Post by Reiko on Apr 11, 2014 20:40:05 GMT
Tune Up
“I beat a saiyan today.” Reiko said with a sigh as she stepped into the lab, then she chuckled, rolling her head back a little. “Also, I think college kids just get better looking every year. Is that a hypothesis worth testing?” While there was certainly some cutting edging thinking going on the lab, it hardly looked it. The building itself was dilapidated, and a lot of the equipment was outdated. Koji's reputation and career as a scientist died long ago, though he'd never let that keep him away from his love of robotics.
Koji himself was a tall and lanky. long brown haired man with a full beard and a labcoat. At his desk, he was singlemindedly fiddling around with what looked like an ear piece with one green tinted glasses lens attached to it. Some kind of high tech looking monocle.
“Of course, just your luck, running into such a brutish and underdeveloped excuse for a humanoid species. No wonder you’re damaged like-” He started to reply to Reiko after a couple silent seconds, still either his tools in the monocle. However, before he could finish his sentence, everything Reiko said to him finally filtered in. The surprise seemed to make him slip up with his screw, causing a small screw to fly out and hit Reiko in the face. She flinched, a minor annoyance. “Y-you beat a saiyan!? That’s simply fantastic!” Koji continued, incredulous. Reiko smiled, he knew that proving herself against other humans was one thing, but an alien warrior was something else entirely, maybe something to be proud of. In the very least, it wasn't too shabby for a machine made on a shoestring budget: proof of Koji's genius, even.
“It wasn't an easy fight, though, I suppose.” Koji sighed as he looked at his sister's wrecked arm. His excitement was short lived and never satisfied. He walked over to his 'operating table', pulling out his tools from drawers built into the table and tools hung up on the wall. Some looked like, or even were normal hardware and automotive tools, others even surgical. Eventually, his attention went to robotic arm Reiko had slung over her shoulder. “By the way, what do you have their.”
“I took the Saiyan's cybernetic arm off him after I knocked him out.” Reiko said as she put down the arm at the end of the operating table, then pushed herself up and laided down on it herself. “There’s a laser cannon inside the hand, stronger than the ones you put in my head. That’s what blew off my arm.” At this point, she almost seemed to be getting excited, to the point where you could tell she was dead serious when she looked Koji square in the eye and said,“ I want it!”
“Hmmmm.” Koji hummed as he started to take apart the arm and investigate it. Even for a pro, such things could take time, and Reiko didn't find such things fascinating to watch. Instead, Reiko groped the ground until she got a hold of the remote. One of the monitors flicked alive. What came on was one of Reiko and Koji's favorite shows as kids, Strategic Taskforce Check Ranger. It was a (fictional) live action kids show about a color coded super hero team with a chess theme. Check Ranger was hardly a masterpiece of television, but when you were a kid, nothing really had to be.
Currently on Check Ranger, the leader of the team, Red King was getting going one on one and being attacked by a cyclops monster with elephant like tusk. High block. Low block. Now, Red King was ready to take the offensive. He started with a knife hand, then a backhand, and finally followed with a round house kick. As the monster went flying in the air, Red King pulled out his Check Blaster, getting in a few laser shots in on his opponent. At this point, Reiko began to realize one of the reasons she loved the show so much as a kid, and why she was enjoying it at the moment, even now in her forties. The answer was simple: the action and choreography wasn't half bad. In fact, she realized it might give her ideas on what to do in her next fight. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that once a martial artist could use ki, or was an android, or happened to be an alien, or demon, or whatever else powerful could be found in this crazy universe, they weren't all that different from the heroes and villains you found on special effects TV shows or in comic books.
“Koji, do you remember this show, back when we little?” She giggled a little bit, and looked toward her brother. “It made us both take up chess club, though you stayed with it longer than me.”
“Can't say I do,” Koji said, coldy, looking at the screen with his head cocked slightly to the side. He was clearly baffled by what camp craziness was going on screen. “I'm pretty sure swords don't cause explosions...” Reiko shrugged her shoulders.
“What you found wasn’t a laser cannon.” Koji went immediately back to his work. And the laser seemed to be now separated from the robotic arm it was inside of. “No, this is for magnifying chi, which you technically don’t have. I an sure I could do something with it, but right now, let’s just worry about fixing you up. Actually, that arm had some other good parts, plus I got in a new shipment: you'll be packing more of punch than before, with both arms” Reiko wasn't distracted from the television when Koji attached her new arm, and apparently tune up her other one too. The process was just too loud.
“Did the check come in?” Reiko bluntly asked, now annoyed by her lack of a super powerful gun arm.
“Yes,” Koji replied. “Representative Ribie was very pleased with how you handled his would be assailant, and we were rewarded handsomely.” This was of course, a god send. Maintaining and repairing Reiko was expensive, and Koji depended on her for his own income and keeping up the shop.
“That's good. Hope I get assigned to another defense detail soon, then,” Reiko's eyes wandered a little bit, trying to find another topic of conversation, until she spotted the monocole from earlier on Koji's desk.
“What was that thing you were messing around with earlier, when I came in?” She asked.
“It is called a scouter. Tech by those alien fascists, the World Trade Organization; I was able to get one on the galactic market, and I translated it.” Koji traveled to his desk, only returning with the guts of the scouter, and Reiko caught on immediately with what he was going to do with it. “Among other things, it senses the energy signature of beings, and grades how strong it is. So, not only can you tell how close or far a way a strong target is, but also exactly how strong they are and how they match up against you.” His intention was clearly to help Reiko think before and while she fought, and she knew it.
“Certainly could come in handy. Shut down?” Reiko already knew by now that if if something was going to be installed in her head, she'd need to be “asleep” while it happened. Koji nodded. Otherwise, things could just start feeling weird, or something could go wrong much more easily. Before going offline, Reiko took a good long look at her brother again. Even though she realized it took her way to long and going through too much to appreciate her own brother, sometimes it was hard for her to connect to him. Sometimes, even it was hard to tell if she thought of her as his sister or just a robotics projects, his greatest invention. Maybe even a little bit of both. However, eventually she realized she need to dwell on such things another time. Her thoughts drifted and diminished into silence as she shut down. She did not dream of electric sheep.
Reiko groaned as she sat back up, and stretched out of reflex and habit. She saw her hands, both of them. Also, she she looked at herself, she saw the words power level and a four digit number in the corner of her sight. She guessed that was her own power level, though the number was meaningless because she had nothing to compare it too. The more important thing was that her arm worked, she flex the hand just to make sure, then smiled. In the very least, she knew she could depend on her brother. She got up, went to Koji's desk while he was busy, and gave him a hug. After a couple seconds, she realize his power level was only 5.. and that she was starting to crush him. She awkwardly chuckled, “You really did make my arms stronger didn't you?”
“I beat a saiyan today.” Reiko said with a sigh as she stepped into the lab, then she chuckled, rolling her head back a little. “Also, I think college kids just get better looking every year. Is that a hypothesis worth testing?” While there was certainly some cutting edging thinking going on the lab, it hardly looked it. The building itself was dilapidated, and a lot of the equipment was outdated. Koji's reputation and career as a scientist died long ago, though he'd never let that keep him away from his love of robotics.
Koji himself was a tall and lanky. long brown haired man with a full beard and a labcoat. At his desk, he was singlemindedly fiddling around with what looked like an ear piece with one green tinted glasses lens attached to it. Some kind of high tech looking monocle.
“Of course, just your luck, running into such a brutish and underdeveloped excuse for a humanoid species. No wonder you’re damaged like-” He started to reply to Reiko after a couple silent seconds, still either his tools in the monocle. However, before he could finish his sentence, everything Reiko said to him finally filtered in. The surprise seemed to make him slip up with his screw, causing a small screw to fly out and hit Reiko in the face. She flinched, a minor annoyance. “Y-you beat a saiyan!? That’s simply fantastic!” Koji continued, incredulous. Reiko smiled, he knew that proving herself against other humans was one thing, but an alien warrior was something else entirely, maybe something to be proud of. In the very least, it wasn't too shabby for a machine made on a shoestring budget: proof of Koji's genius, even.
“It wasn't an easy fight, though, I suppose.” Koji sighed as he looked at his sister's wrecked arm. His excitement was short lived and never satisfied. He walked over to his 'operating table', pulling out his tools from drawers built into the table and tools hung up on the wall. Some looked like, or even were normal hardware and automotive tools, others even surgical. Eventually, his attention went to robotic arm Reiko had slung over her shoulder. “By the way, what do you have their.”
“I took the Saiyan's cybernetic arm off him after I knocked him out.” Reiko said as she put down the arm at the end of the operating table, then pushed herself up and laided down on it herself. “There’s a laser cannon inside the hand, stronger than the ones you put in my head. That’s what blew off my arm.” At this point, she almost seemed to be getting excited, to the point where you could tell she was dead serious when she looked Koji square in the eye and said,“ I want it!”
“Hmmmm.” Koji hummed as he started to take apart the arm and investigate it. Even for a pro, such things could take time, and Reiko didn't find such things fascinating to watch. Instead, Reiko groped the ground until she got a hold of the remote. One of the monitors flicked alive. What came on was one of Reiko and Koji's favorite shows as kids, Strategic Taskforce Check Ranger. It was a (fictional) live action kids show about a color coded super hero team with a chess theme. Check Ranger was hardly a masterpiece of television, but when you were a kid, nothing really had to be.
Currently on Check Ranger, the leader of the team, Red King was getting going one on one and being attacked by a cyclops monster with elephant like tusk. High block. Low block. Now, Red King was ready to take the offensive. He started with a knife hand, then a backhand, and finally followed with a round house kick. As the monster went flying in the air, Red King pulled out his Check Blaster, getting in a few laser shots in on his opponent. At this point, Reiko began to realize one of the reasons she loved the show so much as a kid, and why she was enjoying it at the moment, even now in her forties. The answer was simple: the action and choreography wasn't half bad. In fact, she realized it might give her ideas on what to do in her next fight. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that once a martial artist could use ki, or was an android, or happened to be an alien, or demon, or whatever else powerful could be found in this crazy universe, they weren't all that different from the heroes and villains you found on special effects TV shows or in comic books.
“Koji, do you remember this show, back when we little?” She giggled a little bit, and looked toward her brother. “It made us both take up chess club, though you stayed with it longer than me.”
“Can't say I do,” Koji said, coldy, looking at the screen with his head cocked slightly to the side. He was clearly baffled by what camp craziness was going on screen. “I'm pretty sure swords don't cause explosions...” Reiko shrugged her shoulders.
“What you found wasn’t a laser cannon.” Koji went immediately back to his work. And the laser seemed to be now separated from the robotic arm it was inside of. “No, this is for magnifying chi, which you technically don’t have. I an sure I could do something with it, but right now, let’s just worry about fixing you up. Actually, that arm had some other good parts, plus I got in a new shipment: you'll be packing more of punch than before, with both arms” Reiko wasn't distracted from the television when Koji attached her new arm, and apparently tune up her other one too. The process was just too loud.
“Did the check come in?” Reiko bluntly asked, now annoyed by her lack of a super powerful gun arm.
“Yes,” Koji replied. “Representative Ribie was very pleased with how you handled his would be assailant, and we were rewarded handsomely.” This was of course, a god send. Maintaining and repairing Reiko was expensive, and Koji depended on her for his own income and keeping up the shop.
“That's good. Hope I get assigned to another defense detail soon, then,” Reiko's eyes wandered a little bit, trying to find another topic of conversation, until she spotted the monocole from earlier on Koji's desk.
“What was that thing you were messing around with earlier, when I came in?” She asked.
“It is called a scouter. Tech by those alien fascists, the World Trade Organization; I was able to get one on the galactic market, and I translated it.” Koji traveled to his desk, only returning with the guts of the scouter, and Reiko caught on immediately with what he was going to do with it. “Among other things, it senses the energy signature of beings, and grades how strong it is. So, not only can you tell how close or far a way a strong target is, but also exactly how strong they are and how they match up against you.” His intention was clearly to help Reiko think before and while she fought, and she knew it.
“Certainly could come in handy. Shut down?” Reiko already knew by now that if if something was going to be installed in her head, she'd need to be “asleep” while it happened. Koji nodded. Otherwise, things could just start feeling weird, or something could go wrong much more easily. Before going offline, Reiko took a good long look at her brother again. Even though she realized it took her way to long and going through too much to appreciate her own brother, sometimes it was hard for her to connect to him. Sometimes, even it was hard to tell if she thought of her as his sister or just a robotics projects, his greatest invention. Maybe even a little bit of both. However, eventually she realized she need to dwell on such things another time. Her thoughts drifted and diminished into silence as she shut down. She did not dream of electric sheep.
Reiko groaned as she sat back up, and stretched out of reflex and habit. She saw her hands, both of them. Also, she she looked at herself, she saw the words power level and a four digit number in the corner of her sight. She guessed that was her own power level, though the number was meaningless because she had nothing to compare it too. The more important thing was that her arm worked, she flex the hand just to make sure, then smiled. In the very least, she knew she could depend on her brother. She got up, went to Koji's desk while he was busy, and gave him a hug. After a couple seconds, she realize his power level was only 5.. and that she was starting to crush him. She awkwardly chuckled, “You really did make my arms stronger didn't you?”