Stars chirped to life under the cover of the ebon blanket. Yet they too were strangled by the brightest star in the region. The neon of Mandaly was far brighter. Though in the bay, the disruption was on a far lower scale.
Such high altitudes meant the winds were unkind, so was the whiff of salt and fresh fish you got from the proximity. Nauseating and Intoxicating in the same breath if you weren't puking your guts up. On the fields of pink sand were the stackhouses. Their glass walls and wooden structures made them a product of their time. Even a hundred meters away upon a skyscraper Dynamo spotted every worker droid within the farms; though it was difficult to denote from the shorter skyscrapers. Tending to the plants, turning to the bigger stack houses you could see them shuffle fish into machines bigger than beasts. Automatic pickers on every floor stealing crops and replanting all in the same breath, "The perfect workers,"
Dynamo snorted at the thought. Worker droids weren't meant to sleep. No proper machine was. Yet he was different from them. Not a man and not a machine, the nameless gap between, "Funny how they could work at a time like this," Dynamo hung off the edge of the railing. Head and body off the edge with the only thing stopping his fall were his feet hooked to the railing. But the scene of the north was superior in importance.
A riot. Picket signs waved and fires sang the tune of civil unrest. For a good reason nonetheless. Water wasn't supposed to be red, but the ports very close to the stackhouses were. Abhorrent to say the least, yet protests in front of the Trade Commission building only achieved time wastage. The current trade commission was a gift from the Fu-Jinn house of Seigen, keepers of Shenryu Raidon. It was made of twelve cypress trees and clay born from the heart of their mud volcanoes. Made in twenty days by the highest of machines, the foundation which represented the bond of the gods, "Not a pretty thing for the locals to see," the blue maiden was on his mind. "And mind telling me how long you're gonna stay there silent?"
Dynamo pulled up and stared at the one beside him. Lena panted with the door behind her slung open, her finger held up.
"Until I caught my breath," she took in a deep breath. Dynamo swung up to meet her, faltering on the landing and almost toppling over. In his fingers was a small flask labeled F. Lena leaned against the rail absorbing the previously noted scene, "It's not pretty you're right, but that's what desperation does to people," her voice wavered. Who could stand seeing your home be reduced to this? "I just wanted to see what it became-hey are you even listening?"
Her head turned to meet the unit struggling to get the last drop of fluoride with his tongue. Their eyes met, "Umm..yeah sure," he nodded. He hid the evidence, "No matter what, this is home, right?" like a switch Dynamo's tone swapped to match the mood. Mandaly the city of ports, now the isle of floating chum. "We're probably gonna have to look into all of that. I know the place to start, follow."
Dynamo instigated orders. A swift kick in his step and the duo began their hunt. Lena nodded, knowing Dynamo's ties the first place he'd be headed was to that woman. Things would not flow accordingly though. A whizz ruptured the air, "What's that…." Lena was at the ready. It was abnormal for anything to fly this low.
"What did you say?" Dynamo turned around to be met with Lena's bow. Bolt after bolt launched. Their tips angled upwards with the body of each bolt passing too close for comfort. His head swung back to see the target. Firecrackers were the only way to describe the explosions in the sky, "Is that a Skywing?" an ominous droid hovered at the center of attention. The unit was slightly smaller than the average person and just as skinny; the only bulky aspects were its torso. Shoulders thick to support the rotary blades on them and the chest to keep balance. Legs a bit shorter and thinner than the arms, instead of hands and feet it had miniguns. A thruster existed on the back and neck as well, the red glow of the cyclopic eye entrancing. "No this is a different model. Hey! What kind of unit are you-"
It clicked at the last second. Dynamo's eyes pinched with anger. He spun back, pulling Lena under his body. Before she knew it all guns fired. Those bullets sunk through the roof like it was butter, the guns steamed to a halt. Dynamo found dents on his body. The foreign unit traced the actions of the targets. Next it new Dynamo rocketed towards him in ballista form. Not a hassle for the attacker. After all, the sky was their dominion.
It was petty, articulate in their movements. Swaying away from the blow before it connected, slithering down Dynamo and darting for distance. Lena's barrage of arrows was far simpler to maneuver around; she aimed where she believed he would go and he studied the arrows' flight pattern, "Hey! Get back inside let me deal with this one!" Dynamo ordered. Lena knew when to step out.
The attacker look down at the door Lena reached for. Soon, their vision bloomed red. A stream of orange escaped from their eye striking the door shut. Metal melded and the doorknob was shut, "You're a precise one, huh!?" Dynamo roared with his foot inching closer again. No connection. Attempt after attempt brought no change in results. Hexafluoride became scarce after every attempt of his streamlined yet wide-sweeping kicks. Both realized soon that the game of this machine wasn't just an attack. Lena took aim again, taking into count her partner's position. Right above the menace.
She fired and it dove under the bolt. Swayed to the side of Dynamo's leg too, "Gotcha!" but it didn't account for his arm. His arm reached under his leg and grasped the right shoulder rudder. Directly after both legs and their ankle blades squeezed like a two-sided guillotine. Usually, guillotines beheaded their opponent at the least, "Umm…" so why was this unit still in one piece? In fact, the neck grow longer, pushing against the blades until the cyclops looked Dynamo in the eye. That was the least of the changes. Blades spun faster and arms got longer, shoulders expanded outwards and the torso to match. Z stamped into the back.
Peering into the red of the zenith droid's eye was like sticking your head into the Red Rig before it was fired. Two and two came together after that stream was fired. He knew what this thing was, "Brace!" he shouted before diving. A thick lense covered the cyclops eye requiring more energy to be fired. In the fraction of the red leaving its eye and flying, Dynamo grabbed Lena from below. If he was right he needed to hop roofs. With another stream of his gas, he darted right. Over the street earning the eyes of passerbys of the figure that fell on the lower skyscraper. Where they once were flared a stream of red. A star on earth.
Huddled together, Dynamo took the brunt of the scrapes when they rolled to the next building. His back pressed against the railing on the far end, "Owwww," Lena was banged up with some bruising, but far less than if she stayed upon that roof, "Any idea what that is?" she was rattled to her feet. Red mist and steam exuded over the edge of the tallest building in the city coating everyone's vision in the same paint. That thing blew away the mist in its path. Lena wiped the blood off her mouth and prepared.
"Saw it before a few nights ago," this was one of many soldiers Zenith held. Metal angels that slept in the pods under Giganto. Starmen, "So we're really on the mark," Dynamo stepped to the challenge again. The starmen's eye was covered by a thicker prism. Rotary wings were the only movement between the two. Both sides waited for the next to strike first. Dynamo's heel clicked. Cyclop's eye buzzed. A third source tilted their heads to the right.
The cyclops created pandemonium with his form already. Below were people taking pictures and recording the show. Incidents occurring in the heart of the district were often over quick. This was due to the PD headquarters being close. An unidentified unit was already reported with a small shuttle on deployment. The cyclops was quite aware of the fact. Though a gnat attempted to distract it with flames billowing in the form of archaic arrows.
"Get that thing closer...I have a plan to deal with it," eyes of the modern man and eyes of a recently crafted droid met. Their metal was the same, both craving the other to be in scraps.
The cyclops dashed.