(OOC: Sorry it's been so long since my last report. Things got really really busy for this little fixer. But I'm back. This report is from a slightly different point of view... Hope you like!)
"Reporting from Athen Shire, it's me, Gridgrid," she said, holding her microphone before her. The microphone was just a prop, an antique from thousands of years ago. It wasn't necessary, but she enjoyed the look. Later, when she edited the piece before broadcast, she'd use this as an intro for an old-fashioned appeal.
"I come in search of the notorious Trash King, a robot so dangerous that brave Rubi-kans are often lined up in order to destroy its next incarnation. But why does its creator keep sending it to the same place, only to be torn asunder, bolt by bolt? Who is this mysterious engineer? What other powers might he, she, or it posess?"
Of course, Gridgrid didn't really have the answers to those questions. That was why she was asking them. Likely, this quest for knowledge would be as fruitless as her pursuit of an interview with the Lab Director of Omni-Tech's Longest Road mine. ("Just why don't you move your office sir? Sir?!? Ugh, couldn't you have waited until after my interview to kill him?") But if it was, it would only confirm her secret theory: Omni-Tech was using these well-known targets as decoys so the Clans wouldn't go after the real targets. And just because they held useful items, people flocked to the fakes. Stupid, all of them.
She approached the Trash King's lair, her gridcam floating over her left shoulder, taping everything for later editing, her Gamma Ejector at the ready. It really wasn't polite to approach an interview subject with a gun, but the Trash King wasn't known for politeness. "As you can see, there is already a crowd gathered, awaiting the robot's arrival. "I will attempt to ingratiate myself to them."
She lowered her microphone and smiled, which was silly. Smiles and other expressions couldn't be seen through grid armor. (It was also impolite to approach an interview subject while halfway in the grid, but if the Trash King tried to hit her, she wanted to be able to dodge).
"Hello there! I'm just here to get a few words with the Trash King. Please don't kill it before my interview's over!" she shouted.
"STFU n00b!"
"We're not gonna let you steal our loot!"
"Yeah, ph47 l3wt!"
"Grrr!"
Obviously, those waiting were not going to cooperate. "I will have to be quick," Gridgrid whispered to the camera. Good thing being quick was what fixers did best.
She lingered on the perimeter of the robot encampment until the Trash King's arrival. With a thrill of exhilaration, she ran in towards the robot, dodging gunshots and energy beams.
"Excuse me your majesty, I wish to have a few words with you." The robot turned her way, flinging his massive arms down at her. She jumped back. "No, I don't think you understand. I'm Gridgrid, a reporter." Another swing. This time she couldn't duck. She went flying backwards into a pile of discarded robot parts. "Guess you do'nt like reporters," she mumbled.
Jumping to her feet, she continued her attempts to induce a response, trying to find the keywords that the robot's creator had programmed into its AI. But there was no reaction. The robot seemed to be paying all of its attention to its attackers.
And then, it was dead, falling to the ground as the assault party cheered. Gridgrid frowned. At this rate, she'd never gain the credibility to cover the real issues. It was so frustrating, she spoke out loud. "And once again, naive Rubi-kans fall prey to the Omni-tech distractors, leaving the real targets untargetted, the real battles unfought. This reporter wonders if they'll ever learn, or if the appeal of 'ph47 l3wt' will continue to be too strong. From Athen Shire, this is Gridgrid, signing off."
That last bit could be easily edited away, she thought as she reached up to click the stop switch on the camera. The piece would make an interesting humor segment, and she supposed that was better than nothing. Then with a gasp, she noticed /two/ lights on the camera, a red one and a green one. "Oh no!!!!" It had been transmitting?? As she switched off the live gridfeed, she cringed. If the wrong people had been watching, and if her hunch was right, life was about to get a lot more interesting.
(this is what comes out of boring class presentations, so let this be a lesson to you: don't give a boring presentation! )
gg
- AO webcomics for the sake of being silly