Zephyrus and Antoinette Do Some Charity at the Soup Kitchen

The room was as silent as death as Oceanus sat in his dusky apartment, looking at the door expectantly.  After a long three-day break Zephyrus still hadn't returned from wherever it was he had run off to.  He wouldn't respond to any messages sent, and whenever Oceanus tried to look around the city he just couldn't find the other robot.  He had to admit, he was getting concerned.  Zephyrus had been prone to wandering lately, but in the end he always came back home within a day.  Now he was just plain gone.  Did something happen?  Was he hurt?

Oceanus knew he couldn't allow that.  He and his brother had been through hell together: the Lord, the Fiends, that one horrible night when the supermarket ran out of chocolate.  It couldn't end with Zephyrus just vanishing into the night.  So the green bro-bot had made a little call, and was currently waiting to see if his Zeph-hunter for the day would respond.  He looked at the clock: half past ten.  Maybe she wasn't coming after all.  As he let out a dejected sigh and started to turn on the television, the door started to creak open.

The door swung open and Antoinette stuck her head in, her usual sunny smile on her face as she waved at Oceanus before opening it and walking in. She was clad in her outfit from when Pech had pretended to be an enemy of the Bar to give Garnet a present of beating up people, all-black along with a trench coat on, doing little to nothing at hiding her pistols or gladius.

"Hi, Oceanus! Sorry I'm a little late... My Art class had everyone draw a bowl of fruit, but I kept getting the colors wrong, so they made me stay until I finished." She said as a way of explanation, shouldering her sniper rifle off her back and underslung shotgun off her waist onto a counter. She had stopped to get them before riding the bus here, smiling at all the disturbed and frightened glances she had attracted going around armed so heavily.

"So what's up? You said you needed help with something?" she asked cheerily.

Oceanus couldn't help but chuckle.  Antoinette never did put down her weapons, even when going to an art class.  Her college would've probably worried she'd shoot the place up one day if she wasn't always so cheerful and smile-y.  "Looks like you came prepared," Oceanus commented.  "Perfect.  Not that I'll know if you need all that weaponry, but with how things are nowadays it never hurts to bring some along."  He produced a small two-way radio, staple of the technology of this time period, and handed one to Antoinette.

"Now, I'm going to keep this brief: big bro's been gone lately.  He took Mach with him, so finding him has been a giant pain in the assplate for me.  Pech tells me you're one hell of a tracker, so I figured you'd be able to help.  If you see him, just tell me with this radio and I'll try to get over here as soon as you can.  What do you say?  Will you be able to help a robot out?"

"You just want me to find him? Sure, no problem! It'll be easy!" She said, taking the communicator and strapping it to her belt. "He's probably, I dunno, meditating or something... or maybe in the Junkyard, practicing with his gear..." She took both of her heavier weapons back up, strapping them to their correct places and nodding to herself before looking back up at Oceanus and patting him reassuringly on the arm.

"Don't worry, he's fine. I'll find him and let you know as soon as I do." With that said, she turned and walked out, careful to close the door behind her.

"Much appreciated, Antoinette," the robot said as he watched Antoinette leave.  Once she left he turned on the television, watching the Double Pangolin reboot and sighing.  "Yeah, he's fine.  I sure believe that with how he's been lately," he muttered as he watched some gritty 90s cartoons.

~~~~

An explosion rocked the walls of the Luchadillo Memorial Soup Kitchen, the sturdy building shaking a little.  From the windows of the building were two figures: the first a burly masked man holding a shotgun and the second a familiar-looking blue robot.  The two took potshots at a few notoriously well-dressed robots, who were surrounding the facility.  "¡Dios mío!" the burly man exclaimed over the roar of battle, ducking under the bullets of a robotic minigun.  "They keep on coming!"

The Killbot Mafia had been a real thorn in Zephyrus' side lately.  The silly gangs of yesteryear had been run out of town by well-oiled organizations like this.  And lately this particular mob had become quite grabby with their territory.  At first Zephyrus didn't care much.  They were just another movement, he figured, and they'd be gone soon enough.  Then they attacked the Luchadillo Memorial Soup Kitchen for not paying their protection money.  Once they proved themselves the scum of the earth, Zephyrus just had to spring into action.  Law enforcement wasn't doing anything, they were all on the Killbot Mob's payroll.  The lucha-priests who ran the kitchen did the best they could, but their fists were nothing against cold steel.

When justice needed to be dealt, Zephyrus was always ready to snap into action.

A beep of the claw cannon indicated a switch of ammo.  Rapid-fire spikes, the preferred armament of his old comrade Needle Man, pierced into an incoming robot and detonated him.  The masked man turned to Zephyrus, impressed.  "You never cease to amaze, robot," he remarked.  "Had you not started showing up two weeks ago, we'd be crushed by now."

"Don't mention it," Zephyrus muttered.  "Sooner this scum's gone, the better."  Of course, he soon started to hear nothing but clips.  "Warpdamnit!  Not now!" the robot shouted as he checked his ammo supplies.  He had been holed up in this soup kitchen for almost three days now, and even when the fighting stopped he never had a chance to replenish his ammo.  He had exhausted most of his supplies: only his natural tornadoes, the Leaf Shield, and the much-maligned Top Spin remained.  He turned to the man and shouted, "Cover me!  I'm going in!"

The blasts of a firing shotgun punctuated Zephyrus' lucha-priest ally's attempts at keeping his ass out of the fire.  It was times like this the robot wished he had kept Ultima Weapon.  He rushed into the horde of approaching robots, cleanly decapitating one of the small ones with a snip of his claw cannon.  The blue Wily-bot fought like a cornered animal, spinning his fan to clear the ranks with tornadoes as he wove his claw cannon with rarely-seen fury.  This wasn't his usual heroic fervor he displayed at the bar.  His fighting style seemed more vicious and punishing.

Unfortunately, with rage came recklessness, and soon a larger robot had punched Zephyrus with a fist the size of a minivan.  Zephyrus stumbled back, turning to the robot and glaring.  The claw cannon seemed to shine in the moonlight as he ran forward, screaming with fury and jabbing it right into the robot's chest.  It connected, spewing oil profusely and causing Zephyrus to chuckle darkly.  Bigger they are, harder they fell.

Only problem was, this robot didn't fall.

The massive bot slammed Zephyrus with both fists, slamming him into the ground.  Two panels in his chest spread apart to reveal a massive pair of spinning tractor wheels.  "Of course," muttered Zephyrus darkly as the massive robot pinned him with a gigantic foot.  The robot began to lean down, whirling doom approaching Zephyrus.  He was out of options, and he figured he could only sit back and watch his fate.  As he watched, though, he noticed a green dot start to appear over the robot's head.

Boom.

~~~~

"Oceanus, Target Located, over." Antoinette said as she jerked her Sniper rifle to the side, the empty round falling from the chamber even as she braced it and reloaded, watching the other Robot that had been looming over Zephyrus slump to the ground, it's head a ruin of shredded metal and spurting coolant fluid. Sniper rifles had always been her forte, but even now she was amazed at how much they impacted a battlefield.

Kneeling down once more, she sighted and located a straggler, lining up her crosshairs with the base of it's head and spine before breathing out slowly and squeezing the trigger, the gun jerking up and the enemy's head exploding like a coconut made of metal that had been struck by a hammer. Slinging her rifle across her back with a practiced motion, she drew her Combat shotgun and her gladius, taking a circuitous way in order to remain relatively undetected.

For now.

~~~~

Zephyrus would've jumped back in surprise had he not been pinned.  The robot above him had become an ex-robot, and as it slumped to the ground Zephyrus was able to shove it off and get back into the fray.  He looked back over at his assistant, wondering if the luchapriest had helped.  The look on the man's face, one of barely-masked surprise, told a different story.  After wondering whether the shooter was friend or foe, Zephyrus shrugged.  Never look a gift horse in the mouth, after all.

Being out of ammo, though, meant Zephyrus had to improvise.  He ripped off the spiked tractor wheels and wielded them, testing their weight.  No Metal Blades, but they'd get the job done.  He ran into the crowd, hefting a wheel by its shaft and slamming it into a robot.  The robot was sliced neatly in two, making Zephyrus thankful he was not on the receiving end of those wheels anymore.  Combat had ceased to become about shooting.  With Zephyrus in the midst of the crowd, it was way more practical to get up close.

The robot soon found himself surrounded as he continued his mad scramble, a few scrawnier robots all charging him with their knives.  It was incredibly hard to fight them off all at once, and many times his chassis was scratched off as a swing of the claw cannon proved too slow on defense.  More robots ran in, and soon Zephyrus appeared to be overwhelmed under a flurry of killbots.

Of course, they had forgotten his arsenal.  With a few clicks of the claw cannon a storm of metallic leaves shot from Zephyrus' body, slashing into the robots and even shattering a few of the weaker ones.  With the leaves repelling his foes Zephyrus found himself with a lot more breathing room, a fact he promptly took advantage of by whipping up a tornado and shattering a few of the robots with it.  The little ones scrambled, trying to retreat and regroup.  If only they knew what a mistake they were making.

~~~~

Antoinette lurked on the periphery of the fray, staying hidden, staying unnoticed. While Zephyrus's assault was the kind of things of which legends were made, her own methods were coldly efficient. Driving her gladius through the back of a Robot's head, she ducked down even as it crashed to the ground and spasmed it's last.

A glance over to the smaller robots made it clear to her they were regrouping for another assault.

Not if she could help it.

Rising up with her combat shotgun in her left hand, she fired, the sawed-off barrel throwing out a flurry of flechete-like metal that cut and sliced into the small horde. They turned as one before she sheathed her blade and pumped the barrel, taking aim once more and firing another thunderous detonation, walking forward even as they tried to escape.

One more pump, one more split-second of aiming, and another thunderous BOOM. Metal and scrap littered the street, the only remnants of her adversaries that had remained under her cold regard.

~~~~

Zephyrus didn't care where the robots who fled to him were off to, but even he had to quickly look as he heard the sounds of annihilation.  By the time he turned his glance to the carnage, though, whoever caused it had vanished as quickly as they had appeared.  Travelling on a path of robot scrap metal, Zephyrus soon noticed the largest and most well-dressed of all the killbots that had arrived.  He even had a magnetically applied mustache.  Clearly he was leading this little incursion.

And Zephyrus was about to end it once and for all.

The robot turned to him, and for a while there was only silence as they stared each other down.  The silence was broken as Zephyrus rushed him, claw cannon slashing at the killbot.  He was surprisingly agile, though, and the only thing Zephyrus managed to accomplish was tearing a large gash in his suit.  The robot mafioso responded to this by changing one of his fists into a sledgehammer and smashing Zephyrus in the side, causing him to skid back.  He had draw first blood today, for there was some oil dripping from Zephyrus' side.  Laughing with cold triumph the killbot charged forward, hammer-hand raised.

Their fighting was like an elaborate dance.  A duck here, a parry there, hammer meeting claw, steel meeting steel.  Occasionally lesser robots tried to charge in, but they were quickly detonated before they could even get close.  Antoinette and her arsenal made sure of that.  With their interference blocked off it seemed Zephyrus and his adversary were at a stalemate, neither letting up in their furious barrage of hits.

However, once more it was the killbot who struck harder.  He pushed Zephyrus back with a knee to the groin before reaching into his pocket and producing a revolver.  The Hardcore Prawn style of fighting, it seemed.  Before Zephyrus could get out of the way and react his opponent shot him right in the head with robotic precision.  A shower of sparks launched from Zephyrus as he slumped to the ground.

Zephyrus wasn't down for the count, though.  When the robot walked over, revolver primed to finish the job, Zephyrus responded with a headbutt to the gut.  "I'm not finished yet!" he roared, taking advantage of the robot's staggering to get in one fatal assault.  A volley of jabs to the elbow joints left him unable to move his arms anymore, a brutal stomp to the knee left him limping, and a slam to the jaw nearly left his head spinning.

The robot tried to right himself and escape, but Zephyrus was having none of that today.  He rushed behind the robot, priming his final weapon: the Top Spin.  Leaping high into the air, Zephyrus spun for momentum and savagely kicked the robot in the back of the head.  The robot had been hit with enough force to send his head flying, Zephyrus landing gracefully behind him.  There were gashes in his chassis, a massive smash wound in his side, and a decent-sized hole right by his AI core.  And he had never felt more alive.

~~~~

Antoinette's eyes had widened after Zephyrus had spin-kicked his enemies head off. THAT was the Top Spin?! That was awesome! Why didn't he use it more often?! Still, it looked like their enemies were gone, so she unclipped the communicator once again and said "Oceanus, Target acquired, Hostiles neutralized. Over." directly into it, before replacing it on her belt.

Walking out of her concealed position, she stepped lightly over to Zephyrus and smiled.

"Hey, Zephyrus! I was looking for you! Oceanus was worried.... and so am I..." She trailed off, noticing the damage he had sustained.

The blue robot turned to Antoinette, waving a little.  "Long time no see, eh Antoinette?" he asked.  "You were the one shooting those robots down, weren't you?  Thanks for that, really pulled my ass out of the fire there.  Anyways, why are you worried?"  This statement was punctuated by a small flurry of sparks coming from the hole in Zephyrus' side, the robot hastily covering them up.  "Besides that," he hastily admitted.

"Well, Oceanus was worried because you haven't been home in a couple of days... that and...." She paused, before taking a deep breath and going on. "Because you're different, Zephyrus. You're not who you used to be, and that's okay!" She said, holding up a hand. "I know that people change.... but you don't seem HAPPY anymore."

Zephyrus started to respond as soon as Antoinette mentioned he had changed, but the second part hit him hard.  The robot briefly tried to puzzle out something to say before giving up with a sigh, averting his eyes and looking at the pavement.  "You don't understand," he muttered.  "Times have been tough lately.  City's been full of trouble since the Major's been gone.  Even my job turned out to be nothing but a farce . . . "

"Well.... I know times are tough NOW, but that's the thing! Just becaue things are bad NOW doesn't mean everything will be like this all the time! Zephyrus, remember where I grew up? That whole UNIVERSE? I know it's hard not to just give up, but you can't just let yourself get beaten down by how bad things are, or else..."

The next part seemed almost like blasphemy to her, but she still had to say it.

"Or else you'll end up like who Pech was when we first came here."

"You're right," commented Zephyrus.  He sighed, averting his gaze from the asphalt and looking back at Antoinette.  "I'm not normally this much of a downer nowadays.  This month has just been exceedingly crappy.  Sorry our meeting had to be like this."

Zephyrus was just telling half-truths at this point.  While it was true that March had been one hell of a month for him, he was still more jaded than he was before.  He had only been truly "alive" for less than a year, so even something as small as a few months made a lot of difference to the robot.  Antoinette's assessment was scarily accurate: he had taken too much of the world on his shoulders in too short a period of time, got burnt out, and now was forced to see the consequences.  And he did not like them.

"It's okay. I'm sure if you knew we would meet up it would have been at a kitchen or something, not in the middle of bullets flying around and stuff." Antoinette said, smiling up at him.

"But, look... if you ever get too stressed, or feel like everything is grim and dark, you know you can come talk to me or Pech, right? We won't judge you or anything, or joke arou- Okay, Pech might joke around, but he only'll do it to be funny. But yeah. We're always here for you if you need us. I'm always here if you need me. Someone has to be....."

For a while there was nothing but silence, but the look in Zephyrus' eyes said it all.  Had he a mouth, he'd be smiling.  "Thanks a ton, An," the robot replied.  "It means a lot to know that you two are backing me up.  I really appreciate it."

He turned to the skies and let out a beep, Mach descending from the air.  The two briefly exchanged some words in morse code, before Zephyrus turned to Antoinette.  "They've been attacking this place for three days straight, but Mach says they're finally gone," he explained.  "So, what do you say?  Want to head home now?"

"Yeah, otherwise I think Oceanus will fry his brain because of how worried he is." Antoinette giggled.

Zephyrus chuckled at the mental image.  Even despite all the crap he had been through, shades of his old self were once again showing.  There'd be more shit coming his way for sure, and more despair to wade through, but he knew he was strong.  He knew he could beat it.  "Excellent," he replied, Mach descending and popping out its sidecar.  "Lets be off, then."