Project MX

1

Project MX

The Terminator flew across the small arena, it's pieces scattered across the dirt. The stadium broke into loud screams of applause and stomped their feet against the bleachers creating havoc. They cheered on the Spanner as it flung its arm-like razers high in the air in victory. The owner, a large sketchy man with a gleaming bald head. He smirked devilshily while the men surrounding congratulated him for his skillful control.
Money was exchanged and bets were made as they all waited eagerly for the next match. Evelyn watched the money slap down against the rotten wood they used as a table. She licked her lips anxiously pulling out a wad of crumpled money.
There had to be about fifty dollars in that pile, it was a lot for a bet, normally people started out with ten and increased their value as the fight went on but she knew exactly what she was doing.
She pulled up her grey hoodie to hide her face from sight before she walked up to the table and placed down the money.
"Betting 50; that the Blade will win but Spanner will survive." She said, the man behind the table laughed finding her bet funny, he greedily snatched up the cash and counted the amount.
"Alright but the rules say only one robot can survive." He said, his voice was deep and rough like he swallowed sandpaper.
"I'm not finished." She said pushing her robot closer to the table for checking. "It won't have its limbs." The rules also imply that both the robots could survive if one of them couldn't function properly. Losing limbs was a pretty big dilemma.
"That's quite a specific bet." He said raising one greasy eyebrow.
"I'm a pretty specific person." She retorted pulling her robot closer to her body. It's name, The Blade, carved neatly into its chest and it's eyes dark without its battery. It appeared harmless, having no flamethrowers attached to its back or even weed wackers for hands, there was nothing special about it.
Her robot was slightly bigger than the man who inspected it, it wasn't in the best of shape as if someone beat it up but the bot worked functionally and surprisingly smooth.
"Make me some money." She whispered into its ear as she entered the arena littered with scraps from the countless bots Spanner had destroyed prior. The scrape was just what she needed but no one else knew that.
She could hear the laughter and booing all around. The crowd instantly making fun of her machine, by just looking at its weak form. They were to underestimating.
She rolled it in, kneeling onto the ground to open up a small compartment in the back of its thigh and placed in a thick black battery. The robot woke immediately, it's eyes glowing a pale blue.
"I am Blade, Robot B-16 created for robot fighting." It said automatically in a friendly tone, certainly not intimidating enough for the crowd which boomed with laughter.
"What is this?" The Spanner's owner asked, cracking up with laughter, slamming his controller against the metal table in front of him. "This is scrap metal!"
"Yours will be scrap metal soon enough." Evelyn muttered under her breath and pulled out Blade's controller from her coat pocket.
She bit her lip to refrain herself from doing anything stupid and climbed up into the controlling loft where the other controller sat.
"I am Spanner, Robot SPN, prepare to die." The other robot said, it's voice scratchy and deep like two pieces of metal rubbing together and it's eyes a glowing red. It's frame was bigger than Blade's, like a buff biker compared to a thin twig.
"Let's get the fights going!" The judge yelled into a microphone that blasted from every inch of the stadium causing the mob to go crazy. "It's the unbeatable Spanner against the amateur, Blade!" The crowd erupted into louder screams, cheering on the Spanner without any hesitation.
"You seem like a good kid, boy." Spanner's owner said turning to Evelyn, a smile on his disgustingly sweaty face. "No hard feelings."
She ingored him, keeping her full attention on the arena where Blade stood looking around curiously.
"Theres only two rules we follow by here! Rule one, all bots must stay within the arena." The judges voice boomed. "Rule two, in order to win, unless one isn't fully functional of course, one bot must die!" He didn't even finish his sentence when the crowd screamed. "Let the fight begin!"
The Spanner bot didn't wait for its opponent to make the first move. It raised its sharp hand and struck, it's razer grinding against its opponents chest.
Evelyn barely moved her robot out of it's way, a thin scratch now damaged it's front plate. Her opponent laughed, sending his bot into another attack towards her own. Its rammed into Blade who flung backwards into the dirt.
"Dammit." She hissed under her breath standing up to lean over the railing, glancing at the man she was up against. He was gloating with victory but she didn't care, she only hoped he would fall for her desperate act.
Evelyn turned back to the arena without any attempt to hide her smirk. He had no clue what was coming.
Blade stood up, checking it's body. "Oh dear." It said. "It appears I have sustained slight injuries." The crowd laughed at its remark, congratulating her on the thoughtful programming she used to make it talk.
"Did you create this yourself boy?" Her opponent asked laughing along with the crowd and she nodded but said nothing.
Spanner attacked once more sending Blade across the arena, slamming hard into one of the walls. Her robot slumped to the ground, the light dimishing from his eyes. The crowd howled with excitement, cheering on Spanner, throwing their money into the air, thinking that Spanner had won.
Evelyn laughed under her breath and pressed the only red button on her controller, Blade -who reacted to her remote- jerked, the scraps scattered around the arena; shook, slowly at first then faster moving towards Blade. It took her a long time to perfect this move to manipulated the magnet frequency in her bot.
The robot stood up, readjusting itself as the scraps attacked themselves to its body, making it grow in size. It's eyes flickered and turned red. Nothing happened for a long time, the whole arena was silent, so silent if someone dropped a pin; it would be heard.
Blade stood up, it's metal scraping against its new armor, towering over Spanner. "I am Blade, robot B-16." It repeated, it's voice friendly like before. "I was created," it paused and it's voice changed, deep and demonic, "for robot fighting." It picked up Spanner easily and one by one tore off its limbs.
The crowd screamed for their new favorite robot, while the opponent cursed with open anger towards Evelyn but she didn't care.
She watched the armor quiver against Blade's body, the magnet field weakening and the scraps used for its armor fell apart. The thin blue eyed bot waved to the crowd, looking as innocent as it had been before.
Evelyn smiled and pocketed her controller. Listening to the wild crowd which continued to scream her robots name.

Max leaned against the stone wall, her head tilted as she studied the door carefully. It was made out of pure iron, sturdy and thick with a large bolt to contain her in the small, plain, grey cell. It was for... extra precautions, as the guards had said.
"What are you doing?" Jax asked in a sort of automatic voice. She turned her attention towards him, he was playing with a piece of scrap metal, bending it in odd shapes.
His clothes matched her own, black tight jumpsuits made like a second skin for their bodies. Printed in small white letters on the corner of his chest read JX, on her own; read MX, which gave a hint to which robot they were. She had no clue why the humans felt the need to put their names on their clothes when they looked nothing alike. Jax sported masculine qualities while Max sported feminine qualities. Surely that alone was just enough to tell them apart.
"I am waiting." She said, blinking a couple times before turning her head back towards the door. "They want to speak to me."
"Interesting. I wonder what they will say." He said, he didn't sound at all curious but of course, he had no emotion.
Robots weren't programmed with human feelings, it was utterly impossible. Of course, he was only a prototype build to mimic Max, so he wasn't completely finished either, he only had one eye at the moment and eye socket sat exposed, displaying complex wiring and metal. He also missed the artificial tonsils in his throat, without them his voice sounded clipped and... well robotic.
Max straightened up as soon as she heard the sound of the bolt unlocking, within a second later the door groaned opening up to a grey hallway. She immediately stood waiting for someone to walk inside and the next minute a woman had entered.
Her blonde hair pulled back in a high bun and her face was aged, indicating that she was in her late thirties or early forties. Along side her stood two guards identical in clothing, both wearing thin black carbon for protection and helmets with tinted glass shielding their faces, armed with guns while grenades and knifes splayed out at their waistbands, strapped to their belts, enclosed in their sheaths.
"Good morning MX." She said with a friendly smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Hello." Max said. "You must be Dr. Monroe."
"Your right," Dr. Monroe said to one of the guards as if Max wasn't in front of them, "she looks exactly like a human. I wouldn't have known she was a robot."
"Thank you." Max spoke up. "I even have sensors in my unit which analysis and detect human emotions."
"Thats amazing." The woman said and finally turned o Jax. "This must be prototype JX then."
"He wasn't designed as perfectly as MX." One of the guards explained to her. "We are still working on his motions and features."
Max turned over at Jax who blinked a couple times with a smile plastered to his face, his skin wasn't quite as well made as her own, his face was still doughy. This was due to the fact, that they haven't finished growing his skin and hair. The back of his head was exposed just like the socket where an eye should rest, presenting more wires and aluminum metal that acted as a skull.
"Well then, MX, we're going to test a few new chips; if that's alright?" She asked. Max took a moment to analyze Dr. Monroe's body language. She was doing her best to hide what she didn't want Max to see but Max already knew she really had no choice but to accept the offer, otherwise they would force her into testing even if she had declined them.
"Yes, that's quite alright."