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

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.]

It does. I could have won the match if not for that.

[But it happened. At least for him, things were clear-cut. It was just him and the opponent and their handlers. Good and bad never really entered into it.]

Then I am glad you told me.

Even if it is not contagious, I hope a cure is found quickly. I do not like to see harm come to bots outside the ring. It is not right. [And this is definitely outside the ring and no one deserves rusting like that.]

It's often that way. That one moment you wish you could change, you wish you'd had a little bit more or had made a different choice.

[Drift's life seems filled with these moments--Gasket's death, in the gutters, his hands finding the gun, ending that past more finally than the stray shot that had taken Gasket from him.]

No one told me. I figured I could save you a few million years of struggle.

But it's worth it. That, you may have to trust me on blind faith.

[Drift shrugs.] It's no big deal. Believe me, I've been through worse. But thank you.

But we cannot. We simply have to accept what has occurred and continue on. Otherwise we end with nothing but 'what if'.

[Sometimes he still wishes that he could have won that match, true. But... he has enjoyed travelling since Tak sold him. His fights in so many other countries and seeing how they do things. He doubts he would have lasted quite this long if not for that loss, too. However far he's fallen since then or not.]

Thank you. The million years I doubt I could manage.
The faith, however, I believe I can.

Even if your circumstances have been worse before, your current situation is not diminished. [He can't even imagine worse, himself.]

It's still hard to avoid that, sometimes. But it's easier if the choices aren't your own.

[Drift does appreciate the bright side.]

Why not? You have parts. They can be replaced. Megatron's been rebuilt...dozens of time. I've been at least three. Why not you?

[He shrugs, more uncomfortable with the concern than the whole 'your insides are on the outside' thing.] Someone's working on a cure, and I didn't infect---[uh....] someone very close to me. That's what matters. Hope and trust.

They can be easier that way. It can also be easier, knowing where you are now and knowing you might have missed it, if things had been different.

[Optimism is the easier route for him, really.]

I have parts, but they are all specific to me. All of my kind may share similar hydraulics, but our construction and materials are unique to each bot. And the parts are not always easy to come by. Sometimes production is stopped on parts for older models entirely, because they are no longer in demand.

[He's always concerned when other bots are injured outside the ring. In the ring it's normal, but outside of it... not so much.] I am glad of both of those things. I hope you are able to find a cure soon. I do not know a single bot that would deserve what has happened to you.

...you're right. [Drift thinks about where he'd be if he hadn't met Wing. Probably dead. Violently so.] Things would have been different. Worse.

[Drift cants his helm.] So do most of us. But parts can be machined. Our leader, Rodimus, just lost his arms. Ratchet made him a new pair. [Shrug. See? No big deal!]

One of the medics can easily keep you going, if that's your only worry. Trust me, I think they'd be glad to replace parts from age as opposed to, well, what I normally do to them.

[Says the mech who stabbed himself in the chassis. Yeah, no wonder Ratchet thought he was a bit...off.]

Don't worry about me. [Seriously. Stop. It feels weird.] But believe me, many would argue that I did deserve this. [Start with the DJD, add a few thousand Autobots with grudges, etc, etc.]

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