Robin loaded and fired over and over, his shots causing devastating explosions but still the soldiers came; their great metal legs stomping in the mud, firing from their shoulder cannons and causing devastation to the newly built village in the trees.
The sheriff grinned as he swatted arrows aside with a giant arm, breaking into a jog towards the barrels where Robin and Marion took cover.
“Marion? We might be in trouble!” Robin exclaimed as the giant man charged towards his hiding place.
Marion ducked behind the barrel and looked at Robin, who was beginning to look a little worried.
“There’s too many! My gun is jammed!” Marion yelled, banging at her gun and tossing it aside.
“Run Marion! Now!!” Robin yelled, leaping out of hiding as the massive sheriff swung with a mighty paw. Marion ran, doing as Robin had asked leaving Robin to take the full force of the blow to his chin. Robin flew backward, smashing into a tree as the sheriff stood over him leering.
“Oh how I’ve waited for this!” The sheriff barked, seizing Robin by the chest and lifting him up so he was face to face with the tiny man.
Robin coughed up some blood, spitting it right in the sheriff’s masked face. The sheriff ripped off Robin’s hood and ski mask looking into his eyes.
“Weak. Puny. Man. What did you hope to accomplish by making such a miserable name for yourself? You are not a hero! YOU ARE AN INSUFFERABLE THIEF,” The sheriff said, tossing Robin hard against a tree.
Robin cried out in pain, coughing up more blood as the massive man laughed, kicking him while he was down.
“I won’t kill you, Robin of Loxley. I’m going to take everything from you! Your home... your friends and your pretty lady. Then, when you have lost everything... watched your whole world fall apart... only then, may you BEG ME to die,” The sheriff went on.
Robin's face filled with rage.
“NOOOOOOOOO!” he screamed, raising his bow in bloody fingers. The sheriff snatched the bow out of his hands, snapping it in two and tossing it aside before punching Robin square in the face, knocking him out cold.
The sheriff turned to one of the robot soldiers, whose eyes glowed a fierce red.
“Search the forest! Find the others! Bring the woman to me! Kill the others!” The sheriff shouted in a deep voice.
“Yes sir!” The robot commando replied in an electronic voice as he saluted the sheriff and marched off to join his fellow soldiers.
The sheriff stood in a bear trap device which closed on his leg. He roared in agony, ripping the jaws of the trap apart and tossing it aside. Microscopic nano bots got to work on his wound, crawling out of his wounded leg and stitching the wound together in moments. The sheriff roared out to his soldiers.
“AND GET RID OF THESE PATHETIC TRAPS!” he screamed.
*****
Ranger fired arrows from his bow as he led Robin’s men to the entrance of the bunker. Robots exploded all around them as he and Will Scarlet fired arrow after arrow into the oncoming wave of metal soldiers. Will pointed at the tank that was approaching from the north.
“We aren’t going to last two minutes unless we do something about that tank!” Will yelled and Ranger nodded in agreement.
“I’ve got the tank! You get these men into the bunker and close the hatch! They’ll be safe inside! Go!” Ranger yelled, running towards the tank, darting right and left to avoid incoming laser fire.
Will watched him run off to the tank, admiring the man’s bravado. He could see why he and Robin had become friends – they were both completely insane. He returned his attention to the men, many of whom were injured, ushering them onward towards the bunker hatch.
Ranger ran through the trees, bow in his hand. He approached the massive tank that was rolling towards him, crashing through the trees in its path. He removed a sticky bomb from his bag, activating it. He ran at the tank, rolling out of its way as it fired over and over, leaping upward onto the tank. He tossed the sticky bomb onto the metal armoured body of the tank, the bomb sticking to the shell of the metal beast. Ranger leaped off the tank, rolling into the bushes of the forest. He got to his feet and ran as the tank exploded behind him.
Ranger sat up in the grass, a smile creeping across his dark face as a giant hand grabbed him by the neck from behind. It was the sheriff, and he pulled Ranger close to his face so he could peer into his red eyes.
“Oh my God,” Ranger said, choking as the sheriff tightened his grip around the ranger’s neck.
“That was foolish... and pointless," the sheriff said, squeezing the ranger's neck. Bones cracked as Ranger gasped for air and the life was strangled out of him. The sheriff tossed the man’s lifeless body aside.
The beastly sheriff watched as the metal shell of the tank burned, fury burning in his eyes. The woman... Marion. He had to find her.
*****
Marion Hood ran, her green garments filthy with ash and dirt, her green hood pulled over her face. She was worried about Robin, she had no weapon and she was running for her life.
She spotted a team of metal soldiers just ahead of her
