Log:Ultrabot, Scene 1

Ultrabot 2014/02/24 	 Malcolm Pelana Ultrabot

1

Champions Mush - Monday, February 24, 2014, 10:20 PM

Bridgend

''Bridgend is an upmarket coastal stretch, between the port to the north and the yacht club to the south, where several main roads meet: Golden Sands Road from the southwest, Ming Street from Chinatown, Bridge Road from Sandy Bottoms Island, and Wharf Street, running roughly parallel to the shore. Some more prominent businesses have warehouses here, but expensive houses and nice cafes, restaurants and shops are more common. The spectacular arch of the bridge to the island guarantees these businesses always have a good tourist trade.''

It is a clear night, but cold so not too many people are out and about when a shiny silver form drops out of the upper armosphere and decends to Earth, braking as it approaches the ground with a great column of hissing steam from boot jets as it slows to land.

For his part, Malcolm Gibbs was just taking an evening motorcycle ride after a long shift with Starguard. His work done for the day, he's clad in heavy-weight jeans, motorcycle boots, and a mid-weight leather jacket that looks suitably biker, and he's riding a patriotically painted sport-bike from the middle of the century. Or, at least, it looks like it's from the middle of the century, it seems to ride more like a modern bike than one might expect.

Just as Malcolm's starting to relax, Starguard updates his HUD with radar contacts from the silvery form plunging toward Earth from the upper atmosphere. Malcolm sighs heavily and leans to the side, accelerating toward the projected landing zone.

The robot is just stepping out of the cloud of steam generated by its landing when Malcolm arrives. It turns to the nearest person, (who is wisely hurrying to be somewhere else) and says something in a highly mechanical voice, the grill where a mouth would be flashing with each Japanese word. The person addressed shifts from a fast walk to a run. The robot does not pursue.

"... I /REALLY/ need to learn to speak some other languages," comments Malcolm as he steps off of his motorcycle. One hand comes up to pop his helmet off while his other hand pulls out his headset. Nimbly switching head-accessories, Malcolm cocks his head to one side as he regards the robot while his headset's holographic screen boots. Offering a smile and a wave, Malcolm cheerily calls, "Hello there!"

The robot turns, says, "English. Recalibrating. Hel'lo."

"Hello," replies Malcolm, offering another smile and another wave. He pauses a moment afterward, momentarily struck by failure to know quite what to say or do here. First contact is definitely not normally his thing. "I'm Malcolm Gibbs of Starguard. Can I help you?"

The robot says, "I am Ultrabot. I have been sent from the Crab Nebula to protect Earth from the threat of Dragera and to meet out justice on the beast in the traditional manner of this planet. However, my initial scans have been unable to pinpoint the location of the monster. Could you assist?"

There is probably a good thirty seconds where Malcolm simply stares at Ultrabot. Another thirty seconds goes by before Malcolm actually manages to use words to respond to the robot. "... Who and/or what is Dragera?"

Ultrabot says, "A fifty foot tall monster, responsible for the destruction of a city called Tokyo on multiple counts. My initial scans say it is nearby. Is this Tokyo?"

Pelana happens by, at about that time. She has nothing more on her mind than getting a coffee and bagel, and she's dressed in civilian t-shirt and shorts as opposed to her elaborate movie costume, but she's certainly recognizable to any fan. Or non-fan.

"This is Colonial Bay," replies Malcolm, one eyebrow quirking ever upward. He looks at once confused and entertained. Tipping his head to one side, Malcolm offers, "And how did you come to be aware of Dragera?"

Ultrabot turns when Palana arrives on the scene and its head jerks back and hands fly forward in a parody of surprise. "Dragera!" It yells, then continues in simultaneous English and Japanese, "You cannot escape justice by shrinking! Prepare to be vanquished!"

"... I... I think there's been a misunderstanding," intones Malcolm, moving to slide in between Ultrabot and Pelana. The tall man holds his hands open and arms upthrust as he regards the silvery robot before him. "I'm pretty sure you're describing a movie, not actual events."

Pelana turns and is quite surprised, but misinterprets things. "Look, the cosplay is very nice, but this really isn't a good time to ask for autographs!"

All that being said, Malcolm senses he has just boarded the pain train. Liquid metal rapidly starts to seep out of his pores, spreading outward and around his clothing in a thin, seemingly organic layer of metal. As the membrane finishes closing around his flesh and clothing, Forge tips continues to keep his hands up as he faces off with Ultrabot. "You really need to stand down. This is not at all what it seems."

Ultrabot attempts to step around Malcolm, saying as he does so, "Get to safety, citizen. I cannot be responsible for collateral damage."

Ultrabot sidesteps Malcolm and charges Pelana launching its metal body in a football tackle.

As Ultrabot steps around him, Forge lashes out with both hands, attempting to grab the robot. He fails utterly, arms swinging through open air as the silvery robot from the Crab Nebula launches toward Pelana. "Oh c'mon."

Pelana may be human size, but she has all of the muscle of her gigantic self, so she can quite easily dodge out of the way. "Think someone's been watching too many movies. Dragera is a character, but I'll be happy to explain it to you after I've ripped your arms off." She launches back towards the robot, looking to pummel it!

Pelana's punch connects and Ultrabot flies back and slams into a wall. The blow dents the robot's front, but otherwise doesn't appear to affect its functionality. Neither the stone wall or the robots back were damaged by its flight.

Forge lets out a deep sigh as Ultrabot starts to stand up again. The metal man clenches one hand into a fist, the fluid metal covering it suddenly *CRACK*ing as it flash hardens into what appears to be solid iron. With a breath, Forge launches toward Ultrabot before swinging his Iron Fist at the robot's midsection with terrible force.

Ultrabot says, "Monster has allies," as Malcolm's blow adds another dent to its armored exterior. "Updating files." Then the robot rises and takes a swing at Malcolm this time. "Update complete."

Ultrabot again misses wildly.

Pelana briefly considers letting go with the lightning, but she's not sure if the metal guy might be hurt more by it, and, to be frank, using her hands is more fun. She moves in to give the mis-programmed automaton another good wallop; if she's lucky, it's only considering abilities of the *character*, and Dragera mostly gets by on being gigantic. Pelana has a brain and knows how to fight dirty.

Ultrabot again flies back into the stone wall, damaging the wall this time more than the last blow, but the damage to the robot's front is just as impressive the second time around. "Critical damage threshold exceeded," the robot says, still speaking simultaneously in English and Japanese. "Updating historical record for Ultrabot 2.0 and initiating self-destruct."

"What?!" Forge looks aghast at Ultrabot's reaction to being beaten stupid by a pair of metahumans. He leaps after the robot, reaching out as he tries to assess the automaton for an access panel he can get at to, say, deactivate the self-destruct.

On closer inspection, the robot appears to be lacking seams of any kind. What at a distance appear to be overlapping plates are, in reality, more like a single piece folded like the bellows of an accordion.

Pelana growls, "What the hell is that thing... quit messing with it and let me." She moves to pick up the robot; her plan is to fly, if it's not extremely heavy. Otherwise, well... she might have to run for it.

The robot shudders once and goes limp. However, instead of exploding, it begins to slowly fall apart, quickly turning into a pile of glittery sand.