“ You don’t scare me,” Idi commented. He gripped his hands on the controls tightly, Dolorians didn’t perspire like Homeans did but if they could, his palms would have been thinly coated with sweat.

“ Good for you but why are you here? Declaring war on Home? ” Jessica asked.

Idi pointed at Jessica with an outstretched claw, “ I’m here for you. You don’t remember me but I had barely left the egg when you came and ruined my family’s life. My life,” Idi hissed.

 “I definitely don’t remember meeting you or your family. I do recall being on Doloria and getting captured…” Jessica’s voice trailed off, Idi’s voice was deep but it had a young vibe to it. He sounded like a wounded youth, baying for blood over what seemed to be nothing.

“ Yes, you were on my home. Then you wrecked an entire base!” Idi roared, charging forward and throwing a punch at Jessica.

She deftly deflected it with the back of her forearm and jabbed the mecha in what would have been the solar plexus, pushing him back.

“ That was not personal. They would have killed me if  didn’t escape,” Jessica said bluntly.

“ It felt personal to me. Every year we commemorate the Dolorians lost on that dark day.”

He charged forward, raising his leg and kicking her from the side. This time he applied more force , more than Jessica expected. She was flung to a large fifty storey building, shattering glass and concrete.

Jessica stood up, a layer of dust and debris coating her; it slipped off her as she stood up.That hurt more than she expected but she could feel her body’s healing factor kicking in already, healing what little damage she took.

“ My father lost his life that day. They blamed him for it, the whole fiasco. You may not value reputation much on your planet but on Doloria, a Dolorian with a bad reputation is a dead on.”

He threw a punch but Jessica stopped it with an elbow, deflecting and to his surprise, dented the metal armour plating. The AI alerted him to it. Idi chuckled, she was not as soft as he thought.

“Impressive, you are not as soft as you look,” he said through the mecha.

“ You do not have the hard scales of a Dolorian but I’ll admit you are tougher than you look.”

Idi pressed a button and from the knuckle joints of both hands, a pair of serrated claws emerged from each of them.

“ But even a diamond can be cut,” he grinned from the inside of the machine.

*******

Dawn watched the fight, her enhanced vision allowing her a clearer view than the rest who had to settle for footage from drones. Every station in the world was currently airing the fight between Jessica.

Dawn didn’t need that, her heart pulsing as she witnessed Jessica dodge a punch before headbutting the metal monster in it's head. A voice within cheered her mother on, she had no doubt Jessica would triumph over the bad guy; she had done it numerous times over the last two hundred years. Why would today be any different? From what she could tell, Jessica had the attacker on the ropes.

She found his claims odd, accusing Jessica of effectively murdering his father. She did not know much about Doloria, other than it being a world not under the rule of the Republic; one most people within it tended to avoid except those in the Outer Worlds and a lot of those were backwaters planets ruled by local crime lords. Not a place she ever intended to visit, those worlds were no place for someone like her.

“ Are you worried?” Graham asked from his perch on Dawn’s shoulder.

Dawn shook her head, smiling sweetly at Graham.

“ No, Mum usually wins these.”

“ Doesn’t mean you can’t be worried, right?” Graham replied.

“You’re right but she has fought worse than this and won.”

Lucky purred contentedly as he settled into a comfortable spot against Dawn’s neck. Graham chuckled, Lucky was always close to Dawn, close enough to fend off anyone he believed would try to take him from her.

“ I see someone is taking the battle well,” Graham commented.

“As long as he’s with me , Lucky thinks he’s well...plain lucky,” Dawn laughed.

“ You ever...tried to learn some moves from your mom?” Graham shifted topic, he had brought up the topic of Jessica teaching Dawn how to fight. Dawn had said no to the idea, the only person large enough to actually be a threat to her was her own mother and Dawn did not see that happening in the foreseeable future.

Her mother’s current performance in the fight. She could see the hardened, battle warrior side of her. She dodged blows easily, countering with ease. Dawn guessed her opponent would be down if he were made of flesh and blood but since he was made of metal, he kept going. Even so, she noted every move he made was laced with hesitance and when he did strike forward, it was parried easily by Jessica.

Dawn felt her heart swell with pride, it felt good to see her mother in action, even if it had to be under such life threatening circumstances.

*****

“Gah!” Idi winced as he felt the vibrations from the latest attack by Jessica. She had shoved him into what looked like an abandoned office building, sending him clean through and leaving him flat on his back.

He had grossly underestimated her, that he knew. Idi had done research, used simulations rooms to prepare for this but the real Jessica could not be replicated in some feeble hologram. No, he realised, she was truly a beast on the battlefield. .

Why then, had he not used the full power of the suit? Was it because he hoped to defeat her without putting in one hundred percent? Prove he was better than her? No, he realised, that he was hubris. Jessica was tougher than that and he needed to up his game.

As expected, Jessica leapt through the hole, landing feet first on his chest. She bent her knees just before impacting him, the momentum fracturing the ground around him, pushing him deeper inside.

All around him were alerts about damage to the chest armour, minor but if Jessica kept pounding at it, it would expose wiring and delicate parts his mecha could not function without.

“ You can come out of your suit any time, surrender. I don’t wish to kill you,” Jessica reminded him as she hauled him back up  on to his feet for another pounding. Idi decided he was done holding back, he’d do whatever it took to take down Jessica.

“ But I do,” he said while placing his hands on her face. Instantly, thousands of volts surged into Jessica, lighting up every nerve in her body. She screamed, literally shocked by this. Idi kept it up, letting the current burn and tear at each fibre in her body before kicking her in the gut, sending her flying through the hole she had previously made.

 “And I will, after they have their fun with you.”

Jessica landed on another building, sending it toppling to the ground, cratering it.

“ Ooooh..” she moaned, her body felt like it had been doused in oil and set alight. It hurt to move but she could still do so, albeit without feeling tingles in her body. She clutched her stomach, praying she had enough in her tank to defeat Idi.

She stood up, Idi still where he was but she spotted some people, huddling under some rubble. A mother and her child, a young boy,  Jessica observed.

“You...should not be here…” Jessica winced. She bent down and quickly lifted the debris off, setting it to the side of before coaxing them into her hand. She moved quickly , Idi would be on her soon enough.

Jessica stopped when she found a couple of Park agents, sifting through the rubble and left the two civilians with them. She thanked them briefly, before returning to look for Idi. It was risky to lose sight of him but she had no choice, those people were in need and she was her moral obligation to  assist them.

*******

“Systems charging,” the cool female AI notified Idi after the electrical discharge.

“Damn, guess it's fists until the thing’s back up. Who knew it would be so useful?” Idi chuckled to himself.

Idi had thought of charging through and he did, going over the wreckage of the buildings and streets. He was close enough to get the jump on Jessica but stopped when he saw with his own eyes, what had transpired. There was Jessica, helping the people of Home and that only brought a grin to him. For he had found a weakness, something to exploit. Facing an undistracted giantess was a Herculean task as it was but if he could keep Jessica’s mind in two places, this would be advantageous to him. Her compassion would be her weakness, he decided.

*******

 “ Ah, so you do care about others,” Idi’s metallic voice rang out. He was a couple hundred feet from Jessica, the rescue effort continuing about several hundred feet behind her.

Jessica turned around to find Idi standing there, his emotionless mecha visor unable to conceal the glee he was feeling.

 “ Of course, as anyone should,” Jessica stepped forward ,there wasn’t so much pain this time.

“ Do they worship you? Perhaps offer you some sort of service?”

Jessica shook her head, “No. That’s the beauty of it, you do it because it is the right thing. You don’t do it because of some reward. Do they not have that on Doloria?”

“We do but that’s irrelevant,” Idi pressed a button and the mecha’s right hand shapeshifted fluidly into an energy cannon.

He lifted it to aim at Jessica, she was primed to dodge but at the last minute he shifted his aim to the side and pulled the trigger.

“No!” Jessica leapt in front of the blast. The energy beam hit her square in the stomach, drawing a cry of anguish and pain. She was thrown back , landing barely feet from the closest civilian. There was a collective gasp from the crowd, both agents and civilians alike; the former urged the latter back. Many broke and ran, the agents unable to control it.

“ Where was that care and concern when you destroyed my home?” Idi strode, his mecha’s steps leaving imprints in the ground. He grabbed Jessica by her hair and pulled his fist back,  striking her hard in the face.A loud crack followed by more cries of pain came from Jessica who was starting to lose consciousness.

She flailed her arms about, trying to get a grip on Idi but he easily swatted those attempts aside, throwing a punch to her gut which knocked the wind out of her. She was now at his mercy, something he would not be generous with.

*********

“NO!” Dawn cried out, horrified by what she saw. Jessica was getting badly, at this point Dawn could tell her attacker was just dragging it out for pleasure. Every punch he threw at her was not a necessity but for recreation, he was treating her mother like a punching bag.

It hurt Dawn to see her so weak and vulnerable. Her muscles tensed as she witnessed Jessica hitting the ground, consciousness growing more distant as her vision darkened. She glared at the mechanical monstrosity standing over like a hunter after securing a kill, depraved and proud.

Her pupils grew wider as Jessica’s body twitched before shrinking, the giantess contracting in all directions, making the mecha look even more menacing than before. Her clothes kept pace with the shrinking, a neat feature installed in the suit.

When she was down to a more Amazonian size of eight feet, Idi picked her up and a small compartment in his leg opened up which he deposited the unconscious giantess in.

Graham turned to her, unsure of what to say. This was unheard of, Jessica to actually fail. In the history books she always triumphed over adversity, there was nothing she could not overcome; that was what most people thought.

“ I-I um…” Graham’s voice was shaking, what would this mysterious robot do next? Take over the planet? He could certainly do so now. A whimper from above alerted him to Dawn’s distress, but there was little do to console; short of taking down the robot that is.

Dawn looked around, she was starting to panic as thoughts of where this monster would go next. He wasn’t going to kill her, he was kidnapping her. Her gaze fell on some unnamed Park agents standing by the crowd, they were not rushing to aid her mother.

 “ Isn’t someone going to help my mom?” Dawn grew more worried with each passing second, surely someone would step up?

“ I don’t think they can,” Graham spoke up.

“Seems something is jamming the VSC’s teleport so most of the agents out on missions can’t help.”

“Then I’ll do it,” Dawn said impulsively. She could not sit by and watch her mother get taken away.  Picking up both Graham and Lucky using both hands, she set them down by George and Edmund.

“ Look after Lucky for me,” she instructed Graham before turning to Lucky.

“Lucky, wait here for me okay? I’ll be back,” Dawn patted him on the head with her enormous digit, Lucky tilting his head in response to the affection. Her eyes watered at the sight of her

Dawn hoped she would, she was no fighter but she could probably buy some time for the rest to get things sorted out. She had inherited her mother’s size, who knows what else Jessica had passed to her?

“ See you later Graham!” Dawn ran off, her long legs carrying her to what she hoped would not be her death. She had so much to see and do. Her thoughts drifted to Graham, she would have a word with him if she ever got out of this, about her feelings towards him. Her stomach felt light as she thought about him, how sweet he had been to her.

“Positive thoughts, Dawn, think positive,” Dawn repeated to herself as she ran towards the city.

Meanwhile, not a minute had gone before Lucky decided he would not want to stay with Graham but decided Dawn would be much better; even the threat of Idi could not dissuade him.

“ Lucky!” Graham cried out as the little reptile scampered away, tail wagging as he chased down Dawn. He got up to retrieve Lucky but felt a hand on his shoulder stopping him. It was George, as he soon discovered.

“No, just don’t. You’ll die if you get caught in between those two giants,” George cautioned him.

“ I-I...you have a point,” Graham realised as he sat back down. Lucky was not in his sight anymore but he could still see Dawn; running with great haste to a fight which was out of her league.