Chapter Text
Hitchhiking has never been to your liking. It's noisy, often crowded, and you're pretty sure it would be even worse if you had the ability to smell.
Since the last couple tournaments you were allowed to enter didn't end up going too well. You're pretty sure you're now in some kind of regional blacklist for doing a... rather unbecoming hand gesture in the heat of the moment to one of the more important organizers, but you're not a bad robot for doing so, he simply may not have realized that he was being a prick and so you took the care to let him know. With both of your hands.
Events seemed to dry out for you after that, and with your resources starting to run thin you're now skipping town and moving on to the third state you know of that still allows humans to compete in fighting sports: Lincoln State. The town of Verdant being your first destination.
You'd think being surrounded by other robots would soften the blow of the trip, but being stuck inside a rusty old train wagon with several dozen outmodes in various states of disrepair doesn't make for a very hospitalary experience, especially considering this'll be your situation for the next several hours before you cross state lines. Thank Sterling you have well over the charge needed for such a tri-oh?
You feel the train slow down before eventually coming to a complete stop. Strange, since this is a mere two hours into this overnight trip. Peeking your head between the already open sliding metal doors of the wagon let's you see that the front of the train, as well as the the human conductors exiting the locomotive. Maybe it's lunchtime?
As if on queue, you see two black SUVs approach the right side of the train, one from the front of the train and one from the back. Their occupants very clearly brandishing knives and baseball bats. You feel a tingle on the back of your neck as you see the vehicles come to a stop and their occupants begin to approach the wagons before forcefully opening them one by one using sledgehammers.
It isn't until you until you see a good amount of the other bots quickly exit the train from the side opposite to where the vans are that it finally clicks why these people keep Indiscriminately opening wagon doors one after another: They're looking for robots. Or rather, they're looking for scrap.
The thought of clutching your duffelbag and running to the adjacent fields alongside the other bots crosses your mind as the fear of being in a bad situation kicks in, but you know second guess yourself for just long enough to realize the situation of those around you. Some of the outmodes don't seem to know the kind of danger that they're in, and you know for a fact there are more like them hiding throughout the train.
Lady Hoimei did say helping oneself is akin to saving a life, but helping someone else is akin to saving a thousand, and even in her drunken state at the time you know she wholeheartedly believed in every one of those words.
There's no security on this train, it's very likely the authorities won't get here in time even if alerted right this second, and you are a top of the line Sterling Robotic Nanny with both superior engineering and self defense expertise meaning that -paralyzing fear or not- you are the only help available.
You quietly exit the train while half closing the metal door, much to the confusion of your fellow passengers. As you're moving between the surrounding rocks, bushes, and tall grass you slowly approach the three men who are opening wagons from front to back when you notice they're relatively spread out, with two of them right next to each other breaking open the locks and the final one staying closer to the van a few feet behind them, giving you a thankfully clear point of attack.
Maybe incapacitating the comparatively toned driver first would scare the other two lankier, younger ruffians into giving up on their current activity and run away, maybe even turn themselve-is that one looking straight at you?
You freeze. He freezes. Time seems to move in slow motion as you notice the man right next to him, sledgehammer in hand, unaware of his buddy taking notice of your presence, has just broken another lock. As he begins opening the door you begin hearing gasps and screams coming from inside the wagon as it is very clear he has found what he was looking for.
You interrupt the ongoing staring contest as you quickly sprint towards the driver. You have precious seconds.
Your body gets into position on its own as you get right next to the man who is now turning around to face you, alerted by the noise. A single involuntary vocalisation escapes your lips as the fear in your mechanical chest kicks into overdrive:
"Please..."
"Whuh-" You hit the an elbow strike straight to his stomach that lifts the man a few millimeters off the ground and sends him falling to the ground clutching his sides.
-
"We got a fighter!" You hear as the ruffian who noticed you is already coming your way brandishing a wooden bat, your reflexes telling you he made a mistake by running at you in a straight line. Before he can even hope to react you have already lunged forward with your left leg back and your right one forward as if taking a big step, as well as locking your right fist in front of you to meet with his face.
-
You hit his nose.
As the man stammers back covering his face, out of the corner of your eye you see a sledgehammer bobbing up and down coming towards you, giving you the choice of taking a chance at incapacitating its weilder before he is able to take a swing or getting out of the way of danger. Better play it safe.
You move out of the way of the blunt weapon as the man tries to strike you down with all his might, hitting the side of the van instead and nearly opening a hole through the sliding door. The man attempts to pick himself and his hammer back up to try again before a roundhouse knee strike hits the back of his head, slamming his face into the van that he just ruined. He's unconscious.
You hear gasps coming from the train, and looking over you see a wide assortment of robots looking at you in disbelief, with a few looking scared and one of them shakily pointing to your left for a moment before yelling out something in a language you don't understand.
You feel a hit to the back of your neck.
Your vision goes out for a fraction of a second, error messages are flashing in your mind "GYRO RECALIBRATION NEEDED", "CAM_1A CAM_1B CONNECTED", "MISALLOC RAM", and it takes you a moment to realize you dropped down to your hands and knees. The long shadow you see to your left lets you know that whoever struck you is coming towards you baseball bat in hand, intent on doing it again. He takes a swing at you as you turn around. Your right shoulder is hit. As you put up your forearms to serve as head protection you begin to notice how his grip on the bat is fairly unstable, his movements seem erratic and angry, and he's failing to notice you're slowly getting back on your feet as he keeps clumsily hitting your metal arms with a wooden club.
After the fifth blocked hit you finally find a clear opening just long enough for you to use both of your palms to strike the bat away from his hand, and as his vision follows his means of attack being swatted away from him you dash closer to him, and as you rise from your low stance you use your whole body as a spring to gain as much momentum as possible, finally kicking straight upward towards his head as fiercely as you can manage.
-
Your foot can be heard connecting with his lower jaw, launching him inches into the air and leaving him unconscious before even hitting the ground.
You stand up straight with your fists to your sides looking at your opponents, waiting a few moments to confirm that they get up and cause more trouble for a few minutes, and indeed, they seem to be out cold. Error messages ping once again as it is very clear that first blow was perhaps a bit more than what you usually endure, but before you can begin to worry about what just happened, if your self defense went overboard, and if Lady Hoimei would approve of you putting yourself in danger like this, you (thankfully) get distracted when you're alerted by the sound of mechanical commotion going of behind you.
You look over behind you to see a quickly emptying train car and with it a fair amount of thankful looks coming your way from some of the outmodes alongside some barely disguised fearful stares from the rest. Must've been the first time they've seen a robot perform Bajiquan (That's bah-jee-chu-ahh-n) to this degree of excellence and they don't quite know how to react. Too bad they're scattering away too fast for you to explain that you're a trained professional who merely meant to incapacitate these men so they can be turned over to the proper authorities. Oh well.
You walk over to the wagon so you can check if anyone else is cowering in there, but before you can enter the train you hear a motor roar to life and tires kick up dirt as the SUV is booking it towards the front of the train. Looking around you realize the driver left his fellow scrappers behind and is now making a getaway alongside the other vehicle that approached the train. They're out of sight within the minute.
• • •
A few hours have passed. The sky is dark, the train is illuminated only by the moonlight and the police car leaving the scene, and you are laying on top of a train car waiting for the thing to start moving.
After the conductors called the authorities to report a robbery that was apparently happening simultaneously to your encounter, you nearly considered ditching the train altogether and making your way to the nearest road on foot since your GPS says it's only 2.2 miles away, but you figured the police couldn't possibly take too long to resolve the situation and let the train be on its merry way, and plus it was anyone's guess how long it would take for you to find anyone willing to give a ride to a strange little nandroid standing on a random highway in the middle of the night. "Better play it safe", you thought.
It was by the third hour of waiting that you realized maybe it would've been a better idea to just take control of the locomotive yourself if it meant moving forward even a little bit before sunrise reared its head over the horizon.
At least in that time you overheard those two remaining scrappers getting arrested, which was pretty hilarious seeing as the policemen seemed rather unimpressed with the story of a "super powered nanny bot" that they kept repeating as they were being taken in. It was hard to keep down your giggles to a low enough volume using your hand, since you didn't want the lawmen finding out you were A) real, and B) still there. But alas, wagons had to be checked and locks had to be replaced so now you sit alone, with your bag to your side and your headpiece in your hand, on top of a big rusty box, as the only robot aboard this train.
It's an odd sort of peace, knowing you'll reach your destination and all those other robots will remain in one piece for the time being thanks to you, but now they'll have to wait for another train which may never come for some of them seeing as they looked quite beat down and about ready to succumb under the crushing weight of a long lifespan.
You're pretty sure Lady Hoimei would've said you did the right thing and how proud she was of you, but you're still tangled by the feeling that there is more you could've done, should've done to avoid unnecessary blood being spilled while making sure everyone got to reach their destination, same as you will in time.
The locomotive finally huffs to life, interrupting your own train of thought as you feel it begin to move. You choose to stay here under the starry sky, hoping to get a better view when you make it to the town that will surely, finally let you fulfill Lady Hoimei's last unresolved order so you can go back to your living your normal life, tending to the family dojo and making tea for... *Ahem*.
We'll cross that bridge when we get the- "MEM AUTODEFRAG IMMINENT"
...Wait, wha- "ENTERING IDLE MODE"
Oh no-thunk