes because it gave him hope. He could also see his wife through his son’s eyes, since his little boy shared his mother’s eyes.

“I promise, your papa is gonna win this fight for you. You’re my little Homie, and Papa isn't gonna let anything happen to you," Mark whispered down to Lukas, while stroking his hand down the side of his little boy’s face.

“I love you, papa,” Lukas uttered, wrapping his arms around his father after his father kneeled in front of him again. Lukas never looked up at Irena as he rested his chin on his father’s shoulder and closed his eyes. The little boy tightened his arms around his father, hoping it would keep his father there with him.

It was an impactful embrace, and Mark wanted to keep holding his son. He enjoyed the warmth of his son’s head resting against his shoulder.

“Alright, I’m coming! Just let me have a moment with my boy!” Mark barked at Irena after she placed her petite hand on his shoulder.

Irena smiled while watching Mark stand up after holding his son for three minutes. She took Mark by the hand and guided him over to a robotic exoskeleton suit he needed to put on.

“You must wear this robotic suit to fight 2Pac,” Irena told Mark. “The suit has a lot of unique features including Ghost Mode.” Irena pointed at a silvery button on the side of the robotic suit’s arm.

“What the f#ck is Ghost Mode?” Mark asked with a slight raspy irritation in his gravelly voice.

“Ghost Mode is a feature that will allow you to become untouchable, but only for five seconds,” Irena explained. “After pressing the button, the suit sends out a magnetic pulse that will disrupt the electrical charges between the atoms in your body, making you a spirit for only a few seconds. You’ll be able to walk through walls or walk through punches, but only for five seconds. And you’ll only be able to use the Ghost Mode feature twice.”

Mark listened to Irena explain the features while looking at the robotic suit’s innovative design. Mark thought the robotic exoskeleton suit looked like RoboCop, only without the cop inside the suit.

The suit had a metallic black texture with a helmet connected on top of it that covered half of the user’s face. There was also a red light bar on the eye part of the helmet that gave the suit its futuristic RoboCop similarities.

“You have a vector high energy machine gun that emerges from the suit’s left arm. You also have a tectonic laser sword that retracts out of the right arm of the suit. It’s kind of like a Star Wars lightsaber.” Irena giggled while trying to explain most of the suit’s features to Mark. Princess Death Row could see how Mark wasn’t fascinated by the suit he was about to put on, but she didn’t care.

“Is this sh#t already on, or what?” Mark asked after stepping into the heavily armored suit and looking around for a power button. Mark’s large muscular frame fitted into the dark metallic robotic suit easily. The man felt a little surprised that sitting inside the suit reminded him of sitting in the driver’s seat of a classic 1986 Porsche 959 that he once owned.

“Just lean your head back into the helmet part of the suit and the suit will activate,” Irena told Mark while folding her arms.

“Oh sh#t!” Mark shouted, and his body flinched when he leaned his head back into the helmet of the suit and watched as the robotic suit embraced his body like a mechanical coat. The lower part of his face and his wide neck were his only exposed body parts. Mark felt like the Marvel Comics hero Iron Man, and he became startled when he heard a computerized female voice speaking through the suit.

“Hello, my name is V. I am your assistant. You are now combat-ready. I checked the integrity of the suit and there are no system corruptions. All of your weapons are online and ready for operation.” The female robotic voice sounded natural.

Mark smirked a little as he walked around in the suit and admired how the heavy-duty robotic armor molded well with his colossal frame. Wearing the suit made Mark feel powerful. It made him feel confident about winning the fight against 2Pac. Mark used to be a software engineer, so he understood a little about the operating system that controlled the suit. Mark had his doubts, but he tried not to show it. He’d been in fights before, but not with a man that was a machine.

Mark had been in a lot of fights with guys at nightclubs and in prison when he was younger. But this was a different fighting experience for him. Even though Mark knew he was getting ready to fight a robotic 2Pac, he still felt he could win. He had to win this fight for his son.

Mark and 2Pac were now facing each other like two boxers in the ring. 2Pac and Mark were standing inside a room called a Virtual Materialization Simulator. The Virtual Materialization Simulator, or VMS, was a computer-operated room. The room could produce a realistic simulated environment using tiny 3D printer lasers built into the room’s ceiling and its four massive white walls.

A prisoner could choose what kind of environment they wanted to fight their robotic opponent in, and the room would produce that environment based on the prisoner’s choice. Mark wanted to fight 2Pac in a Miami nightclub setting. He watched as the tiny 3D laser printers inside the room’s walls built the inside of a dark massive nightclub with emerald-green flashing strobe lights and holographic 3D people, who were dancing around Mark and 2Pac to the beat of EDM fused with Latin hip-hop.

“Hey, Pac, you ready to get your ass kicked!?” Mark shouted across the way at 2Pac, who stood motionless with his muscular titanium alloy plated arms folded in front of him. “I know you can hear me! We don’t have to fight each other! Just because that lady built your ass doesn’t mean you have to always do what she tells you. You’re an intelligent robot. I know you can override those system files inside that metal, bullet-resistant skull of yours!” Mark spoke to the robotic 2Pac, and he received no response from the armor-skinned, bald, cybernetic man, who was shirtless, wearing sagging blue jeans.

2Pac also had a nose piercing in his left metallic nostril and a glistening gold chain with a crucifix hanging around his neck. The machine was a replica of 2Pac. Princess Death Row copied every detail. Mark breathed slowly when the robotic 2Pac raised his hands and adjusted the black bandana around his head. This was a systematic protocol that 2Pac would perform every time he would get ready for battle. It was written into his program files.

Mark had never seen technology so advanced and lifelike. He tried not to be impressed by 2Pac, but it was hard. It was hard not to be amazed by a metal man-made in the image of a dead rap star Mark admired growing up. He could see how the robotic 2Pac was much bigger and bulkier than the real 2Pac. He thought the robot looked like a chrome statue of the rap star. 2Pac’s eyes reminded Mark of Bi-xenon headlights on the front of a luxury car.

A cybernetic 2Pac was something Mark thought he’d never see in his lifetime. He never thought he’d have to battle a shirtless metal man who had tattoos engraved into his body. To Mark, 2Pac looked like a bad boy version of C-3PO from the Star Wars films. Mark heard the cybernetic 2Pac talk for the first time.

He knew it was time to fight when 2Pac opened his mouth and said to Mark through an eerie whispering digitized voice of the rapper–“It’s go time, motherf#cka.” This was another system protocol written into 2Pac’s program files.

Mark brought up his robotic suit’s ammunition blockers, which were two triangular-shaped energy blast proof shields. The two shields activated themselves and they arose out of both of the robotic suit’s arms. Mark tried to block the gunfire coming from two 3D printed handguns that 2Pac pulled out of two mechanized pockets that emerged from his abdomen. The battle began as a gunfight, and so far Mark held his own against 2Pac. He activated his nuclear-powered energy sub-machine gun and fired away at 2Pac.

The blast from the machine gun knocked 2Pac off his feet, but only for a moment. 2Pac’s body had minimal damage and his upgraded flexible nanobot armored skin held its integrity well.

Mark kept shooting even when 2Pac took off toward him at full speed and tackled him. Mark felt like a car hit him, but the robotic suit absorbed most of the inertia from the impact.

Now on his back, Mark had to put the armored suit to work, and he used it to block the reinforced, flexible titanium that covered 2Pac’s four knuckles. Mark tried to block every punch that 2Pac attempted to bring down on his half-exposed face. One punch from 2Pac slipped through. The metal man’s fist contacted the top part of the robotic suit’s hyper-alloy helmet. Mark had to get 2Pac off of him and he knew if the robot punched him in the face, he would break every bone in his jaw.