The Story!

2 is good, yes. You can always (never) trust people named Sonya.

...Then again, how good was the sandwich...? Suplex a strange lady good?

Aboard the Maxiliner, the First Evening

“You look super cute cramming my food into your mouth!” Logan said, slyly smiling to confirm the fact that he wasn't just being a prick.

“Do I?” Sonya asked, grinning and showing off a bunch of half-chewed food pieces in the process.

“Yeah, you could easily be the new idol.” Catching himself, Logan said, “Oh, it's this Japanese thing, before you ask. I lived there until a couple weeks ago.” He hoped he didn't come across as a weeb.

“Cool! Maybe I should move there and be an idol! That sounds easy even though I have no clue what it is!” She had finally stopped wolfing down the half-sandwich, and was looking slightly above herself as if she was imagining what an idol might be. “Like, a statue? That kind of idol?”

“No, not really. They're kind of this whole thing with young women, and it's like... it's bad, you know what, it's bad as hell and it's stupid that I even said what I did.” Logan had inadvertently made things a little awkward, and did his best to recover. “So, I guess you're into trains? You work on one.” He fumbled for another subject, and that was what he landed on.

The small young adult shrugged. “I guess? It's the best option I've really had. It's always been a dream of mine to work with huge machines, but the Maxiliner is the coolest one I've ever gotten to handle.”

Logan smiled sincerely, as he was in total agreement over how great giant-sized machines were. “You're from the world Angel Grove was part of, right? Ever ask the Power Rangers to work on their Dinozords?”

Sonya's expression sunk. “They said no.”

Laughing slightly at how deflated she was, Logan said “Oh no!” Then he giggled a little more, before turning back to the girl seated next to him. “Sorry, your face made me laugh.” Realizing what he said made him crack up even harder.

“Oh, great.” the machine lover snorted, and ended up laughing as well.

Composing himself, Logan tried to come across as reassuring as he could. “Sonya, you're in luck. There are a ton of awesome machines all around the world right now. There are those Jaegar things in the countries around the pacific rim, Japanese bio robots built by some of the original locals, Earth Defense Force units, the list goes on!”

“You forgot to mention Action Frames,” corrected Ms. Ortiz, smiling knowingly at the Ambassador.

“Oh, did I? Yeah, those aren't very cool. I doubt you'd enjoy working on something like that. Those things suck and only kill people.” Logan pretended to space out slightly, as he attempted the best 'innocent' affectation he could.

“I don't know about that!” Refusing to honor Logan's break of eye contact, the engineer girl leaned over her chair, stating, “It would be badass to work on a Frame! There's so much that an Action Frame can accomplish that a human worker can't. I wouldn't even mind if it wasn't a combat model.”

“There are a lot more of the non-combat models, it's true.” Logan frowned, thinking about how few Action Frames there were compared to before the conflicts so many years ago. Back then, there were huge armies, but as a result of destruction over the years, and the inability to produce more than they lost, times were fairly lean. That's why the Wonderchild was such a great first step, in his opinion. It was worlds above the old models in terms of quality, and isn't that more important than having a ton of robots?

“I kinda... prefer the ones that kick ass, though.” The distance between the two was disappearing by the moment, as Sonya was practically half off her chair now and continuing to move in.

“Yeah, not me.” Logan lied bare-faced and in an obvious way. “I like the disaster rescue AFs. They don't need weapons, just lots of compartments for saving people, slender bodies and great mobility in unfavorable conditions. They're the real heroes.” Well, maybe those things were pretty true.

“They're okay,” she said, noncomittally. “Old, though. They haven't made a new model in years. Isn't the newest and greatest the best?”

Logan realized he could literally feel the warmth of human breath on him, and kept looking forward and suppressing a smile. “Only if they've got the right pilot.”

Forgoing all subtlety, Sonya jumped off her seat and into Logan's lap, straddling him and staring right into his eyes. “Show it to me,” she said, with a husky sound to her voice that she'd kept hidden so far.

“Oh god, no. We just met!” Logan's calm facade broke, and he looked like a deer looking into headlights.

Groaning like she was annoyed and bouncing up and down, Sonya shouted, “The robot! Come on, let me see inside your Action Frame!”

“Ohhh...” Logan took a deep breath and laughed awkwardly. Well, that certainly changed things.

“Yes, 'ohhhhhh'. So, you gonna show me?” She seemed to really want to.

>Choice Time!

>”Sure.  Tomorrow, though.  It's dark as hell out there and we'll screw something up getting to it.”

>”No, I don't think so.  My robot isn't any of your business.”

>”What'll you do for me if I show you?”

Still Aboard the Maxiliner (Second Day of Travel)

Finally, Logan had begun to enjoy his voyage. He'd gotten to sleep in an actual bed, even if it wasn't exactly the ritz. That was more than he had expected he would be able to do before arriving in the newly-erupted state of Delmarva, so he was feeling as if he was making moves. Of course, when a bed is willingly offered because someone is an insomniac and you have something super cool they want to see, it's a little bit easier to upgrade your lodgings from 'nonexistent' to 'basic'. For this reason the pilot neither felt particularly accomplished nor cared that he didn't. After all, asking “any perks you can hook me up with” was an afterthought that he'd thrown in after he had already confirmed that she could see the inner sanctum of his precious robot. To be fair, that was a fairly awesome and sporting thing to agree to.

More importantly, they were no longer passing through destroyed areas. Obviously, that would make a big difference when it came to how pleasant travel was, but it turned out that the scenery of the United States was pretty darn gorgeous. Seeing it from a train was obviously a limited view in comparison to what you'd get from a plane, that was true. Disregarding this fact, based on all the different landscapes he had begun seeing up close and personally, Logan had to admit that there was something to be said for a linear, rail-based experience. Especially when one could shower, that was another hella perk that would stop him from being a grungy and gross ass in front of the cute train-woman. Just as he considered how lucky he was to have someone to share the ride with, the ambassador realized it was getting to be time for Sonya's break. He had promised to show her after they'd slept, but obviously she had responsibilities as part of the train's staff.

Logan, too, had big awesome responsibilities, and as he waited for his train buddy he stared at the neutral and colorless app on his screen. It was his own personal United Arms app, which carried classified information and reports to him as it usually did. This time it was not a simple photograph he'd received, but textual orders. “Upon arrival in Delmarva, please investigate for mecha or kaiju activity. As these are believed to be the primary commonalities between worlds, it will be necessary to identify if either are present in Eruption Territories Group 5. The implications of a mecha or mechas capable of destroying the whole of a country as large as Russia are of serious concern – if such an adversary is encountered, do not engage without assistance.” Logan realized that he hadn't thought of the lack of Russia in such a context. Perhaps he had assumed that it was a natural occurrence in the world that had merged with his, since he hadn't heard substantial evidence otherwise.

They were right – such a machine would be a cause for unbelievable concern, as well as other things such as awe and utter horror. Staring out at some farmland in the distance, Logan muttered, “A robot that could destroy a whole country...”

“Holy cruds!” As had become standard, Sonya had popped out of nowhere. “The Arms have something that awesome?!” She looked like she was just about ready to explode with happiness, but that bubble needed to be popped right away.

“Hell no!” Logan glared at her, horrified. “You friggin' loco, girl? Even at the height of its power, my people never could have taken out an entire continent. They didn't even destroy entire cities!” He paused, clarifying, “I mean, they could have destroyed cities, most likely. But Action Frames are designed to avoid unnecessary damage and casualties. They were built to capture urban environments, never to destroy them completely.”

“Okay, okay. No continent destroying. Then who has that robot?” She clearly missed the message Logan was trying to convey.

“We don't know if there was one, but apparently something like that may or may not be responsible for what happened in slash to Russia.” Logan was actually feeling a bit worried, completely cognizant of the fact that his mecha would be utterly screwed if it had to fight a unit or army capable of outright landscape destruction on that scale.

Perhaps she realized the size of country Logan had been referring to, as the tan-skinned machine head's mouth opened up as wide as Logan had ever seen it. This led to a brief silence between the two, with neither of them exactly sure what to say on the subject that would be meaningful. The only sound was the Maxiliner dutifully carrying its cargo across tracks. There was corn visible from the window near where they stood, but neither of them had any corny jokes to lighten the mood. For the first time since he'd fought Godzilla, Logan's anxiety over the enormity and power his potential enemies held returned. Since he wasn't in immediate danger it was mild, but it also made it difficult for him to break the uncomfortable feeling that had taken over the car they were in. The diplomat's muscles tensed, as he tried to visually maintain the appearance that he was fine despite his heart starting to race.

“It should be pretty okay, I think. One of my jobs is, uh, keeping people safe.” Logan said, the last three words little more than a whisper. starting to absolutely bomb. His voice caught in his throat and he was having a difficult time self-soothing and preventing the issue from becoming worse. He couldn't even stammer out exactly why he would be able to keep everyone safe against such a nemesis, and a light film of sweat began to form on his skin even though it was pleasantly cool in the train car. It was a nasty, overwhelming series of sensations, and all he could think of was how he must look in front of the cool (in his eyes) person he'd met. “I think...” he started, but he had no follow-up to those two words prepared.

The silence returned, this time twice as awful as before, but this time it was broken by Sonya. “Hey, it's okay.” She placed her left arm slowly and gently around Logan, and smiled compassionately. “We don't have to worry about any of that. Not at all.” She had adopted a soft-spoken pattern of speaking, and somehow her gentle touch made the grayhead feel a lot better.

Feeling the color rush back into his skin, Logan found himself in a much better position to calm down. Knowing that at least she wasn't going to walk away and call him a freak or anything like that, he was able to continue the chat. “Thanks. Yeah, I sometimes have this stupid thing. It's like, anxiety, or whatever.”

“I understand. Do you need anything?” She looked straight into Logan's eyes, and if her concern wasn't sincere he couldn't tell the difference.

“No, I think I'm gonna be okay.” Feeling solid enough to return a smile, he asked, “Shall we go see my big awesome robot?

Moving Between Cars

“Okay, I take it back, I am not sold on this.” Logan looked out at the uncovered gap between train cars, and realized that he was being asked not only to walk over it (which he already had to move between cars earlier), but to outright climb atop shipping containers to get back to his machine was a little much.

“Boy, I do this all the time.” The slim young woman, despite her lack of height, scrambled up the side of the container they were facing and pulled herself up over the top with ease. “See? No problem, as long as we don't get decapitated by a tunnel or a bridge or an overhead wire or a passing monster, we'll be fine.”

“You have many monster issues in the Angel Grove world?” Logan kind of deflected to buy himself some time.

“Only with the ones from the Moon! Now get up here or I'll start thinking you're a coward!” She stuck her tongue out briefly to show that she was joking.

Throwing away all fear of falling, Logan shrugged and took a couple steps before jumping. He was a little taller than the engineer, so it was easier to reach the top of the shipping container with the best jump he had in him, but pulling himself up was noticeably tougher. He was a heavy guy, but not necessarily a strong one. Still, with the motivation of not wanting to look weak to get him active, the diplomat mustered up the might to pull himself over the lip. It was a little more tiring than it probably would have been for a more active adventure guy, but that wasn't him. He was just thankful that he was able to make it without falling, since the difference in momentum between the vehicle he was on and the ground passing by made leaping with the correct amount of force quite a challenge.

“Well, uh...” Logan stood up and looked around, appreciating the drastically improved sight lines from atop the basic shipping container. “Wow, this is cool. Kind of a headwind up here, though.” He noted this, and made sure to stay towards the middle of the long metal box to prevent himself from being sent flying like an idiot.

“Yeah. Don't fall-oh, just follow.” Sonya winked and then turned toward the back of the train, taking off at a fair running clip.

Realizing he had no option but to to as he was told, Logan sort of half-jogged to sort of keep pace, without going towards the sides and instigating the kind of vertigo that would make him look like an uncoordinated nerd. It was, if he was being totally honest with himself, quite a bit of fun, and he imagined what it would be like to be some train jumper hopping on illegally and riding atop cargo. He would have a hat for shade, and he would travel the rails. Also there might be some bindle action involved, but he didn't really get that deep into the fantasy. Mostly the reason for this was that he nearly fell when he had to actually jump from one to the next. Yes, he'd seen Sonya do it ahead of him, and he was looking at her as she waved him over to her, and it was a fact that he had heard her say “Be careful!”

He didn't take care, though, and instead he practically fell on his face. Sonya gasped as she saw Logan's foot fail to get solid footing, and she started running back instantly. Had he gotten his foot caught properly and actually fallen into the small gap in between the two containers, she would have been too late to stop him from being at least a little hurt. Thankfully, the only thing seriously injured was his pride as he literally planted his face right into the yellow metal of the huge rectangular cuboid he'd (thankfully) made it to. His cheek took the brunt of the impact, leaving his nose, teeth, and other features mercifully spared. “Ow...” he said, as his fellow train jumper laughed her buns off.

“Boy, I told you to be careful!” she said, having waited until she could speak without giggling. As she helped pull Logan to his feet, she asked, “What am I gonna do with you?”

“Pay for my facial reconstructive surgery! Being up here is dumb!” Logan frowned as hard as he could on purpose.

“No, you're dumb to fall! I never fell, not even my first time! There's barely any room between them to get caught in!” She sneered, but then took Logan's hand into hers and started pulling him forward. “Here, we'll go together.”

“Ok, mommy.” Logan snarked, rolling his eyes.

“Don't make this weird.” Sonya shot him a glare, but ambled with the ambassador at a slower pace as they continued their path to the Wonderchild.

Logan said nothing, only nodding. To be honest, it felt really nice to walk with this lady hand in hand. Her hands weren't as soft as Shinji's were the time he shared a bed with that kid, which he figured was the result of her status as a working girl. Not that kind of working girl. A non-prostitute working girl. A career girl, that's the ticket. On top of that, it was a gorgeous day, with rich blue sky as far as the eye could see. It felt great to share the views of rural America with a career girl who was both understanding and fun, and his troubles of the past few weeks just kind of melted away in the June sun. It wasn't even hot, thanks to the headwind that had initially concerned him.

“Okay, ready to jump this time?” Sonya asked, reminding him that they were still atop a train and its cargo.

“Yeah.”

The Wonderchild's Car

“Oooh, spooky!” whispered Logan's train-acquaintance.

“Yeah, terrifying. It's a horrific experience like being under a parachute in gym class, or under a big cozy blanket.” Logan quipped, despite the fact that underneath its covering that they'd maneuvered under, it was actually a little eerie. It was the middle of the day, and yet it was totally dark aside from the light of their phones. All there really was to see underneath the layers of wrapping was a whole bunch of gray metal, but it obviously excited the Maxiliner crew member quite a bit. Are people who work on trains called a train's crew? Probably, Logan thought.

“Okay, we're actually lucky. The part I enter is facing upwards right now, and I think we opened up the cover enough to give us the room to actually get in.” He gave a thumbs up, and it was returned silently.

The two didn't really have to walk far under the covers, since there was no head. This meant that the opening hatch was just past the shoulder, under the arm that was oriented on top at the moment. However, since the robot was oriented on his side, Logan had a problem. Usually he used an elevator to ascend and board his vehicle, and the other night he'd been able to climb up into the cockpit because he laid it the W-E on its back. Now, though? It was just a matter of whether or not he would even be able to reach the hatch. Obviously, he could try just ascending the torso using free climbing like he was some kind of assassin or prince. The Bulletproof Vest's carbon fiber coating would make it rough enough to possibly try getting a grip, but he knew there had to be an easier way even though it hadn't been designed to be entered so casually.

“Hmm...” Logan stared in the darkness, his nervous system reminding him that it was a bit warmer under the covers than it was out in the breeze. “Oh, duh!” The young man proudly tapped his palm against his Action Frame's segmented arms, and sidled under the covering that was keeping the mecha out of sight. “We'll go up the arms, piece by piece!” The hands were thankfully positioned close to the ground to keep them out of the way, and so he began to do just that, straddling it like he was climbing a pipe. “You too!” he said, and the excited woman was happy to come alone, approaching the hatch segment by segment. The arms were a little long, and it was a tight fit since the overall cloth wrapping was still mostly intact, but the pair made it quite easily. Sadly, upon reaching their target, Logan realized another problem. The way the arms were positioned meant that there was barely any room to even squeeze into the hatch.

“Hmm.” said Logan, as he used his two-tiered key to open the entrance. Both his physical key and its near field communicator encryption checked out, and the hatch quickly opened up. The creamy, glossy white cockpit was revealed, and Sonya literally squealed. “Problem is, I don't think I can even fit in to show you...” he started to say, but didn't have much of a chance. The girl pushed him aside, and used her smolness to slide right into the pit of cocks (which sounds absolutely filthy, when one puts it that way).

“Hahaha! The big awesome weapon is mine!” She raised her fists inside, looking as triumphant as it got. “Come on, get in here and show me what's up, or I'll figure it out and steal this thing for myself!”

Trying once again, Logan groaned as he attempted to push himself into the tiny space she had, but it wasn't going. His middle was too round to make it happen, and he wasn't about to do his best impression of Winnie the Pooh and get stuck trying to force his way through. “Adam, can you hear me?” he asked, followed by the girl inside shouting “Yay!” as the consoles and screens lit up.

“Yes, sir! Intruder visually detected! Should I lock them in and turn off the life support systems?” Adam dutifully asked.

“No! Hell no, do not suffocate her!” Logan waved his hands with what room he had, hoping the camera would see him.

“Suffocate me?!” Ms. Ortiz asked, whipping her head around and looking for the source of Adam's voice.

“Yeah, it's this stupid defense thing my robot has. If someone who isn't me breaks in, it self-locks, welds itself shut and sucks all the air out of the inside. We're not doing that right now.” Logan wished this had gone a little smoother, but that was how it was.

“Acknowledged. Does this person have security clearance?” Adam asked.

“She can share mine.” Logan answered quickly.

“She cannot.” Adam clarified.

“Yes she can, and that's the last I'll hear of it Adam.” Logan then turned to Sonya, and decided to see what she had in her. “Okay, I probably can't tell you everything, so...”

>Choice Time!

>Logan decided to test her a little, see how intuitively she could take to the basic controls.

>Logan let Adam handle the arm moving if he could, so he could join her in there.

>Logan actually decided it was a bad idea to have her in the cockpit touching stuff, and demanded that she only look.

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

Under the Covers (no, not literally, pervs)

“I assume these handles you grab from the chair are the main controls?” asked Sonya, glaring into the wondrous abyss that was the main visual screen inside the Wonderchild's otherwhite perfectly white-colored cockpit. It didn't have much to see even with all of its cameras, since it was so dark.

“Please don't touch them yet.” Logan instructed, as he decided to put his faith in Adam to let him in. He didn't need this getting awkward because his new friendish person was overexcited. “Adam, please make small adjustments to the arm's position, I need room to get into the cockpit.” He quickly slid off the arm before it moved, not wanting to get mushed against the mostly cloth layers that kept it hidden. That would make things hella awkward, and surely lead to pain and frustration. Instead of straddling the arm segment he was on, he laid on the side of the Wonderchild's torso. The carbon fiber coating actually had a texture that was really interesting to the touch. “Wait, carbon fiber coating?!” he thought to himself, confused as to when that had been applied.

“Yes, sir.” Adam did just as he was told, and in short order there was just enough room for Logan's chubby self to maneuver into the innermost nerve center of his robot.

“About time you got in here, I was gonna take off! Aren't I the sexiest in your seat? Like an anime robot pilot?” asked the bandanna wearing woman, throwing up a peace sign with her fingers and trying to look glamorous and fetching with mixed results. She was definitely attractive in Logan's eyes, but the affectation totally didn't suit her.

“Yeah, real hot.” Logan winked, enjoying being able to kid around with someone properly for a change. He had gotten sick of hanging out with teenagers who took him too seriously because of his professional position.

“Oh, say! Adam, ya? She looked into what was obviously the camera, recognizing it because of its obvious shape and appearance. “So, what, you back at base?”

“Nah, he's right here. Adam is-” Logan was sharply cut off.

“I am the Operating System assigned to Logan's Action Frame, the W-E Wonderchild. “ Adam stated plainly as he hadn't in some time.

“Didn't we fix you saying that a long time ago?” Logan asked rhetorically. “Anyway, he isn't like, full-blown artificial intelligence or anything like that. He's pretty much just programmed to simulate relevant conversation and help me out when it comes to controlling the Wonderchild's systems. Speaking of which, Adam, why do we have a carbon fiber coating on the Bulletproof Vest?”

“Vest? You wear a vest, homie? You tryna avoid dem bullets?” Sonya asked, miming a gun in each hand.

“It's what I call my robot's main armor section. It protects the torso so I don't get bonked, while the limbs are free to move with total flexibility and speed.” Logan beamed, proud of his robot's design. “It never had carbon fiber on it, though. Used to just be gray painted metal.”

“The wrap of carbon fiber which has been applied to the W-E Wonderchild's armor was a gift from the car salesmen who were previously responsible. Confirmation of this was relayed, and meant to be shared upon arrival in Delmarva.” Adam spoke in his usual completely measured, fake-sounding voice.

“Damn, that's a really generous gift. It did seem like they were having good business while I was there... Or maybe the UA just compensated them really well for taking care of this guy.” He patted the seat that Sonya was still sitting on, not even minding that she hadn't gotten out of it.

“Uh, crazy generous, Logan. How long was this dude outta your sight?” Sonya had one of her slightly thick eyebrows way higher than the other.

“Just a couple days while I waited for the Maxiliner plans to be worked out.” Logan seemed to not realize what she was thinking.

“The fuck?! Dude, this thing is like, huge as crud! That much carbon fiber and that much work in such a short time frame would be a hella investment. Were these used car salesmen?”

“Yes.” Logan confirmed, still not catching on.

Adam popped into the chat, following helpfulness protocols no doubt included. “The Wonderchild is specially designed to be modular in many aspects.”

“Yeah, I bet it wasn't that hard. From what I can tell, my big metal alter ego was made to be upgraded, that's one of the thing's that's special. That and Adam.” He smiled into the camera even though the OS would surely fail to care.

“Ah, the other Action Frames don't have him. That's right.” Clearly this engineer was well familiar with the tech that was used in the war.

“Nah. Okay, let's show you what's up with this thing. Yes, those two things are the main controls I use. They're actually really responsive, and you can actually control the legs as well as the arms with the same sticks.”

“Wow... How?” She seemed to think that was a weird concept.

“It's pretty simple. I move them around like joysticks to control the direction and intended orientation of the legs and torso, and then I pull the trigger on one of them to activate the little thumb touch pad near the top. The pad is what I use to control the arms, and it actually gives incredible control. How hard I pull the trigger combined with the movement of my thumb on the pad gives pretty much full range of motion!” Logan was happy to share the secrets of his robot with the girl, since obviously they were of no use to her unless she had one of her own, meaning that she definitely wasn't a spy. Right?

“This is the coolest thing I've ever seen! Logan, you're cool. You have such an amazing life.” The curious Latina girl practically had stars in her eyes as she said these things.

“I wouldn't call it amazing...” Logan began to go into humble mode, but before he really had much of a chance, light flooded into the cameras all over the mecha, and they started sending their data to the main screen. The sound of cloth ripping and tearing was picked up on the exterior mic, and the pair of mecha lovers realized that the W-E was exposed to the open air!

“Gray Ranger!” shouted an obnoxious and growly voice, as the wicked muscular humanoid winged dog being that resembled an Egyptian nightmare, King Sphinx, came into view.

“Oh, god-damnit!” Logan groaned.

“What the fuck is that?!” Sonya practically screamed, her jaw nearly hitting the ground as she stared at the main viewing screen.

“This bastard hates the Power Rangers because he works for Rita Repulsa. Long story short, one time he called me the Gray Ranger and now he hates me too.” Logan covered his face with both hands briefly, sighing at the fact that he had to deal with this right now, when his mecha was bolted to the train. Just because the cover wasn't on didn't mean that he could just get up and attack.

“What the crud are you gonna do about it?!” Sonya seemed horrified, clearly never having encountered a monster so close.

“I know you must be in there, Ranger!” King Sphinx shouted.

Choice Time!

>Logan tried to appeal to King Sphinx's sense of logic, explaining that he was not a Power Ranger, and indeed was no longer affiliated with them.

>Logan instructed Sonya on how to break off the bolts keeping the W-E attached to the train car, and coached her. King Sphinx hadn't been made to grow, and he had a feeling that she would be able to drive him away even with literally no experience.

>Logan decided to attempt to negotiate with King Sphinx, and see what he wanted. If possible, he would try to accommodate him to keep the encounter peaceful.

>Logan demanded that Sonya instantly get out of his seat, broke off the bolts keeping the Wonderchild secure, and got ready to attack King Sphinx.

Heck yeah keep her around.
The first one.