re_alignment_logs | Following a scrap at the scrap heap...

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Following a scrap at the scrap heap...

WHO: Rex Salazar and OPEN
WHERE: Near and just inside the Junk Pile
WHEN: Not long after Rex's arrival, prior to the end of the 2 week invasion period
WHAT: As he is sometimes prone to do, Rex separates from Six and manages to wander off in another direction. His path leads him to the Junk Pile and another bug that needs squashing.
WARNINGS: Monster violence.

It hadn't taken much to end up separated. The world they were in was scaled for large machines, not for humans...or humans-turned-EVO. There was a lot to take in, a lot to look out for. The air smelled different, the sounds native to the land around them were foreign. With so much to pay attention to, Rex had been drawn away from Six, eventually, and ended up separated from his partner and father-figure. The teenager wasn't too concerned, however. Both of them could take care of themselves and if push came to shove, they had their comm devices. He would meet up again with Six soon enough.

In the meantime, however, his path had led him to what he assumed must be the Junk Pile that Kay had mentioned over the Link...network thing. The size of it was startling, far beyond impressive. Rex hadn't seen so much junk build up since his trip to the Pacific and "trash island" several months before while at home. As he moved closer, however, he could detect the gnashing of metal mandibles and the scraping of several bladed appendages over the hard ground.

This one was larger than the first, closer to twenty feet long. As Rex turned to see it scuttling quickly toward him, he figured it might be best to end this particular fight quickly. The Junk Pile was more interesting than the monster, after all.

He built out the Boogie Pack and took off, narrowly avoiding having his legs grabbed by the creature as it lunged at him. Once airborne, Rex gained some altitude before circling back and readying the bola launchers over the turbines. Taking aim, he fired off a pair. The first hit and wound around the centipede's thick neck, earning a screech of anger. The second became entangled in a number of its legs on the left side. As it slid to the left, struggling to right itself, Rex shed the Boogie Pack and traded it for the Sky Slicer. The hover board built out as he dropped, then the Bad Axes followed on both arms. Neon blades at the ready, Rex charged in and dragged one blade down the right side of the centipede. Metal groaned and split, fluids oozing out of the open wound. As the centipede collapsed entirely, lashing about over the ground, Rex swung back in and made a second pass and then another. He cut back and forth until gash wounds covered the metal monster...and until his luck ran out and its tail finally caught him and sent him sprawling to the ground, builds coming apart. Fortunately, it seemed the worst damages were only some bruises and having the wind knocked out of him, but that wasn't surprising. He'd survived far worse...like being slammed clean through a building wall.

Gaining his feet, Rex summoned the Blast Caster and lashed out with the whip, the end of it wrapping around the centipede's neck. An energy burst followed, causing it to screech, writhe and then fall to the ground in a smoking heap. Mission accomplished, Rex traded the Blast Caster for the BFS and walked toward his fallen foe. Normally he wasn't really one for killing, but these things reminded him of the Lomitle...the Swarm. And Providence had been forced to find a way to eradicate all of them. It was with that in mind that he climbed up onto the back of his fallen enemy and, after only a moment's hesitation, drove the massive sword blade down through the unguarded head before ripping it clear again. The BFS vanished after and Rex left the evidence of his handiwork behind to continue on into the Junk Pile.

From there, he found himself digging through the massive piles of discarded parts and gadgets with interest, baffled by some and almost reminded of home by others. Some part of him hoped he could find something from Earth, something definite and familiar that would be a comfort while he was stuck on an alien world. There had to be something, right? Maybe if he just looked around a bit more...

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Yeah, that...was not expected. At all.

Rex stared down at the little crow, eyebrows arching in surprise. Partially because it was a crow. And partially because there was a crow there at all.

He knelt down, then glanced at the chain in his other hand. A sly smile spread across his face. Crows liked shiny stuff, didn't they? Maybe that was what had the little bird interested. Rex jingled the gold trinket a bit to see if that would get a reaction.

The crow's head turned towards the sound, as if trying to listen for that jingle. Oh yes, you definitely have his attention now, Rex. After turning it's head a few more times, it takes a hop closer, it's tail swishing. It really, REALLY wants that bracelet.

Another hop and a "CAW!" followed as it looked from Rex to the trinket, then back to Rex. And then to the trinket.

Jingle it again, please!

"I dunno if you should actually have this or not, little guy. How do I know you're not going to choke on it?"

In hindsight, it was probably mean to tease the bird with something if Rex wasn't actually going to let it have the item in question. Still, the crow's reactions were kind of cute.

It was then he got an idea, however.

Rex slipped the bracelet up over his glove covered wrist so that it was just below the orange cuff. He then held out that hand to the bird to see if it would hop right up to or even into his open hand to get at the bracelet.

"CAW!"

That seemed to be the crow's way of saying 'I want that stupid necklace, human', and hopped closer yet again. It's head tilted, watching as Rex slipped it up his sleeve, pecking at the ground a few times before it ruffled his feathers. So you're going to play that game, huh?

It seemed to crouch down slightly, repeating the motion a few times before it hopped up onto Rex's arm, immediately searching for it. Crows were rather quick learners, and began to tug at the sleeve to slide it up, hoping to make the bracelet more accessible.

Whether or not the clasp on the bracelet held had yet to be seen, but for the moment, Rex found himself with a crow on his arm. And that was kinda cool. His other hand strayed near, an index finger reaching to touch the black feathers on the bird's back.

"Where'd you come from, anyway? Did you fall out of that thing in the sky?" Rex spared a glance upward at the Lambda before turning his attention back to the bird. "Least if you did, you should have been able to glide down, huh?"

When Rex's fingers touch those black feathers, he spins his head around, hovering his beak slightly over the hand. He wasn't going to bite, because well...Rex was doing a good job at this petting thing, but tilted his head up to peer at him with one eye. First you hide his thing he wants and now you're petting him.

You sir are an evil genius.

But wait. The bracelet. Right. His head turns back down to the other hand, trying to get at the trinket once more.

But then, as if disturbing the silence, something else was approaching. And this thing had footsteps. It was moving relatively fast, and almost frantically as it turned the corner to Rex's current loca-oh, it's just Kay.

"Skydave!" Her eyes widen when she sees the bird on Rex's arm, skidding to a stop in front of him. And on his arm too! How much did you pay him, Rex, because she's been teaching him to do that for two weeks.

"Wait...I know you, you're that new guy. Rex!" her head turned towards the crow, eyes narrowing. "Skydave, I told you not to take off! Do you know how hard it is to find you!?"

Rex tensed slightly at the sound of footfalls, but not nearly so much as before. Whoever was coming was obviously not trying to sneak up on him, so either they weren't going to attack or they were going to full on charge right in and potentially miss if Rex could side step quickly enough.

His eyes widened a fraction when Kay rounded the corner, though he recovered quickly enough with a friendly smile. She was even prettier off the network. Hardly a surprise, though.

"Yep, that'd be me. Glad I made enough of an impression for you to remember." He looked to the crow as Kay attempted to scold it, though he had to wonder how well any of that was getting though. "This must seriously be one sneaky bird to get so far away from you, so fast. If you want him back, you'd probably better take the bracelet around my wrist, though. He seems to want it pretty bad."

The girl's hands go to her hips, that smile widening a bit. "You're a hard one to forget after you pummeled those monsters! And gave commentary at the same time."

The crow seemed almost unphased by her yelling, and looked back at Rex. Really, this human of his is kind of weird. He flutters up the kid's arm, setting himself on his shoulder and slowly reaching for those goggles.

Kay, on the other hand, noticed this and huffed, glad to see that her new pet was as obedient and sterling as ever. "Sorry about that. He's...a big dumb. He likes to fly off just so I can chase him down. It's like a game he plays or something."

One she really didn't care for in the slightest. Especially after Kagerou told her to stay in the Nest.

Rex's mention of the bracelet has her intrigued, clapping her hands together once she catches a little glint on his wrist. And...you know, like polite people, she reaches to try and take a closer look.

"Shiny things! Why didn't I think of that? Maybe he'll stick around if I give them to him or something!"

Rex grinned at Kay's response, then noticed that he was not that far off from losing his protective eye gear. Reaching up, he pulled the goggles from his head with his other hand so the crow couldn't get at them.

"Nope, don't think so, dude. I need those for combat situations!" Rex eyed Skydave a moment before holding his other hand out to Kay and turning it so she could see the bracelet a bit better. "Eh, it's cool. He just kinda showed up and wanted the bracelet. I found it buried under some spare parts out here, so seriously, no big deal if you wanna take it and try to keep his attention with it."

"Well don't mind if I do!" Her gloved hand deftly looped around that bracelet, sliding it off and onto her own. She jittered her wrist slightly, causing it to make a noise to get the crow's attention. Skydave was no sooner going to hop after the goggles, then he saw that trinket around her wrist. After a few moments of staring at it in different directions, he hopped down Rex's arm and onto Kay's, where he gave it to him, mostly to keep him busy.

"You're a lifesaver with that bracelet. He's been so squirrely lately. I don't know what it is." She seems to finally relax once the Crow hopped onto her shoulder, fiddling with the bracelet. Her attention turned back to Rex, holding her free hand out and smiling.

"Nice to meetcha in person, Rex! I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see you out with all the monsters running around. You make quick work of them!"

"Call me crazy, but it might have something to do with all the centipede monsters on the loose? I'm no animal expert, but having so many thirty foot long freaks on the loose all over the place is probably gonna mess with animals. Maybe sorta like how they say dogs can sense earthquakes coming... All the vibrations in the ground might be making your bird act weird."

Maybe it was a long shot, but it made sense to Rex, at least. He'd seen cases at home where disturbing wild EVOs that had settled away from civilization had resulted in problems. Sometimes if they weren't bothering anyone, it was best to just leave them where they were...

Once Skydave had relocated, Rex was more than happy to grasp Kay's out held hand in formal greeting, briefly. "They're a little tougher than what I'm used to fighting at home, but definitely not a problem once I get to work. Haven't tried using my technopathy on any of them yet, though... Kinda wondering how that would work, since they're aliens, but they're still machines."

At that explanation, she looked at the crow, as if putting this into perspective. Now that he explained it, it really did seem to make sense...It'd explain his constant running off. "You got a point there. It started when all this monster stuff did." Skydave, however, seemed unphased by you two losers, and hopped up her arm and into that scarf, snuggling right by her neck. He had his trinket. He's happy.

Oh, that's right. Rex had the crazy machine arm powers, didn't he. As he talks about it, she's just going to inspect his arm, looking for anything unusual that might cause giant machinery to come out of a person's body. Unless...he was part robot. Just to make sure, she taps on his arm. Nope, pretty squishy.

"So that's just...a thing with you? All that super awesome robot arm powers??" She'd be lying if she didn't say it sounded cool.

Rex couldn't help but blush just a little as Kay prodded at his arm, though his smile remained firmly in place. Being an EVO, he'd gotten a wide range of reactions from people at points over the last couple of years. Some awe, some disgust, some total lack of interest, even... It was always nice to be appreciated and have an interest taken in him. ...didn't hurt when that interest was being shown by a girl around his age, either.

"It's infused. I can't remember it happening because I have amnesia, but my older brother told me that there was an incident in the labs where my family worked, back when I was ten years old. I was hurt really bad and if the scientists hadn't done something about it then, I would've died." Rex flexed his hand, clenching it into a fist. Blue tech lines lit up the length of his lower arm in response. "My body's full of microscopic machines called nanites. They saved my life...and my powers are a 'side effect'."

~~What is with you children and shit happening when you're ten years old.~~

She honestly couldn't understand why anyone WOULDN'T find this amazing. The supernatural always had Kay interested, and to think that there's someone out there that made the impossible--or the stuff only seen in movies--possible? That should always get a good reaction. If they're good people, that is.

Kay's eyes moved from his arm up to this eyes as she listened, a bit shocked to hear that. Rex almost died...? At age ten? Cue the worried face, mostly because...well they're alike in the department of 'bad things happen when we're ten'. Instinctively, she gripped that arm a pinch tighter as he continues that story. "Oh wow...so giving you powers saved your life?"

Her hands jumped a bit when those blue lines run along his arm, but once she realized what's going on, she couldn't help but smile. That was just COOL. Best side effect ever, if you ask her. "Nanites...that so sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie."

...

"Well, it beats a headache or stomach pain, right?"

Edited (RC can't decide what tense she's in) 2013-02-07 17:39 (UTC)

Rex nodded, blush darkening just a bit at how she gripped his arm. "Heh, right? And yeah, that's pretty much it. I have the power to build eleven different machines out of my body, plus communicating with technology through touch. Kind of a handy power to have if you desperately need a soda out of a vending machine and you don't have any change."

Not that he stole food and beverages like that much...not anymore. Rex assumed he used to do it a lot back when he was on his own, though. Well...that and robbing ATMs. That was a sure thing.

His expression sobered a bit more as he continued, blush fading as his thoughts shifted to the more problematic end of it all. "Things got kind of out of control at home with the nanites, though. There was another incident... The Nanite Event. Everyone on Earth ended up with them, but everyone else's nanites aren't like mine. They're incomplete and they can cause a lot of problems, since they weren't ready to be used when they got out. It's a really huge mess and one that I'm normally working on when I'm not, you know, trapped on an alien planet."

Aww Rex, you're cute stop that. Not that she's any better. She's practically on the edge of her figurative seat, listening intently to what he can do. "So you're like a fancy cyborg, but without any real METAL parts on you..." That alone would have been neat, but throw in the talking-to-machines part--she's got to ask: "So...could you say, power a microwave? For like thirty seconds?"

Not that she's curious or anything...

"Oh wow...what...what happens to them? You know, when they're not complete?" She's thinking horrible mutants...or out of control robots. Is she close to the mark there?

"I don't think I've ever really tried to power anything, but jump starts? Yeah, definitely. I can usually force enough juice through something to get it running, depending on what it is and how big. For something as small as a microwave, I dunno, a jump start might actually make it go for that long."

Technically, he probably could act as a generator for a short period if he needed to... After all, part of the Blast Caster weapon involved a dynamo pack that generated a significant change. He just wouldn't be able to maintain it for that long and it would be best used to charge a battery, rather than all that power just escaping after. Something like that was way too strong for a kitchen appliance, though. Can you say 'heap of smoking scrap'?

And Kay was right on both guesses, actually. Unfortunately. At least in terms of everything that'd gone wrong so far just involving nanites.

"Unfinished nanites cause mutations when they activate, usually ones that turn people, animals and plants into things that can cause a lot of damage. Sometimes it's not like it's on purpose, either. They change and it hurts and they get scared and confused, so they just go nuts." He glanced back in the direction of the centipede he'd put down earlier. "We call 'em 'EVOs' and that's why I'm used to fighting like I am. Someone's gotta track them down when they get out of control and do something about them. We try not to kill them if we don't have to, though."

Just the idea that he MIGHT be able to caught her attention, and she tugged his arm a bit, this smile spread across her face. Really, you're just making her day. She just wants warm tea for once. In fact, she'd share it with him. That'd work, right? Bribery?

"If you could do that...just once..."

Maybe she could find a battery or something to plug it up to, and he could charge the battery every so often. Oh look at you, Kay, mini engineer extraordinaire.

But the descriptions of the EVOs caused her to worry a bit. It sounded like...a pandemic, to say the least. And that's always something you should get even a little nervous about. Even if it's not your world. "You can do scary things when you're scared, huh..." A hand goes to Skydave, who's nestled into her scarf. "That's quite the responsibility."

Oh, it's hard to say "no" to that face, especially with those eyes and that hopeful look. Rex can't really pass up the chance to win points with Kay, now can he?

"I can definitely try," he said as he pulled his goggles back on again. "And we'll talk more about the EVO stuff later. Kind of a depressing topic and I think I've got a better one to bring up, anyway..."

Tech lines crawled over his shoulders a second before the Boogie Pack built out, the metal wings with turbines extending to either side of Rex. He offered Kay a mischievous smile.

"Figure since the ground's crawling with uglies and your kitchen appliance in need is probably elsewhere, it might not be a bad idea to fly there. What'd you think? Can you trust me to give you and your buddy a lift?"

"You better hold yourself to that." Especially when she gets time to write it down. That stuff seemed interesting. Not that Kay was scholar material, but wow, SUPERHERO SOUNDING, MUCH?

When those tech lines run up his arms, she lets go instinctively, not wanting to get in the way of any...technopathy that might be going on. And good thing too, because she hopped away when those wings pop out, her eyes as wide as ever. She'd never seen it in real action before, and now she was getting practically front row seats to it.

And then the question. Skydave seemed to understand it to an extent, hopping out of her scarf and staring at him pointedly. You better not, K-

"REALLY?" the girl practically had SPARKLES around her from the question, hopping up and down. After that first flight with CLiffjumper, she was still eager to take to the skies again. "You can BET I'm in!"

"Awesome! You'd better hang on, then, and keep Skydave close," Rex said as he got one arm behind Kay's back and then proceeded to sweep her right up off her feet and into his arms. "And I'll hang onto you."

The turbines shifted to face the ground and kicked on, the sound a steady thrum as they got "pilot" and "passenger" airborne by a few feet to start. Rex adjusted his grip on Kay a bit, making sure she was leaned in against him.

"Just tell me which way to go and I'll handle the rest."

"Right!" She scooped the crow up, placing him into her scarf again, making sure he stayed there. She didn't have much time to think, as she suddenly felt her feet go out from under her. There's a little yelp of surprise as her hands instinctively go around his neck.

Well, now who's the flustered one, Kay. You and your just desserts. "Oh I'm hanging on, alright!" And when those turbines start, she grips tighter, bracing herself for...well, anything.

The first few feet were 'so far, so good'. She adjusted rather easily to it (then again, Cliffjumper gave her a test run), but still is a mix of excited and giggly. "Okay! So. We're looking for Prima's quadrant. So..."

She inches herself up a few centimeters, putting a hand on his head to lower it an inch so she can peek over it.

"That way!"

Rex grimaced just a little a Kay tried to see over him, ducking his head enough so that she wouldn't have to push too much. Once he had an idea of direction, however, and she'd settled back again, he pulled up another ten feet and let his turbines shift so they could get moving.

The thrum of the engines increased and off they went, Rex's body stretching out vertically as he leveled off into something akin to a more classic super hero flying pose. As they picked up speed, he kept Kay close to his chest, arms curled protectively around her.

As they passed over and around the Junk Pile, Rex noted that they seemed to be heading in what felt like a southerly direction? He'd eventually have to find out where all the various temples were and what they were like. It was a little difficult to take in just the landscape itself, however, given there were bugs on the loose on the grounds below.

"It's been a while since I've seen a pest problem this nasty! Just too bad we can't deal with these uglies like the organization I used to work for dealt with a swarm of mutant cockroaches..."

Kay hardly had a chance to react, and gripped onto Rex's coat as they began their flight. As for her face? Pure wonder. Flying never lost it's appeal--maybe it was her whole bird motif and who she'd gotten close to around here, but she seemed to be born for the air, only lacking the wings to do so.

Her stomach does tumble, like it does when going up a hill in the car or when a plane takes off, so she curls into Rex slightly, hiding a giggle as the wind races across her face. She had to admit, her pilot did know how to keep a girl comfy.

"I've never had to deal with giant bugs, actually! Well...I heard there were giant shark robots here once, but that was before I came. Back home all I had to deal with were politicians and smuggling rings."

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Following a scrap at the scrap heap...

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