re_alignment | [Video -> Text] [Transmission Originating From: Vectorian Sector]

Entry tags:

✘ real steel | noisy boy

[Video -> Text] [Transmission Originating From: Vectorian Sector]

[The video is only on for a few moments - long enough to show a purple bot with wide shoulders, a samurai helmet, and glowing yellow optics - before shutting off. After that is a burst of text.]

Many of you exceed WRB height restrictions. You also violate a number of other WRB regulations, including illegal use of weapons and possession non-standard upgrades.

I am not where I should be.

[He would just like to let you all know YOU ARE SO ILLEGAL. SO. ILLEGAL now down to a few extra messages-]

If anyone happens to see Charlie Kenton I would like to be informed. He is a human with short, dark hair and brown eyes. He also has a son, Max. I do not wish them to be alone with unfamiliar bots if they come here.

Gunmax. Thank you for the ride, when we arrived. It was kind of you.

To the bot with the fins on his head: My name is Noisy Boy. 'Soundwave' is a terrible name.

And there was a red and white bot. I apologize if I fightened you somehow.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Well, after his close encounter with Braid's thug, Drift can certainly weigh in on 'unpleasant'.]

You must really trust your 'operator'. [He's trying to imagine what it would be like to have your whole body turned over, exposed to pain and danger, to someone else. ]

[It's not a good thought.]

It's not easy. But that's the point. Like your boxing--any fight worth winning is a fight.

[He's so sorry about that. He really doesn't like bots being taken apart. It's kind of uncivilized.]

I do. None of them have given me sufficient reason not to. [They've all brought him out of his fights in one piece... and the one that didn't repaired him. Save for that instance, his faith is pretty unwavering.]

Perhaps. But I was not designed to function completely independently.

[It's all right. Drift was pretty uncivilized himself at the time. Wages of Sin and all that.]

That's good to hear. That they took care of you, too. [He nods. He's not going to let his old cynicism ruin your trust. But you are secretly on his 'keep an optic on' list. In case you trust the wrong person.]

But the whole point is, we're not just our function. We're more than that. We're more than just some assigned purpose, some programmed function.

Of course. They repair me and fix my paint after my matches. [His handlers have been good to him, which is why he trusts them. The people here, though... he's not sure how much he could trust so many rule-breakers. Even if they're outside the WRB.]

I mean that I was not designed to physically function on my own. I do not have hands or a voice.

[If there was a tone that could be put to those words, it would probably be 'hesitant'.]

That's...uh...decent of them. [Sure, get you into fights that you can't really fight, it seems the least they could do is, you know, repair what they got you into?]

[How do you say 'you're being exploited, stick it to The Man' in a way the other could understand?]

[No hands, though?] I know someone with no hands. He's here, too. I'm taking care of him. [Pharma is so very, very grateful, too!] Until we find someone to make him new hands.

I can ask about some for you, too?

You still do not approve. [Hey now, he hasn't won all but two of his matches just because of his handlers. He's got mad skill.]

[Considering he doesn't feel like he's being exploited that might be a bit difficult.]

The last one that noticed reacted poorly, so it might be good if I acquired them. Though. I have never had them before. I did not need them.

You don't need my approval, though.

That's the whole point. You should do what is right for you. Not your handler, not some stranger you just met.

[But give Drift an A for tactful effort? Okay, maybe a B.]

Reacted 'poorly'?

[Drift shrugs, casually.] Adaptation. It's why my kind do. And while you're here, you might as well try the idea out.

I do not do things for strangers. And my handlers' wishes and mine coincide.

I enjoy boxing, regardless of the feelings of spectators or those here I attempt to explain it to. It is what I was made to do.

[He likes his fights, and the crowds... and the winning isn't too bad either, really.]

It is, perhaps, an understatement. [But he isn't entirely sure how to articulate the whole thing since it had startled him at the time.]

That sounds like something my brother Zeus would be better at.

To win? Is that the wish?

[He shakes his head.]

I wanted to win. I wanted to win more than anything. And so I didn't look at what I was doing to try to win.

And things went too far.

[He frowns.] So? Because someone may be better at you than something isn't a reason to not try.

Besides. You're the one who was brought here.

Yes, I like winning. And the cheer of the crowd. But my programming prevents me from going too far.

[And if the crowd enjoys the match... he can forgive himself for losing. Accept that sometimes he'll lose.]

It will not prevent me from trying. But I do not know how to start.

I wish I knew why I was the one brought here. [He wishes he knew how to get home, too, but he doubts he'll ever know.]

Does everyone have that programming? That prevents it from going too far?

[Because it would only take one, lacking that, to destroy everything.]

You have started. You're talking to others. Maybe you're thinking. No one said it was comfortable or easy.

None of us knows. But we can only answer that by moving forward.

League bots do; any permanent destruction is usually accidental. The Underground is different.

[He is not the biggest fan of the Underground, if only because of their lack of rules and fair play.]

My bouts are not always easy, either.

And you fight....? [League or underground?]

I didn't mean to imply they were. Just that this is a different kind of fight.

Within the League, primarily. However, my last fight was an Underground match.

[Insert sigh here.]

I know. If this were the fighting I am accustomed to this might be easier.

How'd that happen. Thought your operator was supposed to manage that sort of thing?

[Drift laughs. It's not unfriendly.]

I know that feeling. I spent so long fighting the enemy that I just keep fighting. I don't think, sometimes, there's anything else I really can do.

[As much as he's loathe to admit to this, he hesitantly texts back-]

My handler - Charlie Kenton - could not get League matches. And I have not been an in-demand fighter in America for some time.

[Drift, that sounds like how Noisy Boy feels about now. But it does perk him up marginally.]

Have you been doing anything besides fighting?

Why not?

[To both or either. Or neither. He can sense the other's a bit uncomfortable. A mech's past is his business: no one knows that more than Drift. ]

I've been protecting others. It's not much of a change, but it helps. It's meaningful.

I had lost a championship match. The American division of the WRB can be less forgiving of a bot's failures than other divisions. Charlie

[He pauses for a moment. While he prefers to keep some things to himself, his life is public knowledge. He has faith that, sooner or later, someone will show up and tell.]

did not have the money or prestige to enter league matches. And the match at Crash Palace was the soonest one available after my purchase, I am certain.

[It was not his proudest moment... and might have completely ended his career, in fact. So hearing that there might be something after - besides being dumped in Metal Valley and forgotten - gives him something like hope.]

That sounds nice.

[Ouch. That's pretty harsh. You lose one match and that's it? ]

But it's your handler's failure as much as your own, isn't it? [Or is Drift not getting how this works?]

...and you have no say in who you fight, where, or why? [Wow, Drift thought he'd had it bad. He'd done wrong things, fought wrong people, but at least he'd done them on his own volition.]

[And his own blame.]

[He grins. Sorry about the rust.]

You can, too. Just decide what or who you want to protect.

[EASY. Right?]

[With so many bots in America, they can afford to be picky, really.]

They direct our actions in the ring, yes, but we are the ones the spectators see. It was me that took a hit I could not recover from. [That, and he's extremely forgiving of his handlers. Especially Tak.]

Our handlers book the venues and fights; it is why they are handlers. And their reasons are not something they divulge to me. [Their reasons - money, grudges, or whatever - are their own, he figures, and that's good enough for him.]

[Picking who or what to protect. Hrm.]

I must think on this.

Pardon. I am not sure if this is forward, but you are rusting. [Rust is bad.]

But it shouldn't be taken out on you if your handlers direct you to the wrong actions and you lose.

[He has very strong feelings about cannon fodder.]

[He nods.] Take your time. It's a decision that deserves to be taken seriously.

[And oh yeah, that. For a moment, he'd forgotten.] Yes. It's a plague.

...it's not contagious.

Tak Mashido did not direct me poorly. No one could have seen that right hook coming.

[And he'd tried to get up. He had. He just. Couldn't.]

I will. Thank you.

[Wait. Did he hear that right? A plague? A plague on robots?] Your kind have plagues?

[He frowns. He thought your handler's name was 'Charlie'.]

So you blame yourself for your loss?

[Yep, that's about right.] We do. Most likely this was a weapon from the DJD. Or the 3M.

[He shakes his head with a rueful smile.] Your way of fighting is a lot cleaner. In a lot of ways.

[He's. Gone through a lot of handlers. It's complicated.]

I cannot blame Tak for his performance. He did what he could. As did I. It was simply not enough.

[The whosiwhatsits? He's lost again, but he's pretty sure this is horrible.]

I am beginning to get that feeling. Can someone help you?

[In a way, Drift's been lucky. There's just been the Really Wrong Side and the Slightly Less Wrong Side for him to choose from. Pretty simple. In a morally grey squooshy way.]

There's no shame in that. You can only do so much. Your frame has its limits.

[You get used to the lingo. You'll see, Noisy Boy.]

One of the problems with freedom: it's messier than they tell you.

Someone's working on a cure. But it's not contagious, so...[he shrugs. Looking gross and being in pain, not really a problem for him.]

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