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Post by CMPunkCMPunk on Mar 3, 2018 3:03:49 GMT -5
Imagine how dumb I felt when I realized the sample says 'Trip Start' and not 'Let's Start'
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Post by Vitsheep on Mar 3, 2018 4:01:40 GMT -5
Oh... Mindless stabbing... Always tempting.
I feel like the 1st one will get us table-turned and smashed.
The 4th one.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2018 14:08:10 GMT -5
Kinda of want to do my name is Logan and now is the time to Pick a God and Pray.
Should we bluff confidence like we have an advantage?
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Post by CMPunkCMPunk on Mar 8, 2018 1:09:53 GMT -5
Newark's East Ward, surrounded by potentially full buildings, W-E vs Unknown Glorft Unit
Logan was feeling pretty good about the encounter so far, having negated the advantage of size by mounting the opponent while it was still laid out. However, outright execution of the very first Glorft that the United Arms had ever made contact with seemed somewhat crude. Forgoing the tactical advantage somewhat, he answered the hail that he'd gotten within the alloted time. Since there was barely a moment to take a breath, he wasn't as composed as he would have preferred to be. Still, he spoke as steadily (and as lacking in the bare-faced aggression that he would have liked to express) as possible. Like a diplomat.
“Ambassador Logan. Stand down, I can't let you destroy this building.” Even as the words left his mouth, he felt self-conscious about them. Asking someone he had just done the equivalent of a sucker-punch on to stand down while draped across their chest with a sword... Was kind of obnoxious.
Thankfully, that seemed to at least get some kind of a reaction out of the antagonistic alien. “You have quite some nerve, Ambassador.” Sounding somewhat amused, but still, oddly enough, speaking English. “But the target will be destroyed.”
Instantly, Logan responded in as deep of a voice as he could without sounding stupid. “That's unacceptable. Unless this is a military target disguised as a damn apartment building, I really, really need you to stand down.”
Now, the alien sounded annoyed. “I will not 'stand down'! You will stand down!”
“Maybe you don't understand the situation you're in. Unless your design isn't as obvious as it looks, all I have to do is bring my laser sword down onto your head and the threat you pose is neutralized. Why are you even screwing with this random apartment building in Newark, New Jersey?!” It all seemed off as fuck to Logan, and he wasn't particularly enjoying this little chat.
“The bigger the threat we pose, the more likely the Fat One is to engage! Our conflict with Megas has nothing to do with you, so stand down!” The alien's voice was sounding increasingly aggressive as well, and he added, “I will use these rockets, and blow your cockpit to pieces just as easily!”
“My mecha doesn't even have a head! Stand down, and you will be treated fairly.” Logan tried to come across a little compassionately, even though the situation was growing more awkward by the second.
“I will be treated very fairly, as I have no reason to be afraid of you! Stand down, incursor!” The machine, still on its back, adjusted the angle of the square rocket arrays it had above each shoulder.
“I've already blown three holes in your chassis! If you stand down it won't be four!”
“Those were nothing! These will blow you sky high if you don't stand down!”
“Okay, this isn't getting us anywhere, so I need you to identify yourself as well as stand down!”
“I may be a mere Shock Trooper, but Gloo will not be your prisoner today! Instead, I will make you stand down!”
“Look, just stand down! This is stupid as heck and I've clearly already won the fight.”
“You have done nothing... of... the... sortie!” Sounding wicked as he said the last word, Shock Trooper Gloo's sentence was accompanied by a series of whirring sounds. Naturally, they weren't unaccompanied. The Wonderchild's cameras detected another unit of a very similar make, a bit down the road from them. And then another, and another. There were Glorft units on the roads around them as well as atop buildings, and the way they were splayed out made it difficult to assess their numbers. Logan was surrounded by these nasty green and grey boxes of armor and weaponry, and that was no lie. But they absolutely weren't there before, nor were they storming the area. No, these guys were obviously de-cloaking. “Stand down!”
For the first time, Logan actually considered it.
Choice Time!
>Logan acquiesced and stood down. This was bad as hell, as his robot was strong but he had no clue what the Glorft's offensive capabilities really were and how they'd affect the W-E.
>Absolutely not! Logan went full bore, assaulting everything he could in range, and trying to stay alive! If necessary, he would even use his bracelet and start really kicking ass. Of course, he would start by finishing off Gloo before getting to his shock trooper friends.
>Logan started talking as fast and as well as he could, trying to salvage the encounter socially.
>Run rabbit run! Logan whipped those thruster controls as quickly as he could, and made his best effort to retreat! Clearly this was a conflict established before he even got to Newark!
>Free Choice
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Post by CMPunkCMPunk on Mar 8, 2018 1:10:19 GMT -5
I would have posted sooner, but I was waiting to see if anyone would vote.
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Post by Vitsheep on Mar 8, 2018 5:45:42 GMT -5
Ah-ha! They've revealed themselves! Now that we have the upper hand, it's time to strike!
The second one!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2018 7:59:23 GMT -5
Now is it time to pick a god and pray.
Yeah second one
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Post by CMPunkCMPunk on Mar 14, 2018 2:49:13 GMT -5
Ambassador Logan (W-E Wonderchild) vs Glorft Shock Troopers (numerous unidentified Glorft units)
Okay, to be fair, that was way more units than Logan had been expecting to engage when he heard the reports of a single Glorft unit attacking. Thanking the Arms for their huge array of cameras that they'd installed all over his mecha, he tried to make some kind of estimate as to how many Glorft there were. No less than ten, that was certain. Even as anxiety started to build up as he considered how little he knew about these enemies and their weapons, he took as deep a breath as he could and stabbed into the mecha's head with as much speed as his giant robot's arm could muster. Thankfully, that wasn't just fast, it was near instantaneous, and as successful as he could have hoped. It went straight in, and based on the unintelligible scream he heard before the feed cut out, that was the end of the initial assailant.
Trip Start Again / 1-2 1-2-3-4
Ignoring the fact that he'd killed an intelligent lifeform, Logan made the Wonderchild scramble to its feet and tried to identify who was aiming at him. The answer, frustratingly enough? Just about all of them. A thunderstorm had begun in Newark, made up of the percussive accompaniment of gatling arms winding up all around the area, and Logan's throat caught for just a moment. Instead of freezing up like he was Shinji Ikari or someone equally lacking in fighting spirit, Logan charged to the left of him, taking on the nearest enemy unit in as frantic of an engagement as he'd done lately! Forgoing both accuracy and precision, he placed both of his robot's hands on the beam saber and cut repeatedly as his mecha's steps joined the sounds of combat. Swinging those flexible mechanical arms as fast as he could may not have been the most effective strategy, but the slashes left deep gashes in the unnamed, unidentifed Glorft mech as he passed by it. Yes, that was the goal – to get behind it with natural speed, and use the disparity in size as an advantage! This was possible with as mighty of a leap as he could accomplish, performing a brief thruster burst at the apex! Soaring through the air and getting pelleted by a few ballistic projectiles in the process, the Ambassador let go of the saber with one hand and grabbed onto the back of the target!
“Additional incom-” Adam tried to announce another hailing, but it began before the interface could finish.
“Get off me, incursor!” Another Glorft, presumably.
“Sorry, but no! I'll slit your throat- I'll slit your mecha's- No, I'll chop your robot's head off! Tell your guys to stop firing immediately!” He was on a little bit of a tear, and had gotten far past civil diplomacy.
“Die, incursor!” said the squishy sounding alien inside the robot he'd latched onto. Once that was out on the table, he began moving down the street slowly, carrying Logan for a ride!
This wasn't quite what Logan had planned, and he smacked the controls to power up the good old triad cannons as best as he could. Still, that thunderstorm of bullets hadn't stopped, and both he and his new unwilling piggyback pal were getting lit up!
“Adam, integrity status please!” shouted the sweating grey-haired human being as he started sawing off the cockpit of the big fat obnoxious green pile of armor and guns attached to him.
“Bulletproof Vest integrity remains excellent, sporadic damage incurred to extremities.”
“Do it, you fools! Blow us both to bits!” shouted the obviously unhinged, deeper-voiced Glorft that Logan was trying to remove the head from.
Frustratingly, as he succeeded in his impromptu mechanical decapitation, numerous rockets began bearing down on him and his second kill of the fight! The nameless shock trooper's request was satisfied, and the sensation of worry began to overwhelm Logan as he felt the impact of multiple small missiles making contact with multiple spots on his Action Frame. Yes, they were built to withstand explosives, that was a basic requirement since they often had fought against tanks, artillery and even human dissidents on foot carrying RPGs in the past. However, the Glorft mecha each had their own decent stock of ammunition, carried on each shoulder right in the launchers that fired these new nuisances. Not exactly the kind of thing he had been planning on fighting all on his lonesome, with no other AFs to back him up or cover his buns.
Yeah Yeah, Everybody! Do you love me, do you~
The only saving grace of his situation nearby to where the fool had carried him was a pair of Glorft, each in their mecha atop a building across the street from one another. Rather than falling to the ground and losing his vertical positioning, Logan did the best thing he could – jump from the now-falling defunct unit he'd been piggyback riding on, and activating his thrusters yet again to propel him towards one of the two. As he briefly traveled through the air with enough speed and change in direction that few rockets hit him, the Wonderchild was made to stash the beam saber at its hip once again. After that, but before making it to where he was headed, Logan finally opened up the segmented ring that made up his chunky, but awesome bracelet. As expected, the pieces instantly splayed out, rotating around the W-E's left wrist without remaining in physical contact. Just before landing, he used his hand that would normally be on the beam saber to spin the bracelet as he had been instructed. A brazen humming much like the one currently resonating in the Triad Cannons began, and was transformed into a high pitched whine as Logan landed on the aforementioned multi-story building. The reason for that? Simple, he fired an impressively bright, but relatively small blast of concentrated white energy straight into the face of the Glorft. Yes, it had previously been firing from the high ground, and was just then shooting rockets at him on even ground, but Logan had quickly turned into a desperate man. As a result, even though the rockets were direct hits (to his legs, no less), his attack was enough to make the foe's head-cockpit not only stop functioning, but explode entirely! This was almost enough of a distraction to make Logan forget about the unit across the street, nor any of the others who were moving into position to take aim at him.
Testing his legs to make sure they still worked at all (they did) and whether they were fully functional (they weren't), Logan aimed his robot's chest as best he could, and whispered quietly. “Don't miss, please.”
The array of Triads fired its similarly colored white energy, but unlike the bracelet, this energy was far less focused, and far more distributed! This attack was a sight to behold, sailing straight over the street in between the two buildings, as all three major arcs made direct contact with the upper chest and head of the killer shock trooper's tower of metal. Based on the fact that it stopped firing, Logan had to assume that either he'd killed the guy inside (it looked quite ripped open), the controls had been stopped, or the trooper inside had suddenly become a pacifist. None of these gave him any comfort as he realized the truth of the fight even before he was told of it.
“Sir, power levels dropping quickly. Usage of technologies including the 'Triad Cannon' and vernier thrusters is battery-heavy, and you have applied both-”
“A lot, I know!” Logan's voice came out high and somewhat fearful, whilst the thunder and rain of bullets filled the Jersey air once again. There were still clearly many Glorft around, and even if he used the beam saber and bracelet exclusively (as both had their own batteries), he knew that the odds of him killing them all before the Wonderchild was blown up were slimmer than Jim.
But he didn't need to – another heavy ass looking mecha was stomping down the road towards them, and this one was very obviously not affiliated with the Glorft. Well, actually it had a little bit of a similar design. Very similar, in fact – but much sleeker and more balanced looking. It was equally blocky, though abetted by the color scheme – bold, badass blue, with hot rod style flames painted onto its limbs! Logan's heart missed a beat as he realized that the mecha charging in had a human car on top , as well. Was that it's head? Whatever it was, the entire machine was incredible, and it was coming in fast! Instead of using a gun arm like the other dogs in the fight, this one actively ran up behind one of the Glorft shooting Logan, wrapped its arms around it, and suplexed it into the ground! The poor thing was rendered into scrap from this moment, and that was the time in which his hopes were confirmed. This had to be The Megas! “They're here!” Logan said, as joyously as he could thanks to the Glorft no longer targeting him.
Choice Time!
>Keep fighting! With some help, Logan was sure he could turn the tables.
>Try to stay out of it! This was the fight that the Glorft had come for, clearly.
>Try to contact The Megas, whoever they are in there, and see what's going on!
>Free Choice
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Post by Vitsheep on Mar 14, 2018 3:16:56 GMT -5
We don't need to do anything at this point.
Keep fighting anyway.
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Loop_Stratos
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Post by Loop_Stratos on Mar 17, 2018 10:02:43 GMT -5
Keep fighting.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2018 10:16:09 GMT -5
Contact the Megas.
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Post by CMPunkCMPunk on Mar 24, 2018 1:14:01 GMT -5
Logan and 'The Megas' vs Glorft Shock Troopers
The local mecha had bestowed one hell of a boon upon the besieged pilot, and that wasn't something that a magnanimous guy like Logan was likely to take lightly. Yes, in mere moments he went from being hit by numerous streams of continuous, if not well-tracked projectiles, all the way to being ignored entirely. Not instantaneously – the Glorft took an irregular amount of time to turn away from him, confirming that they were without question actively controlled units and not some strange AI or automaton. The Ambassador finally had a chance to breathe and look around properly instead of scrambling for cover, or toward a target. Instead, he gave the old college try to sussing out what exactly was going on with the bearer of his reprieve. That, in turn, amounted to looking over the side of the building and hoping that it wouldn't suddenly give, dropping him into whatever the structure he was atop actually was. Oddly enough, they hadn't initiated the rain of bullets and bombs strategy on the blue-and-fire painted mecha. Logan searched for any particular reason why that was, and noted that it was making gestures with its arms and fingers. It definitely wasn't American Sign Language, which the grey-haired guy would have recognized even though he only knew how to say hello in. No, it was a passionate sort of pointing and arm-swinging that he could only assume was being accompanied by some kind of speech or conversation going on that he wasn't privy too. Most likely direct communications like the Glorft had initiated with him, was the assumption.
Ultimately, the rock and roll-looking local concluded whatever contact he was having with the well-known 'sign of the horns' hand signal, before diving in once again! It really was a dive of some kind, as another Glorft was totally crunched by a strange melee technique The Megas had chosen – a strange strike involving smashing the robot's elbow down onto whatever sensitive parts could be targeted. Naturally, the ones Logan had come to identify as shock troopers started firing their projectiles at the elbow dropper, and so it was that the Ambassador made the decision to keep fighting. There were a few of these macho, spiky dudes to choose from, but he ended up picking one that was standing on the street corner nearby. As he saw the unit he regarded as a new possible ally literally start punching rockets out of the air and charge from robot to robot, he knew he needed to try doing the same. As boldly as he could, he jumped (ungracefully, thanks to the damage his legs had taken) to the ground, finally smashing the ground a bit. This took the aforementioned unit by surprise, and the W-E drew the beam saber once more! First a single horizontal slash, then a vertical one, and then a ton of additional cuts followed up – an absolute frenzy of bright white energy slicing the target! Speaking of which, despite the fact that its front was being cut to pieces, with big sparking chunks coming out, the Glorft was making a surprising move of its own. In lieu of firing on Logan at such close range, it actively started bashing his sword arm with the gatling gun on its right arm! Sure, it wasn't as impressive as the UA-developed blade Logan wielded, but considering that he'd been opened up by a bunch of rockets and traditional ammunition, it did quite a number on the relatively unarmored limb.
Thankfully, that didn't matter – the unit had lost too many large chunks of its body to Logan's cut-cut-cutting, and had already stopped moving following a variety of minor explosions. Assessing the situation once again, Logan identified that the other anti-Glorft robot was now about a block away, slamming a pair of the alien mecha into a nearby office building. Repeatedly. By one of their legs each. Logan briefly raised his eyebrows at the violent display, before he felt the telltale rattle of being shot at. Having just turned the corner from them, yet another snot-green mech presented itself and began peppering the Wonderchild fairly indiscriminately.
“How smart. Well, I guess he didn't see me cut his buddy to ribbons...” Logan said this as he charged forward with the last bit of vernier thrust that he could safely use.
However, when he arrived within striking distance of the shooter and tried pulling the same slicery that he had previously, the arm he used to cut finally went out on him. Sure, it kind of responded to his handle use, but it definitely wasn't going to do the kind of work he needed it to. Cursing the Glorft silently for doing such harm to his robot, he instead opened up the bracelet and tried something extreme. Instead of spinning it by hand, he swung the left arm across the foe's chest, getting just enough momentum to get it to rotate and build up another blast of white energy! This was naturally brought back around and fired just as the opponent started trying to maneuver himself out of the way for more shooting. It was a complete success, triggering explosions in the head and chest as it fired straight through! Amazed as anyone that his desperate move worked, Logan checked around once more.
Well, he had been able to tell from brief glances and the sheer sound of destruction, but there were mangled and wrecked Glorft robots everywhere. Tons of them, to the extent that Logan couldn't even find any other to target. The last active machine he could find was having a rather large missile shoved up its hind quarters by the car-headed combatant, which took almost no time to explode and send metal everywhere. Overall, it was clear that between the two of them, there were no additional robots to fight! They'd done it! To give credit where credit is due, the pimped-out, super awesome killer robot had beaten far more enemies, but as Logan looked around, he was kind of shocked. Between scrap from the robots and their mini-explosions, general damage to the road, sidewalks and nearby buildings, the entire place was something of a mess. Still, he felt a sense of accomplishment when looking on his mecha's camera located on the side which faced the apartment building at that moment – it was still standing, even if a few smaller, unidentified buildings nearly weren't.
“Adam, this thing has a car on it. See if we can start communicating over radio or something.” As he said this, he half-limped his damaged machine over to where the robot that had helped him. The W-E's activity wasn't lost on it, and the New Jersey mecha began to bridge the gap between them on foot as well.
“Hello, members of The Megas! You can hear me, I hope? Please confirm if this is possible.” Logan spoke as graciously as he could, since they'd done one heckuva good turn for him.
“-dy there? Anybody there? Anybody-” The question came repeatedly amongst a sea of static as Adam and someone inside the head-car tried to get on the same frequency.
“Yes, I can hear you! This is me inside the gray robot!” Logan smiled, satisfied that their tech was able to talk.
“And we're in the big blue boy! Sick, bro, I saw you kickin' some tail! What's that guy called, the Headless Swordsman?” Sounded like a pretty 'dude' kind of a person on the other side, based on the voice.
“Nope, this is the Wonderchild. The W-E Wonderchild. And yours is...”
“Megas! Megas XLR – Xtra Large Rocker! Courtesy of the Glorft and my many talents!”
“It impressed me, certainly. I only got six units, but you took down a bunch. Hey, sorry about the area. I guess maybe if I hadn't initiated so early, you might have come and stopped some of it.” Logan was glad he couldn't be seen as he said this.
“Dude, this is nothing! You should see the number those tentacled suckers and I do on the place in some of our other fights! We're talkin' boom city!” Somehow, this guy on the radio sounded enthused about the violence.
“Well, I, uh... Yeah. So, you usually protect Newark, or do you travel a lot?” Logan figured some information would help.
“Oh, we go all kinds of places. I've even been to space. Space, bro!”
“He's lying. Most of our time is spent on his couch.” Another voice, this a little less 'bro' and a little more... something, came through.
“I'm sorry, I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Ambassador Logan, United Arms. Kind of here to help and stuff. Hopefully Newark'll be a little safer while we're both here.”
“Dude, I'm not so sure about that. Those Glorft egg suckers pretty much just want Megas. I think they could give a damn what happens to the city, unless they can use it to get to this guy. It's okay, though. We smash, and they rebuild. It's pretty fun, really! Keeps em on their toes, makes lots of jobs.” Pausing for a moment as he offered his robot's hand, he identified himself as well. “I'm Coop. Just, uh, Coop.” Ah, Coop. Not The Megas, as the Ambassador had wrongly assumed.
Choice Time!
>”Dude, I'm just Logan! One word names are sick as hell!” Logan finally felt like he'd encountered someone he could really work with. A true bro, concerned with kicking ass more than walking on eggshells. Logan made the W-E give Megas a killer fistbump!
>”Good to meet you and possibly work together, Coop! Hopefully the UA and whoever you're with can have a long and healthy relationship!” Logan was glad this possible professional ally was friendly, even if he seemed a little off at first examination. He directed the W-E to high five Megas XLR.
>”That's, uh... A little insensitive, isn't it? I mean, isn't it possible there were casualties today?” Logan wasn't sure about how flippant this Coop person was sounding, and wanted to see if that was how he really felt. Still, he shook the other robot's hand politely.
>”Well, it's good to know you. Take care, okay?” Logan had a wicked bad feeling about this whole situation, and really did not want to get involved in any feud between aliens and this bro from New Jersey.
>Free Choice
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Post by Loop_Stratos on Mar 25, 2018 11:17:21 GMT -5
Second choice.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2018 22:04:51 GMT -5
Brodaouis high five with our mechs??
Of course the second choice.
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Post by CMPunkCMPunk on Mar 29, 2018 5:33:28 GMT -5
Post-Battle, Newark NJ (Evening)
It was dark enough that any streetlights that remained standing (a decent few) finally turned on. In their partially flickering light, Logan met Megas' hand with a satisfying high five. Medium five for the significantly taller Megas, that was. Even with the disparity in full effect, it felt great to interact mech-to-mech in a positive way, which Logan didn't get to do as often as he'd have liked. Enjoying the interaction immensely, he felt he was well on his way to making Megas a fine partner to him and his.
”Good to meet you and possibly work together, Coop! Hopefully the UA and whoever you're with can have a long and healthy relationship!” As he spoke, he presented his best face, despite the intensity of the situation having him sweating a little and the grim truth that his mech had gotten damaged somewhat badly. Since he wasn't sending video feed between himself and the car that presumably held Coop and the mysterious voice.
“Bro, we totally will! Anyone that-”
“-stop it! You – do not touch me. You – stop trying to take this back.” Female voice this time, in direct contrast to the laid back sounding Coop. “Ambassador, I apologize for these two primitives. They don't know any better. You're from the Earth we switched to, right?”
“Yeah, we've been doing our best to get everyone up to speed. How much do you know?”
“I know this isn't the Earth I originally landed on. And that the 'brilliant' pilot you were speaking to doesn't think it's 'a big deal'.”
“Hey, New Jersey seems to be the same. Megas still works. The Glorft are still up in space I think. Seems like a lot-”
“Please don't do that again, I'm trying to talk with someone who knows something. Ambassador, it's late, but can we meet in person to go into greater detail?” The voice still hadn't identified itself.
Choice Time!
>Log-
Alas, no. Catching himself before he seriously considered what to say, Logan realized that his mecha's battery was at dangerous levels. “Yes, but I have to get this thing to a safe location where it can recharge. We'll figure it out in the next couple days. Sorry, your name?”
“Kiva of-” The answer was punctuated with a sigh “Earth, I guess.”
“Alright. Well, Coop, Kiva, and-”
“Jamie! The best guy in the car!”
“Jamie. I'm sure we'll meet again soon.” That was almost assured.
Hotel Indigo Newark Downtown
Pulling out the keycard and opening up the door to his rented hotel room, Logan was glad to see that the lights and TV were on. It had taken a while for him to get home after the fight, and he'd wondered if Sonya might have hit the sack before he had. Thankfully, she was sitting in the fairly large (and only) bed, and was watching what seemed to be a documentary. The room was as average as any of the ones he'd rented in his travels, but maybe a little nicer since it was a hotel and not a motel. Even with the mental fatigue of having fought taking hold, he felt a second wind as he entered and waved at his friend.
"Hey bae. Enjoying some leftover cheesesteak while you absorb some knowledge?" He quickly joined her on the bed, placing his hand on her leg.
"Knowledge, yes. But this was yours. I already polished off mine earlier." She showed no remorse for this, munching at it pleasantly.
"I hate you, Sonya." Meh, he didn't need the calories. It would have been delicious, though.
"Watch this. It'll fill your empty brain with some relevant info." She pointed at what she was watching.
On the average television screen in front of them, a program narrated by a familiar sounding British guy was displaying a man working with machine parts with a team that was taking direction from him.
“The day Assane and the others have waited for is here,” said the narrator. As footage of a building-sized mechanical spider of sorts came onscreen, Logan's eyes widened a little. Was this an actual mecha? An exchange of glances with the engineer next to him confirmed exactly that, and his interest ramped up. Snatching the last bite of delicious sandwich from her and cramming it into his mouth before she could wrestle it back from him, Logan watched some of the employees literally praying for its success. It was good news for them, then, that the machine seemed to perform excellently, narrating varied terrain that had been prepared for it. “Araignée has performed masterfully, exceeding all expectations and surprising even its benefactor with its complete functionality. Finally, the team has achieved a complete product.” This statement is followed by a more ominous one, accompanied by several closeups of the red-colored mecha as it stands still on its many legs. “Despite our camera crew's unprecedented access to the project, no footage of its weapons systems in use may be released. Until its deployment, the true power Fatima and her beloved arachnid wield will remain a mystery. For Senegal, their accomplishments will surely remain a source of pride for years to come.” The documentary ended with shots of the project's workers smiling elatedly, finally landing on the pilot – a dark-skinned young woman with piercing eyes and a cool looking pilot suit, as she exited the entry point atop the vehicle.
“So, what's the deal? Is this a new eruption or something from the EDF's Earth or something?” Logan wished he hadn't missed the context.
“Basically, this guy from Senegal went overseas, got rich, came back, and started a grassroots project to make a mecha for his daughter to pilot.”
“Rich people do grassroots things?” Logan asked, incredulously.
“I mean, I don't think he funded it all himself. Making a giant robot from scratch is a hell of a project, and they showed a lot about how they developed it. People from all walks of life ended up contributing, it was really pretty inspirational.” Sonya seemed genuinely impressed, and Logan had to admit that he was also.
“Maybe I'll get to meet them some day. I kind of like how it's on a bunch of legs and not just two.” Logan imagined going into battle alongside Araignée, but mostly just running alongside it in the Wonderchild since he had no clue how it attacked. However, as it was over, and now ads for another show on the network had come on, he focused his attention on the girl he enjoyed spending his time with. “Sony... Have I told you how comforting it is to have someone to come home to after a tough fight?” He intertwined his hand with hers.
Sonya stared at Logan for a moment before softening up and smiling. “Yeah, it's been pretty special.” She waited another moment before saying, “I mean, I definitely want to be more than just a warm body to comfort you, though.” Reaching over for her tablet, Sonya opened a drawing app to show off some basic blueprintish things. “See, I've been working on some upgrades for your mech. I know the more Eruptions there are, the more enemies, so I want to help you beef up your boy.”
Logan pulled Sonya even closer to him as they examined the screen together. “What've we got?”
“At the moment, I've got a few that are kind of basic. Mostly variants on what you've already got going, but I'm open to suggestions.” She swiped through some of the designs she had going. They seemed to be based around alternate loadouts for the Wonderchild instead of outright upgrades. “For this one, I thought it might be good for you to try a spear. Basically kind of like your beam sword but with a longer rod. You know, in case you plan to fight someone you think you need to have more range against.”
“I like it. What else were you thinking?”
“Well, here's another – basically the equivalent of something like a physical shield held at your hip where you'd be pulling the sword from. It's pretty heavy, so I wouldn't think using it one handed would be the best idea. But if you wanted to cover yourself and not take damage, that'd let you defend yourself in between shooting.”
“If something was especially well-suited to be Triad Cannoned, that could be really handy! Wish the W-E had four arms like Herk, though.” He was liking the way these variants sounded.
“Okay, here's the most extensive one.” Swiping again, she showed off a Wonderchild looking notably bulkier. “Basically the idea is to have wearable armor pieces made out of the same stuff as the Bulletproof Vest. It would make the thing way heavier, and you'd lose some mobility, but it'd be a lot sturdier. Oh, I mean, the joints would still be as vulnerable as they are now, but currently the limbs are the weak spot, so, yeah. Any of these speak to you? Remember, they're variants, so you could deploy in the vanilla Wonderchild if you didn't want to use them for a particular fight.” Sonya had clearly put some thought into this, and Logan was glad to see it.
“They all kind of kick ass, but I guess you only really have time to work on one in this hectic environment. I kind of like-”
“We! Are the Crystal Gems!” Logan's phone went off, playing the audio file that Steven U had sent him to use as the ringtone for him. Generally he liked the sound of the Gems' singing voices, so it was nice to hear that he was getting a call from the kid even if he already had a lot to think about.
“Hi Steven! Great to hear from you!” Logan briefly held up his finger to Sonya.
“Yeah... Hi Logan!” Steven sounded relatively cheerful.
“Everything going okay? It's only been a bit, but I already kinda miss Beach City.” This was true, even though he was enjoying Newark and had appreciated being on the Arvada, even under observation.
“Yeah, everything is really- Uh, well, it's... It's really kind of got me worried, actually.” Steven's initial pleasantness broke down somewhat quickly.
“What's up, curls? Is it awkward with Garnet after she took away your toy mirror?” Logan hadn't had such an experience as part of his childhood, but he assumed that would be a decent reason for things to not be well.
“Well, no. It's not awkward with Garnet- I mean, it is, but that's not why I'm calling. Logan, she didn't take the mirror away. I kind of took it to the beach and pulled the gem off the back of it.” Now he sounded nervous.
“Aww, it's broken? I kind of liked that thing. Bet Pearl was mad you broke what she gave you.”
“It wasn't really like that. When I took it off the mirror, it regenerated. Logan, it wasn't just a gem, it was a Gem! Like us! It was a person – a dark blue girl named Lapis Lazuli!”
“Wow, another Gem? That must have felt great to find out about! Is she a Crystal Gem?”
“No, she actually hates them! It was really quick, but she said some things about how they put her on the mirror, and that she wouldn't let them do it again.”
“Okay, that's... That's not quite what I expected. What was really quick?” Logan wasn't liking the sound of this story.
“She hit Garnet, asked me to go into the sea with her and get away from the other Gems. I said no, and she just walked in and never came out! And she said one other thing.”
“That she traded it all away for one thing?” Logan nervously joked.
“She said she hates you too, because you just walked away when she asked for your help.”
Episode 11: Chicks Dig Giant Robots – End
Choice Time!
>”Do you need me to come down there with the W-E? Are you in immediate danger?”
>”The ocean's nice. Maybe she'll cool off after a swim.”
>”If she hates me for not siding with a mirror over Garnet, I don't know what to say.”
>”Lapis hates me? I hate Lapis! It's on – she's toast!”
>”I'm sure you'll be able to handle this on your own, Steven. Believe in yourself and in the Gems!”
Additional Choice Time!
>Logan much preferred the spear. It was what he needed.
>Logan much preferred the shield. It was what he needed.
>Logan much preferred the armor plated limbs. It was what he needed.
Subsequent Choice Time!
>Logan would be glad to meet with Kiva and chat. She sounded okay.
>Logan didn't really feel obligated to go out of his way to meet that person. They didn't seem terribly nice to Coop and Jamie.
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