CHAPTER 1: "Happenstance."

"To the pacifist, it is often preferable to die for one's beliefs than to kill for one's beliefs. Alas, the world is not just like that." - The XII Mechanor Tridex (Circa 1958).  

The ramshackle contraption that was Io's "new" body was slow, but steady as it trotted on the beaten path to Ascender No. 7. 

She still didn't like her new rear-jointed left leg, but it was still better than crawling on the ground. Or hobbling on one foot for that matter.

Io stared at the VESPIDIA claw hand that now comprised her right arm.

She opened it. 

She closed it.

That was all she could do. Either let something loosely wiggle around or completely crush it between her clunky claws.

This was who she was now. 

No. This was who she always was. 

She just couldn't see it.

Io could still hear the squeaking of her new parts. Especially the left leg. That awful, clunky left leg.

Every step she took, she winced a little. It wasn't quite painful, but it didn't feel good either.

Io pulled up the HUD on her screen to see how far their destination still was.

It read as follows.

'Proximity from Destination is Approximately 47 miles.'

Io groaned. There was still around one hour and ten minutes of locomotion required before she could rest in the Ascender. 

"Where are we?" she asked impatiently to her HUD.

'Currently passing through Ruin No. 98715'  

Still. If Io really were to undergo that distance with the battered Frankenstein's Monster of a body she'd been saddled with, a few moments of rest wasn't going to hurt her journey.

Io's movement halted. She found a large pile and plopped down beneath it.

So we're going sightseeing?

"No.. Just r-resting.." Io said wearily.

Seriously? I didn't get us out of that pile just to end up under another.

"I'm so tired.. Why don't you try moving this thing? I'm sure it'll be so much easier for you, voice in my head." Io retorted.

You know what? You're right. I'll be steering this ship until we arrive at the Ascender.

The voice tried to will Io's legs upwards.

Nothing happened.

The voice willed Io's left arm to move. It partially raised upwards before sparks begun to fly out of it. The left arm then crashed to the ground.

Hey! Sorry to break it to you, but if you wanna get out of here, you gotta move!

"Contract. Remember?"

Io shuffled her body to rest on her VESPIDIA arm. After a few seconds, she moved to rest on her back. And after a couple moments of that, she began to move onto her chest. 

Even when resting she was restless.

She was bobbing her head back and forward as her hands gripped her knees. Her eyes were closed. She took in the darkness and felt the cool metal surface beneath her.

It wasn't much of anything resembling relaxation, but she loved it.

...

It had been over 

So. We're sightseeing?

Io was nearly completely still. Almost like she was sleeping.

The voice noticed a mild turbulence. It felt like she was breathing, but something felt off.

Io was shaking a bit. She clutched herself even more intensely, like she was freezing from the cold.

Hey. You alright?

"I'm not so sure if this is a good idea.." said Io in a concerned tone.

Relax kiddo! I've got the path all sorted out. We're going on the Ascender before you know it!

"Are there any alternate routes we could take?"

This is the quickest path to an Ascender. Plus, I'm sure you've been through worse.

Io didn't quite understand what the voice was referring to, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

Io caught something in the far corner of her eye. She shuffled anxiously behind a pile of rubbish that sat just across from the unfolding scene before her.

There were three robots. One of them appeared smaller than the others and was surrounded by the remaining two in a semi-circle formation.

Out of the two, one was slightly smaller than the average Mecharus, and was crawling on all fours. It had a skinny frame and had gaunt limbs, with sheets of metal strapped on to their basal, almost skeletal form. It was extremely pale looking, bordering on a nearly white coloration all throughout its body. This coloration was only broken up by scattered traces of graffiti, of which the most notable were a messy dictation of the designation "PX-186" on its right shoulder, a yellow star on its left elbow, and what appeared to be a ring of jagged lines enveloped its head, making it look as if the smaller robot was constantly grinning.

The only other exceptions to this were its dulled, claw-like fingers, and its bright, glowing crimson red eyes.

By contrast, the other was much larger. It was over double the size of the robot that the two were surrounding, and it had an extremely bulky, wide frame.

Its arms were very similar to the smaller robot. They were bare and built for function, with their minimal armor being compensated for a thick layer of metal shielding, tipped with yellow and black warning stripes on the edges. However, the size and quantity of the armor made the robot's limbs look far more robust in comparison to the smaller robot.

The larger robot's torso was also incredibly massive, with more warning stripes flanking the sides of what appeared to be a segmented circle in the middle of the robot, surrounded by lines and more traces of the machinery powering the robot within. The armor was covered in haphazard graffiti of various kinds, with the designation "WM-237" being imprinted in the area of the chest just below its neck.

Contrasting with the other robot's more elongated, delicate, and camera-like head, this one had a very vertically squashed head, with flat features. Where a mouth would usually be, a grill-like vent was present. It was continually exhaling large amounts of black smog angrily, like a chimney bellowing out dark smoke.

Its eyes were LED yellow and triangular. They slanted downwards in what appeared to be a permanent mechanical scowl.

All of this was supported on a large platform that made up its hips, which were in turn supported by metal rods covered in wire and support-beams. Apparently there had been no attempt to cover the legs with any kind of major armor. They appeared almost as lanky as the smaller robot when compared to the larger robot's body.

Compared to the two other robots, the lone Mecharus they cornered was extremely bland in all respects except one. It had a few tattoos on its right arm, chest, and head, but they really weren't anything noteworthy in particular. 

This Mecharus' proportions were perfectly normal. Not too gaunt. Not too strong. It had the normal amount of limbs: two arms and two legs. Its chest had a painfully average width and height. It was "perfect", if not a bit underarmored.

It had two eyes, but no mouth. It only had a speaker grill for a mouth, and an indistinct one at that.

The only thing of distinction that can immediately be discerned from this Mecharus would be its peculiar right arm.

Io heard the movement of the two machines and quickly hid behind the pile.

The larger one quickly turned its attention back to the robot they had cornered, but the smaller Mecharus began to crawl towards the pile.

The smaller Mecharus inspected the pile. Its movements were wild and animalistic, but it was undeniably methodical in its approach.

She could hear screaming in the distance. It was the sound of the other robot.

Unlike her, the other robot's voice was perfectly normal in its inflections and tone. It almost sounded human. Like a bland, screaming human.

She wanted to do something, but she knew that she was no match for the larger Mecharus. At least in this condition.

Io remained as still as she could. The mechanical whirring of the smaller Mecharus began to quiet down to a halt.

The noise of metal was still overwhelming to her, but it was of a different kind.

This time, she could make out the sound of the larger Mecharus stomping on the other robot. One of them was laughing and the other was screaming. 

The smaller Mecharus' arm bursted through the pile. Parts of the pile scattered on the ground next to Io as its hand tried to feel for something.

Io clasped her arms to her screen in an attempt not to scream.

The smaller Mecharus' arm pulled back into the pile, sending more stray parts falling beside Io as it fully disappeared.

Io sighed in relief. 

Before it could examine 

"It's been fun chasin' you down there little fella." growled the larger of the two robots in an accent not dissimilar to a gangster. Something about his voice made him sound powerful, but obtuse at the same time.

The other robot was crawling on its back, only crawling a few feet away from the larger machine. 

"Wait! Please.. Just give me some more time-"

Io couldn't make out exactly what it used, but the larger robot appeared to deploy a series of whips, which struck down on the other robot.

Io tried to make a beeline, but she realized that she couldn't move her leg.

Her left leg had deployed

His beaten and battered frame was sent crashing to the ground by the whips, parts of him becoming loose and scattering on the ground.

The smaller one crawled on him. It was inspecting the entirety of his body.

It used its tail again, the tip of its radar dish scanning the head of the other robot.

The radar dish made the same dull kilohertz tone. If she didn't hear it before, she probably wouldn't have noticed it.

For a moment, the radar dish flashed red.

The smaller robot pulled the tail away from the other robot.

"Numb Tongue, he doesn't have what the Boss wants." the smaller robot snarled softly.

The larger robot looked at the other Mecharus, who was trying to crawl away. Its ruined legs dragged on the ground, making a horrible scraping noise as he inched further away from the larger machine.

The larger robot took two large strides towards the other robot. It put its foot on his chest.

The other robot began to cry out in pain as the weight of the larger Mecharus' foot began to move closer to the inside of his chest.

Numb Tongue smiled as his foot began to wedge deeper and deeper into the other robot's torso. 

"I'd say that's a shame, but it'd be a crime to lie to ya."

Numb Tongue grabbed the robot and pulled him upwards.

He gave out a horrible scream as half of his chest was split down the middle.

Sparks flew out of the bottom of his chest as he was raised further and further up.

"Look who decided to show up in our turf!" shouted Numb Tongue.

The smaller robot tossed the body of its victim to the side. It then jumped onto all four of its limbs, crawling towards Io like a creature of the night. It spoke in an unnerving, hoarse voice.

Its eyes emitted a red beam, which was exaggerated by the dark environment of the Ruinyard.

"You've ran your last race, Trotter." the smaller robot hissed in a condescending tone.

Io sent a mental message to the voice. 'Any ideas?'

The voice's response was near instantaneous. As if it had been eagerly awaiting a situation like this.

Point that nifty little claw hand to the fat one. I'll handle the rest!

The smaller robot lunged forwards in a pouncing motion. Io boosted forward, the claws of the smaller robot missing her by inches as it overshot past Io.

The smaller robot landed on its four limbs, sliding on the surface of the ground as compartments flanking its neck opened up, revealing a box-like apparatus surrounded by metallic cylinders on each shoulder.

In other words, two missile pods and four machine guns.

The smaller robot screeched as it began to fire its munitions towards Io, the bullets and missiles flying towards her in swift volleys.

The cruise missiles were delayed, however the bullets still posed a problem. They were much faster than the missiles and could inflict serious system damage if allowed to make contact with Io's internals.

Io's left arm opened up. Panels of layered metal sheets realigned themselves into a Y shape in order to deflect the machine gun fire.

The bullets rattled her makeshift shield, but most of them bounced off harmlessly. She only felt small tinges of pain at most.

Our turn! Hope you like the surprise!

The panels of Io's left arm began to change shape again, with a small platform rising at the center of the Y shield. A trapdoor was present at the center of the platform.

A small minigun popped out. It bobbed a little. Like a sad slinky.

"No no no. Please tell me that you have somethi-"

Looks like your systems are all fried. Could you please give me a--

The smaller machine jumped backwards and opened its palms, revealing two autocannons, pronged on all sides by its monstrous claws.

The smaller machine fired the autocannons, sending a salvo of rounds towards Io's screen.

She moved her arm in front of her

The salvo exploded in front of Io's arm, sending bits and pieces of her left arm flying into the air.

Io crashed on the ground next to the body of the other robot. His face was even more brutalized than when she last saw it. His left arm was missing.

Io got up to face the smaller Mecharus, but it was overshadowed by something else.

The larger machine

Numb Tongue stared at Io from a distance. He waved an arm at her. It wasn't his.

He grabbed the mundane piece of scrap with both hands and ripped the elbow clean out of its socket.

Numb Tongue tossed the bits and bolts of the arm to the ground. He chuckled as they clattered on the ground; the grille on his face began to bellow out black smoke.

Numb Tongue gave out a dark chuckle as he raised one of his arms to Io. 

His arm shifted and expanded. His fingers shifted behind panels, which opened up, revealing an elongated triangular barrel.

Ah shoot. This is really gonna hurt.

Io stumbled a bit as she crawled away from Numb Tongue, who was beginning to burst out laughing.

'W-what is that?' she asked the voice.

Dual heavy TXR-79 cannons. Do us both a favor and try to duck.

Numb Tongue raised his arm, its hand now replaced by massive twin barrels, encircled by rectangular panels upon circular sheets of metal.

Numb Tongue almost looked like he was smirking, as more of the black smoke bellowed out from his chimney-like grille. 

"Hope the cow has coupon for coffin."

The cannon fired at Io. She quickly weaved her way past the shot.

The round flew all the way to a pile on the southern horizon.

The pile was engulfed by a bright light. Io shielded her screen from the luminescence of the sight.

The noise of the explosion itself finally reached them. Io could feel a rumbling sensation everywhere on her body.

Numb Tongue chuckled as he cocked the cannon inwards.

Smoke left the muzzle of Numb Tongue's cannon as it flipped downwards. Smaller pieces of ammunition continued to file themselves into place as the body of the cannon expanded and contracted repeatedly on itself. Almost like it was breathing.

Then quick as a spring, the cannon reconfigured itself together to its normal form.

"

The bright orange substance began to flow through Numb Tongue's chest apparatus again. His eyes almost looked like they were sizzling.

Numb Tongue lowered his weapon and slowly outstretched his arms into an upside down V position. He exhaled deeply, as if he just ran the entire distance of the Ruinyard twice.

Io waved her hand in front of Numb Tongue, but he didn't even seem to notice her.

"Um.. What's he doing?"

The voice might as well be struggling to keep itself from laughing with how erratic its words seemed to be. 

Think he's getting high off his boozy.

"What?"

The projectile left a fiery trail as it left the VESPIDIA claw hand and zoomed towards Numb Tongue's general direction. The trajectory was quite obvious as the missile spiraled downwards below his head.

He was still engrossed in the moment. The glorious bliss of it. The savory taste of the illicit liquid substances. The epic sensations of his--

The explosion sounded all around as the missile flew into the dead center of his chest, pushing sheets of thick armor to its sides. A cloud of fire and brimstone spilled out of his torso, enveloping all but his legs as fragments of him flew into the air.

"Ow! That fucking hurt!"

The smaller Mecharus jumped out of 

Kiddo? You really wanna do this?

"Boss is gonna be pissed.." 

...

"Targets fitting profile spotted. The Dissonant is the primary target."