ic Who reads the instructions, anyway? (IC)

[Thunder King]

December 15th, 2013

Southside

5:30 PM

 

It was a chilly late afternoon in Freedom City, and the shopping areas of Southside were picking up from all the people who had gotten out of work and needed to do some shopping. The sky was filled with the orange glow of twilight.

 

The street lights were on, there was snow on the ground, and the air was cold. It felt and looked and sounded like Christmas was right around the corner. For some people, this was cause for celebration. For others, it was a sign of a miserable winter.

 

Meanwhile, behind one of the shops, three robots stepped up to the wall of the building...

Edited December 20, 2013 by Thunder King

[RobRX]

Nearby Cho Paige Lee is busy with some...reluctant...shopping. As usual, she’s been left to her own and given a list of things her family; thing her mother, stepfather and half-sister all want for christmas. Due to a somewhat limited budget, she was ware she couldn’t buy everything. That and some new clothes were in order; not because of some need to go shopping but due to a necessity. Her mutation seemed to have unfortunately endowed her with an ever-growing frame.

 

Checking her list again and again in order to make sure she had everything she could afford, Cho heads out for the last store she’ll visit today. Looking at people feeling the cold coming, it occurred to her that she didn’t even feel the cold bite anymore. Saying goodbye to some people she vaguely knew from school, the girl entered the store.

Edited December 21, 2013 by RobRX

[Thunder King]

As Cho looked through the various shelves of the store, she became aware of a strange rumbling noise. It stopped after a few seconds, then resumed a moment later. Everyone in the store looked confused, from employees to customers, and then the other noise happened.

 

SMASH

 

It was so loud that it drowned out other sounds, and that was followed by a louder rumbling noise than before. Some of the people in the store ran outside to see where the noise was coming from.

[RobRX]

“What the…?†Immediately, she started to feel somewhat split. Go rush outside, see if there was danger or stay inside and remain safe, possibly saving her mother from a potential mental breakdown in case she got hurt. She looked to her left, then to her right. Finally, she just handed over her bags to whoever was behind the counter of the shop. “Can you keep that safe for me? Thank you!†She didn't even bother to wait for the person's reply. With that said, she ran outside the shop, tossing the door aside as she exited. Hopefully, the door didn’t break, or so she hoped.

[Thunder King]

The door did not break, but it did slam. When she went outside, she found a crowd of people heading towards a location across the street. They were crowded around something, and because of her height, it was easy to see what.

 

Three robots were hammering away at a solid brick wall. They seemed to be ignoring the crowd completely, steadily beating at the wall with their fists. There was a large chunk of brick on the ground, which was probably the source of the smashing sound. A few of the people took pictures, the smarter ones started calling for the police. The robots ignored all of it, and persisted to beat on the wall continuously.

[RobRX]

Losing no time, the girl ran away from the crowd and the robots. Or rather, ran away from it to find some blind spot where no one would be looking at her, even if just for a brief moment. The nearby alley would do fine. Cho didn’t really have a costume or even a secret identity or some fancy name to call herself. All she had was this makeshift mask made of black tissue that she kept in the pocket of her jacket. Making sure no one was looking at her, she slipped it on her face.

 

The mask was a tight fit...and slightly uncomfortable and difficult to breathe in but it would do. Leaping, she reached the top of the nearby building in a single bound. From there, it shouldn’t be long to get a jump on the robots. It then crossed her mind that this whole situation was strange. What were these robots doing there?

 

Spotting the robots, Cho lept...only to realize, once in mid-air and free-falling that maybe this wasn't the smartest of move. Still, she realized she might as well make use of the momentum. Flesh and bone met the metal in a powerful, shattering impact. Reinforced muscles and bones, infused with terminus energy met the metal of the machine as Cho landed a punch. The mechanical man's body twisted and creak, breaking under the power of the punch. Spark and bits flew all around and the machine collapsed to the ground in pieces, broken.

Edited December 21, 2013 by RobRX

[Thunder King]

It seemed that, after watching their fellow get shattered, the two robots finally clued in to the fact that there was an opponent in the area. They turned to Cho and stared at her for a split second. A tech savvy person would have recognized the sign of running some sort of program. Either that, or they weren't all that bright.

 

They were vaguely humanoid, with obvious signs of wear and tear. Whoever built them either didn't know what they were doing, or the robots had been hastily repaired.

[RobRX]

“Oh. Right, forgot about the other two.†suddenly realize the teenager. One of the creaking, poorly maintained mechanical men then lifted it’s arm and took a swing at Cho. Instinctively raising her arm to protect herself, the blow landed at full force on her...to no effect, as she barely even budged, the full impact of it not even enough to harm her. Instead it’s the machine that shuddered from it’s own blow.

 

“Is that all you got?!†yell the girl. “Huh? Is that all you can do you rustbucket!†Clenching her first, she then swung at full force wildly, only to hit the air as her poorly-calculated blows completely failed to hit their target.

[Thunder King]

While she took a swing at one of the robots, the other came up behind her and punched her in the back. Nothing happened as the robot's arm brushed ineffectively against her. Meanwhile, the other robot turned and swung at her, but she managed to dodge effortlessly. The fact that they could barely move probably had a lot to do with their ineffectual attacks.

[RobRX]

Turning, Cho used her own arm to push aside the robot’s arm that had just landed a meager, ineffectual punch.

 

Still as unskilled as ever, once more, Cho tried to deliver a shattering blow to the machine and once more she missed, this time almost knocking herself off-balance by putting too much speed and power in the blow. Immediately, she jumped back into place as to not expose herself to the (useless) attacks on the robots. Annoyed, she snarled and loudly letted out a few...colorful expressions.

[RobRX]

Once more, Cho found herself clobbered by the machines. However, this time, one catches her completely off-guard and deliver a powerful punch right in her back. Something crack, albeit faintly. Nothing that won’t heal, but it’s definitely going to leave a bruise. The blow leave her grunting in pain. Since fighting like an angry animal hasn’t done much for her, she focus and decide to trade power for accuracy.

 

Aiming, the teenager bring down her fist on the robot’s head, smashing it. Spark flies as the machine’s head is bent out of shape and squeezed flatter. “Hah! How do you like that?!â€

Edited December 24, 2013 by RobRX

[Thunder King]

The other robot, upon seeing Cho strike it's fellow robot so viciously, turned and punched Cho as hard as it could...and it's arm promptly crunched slightly under the impact. It clearly still had full use of the arm, but it was obvious that it had lost some of it's power. Apparently, Cho was tougher than the bricks they'd been striking. The two robots persisted, though, having no artificial intelligence to tell them that fighting a foe they could barely injure was a bad idea.

[RobRX]

Tired of this endless slugfest, Cho decided to put her strength to a different use. Clenching both fists, she decided it was time to actually push herself to the limit, as she had never actually tried to hit something as hard as she could. With a scream, the teenager punched the very ground she was standing on at full, unbridled power.

 

With a loud noise, said ground found itself utterly pulverized by the impact, sinking Cho into a crater as chunks of the ground went flying and dust clouded the air. The shockwave continued all around her, collapsing everything. Thrown off balance, the robots fell. Meanwhile the rumbling continued for a brief moment. “Phew! Whew! Okay, that was...a lot.†muttered the girl to herself, coughing, half-lost in a cloud of dust as she pulled her arm out of the debris, her shirt’s sleeve completely torn off. While the machines are busy getting back up she take this as an opportunity to back off from them.

Edited December 24, 2013 by RobRX

[Thunder King]

The robots moved, slowly. They dragged themselves to their feet, and, once standing, lumbered toward Cho. They were apparently undamaged from their fall, but it took them a moment to get their bearings. They were obviously starting to wear even as they fought on. The two of them were clearly designed for demolition, not so much combat. So they lumbered towards her, carefully and very slowly, giving her time to react.

[RobRX]

These robots needed to be stopped and they needed to be fast. Energy began to build up in Cho’s hand. It started as a painful, sharp sensation, either of cold or heat, she was never sure which. Raising the hand, she saw it was wrapped in glowing energy, the veins pulsing and glowing underneath, the air around the hand rippling.

 

With a flick of the hand, the energy was expelled from her body and at the robot, engulfing it in entropic energy with a loud crackle. The machine wasn’t destroyed but rather had ceased to exist. Immediately, Cho began squeezing her hand, trying to remove the painful sensations from it.

Edited December 24, 2013 by RobRX

[Thunder King]

As one of the robots dissolved into nothingness, the other took a swing at Cho. It managed to strike her hard in the shoulder, despite being poorly built and poorly maintained. Cho was starting to feel the pain of being attacked, but considering they were breaking down a brick wall, the fact that she could take a strike from one of them and keep going was impressive.

[RobRX]

"Nh-gyah!" screamed out Cho as the machine pummeled her, this time leaving a rather noticeable bruise on her face, causing her to reel back in pain, dazed for a very brief moment, her vision blurred. Wiping her mouth and looking down at her hand, her expression changed. This time, she truly felt annoyed, nay, angry. Very angry. This was serious, far more than one or two petty thugs. "Okay, thanks, now I'll get yelled at!" Clenching post fists, Cho charge at the mechanical monster.

 

Her charge was too quick and reckless as she slammed her fist right into the ground and she almost fell on all four. Frustrated, she groaned, expressing her sheer annoyance with the situation.

Edited January 1, 2014 by RobRX

[Thunder King]

As if a switch were turned on, the robot straightened up, became passive, and began walking away. It walked out of the alley and down the street, as if nothing had happen. As if the destruction it was trying to wreak meant nothing. It was as if the machine had somehow changed the mind it didn't have.

 

Assuming that Cho was still fighting it, the crowd divided and watched the robot with confusion. Why had it stopped doing what it was trying to do? Why was it trying to walk away?

[RobRX]

"Hey!" yelled out Cho at the machine. "I'm not done with you! Wait! Hey!" She then paused, feeling dumb. "Oh right, it's a dumb robot. Probably just following it's programming. Or orders." It then clicked in her head that the machine was likely recalled somewhere, possibly to whoever was controlling them. Still sore, Cho wiped her face, the mask covering it half-torn. Considering how useless it was by this point, she simply opted to remove it. "Ghn...mm..gah, it hurt." She winced and grunted, her face painfully sore from getting smacked by a big metallic fist.

 

As the clunky machine walked away, Cho began following it, hoping it would lead her to whoever was behind this. The question of WHAT exactly that person was trying to accomplish also filled her brain. Why hit the wall? Why do all this?

[Thunder King]

The machine walked for quite some time, managing to not get run over by traffic or bump into anyone. If nothing else, it's guidance systems seemed to function like normal. After a while, it turned in to face an older, abandoned building. It popped the door off, walked inside, and placed the door where it was. A fairly ingenious move, as to casual observers, the boarded-up door looked as sealed as it had been moments before.

[RobRX]

The teenager didn't even bother to asses the situation. Charging in, she came up to the door and raised her hands, clenching her fists tight. Once more, the hands and arms glowed briefly. With a scream, she punched at full power the door. With a loud, powerful crashing noise and explosion of debris, the door was torn off open and Cho walked in, not bothering to even asses the situation before she charged in to finish the robot and apprehend whoever might be behind this.

 

"Allright, put your hands up in the air!"

Edited January 3, 2014 by RobRX

[Thunder King]

A single, solitary man sat in a chair, or at least he did, before the door exploded inwardly at him.

 

"Holy!" He shouted, jumping to his feet. He was rail thin and in his mid 20s. He blinked and looked at Cho. "Who is that?" He said, squinting slightly. "W-wait, who is that?!" He turned to the robot. "Oh, stupid piece of junk!" He kicked it in the leg, and it fell over. Undamaged, but inert. "Couldn't even attract a real super hero?! ARGGH!." Then he raised his hands.

 

"Sorry. Ahem. You have found yourself in the lair of the Robomaster. You have fallen directly into my trap!" He said with a dramatic flair. However, the derelict nature of his 'lair' and the sorry state of his robots severely undercut the intended grandeur.

[RobRX]

The girl's eyes shift to her left veeery slightly. Then to her right veery slightly, as she observe the area, this so-called 'lair' of the so-called Robomaster. She doesn't seem all that impressed. "Lair. Riiiiiiiight." She frankly look and sound bored and dissapointed by this place, the man behind all this and his old, broken-down and unimpressive robots. "And, seriously, Robot Master? Isn't that from Mega Man? I guess they're all Tincan-Man."

 

She stopped, waiting, expecting something. Or, really, anything at this point. "So...where's the 'trap'?"

[Thunder King]

Robomaster listened to her and took all of what she said in stride...then he flipped a switch on a remote sitting near his chair. Two tiny explosive charges went off, and the floorboards beneath Cho collapsed, landing her in a hole about ten feet deep. It wasn't quite deep enough to actually hurt her, but it was more than deep enough to keep her stuck for at least a minute as the Robomaster bolted through the front door, stepping over the small hole in the ground.

 

"That trap!" He shouted with glee, appearing genuinely surprised that his trap actually worked.

[RobRX]

"What trap there's-bwuah!" says Cho as the floor beneath her collapses, making her fall on her back with a resundant sound. While it doesn't even manage to hurt her, not even one bit, it does temporarily distract her as well as make her lose focus. Rolling in the debris, Cho regain her bearings after this very short moment of confusion. She also take this opportunity to realize that charging in may have not been so bright. Things could have turned far worse.

 

"Hey, you're not getting away!" In a single bound she's out of the pit like it was nothing, landing on the ground and rolling, body covered in dust. Immediately, the teen scout her surroundings, looking to see where this so-called Robomaster went as she resume chase.

Edited January 3, 2014 by RobRX