Match of the Millennium

Description: Mint and Kenzo put together some sentry droids that are to be used in the defense of what is soon to be Fort Metal. They decide to test drive the droids in what is also to become Kenzo's training session. It goes horribly wrong.

[MINT]
There's no mistaking the fact that, at one point, the building used to be a drugstore. Graffiti is the most colorful of the pigments applied atop the building's formerly beige canvas, its signage all but sacrificed in the name of vandalism. Still -- the structure remains standing, which places its real estate value high enough to be worth obtaining as a temporary headquarters for Team Metal.

The inside of the building is... something of a mess though. The windows and entries are boarded up with plywood, the glass shattered long ago. The insides had clearly been used as living quarters for at least three -different- gangs, if the overlapping tags are to be believed. But, a half-dozen contractors of various sorts are working on cleaning the interior mess up right now; the last of the trash is getting wheelbarrowed to a trash dumpster out back even now. So the structure is clear -- the pharmacy area is almost entirely cleaned up, while part of what was once aisles of merchandise is being staked out for smaller rooms, roughly 10x15 in size.

But that's -that- side of the interior space. Right now, Minal Panesh has her own priorities in the front of the building, centering on four wooden crates, marked with the address of a base in New Jersey. With her large gauntlets, she doesn't need a crowbar to get the crates open; she's currently removing the packing materials from a humanoid-shaped robot, armored in steel.

Corporal Panesh occasionally glances through the propped-open front door, to the hotel across the street. Team Metal's been set up there for the time being. And she'd left a voicemail for one member in particular requesting his help after breakfast.

[KENZO]
Kenzo soon arrives with Arctel escort in tow. Sure he could get to the warehouse by himself with his confidence in both his stealth and fighting skills but both NFG and team Metal are looking at him as an investment and the guard is a way of lowering risk a show of force to deter confrontation as it were.

While at the hotel, he was wearing walking around clothes. Here, he's wearing the combat suit with all the networking within it as well as his more durable specs. He was not about to get caught out while on the way to the building. Upon entering, he immediately moves towards Mint with quick, quiet footsteps, the escorts move just as quickly though not nearly as quietly.

"You wanted to see me?"

He doesn't bow. After all, this isn't Japan but at the very least he nods. His hand moves close to the sickle but not actually touching as he prepares to help with opening crates.

[MINT]
With the packing material removed, it's clear to see that the robot form is meant for self-defense. Digitigrade legs for ease of mobility, heavy armor plating to withstand small arms fire, and what appear to be small micro-missile packs hanging from the legs. The upper body also seems to bear empty posts of some kind. There are also, in various places, red strips of fabric marked 'REMOVE BEFORE USE' , attached to metal pins throughout the robot's frame.

But ... the head is disconnected; it's revealed to be in the box that Mint's working on right as Kenzo arrives. "Oh, hey! Yeah, I could use some help getting these big clunkers online!" She pulls up the head unit -- a shape resembling a rounded-off shoebox, perhaps for a size-16 shoe, but laden to the brim with sophisticated imaging sensors and multipurpose antennae.

Mint stands up, head unit in hand. And the difficulty becomes apparent, as she's 4-foot-9, and the robot would be 5-foot-10 once assembled. She gives a sheepish grin. "I forgot to bring my stepstool. Could you hold this in place while I pop in the retaining pins?"

As the work progresses, Minal is quick to ask: "Everything goin' okay up in the rooms? I... ended up working on the security system down here all night, I haven't actually been to bed yet..."

[KENZO]
Kenzo takes the head unit in his hands looking it over for a moment before holding it in place for Mint.

"Yeah. The hotel room has been nice so far."

He's content to let her take the lead on assembly, after all he hasn't taken a look at the schematics yet but chances are he'll get an opportunity to figure out where things go and how things work as they go through the process.

"Had a talk yesterday with Zel. She's interesting."

[MINT]
"Yeah? They had a pretty good exercise room downstairs too. Maybe not -quite- as packed as the Hotel Southtown but I was pretty happy with it."

When fully assembled, the circuitry is hidden from view, but with the shrouds missing, it's easy to see the green circuitboards that control everything. Retaining pins are placed, and with a quick whirr of her gauntlets, safety wire applied to keep those in place. Three more quick-disconnects are secured, and then the shroud plate is snapped in.

"Aaaand now this guy's ready to boot!" She slaps the robot's back with a loud *clank* and flicks a thumbswitch under the arm. A long series of text scrolls through a small diagnostic display on the unit's back.

"Ahh, yeah. Zel's..." She presses her lips together, drawing in breath through her nose. "She's somethin', that's for sure. Knows more than she lets on though, I know that for sure. Help me with the next one, will ya?"

Her gauntlets make short work of the securing straps on the next crate. Before long, it's easy to see what needs to be done to droid #2 -- legs and arms packed separately from the torso.

"I'm really glad you're on the team, Kenzo. Wanted to snap you up first. I thought for sure Blaze was gonna take a go at you." She smiles as she pulls one of the leg units out of its crate. "Have you gotten a chance to spar with any of the others yet?"

[KENZO]
Kenzo rubs his hands together in eagerness to get started on the next droid. After Mint makes short work of the securing straps, Kenzo makes his own contribution in the form of using the sickle part of his kusarigama as an improvised pry bar to pop the lid off the crate.

He sorts the parts out to keep things organized and when everything is unpacked, he goes to one of the legs to set it up, lifting the leg into an upright position and then moving it to be side by side with where Mint's designated droid leg would be.

"First? I'm surprised. My performance in the tournament first round left a lot to be desired. Sure I did better in bonus rounds but..."

He lets that sentence drop off even as he brings the torso closer to prep it for the next step.

"I honestly thought that second round, exactly where I got drafted was the best I could hope for with third round being more likely. I didn't think I was even on Blaze's map and thought that if anyone besides Metal snatched me up it would have been Frost with Abigail's mechanic tendencies."

It's clear he took that first round hard due to the frown on his face. He just didn't have an answer to the power of Genie's energy. He takes a deep breath in order to focus on the task right in front of them.

"I haven't had a chance to yet. I've mostly focused on solo training. I still have to get used to the idea of being part of a team."

[MINT]
Droid assembly seems to be progressing well -- each cable connector is custom printed, each fitting meant for one piece and one piece alone. And all mounting hardware is standardized down to just three or four different kinds of screws. So, between the two engineers, the legs and torso would get assembled without any real bother.

Mint nods slowly in response to the first round. Undoubtedly, the draft picks came out with very different memories about the picks than she had -- but she can see why, considering Kenzo's tournament history. "Eh, it wasn't about points. It isn't about success or failure. It's about team synergy, and making sure that we, as -sponsors- and -mentors-, are able to serve your needs. Kasumoto-san, not gonna lie, she was a good pick. But I'm almost positive Team Thunder's gonna have more to teach her. Same with Buck."

Mint pulls her gauntlet back; a moment later, a small screwdriver module flips out of a secured recess. With said screwdriver, she finishes the task of securing the leg assembly she's working on.

"Working solo is one thing. Working on a team means you can put your heads together and accomplish a much bigger goal, together. If you've got shortcomings, a good team will have your back." She smiles, patting another panel into place with her big ol' gauntlets. "Like, take Nixie. From what I know, you tend to wanna plan things out extensively ahead of time. Whereas Nixie, I get the impression she'd just charge in and tackle challenges head-on. She's got tools to deal with it. -Rough- tools, maybe. But if it gets the job done, right?"

Her tool retracts, and an adjustable wrench swings out. "If the N-F-G gets us into team fights, that's gonna really come in hand. We'd get the best of both worlds, with you two."

[KENZO]
"If I'm being honest, I'm pretty sure that Thunder would have had just as much to teach me as this team. I just figured that my use of tech would have kept me off their radar as well. If they took me uncontested, I would be alright. If you and Thunder contested for me it would have been a difficult choice but I think it would have come down to what I was more passionate about and when it comes down to it, I'm more passionate about technology. Building it, seeing the tech of others."

Kenzo on the other hand pulls out an adjustable wrench from a thigh pouch which is a fairly recent addition to his combat suit and continues to work on the droid as well.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but it sounds like you think of me as having a good handle on strategy where Nixie has a stronger handle on improvised tactics."

He steps around to check on his work making adjustments here and there before stopping to turn to Mint.

"How do you think I could complement the other two team mates, Fadel-san and Doe-san?"

[MINT]
Minal is still kind of new to the 'politics' of draft picks. When assembling her teams in the Special Forces, she'd always had simpler objectives -- I want him, I need her. There weren't any secondary concerns such as whether her team would be the right fit for the -candidate-. But now that Kenzo is here telling her so... it's something to think about.

She's glad she's able to turn a wrench while considering her response, this time. It's a lot easier to take time mulling things over when a tool is in hand. In a manner of speaking.

"Mm. Yeah. I don't have much in the way of flinging chi or anything like that around. Heck, I do it -accidentally- now and it's been drivin' me crazy." A mirthless laugh follows. "So I wouldn't really blame you." Much like she doesn't hold it against Buck, in all honesty.

As she tweaks a joint into a better position, she steps back to examine her work. "... Honestly, I'm still trying to work that out right now. Fadel-san..." she continues, keeping with the Japanese-style honorifics to match Kenzo's use of them, "Fadel-san's been trying to be evasive, but she was open to finding ways to move in closer. So she could be a swing, either way, depending on what's needed." The dark-skinned Marine grins faintly. "And Doe-san, well... he's quiet. I haven't gotten a good read on him yet. But in my gut he feels like he'd be a good down-and-dirty pit fighter."

Mint scratches her chin, momentarily lost in thought. "... What do you think? What kind of strategies would work well with those three?"

[KENZO]
The ninja nods and then closes his eyes as he takes in everything Mint has said. After a moment, Kenzo feels himself ready to respond.

"Based on what I have seen of the matches and what you have said, it seems as though Metal has picked up three skirmishers and one heavy infantry to borrow terms from the military. Djamila and I will be able to switch if need be, but hit and runs are where we will shine. Nixie on the other hand is a guerilla specialist."

Kenzo puts the torso into place and gets ready to grab an arm.

[MINT]
Minal nods slowly, grabbing hold of the other arm. Unwrapping the foam packing material, she answers. "Yeah, that sounds about right. I have a feeling Doe-san's gonna be the wild card here. If he gets in there and can keep the opponents guessing, that'll open up space for you guys to do your stuff."

Mint frowns, orienting the arm into its correct position. "... I -really- haven't figured out how he's still able to move after some of the crap he gets hit by. But anyway."

Locking the arm into place, Mint moves to secure it. "Once you know your teammates' skills, their strengths and weaknesses, you'll know what they -can- do, and you'll know what they'll be -trying- to do even if you can't see them. In a firefight, you need to be able to trust your fire team a hundred percent. Working on a team is -all- about trust."

With that in place, she starts to hook up the arm wiring, but realizes with an "... Oh," that she'd forgotten a few things on the torso. And moves to plug those wires up.

"So in this downtime -- the best way to help each other is to shore up weaknesses and refine strengths. We're building out this training facility to make this a reality. So... I'm curious." Brushing her hair aside, she grins up at the ninja. "What do you think we should work on to make a better Kenzo?"

[KENZO]
Kenzo goes to attach the arm he has to the torso and checks out the wiring.

As he works, he is internalizing everything Mint telling him from team mate knowledge to trust. The trust part comes with time. Then the question about what can they do to improve him.

"I had been thinking about that while we were traveling. I had been reviewing my fight footage."

"Don't wait for opportunities. Create them. This is what I'm working on with Zel-sama. I also found myself not ready to increase my ferocity when I needed it. When I was ready to attack with full commitment, it was often too late to be of use. Even as I reviewed my footage from both my specs and external sources where I had all info needed to make adjustments but failed to do so in the heat of the moment so I have been working on processing information quicker as a personal homework assignment. Then the final one is learning how to improvise, adapt, and overcome. Things would go wrong. Didn't improvise, failed to adapt, and didn't allow myself a chance to overcome."

[MINT]
Minal grins as Kenzo relates the lessons he's learned. He's been working on these ideas for a while, she gathers. Though -- there are some points in which she winces -- the words 'failed' and 'didn't'. It's not an incorrect assessment -- there were metrics, and he didn't meet them. It's a perfect embodiment of the engineering thought process: a tool either does what it's designed to, or it didn't.

Which is why Mint seems like she's chewing on that idea for a few seconds in the process of securing the torso wiring harness so that it doesn't get trapped in the mechanisms.

"This is something else we can help with." She laughs, pointing at the wiring harness she just cinched up. "This right here? I route these cables by habit now, because I've run into these things catching and binding and it sucks ass."

She grins, setting it back into place. As she finishes, she looks up to Kenzo again. "So what you need the most of right now is combat experience. Giving you -more- experiences, so you can plug those into your matrix of things to watch out for."

Scratching her nose, she wonders aloud: "You feel up to a little demonstration?"

[KENZO]
Kenzo meanwhile is making small adjustments to the arm to make sure the wiring doesn't catch when the arm lowers. Then he goes through a mental checklist of things on the torso and arm.

"I wouldn't mind a demonstration."

He goes for the droid head and places it on the torso and steps back to let Mint make the final adjustments before droid is ready to go. He then stores the tools in his thigh pouch.

[MINT]
Mint smiles. She's overjoyed to show off her latest tech. -And- she's glad to put it to use in a training scenario, to boot. Though, she realizes it might be time to be a little more blunt.

"Alright, then... this will be a mock combat trial." Mint gives a quick once-over of the second droid, pleased that everything seems to be in order -- and then flicks both of the droids online. "It's gonna be just a minute or so before these babies get through their POST checks."

Minal stows her tools, resting her right gauntlet by her side, while examining a flip-up display screen on her left gauntlet. Her gauntlet fingers twitch erratically, but it looks like it has some kind of effect on her display.

And, at one point, she looks up with a grin. "You're combat-ready, right? I loaded paint cartridges a few minutes before you got here. Best to do this -before- the decorations and drywall get finished."

COMBATSYS: Mint has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Mint             0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Kenzo has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Mint             0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0            Kenzo

[KENZO]
The ninja nods and frees the kusari-gama from hip and uncoils the chain before spinning the weighted end at his side. He then looks over to Mint.

"Should I be careful not to hurt it too much?"

An impish grin appears on his face as he eases himself into his stance.

"Who knows? It might look pretty cool afterwards."

[MINT]
Mint looks amused. "You... can if you want, I guess, there's two more." They're really just -deterrents- for the local gangs around here, to keep 'em busy long enough for us to wake up and do the real ass-kickin'."
A few more finger wiggles, and Mint hops back with a grin. Both drones power up, with "eyes" lighting up green at first. Each drone wobbles unsteadily on its feet at first, but after a few minute adjustments, each unit raises its 'hands', forearms parallel to the ground, in a grounding stance. The real threat is the gun barrels locked to their forearms. In military usage, of course, they'd be filled with more painful ammo.

The robot's eyes turn yellow.
Mint grins.
"Assault mode will be active in five seconds. Get ready!"
The eyes begin flickering between yellow and red.

"Three... two..."

And on the final count, both drones immediately duck and roll to opposite directions. They were inert before -- but they resemble -soldiers- in their motions, rather than stiff, mechanical robots. The first assembled unit takes aim at Kenzo with a high volley. While the second concentrates fire around waist-level, aiming to coordinate shots with the first!

Mint, the proud parent, just stands back at a respectful distance, focused on Kenzo's reactions!

COMBATSYS: Drone Alpha has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Mint             0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0            Kenzo
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Drone Alpha      0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Drone Beta has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Mint             0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0            Kenzo
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Drone Beta       0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0      Drone Alpha

COMBATSYS: Drone Alpha successfully hits Kenzo with Weakened I Know Gun-Fu.
- Power hit! -

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Mint             0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0            Kenzo
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Drone Beta       0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0      Drone Alpha

COMBATSYS: Drone Beta successfully hits Kenzo with Weakened I Know Gun-Fu.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Mint             0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0            Kenzo
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Drone Beta       0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0      Drone Alpha

[KENZO]
The first drone does send off a high volley but only after taking a pot shot at the tech ninja, right in the family jewels. Sure he was wearing a cup but even still, the impact of it hurts. He doesn't even move in time to avoid the volley and ends up pretty much a sitting duck for the waist high supporting fire.

He takes a deep breath for a moment before a blink and you miss it moment of him starting from the original location with him standing, curled up, covering his jewels and then he's suddenly right next to the first drone, slashing out with his sickle. His face has gone from a smirk to neutral.

COMBATSYS: Drone Alpha blocks Kenzo's Flicker Edge.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Mint             0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0            Kenzo
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Drone Beta       0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0      Drone Alpha

[MINT]
Minal winces. Perhaps she needs to turn the combat settings down from 'Aggressive' to 'Don't Be Such A Dick.' If nothing else, there's proof that she's definitely got the targeting sensors properly dialed in.

While she's air-typing commands into her gauntlet console, the automated security drones are continuing to execute their preloaded directives. And with Kenzo moving close, the first drone he targets hops backwards, blasting up a small dustcloud in the process. When the sickle comes down, it bites into the armored alloy of its forearm, jarring it mightily with a metallic groan, warping the paintball cannon in the process.

"Boom! There you go!" Mint clenches her fist and grins!

The drone, though, has no feelings on the matter -- instead moving to thrust its gripper at Kenzo's waist, with a hope of taking him down in an aikido-inspired toss.

The second drone, though, is quick to adjust its aim. Whereas before, it had gone high, it aims its paintball cannon at Kenzo's center mass.

COMBATSYS: Kenzo blocks Drone Beta's Weakened Strong Shot.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Mint             0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0            Kenzo
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Drone Beta       0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0      Drone Alpha

COMBATSYS: Kenzo fails to interrupt Quick Throw from Drone Alpha with Whirling Chain Blitz.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Mint             0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0            Kenzo
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Drone Beta       0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0      Drone Alpha

[KENZO]
Just because Kenzo has designated the drone that got him with the nasty low blow as his target doesn't mean that he has completely forgotten about the other drone. As soon as he hears the sound of the paintball cannon, he spins and deflects the paintball shot causing it glance off his body.

The first drone however seems to catch the shinobi. It looks Kenzo /should/ be fast enough to smack the droid with an electrified weight before the droid could get the grippers on. Unfortunately it falls apart on execution. The droid picks him up and slams him down to the ground.

The shinobi slowly rises back to his feet and shakes his head to clear it before he returns to his stance.

[MINT]
The drone executes its move exactly as its analysis heuristic had determined. A little -too- good, actually -- to the point that Mint looks down at the console screen with alarm. "... Huh." A few finger wiggles later, and her eyes go wide. "... Oh, this is -bad-..." she whispers.

Sucking in her breath, she tightens her fists, and draws them backwards. The miniature jet turbines in her gauntlets spin up, echoing loudly in the active work site.

"See, when things go wrong -- you might be on your own for a bit...!" she calls out. And in the next moment, Mint's turbines flare to life, and she's off like a rocket! She plows her fist into the back of the drone, applying 'percussive maintenance' to its vulnerable data module in attempt to force a reboot...

"But that's when you gotta trust your teammates!"

COMBATSYS: Mint successfully hits Drone Alpha with Dash Punch.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Mint             0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0            Kenzo
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Drone Beta       0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0      Drone Alpha

The drone staggers forward from the impact, suddenly finding itself beset on both sides! In the next moment, the drone throws an arm out: not at Kenzo, but to counterbalance itself for a kick aimed at clocking Mint in the chest!

Meanwhile, the second drone is out of her reach. And a quick combat roll takes it momentarily out of Kenzo's range, as it positions itself behind a rolling cart for cover. In the next moment though, the drone snakes its gun. The first drone has changed target -- but Kenzo is still a threat! The *pop* of a paintball cannon sounds as it opens fire from cover!

COMBATSYS: Kenzo blocks Drone Beta's Weakened Medium Shot.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Mint             0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0            Kenzo
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Drone Beta       0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0      Drone Alpha

[KENZO]
Once again, Kenzo deflects the shot from the second droid with the sickle of the kusari-gama before he temporarily abandons the first droid, as much as it galls him. He seriously wanted revenge for it opening with that nut shot. Strategically, it was not ideal to go for the first droid when Mint seemed to be dealing with it better than he was.

He dashes right past the second droid before turning while in mid skid. If the droid's sensors are not acting up, it might notice a charged up device at its feet before a large burst of electricity is released from it.

"Make sure. You get a shot at that one between the legs."

Yeah... He's still pissed.

COMBATSYS: Kenzo successfully hits Drone Beta with Pulse Device.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Mint             0/-------/----===|=======\====---\1            Kenzo
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Drone Beta       0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0      Drone Alpha

COMBATSYS: Mint parries Drone Alpha's Strong Kick!

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Mint             0/-------/---====|=======\====---\1            Kenzo
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Drone Beta       0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0      Drone Alpha

[MINT]
Mint grimaces as the robot turns on her. Its own creator! But that may be related to the fact that it's going a bit too ham for what was supposed to be a training mission anyway. The good thing is: when it kicks, Mint is quick to lean sideways, raise her gauntlet, and let the shot careem right off the side of her gauntlet as she drives in closer.

She'd heard the special request. And with a tandem roar of her engines, she surges forward, delivering not just one, but -two- turbine-assisted punches right into the robot's abdomen!

Bam! Bam!

COMBATSYS: Mint blitzes into action and acts again!

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Mint             0/-------/---====|=======\====---\1            Kenzo
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Drone Beta       0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0      Drone Alpha

COMBATSYS: Mint successfully hits Drone Alpha with Heavy Punch EX.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Mint             0/-------/-======|=======\====---\1            Kenzo
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Drone Beta       0/-------/---====|=======\===----\1      Drone Alpha

COMBATSYS: Mint successfully hits Drone Alpha with Fierce Punch.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Mint             1/------=/=======|=======\====---\1            Kenzo
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Drone Beta       0/-------/---====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2      Drone Alpha

... With its leg held high, Mint has a clear route to drive her powered punches right down main street! Metal parts groan with fatigue, and the robot topples over to the padded floor. And with that, the drone's percussive maintenance cycle is complete -- as the drone's eyes drop to a pale blue, before finally winking out.

The second drone, though, is a bit... confused. Because it was not programmed to accept deliveries. It sees this delivery is showing unusual power signatures -- and that presents it with another anomaly.

The drone starts to leap back. But the electricity arcs outwards, short-circuiting its leg servoes and causing it to fall to the floor. The robot suddenly slams its palms down onto the ground -- and with a metallic groan, it suddenly lurches outward -- hurling its gripper towards Kenzo in a mighty punch!

COMBATSYS: Drone Alpha takes no action.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Mint             1/------=/=======|=======\====---\1            Kenzo
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Drone Beta       0/-------/---====|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2      Drone Alpha

COMBATSYS: Drone Alpha has left the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Mint             1/------=/=======|=======\====---\1            Kenzo
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Drone Beta       0/-------/---====|

COMBATSYS: Kenzo fails to interrupt Fierce Punch from Drone Beta with Shredding Spark Frenzy.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Mint             1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0            Kenzo
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Drone Beta       0/-------/--=====|

[KENZO]
He's fast. The initial electrified slash of his sickle looks like it is on the path of intercepting that mighty droid's punch and then he steps on some still wet paint that was on the ground. His foot slides from under him and he finds himself slipping keeping his sickle from reaching the droid.

To Kenzo's credit, he manages to get his feet back under him but it ends up in vain. The punch slams into him sending him flying through the air and then skidding on the ground. Sure he could get up but for the time being he's staring at the ceiling in disbelief.

[MINT]
"Well, this thing's just gone way off the rails..." Mint looks aghast at the damage her drones have already caused. She'd meant for them to provide a light challenge, as a -warm-up-, but her parameters seem to have gotten locked in on a much more persistent setting. Good for defense of the Metal home base -- but there'd definitely be lawsuits if non-hostiles were injured by the faulty programming!

Grimacing, she calls out to Kenzo -- "Okay, lesson learned -- -always- place the emergency shutdown on a separate and isolated circuit!" And before the drone can initiate any further hostilities, Mint flares up her jet thrusters -- and powers them up to full, rocket-blasting a single fist at her second drone in a single directed punch!

COMBATSYS: Mint knocks away Drone Beta with MOAB.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Mint             0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0            Kenzo
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Drone Beta       1/-----==/=======|

The drone was ready for Kenzo. It was not ready for Mint -- who was on one side of the room a moment prior -- to suddenly be right up in its chest unit with a mech-bashing -fist-. Both Mint and the droid go hurtling back to the wall of the pharmacy-turned-kitchen, leaving a robot-sized indentation in the wall studs! A moment later, the robot slumps over.

A moment later, Mint climbs out, reaches over, and flips the power switch. The physical one. And then the robot falls over onto the ground, its eyes dimming to black.

Panting, Mint drops to one knee, turning back to look at Kenzo. "Hey Kenzo. I... geez. I was in such a rush to test this thing that I forgot to double-check the threat detection routine. It... it um..." She scratches her cheek. "Dunno if this means anything, but it was set up to treat us like Shadaloo level threats. Which is good, since these droids are for perimeter defense..."

She pushes back to her feet with a grimace, half-jogging back to Kenzo. "How are you? I'm so sorry for all this! Jeez..." She reaches over to check on Kenzo -- offering him a hand up, if he's ready for one.

COMBATSYS: Drone Beta takes no action.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Mint             0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0            Kenzo
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Drone Beta       1/-----==/=======|

COMBATSYS: Drone Beta has left the fight here.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Mint             0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0            Kenzo

[KENZO]
He doesn't take the offered hand up. He's not so rude as to smack the hand away either. Regardless of Mint's lack of checking the threat detection routine he's not angry at her. When it comes down to it, he's angry at himself. He's angry at the fact that he had, up to this point failed to find many bright spots in his own performance. He remembered those notes on his own improvement plan.

He didn't wait for opportunites, he created them, then failed to take advantage of those opportunities he created. He turned on the ferocity when he needed it but failed to use it properly. He processed the information he was getting even quicker but adjustments he made didn't work. He improvised badly, adapted poorly, and failed to overcome.

The shinobi rolls onto his stomach and slowly climbs to one knee. He slams his fist into the ground and with a roar of rage as precursor to his next act.

He chases after the droid sent towards said pharmacy turned kitchen and slashes and hacks into the droid with all the viciousness that he would have had unleashed upon had he not slipped on the paint in the first attempt. Mint finally gets to see the technique as it was supposed be executed. Slash after savage slash goes into the now shut down droid.

When he is finished and all of his rage is spent, he is left with an empty feeling.

"Sorry you had to witness my temper tantrum. That was... embarassing."

COMBATSYS: Kenzo has left the fight here.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Mint             0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Mint has ended the fight here.


[MINT]
Mint understands. She's been there before. And she won't hold the hand out for so long that it becomes an embarassment -- just looking away for a moment, politely feigning interest in the flickering lights of the first disabled drone as she returns her hand to her side.

In a way, there were many tests conducted. And at least two of them were successful, at least on the binary of 'was actionable data obtained or not?' There -are- now things to act upon.

Especially now, as Mint witnesses Kenzo going to town on a disabled robot -- a display which draws Minal's eyes to half-lidded, and her expression to a remorseful frown. She's not going to -stop- him. Hell, she doesn't blame him at all.

Is she sad that her robots are going to need repairs? A little, sure. But -- she tells herself, while reaching down to disconnect the first droid's logic module -- at least it's mostly a 'free' fix. The only thing the robots need is a little time to bend things back into shape, and a little attention. Whereas Kenzo's injuries are real, in comparison, and could have been much worse.

"It's fine. Totally understand." She laughs faintly -- if there's anything to be said on the matter, it won't be done -now-. "Besides. There's two more," adds Mint with a twinkle in her eye. "But let's not wake them right now, mmm?" The Marine hopes a little levity can help to salvage the situation.

"I'm just glad you're okay. I'm disappointed at my own quality check on this, that is a hundred percent my bad." She looks at her wrist -- encased as it is in metal and carbon-fiber -- and cocks her head to the side. "Hey, it's about lunch time. Wanna hop over and check out the poke-bowl place down the street? They've got a sign out for some super spicy sriracha deal they've got goin' on, I've been itchin' to try it!"

[KENZO]
Even though Mint said, 'It's fine,' the tech ninja knows that it's not. There will be a reckoning for the major loss of face he had here. This cannot be allowed to happen again regardless of the reasons it happened. Mint's attempt at levity go unacknowedged due to him being too much in his head.

He takes a deep breath and is suddenly grateful for the subject change in the form of food. He can only manage a nod in agreement to food at first. After a few moments he finally trusts himself to speak again.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Log created on 08:37:48 06/09/2023 by Kenzo, and last modified on 12:16:27 06/12/2023.