Junkyard Lion (Theo, Lukas)

Hitura Rael

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#1
It was bright and early in the Lunar Kingdom. TOO early. Merida pounded on the door to her brother's place with her fist, balancing a container and a cup of coffee in her other hand. She was the exact opposite of a morning person. She was the equivalant of waking a bear up in hibernation if she was up before ten am. With the primary target of her ire safely tucked away in stately duties, Adrian was the nearest target. Well, the nearest one that would tolerate her crabby bullshit properly.

But there was another reason she had decided to darken her twin's doorstep. Since she quit her normal job and Genion was fine, she had nothing to do. Sure, she could work on campaign notes or play games or something... But she was too pissed at being woken up by her damn room mate. She needed to do REAL work. And Adrian was a solo act. Surely, he'd be able to help her mellow out chasing down a strange signal before someone else got to it. She didn't question the tip off from someone at asscrack-of-dawn-o'clock, she was far too not awake. Who'd pass up the chance of free labor and possible good loot? Well... Adrian would if she pissed him off too much with her mood. But that was what breakfast was for. Luckily, the bastard was a morning person AND had his own toy to utilize. It was a total win win!

She waited at his door for him to answer, dressed ready to go in her tank top, hair braided back, jumpsuit tied off at the waist. The only thing she was missing was someone with a ship to get her there. Or a mech...
 
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Theoran54

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#2
Bright and early in the Lunar Kingdom was a couple hours after Adrian had woken up. His morning routine (because if he didn't have one he'd flip out) was mostly over and his typical closed shop day was just starting. Workout, shower, food, read the news. Then work on his fancy prize or get to work on things people paid him for work on. Thankfully with his easy going morning attitude he didn't drink burned bean juice or anything of the sort. However monotony was chewing away at him and he was aching for some sort of fun to break things up a bit.

Merida's timing was basically almost perfect with him finishing his breakfast. He grunted to himself as he made his way to the door. 'About time she found her way here.' Was all he could think, knowing only one persons would pound aggressively on his door at this time of the morning. He undid the multiple locks and popped the door open, wearing a pair of jeans and his own tank top, his robotic arm and hand on full display rather than in a synthetic flesh sleeve.

"Well, well. If it isn't the queen of poor sleep schedules and bad diets. What can I do for you today?" He stepped aside at the door to let her in.
 

Hitura Rael

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#3
She stared up at him, resting bitch face in full force. "Excuse me? Bad diets? Since when is my diet bad?" She huffed and shoved past him. Her small size was at least useful for SOMETHING. Like squeezing in small spaces. She set the food container down and took her coffee off the top. After a long long...loooong drink of it she flopped into Adrian's chair. "You're one to talk anyway. My room mate cooks for me, what's your excuse?" Shame, had she finished the coffee already? Well. Only one thing for it, stop and get another cup before they left. At least it was finished before the inevitable happened and Adrian removed her from his chair. There would be no mess this way.

She didn't wait for the snark response that would no doubt come back. It was an age old game between the two, woven into their interactions like a fine tapestry of sibling affection. Like a great game that had been going on since they were small, only ever put on hold when one or the other needed a serious moment. It was never truly malicious, and neither actually hurt the other. Except maybe that one time she put bugs in his shoes when they were kids and he ended up bitten up. How was she supposed to know they'd bite? "Anyway, My room mate woke me up. Fucker said if I want breakfast I have to get up cuz he's got torture early today. I'm SHOCKED that he didn't ask me to cook instead so he could be legitimately too sick to go in. Ugh it's like I barely recognize the idiot anymore."

"I brought you a plate." She motioned to the container of food. It wasn't her being considerate. It was her bribing him. She really only brought food if she was sent with it by the cook or if she wanted something. In this case... she wanted something. It was plain as day on her tired face. But she was going to play her coy games anyway, it was just part of the routine and ritual built between siblings over the years. "What's on the schedule today?" She knew how to play him like a harp. First, she'd find all the things he needed to do today and pick the one that sounded like it'd provide the most worth or entertainment. Then all she had to do was make it sound boring and the grand adventure of a mysterious tip off sound far more lucrative and fun.
 
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Theoran54

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#4
'Oh so its like that then?' Adrian frowned a bit and returned the bitch face with just as much force. "Excuse me? Bad diets? Since when is my diet bad?" She said with a huff. Adrian raised an eyebrow. "Someone other than mom feeding you? Im shocked anyone would dare! And I say its bad because you cant feed yourself without help...a lot of it." He responded when she started drinking her coffee. He paced around the small apartment he had over his mechanic shop, picking up trash and clothes he had neglected a bit. He would sit, but Merida really occupied his only chair. He closed his bedroom door after depositing the discarded clothes in the hamper and the trash in the bin. Then she began the rest of her comments and story.

He had a bad habit of drowning out the small things she said when they didn't really add to the conversation, but this did sometimes mean he missed details he would have otherwise needed from her. When she offered the food he took it with a small thanks before depositing it into the fridge and moving to the sink to clean the dishes he had just finished using not ten minutes ago. "Whats on the schedule for today? Be bored and either work on that Mech I got sitting around or go around town finding new gadgets or broken things to fiddle with since you know my fingers cant sit still. Why? What do you need? Who's skull do you need bashed in or what debt do you want me to pay off?" He spoke as he went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and put a small bit of styling gel into his hair.
 

Hitura Rael

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#5
She ignored his quick clean up. She was used to it with how he and their dad were back home. It was why she didn't just walk in without being let in. THAT lesson was learned early on in independent life. The jab at her cooking went ignored as well, knowing FULL well how bad it was. The family still teased her about giving everyone food poisoning. James took full advantage of that fact now and she was just waiting for the day his sister jumped on that band wagon.

But what's this? No 'get out of my seat, short shit'? No lifting her up and dropping her on her ass? He must be in a good mood today. Or perhaps a bad mood and trying not to take it out on her. He was difficult to read when he decided to mock her chronic RBF. She stretched out on the chair, fully claiming it as her own, like a lioness in the sun on a good rock. "Man, you're that bored huh? Who would have thought being adults would be so dull?" She chuckled and draped her legs over the edge of the chair, her voice taking a tone of feigned hurt for a moment. "But you wound me assuming that I'd only come visit when I want something. And you still haven't beaten my room mates ass for that little run away incident he dragged me on..." She shrugged to stare up at the ceiling. "I don't have debts and I'm pretty sure my room mate wouldn't let me have any anyway. He's been kissing up hard to keep me as his exclusive mechanic and make up for the whole scaring the shit out of me and making me babysit thing. But..." She turned her head toward the bathroom door, "Now that you mention it I do need a tiny little favor."

She sat up and turned to sit in the chair properly for once. It was something she only did when utterly serious or attempting to look serious, usually to hide a joke. But it'd been years since the hiding temporary dye in the shampoo incident. "I got a tip off this morning about a promising junk signal. And since my room mate is busy doing whatever knightly duty he has at the ass crack of dawn and no mech or ship..." She left it to hang in the air, easy enough for Adrian to figure it out from the context clues. He was smarter than he let on after all.
 

Theoran54

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#6
So much for not wanting anything. Adrian came back out of the bathroom after having finished with his teeth and hair and stopped to stand in front of Merida. A junk signal and she wanted his mech to haul it. Crossing his arms across his chest and staring down at her with a small scowl he took in a short breath. "I need a few questions answered before I agree. Is this supposed to be inconspicuous or are we just flying in and grabbing it? Because my mech isnt exactly small. Whats the value on this junk signal? And how long do you think it will take?"
 

Hitura Rael

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#7
Merida nodded and got up out of his chair to settle in on her favorite spot on the floor near the table. "Best I can answer is... I don't know. Honestly? Knowing the climate around here and public knowledge of who my room mate is? Might be dangerous. Might be a simple grab job. I'm not exactly well known in the salvage business. More known to be 'that midget that gets in the tiny places for everyone'." She shrugged. "It's a bit of a trip. Outside Luna airspace. ... Space-space? Either way, round trip might take most of the day. I can sweeten the pot. You get whatever profit we make off it and my room mate will make you dinner."

"If you don't wanna do it though, I can always go find uncle. I'm sure I can sweet talk him or one of our cousins into it if you're not up to the task." She flashed him a knowing smile and got back up to head into the kitchen for some water. It served two purposes; giving him space to think it over, and letting the bait settle in that he might very well take. That tactic worked maybe half of the time. It was a craps shoot on if he could be tricked like that.
 

Theoran54

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#8
Adrian let her talk of course but he had to pay attention instead of zoning her chatter out. Everything about this job screamed Merida didn't know anything about the job but it could be profitable. He wasn't well known in the salvage business either but he was known to buy it if the tech looked interesting. When Merida moved out of his large lazy boy seat he moved to sit in it himself. His fingers twitched and he started to fiddle with his mechanical arm to give them something to do while he thought. "You know Uncle would be hesitant to come this far for salvage that might not be worth it, especially in a dangerous zone. Especially after what happened." He reached from his seat, grabbing some tools and turning to his arm again. It'd give him something to do. He could close tomorrow if he needed to. He might make some decent money from the salvage. It might give him something interesting to tinker with. It was a good five minutes before he responded.

"Fine. Let's do this."
 

Hitura Rael

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#9
"Yeah, Uncle Gaelin is likely busy with knight stuff too. But you know one of our cousins would pop in. Probably Puck. ... Definitely Puck, and he'd fuck it up goofing off or die of mysterious causes en route." Mysterious causes her ass, she'd strangle him if locked in a small space with the boy for too long. Puck made James look like a damn dutiful saint. Merida stayed quiet, giving Adrian the time to mull it over. He wasn't the rash bumbling bull he resembled. He was patient and cunning, like a damn wolf. He outsmarted her before when she let her guard down, everything was a game of wits in this family. Adrian and their father, Sam, were the two that were arguably more cunning in the long game. Both took their time getting somewhere, but it was because they evaluated every angle. Merida was more like her grandfather, a swift thinker who could change a plan on her feet but stumbled against an opponent who had the time to plan ahead. Their mother though, was the smartest and most clever of all of them. She stood back and let the others in the family do the damn work, though she heard tales of her once being a decent politician until she met a certain blonde wolf insigniad mechanic with a penchant to do extremely reckless things to impress her.

She tidied up the kitchen while she waited. He hadn't asked, and would likely whine over it. They were more alike than he liked to admit though, and she had difficulties being idle, especially with her hands. But she didn't have a fancy arm to tinker with while she thought. For now, she just had a kitchen with dishes to wash and things to put away. And eventually... the bait was enough to get Adrian to agree. Not like he had anything better to do today. She dried her hands off and went back into the front room with a grin. "Excellent. There's only a moderate chance we'll regret this. I'll give you the coordinates when we get to your toy and you have GOT to let me look more in depth under the chasis sometime." She had only briefly seen the mech when visiting a few months ago. It had been too... difficult... to get near it. Her therapist worked wonders though, and practice with the Genion helped. "Let's get going!"

She gave her brother enough time to gather his things and change if necessary. Today was going to not be boring and with luck, lucrative.
 
Aug 4, 2018
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Somewhere in the UK
#10
August 5th, OE 102
Outskirts of Lunarian Space.



No Lunarian chart indicated debris fields in this sector, but past a certain point Merida's coordinates proved uncessesary. A ruined asteroid sat astride the wrecked parts of several mobile weapons. Most were little more than scrap at this point, but the largest piece of debris was still somewhat recognisable as a Mobile Weapon - and still actively transmitting a garbled distress signal. Its upper torso was only barely holding itself together, something having torn the armour into ribbons. A blade, perhaps?



Only the head and reactor were intact, camera lights still intermittently flashing as the connection between the two flickered. And while the distress signal may have been what drew attention to the machine originally, the reactor was the real prize. A preliminary scan would designate it as a Directory-made Proton Reactor - Unstable devices known more for their habit of spectacularly exploding than their similarly impressive output - but in a situation like this it would have detonated several times over. No coolant, no visible containment.. and yet it was still outputting enough energy to power a small cargo ship.

For now they were alone. But with the machine continuing to transmit its distress call.. just how long would that last?
 

Theoran54

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#11
Adrian had gotten complacent with their trip. It was mostly a boring flight through empty space. A little autopilot, a pair of headphones and some snacks were enough to hold him over until proximity alerts for dangerous debris started going off and his sensors picking up the distress signal. He pulled his headphones off and tossed them back to Merida along with his bag of trail mix and engaging his sensors to locate and identify what ever it was they were looking for. Upon its identification Adrian's standard grumpy face turned in to very upset face. He pulled his large machine out of its forward movement and used thrusters to position it a safe distance from the drifting head and reactor. He then stopped their inertia and looked back at his sister. He looked...unnerved. Almost scared.

"Are you sure about this?" Was all he asked with his serious tone.
 

Hitura Rael

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#12
Merida spent the time on the trip doing her favorite chore on a new machine (and subsequently the least favorite after the first run): diagnostics. It was a fun way to get to know a new machine and pinpoint any pain spots to work on. She doubted there would be any with Adrian taking care of the lion like mech, but it never hurt to have someone double check your work. But even that could only last so long before she drifted off into a nap. The sudden headphones landing in her lap startled her awake just before proximity alarms would have. She stared at the drifting debris. She turned her gaze down to her brother before back up to the head and reactor.

"No... I'm not... That doesn't look right at all." She searched the wreckage, looking for anything other than the head and reactor. A trace of fluid, body parts, anything. "It's like that experiment grandpa did with the cow's heart and the car battery..." She swallowed, "Fall back, It's gotta be a trap." She could see it written in his face. He had come to the same conclusion as she did.
 
Aug 4, 2018
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Somewhere in the UK
#13
Close range scans would reveal what appeared to be bodies. Or their remains, to be more specific. But while a few stray limbs could be detected, the carnage was oddly enough completely bloodless. No life signs, just floating metal limbs - similar to Lunarian Bioroids, but different enough to not be instantly recognisable as such. They'd probably fetch a decent price on Luna, for research purposes if nothing else.

Even if the bodies were artificial, the signs of combat were very real. Something had ripped these machines apart, leaving it to call for help. Help that was close at hand - three new blips would appear on the Gunleon's radar, approaching at high speed. One of which was already priming an attack.





Three large Combine MWs were approaching the Gunleon, lighting up the void of space with their thrusters. All three bore its insignia and vaguely similar designs, but the similarities quickly vanished upon any sort of close look.



Bizzarrely both machines flanking the central E-Bit bore slightly different designs, with one missing the shoulder cannons while the other had its arms stripped down. Prototypes? Bursts of radio chatter could be heard, encrypted but still audible - These ones were human. Or at least talkative robots.

"Seventy-five percent chance of match with original attacker. Moving to engage."

"It's got a wrench. Didn't the report claim something about their armor being sliced through?"

"...Sixty-five percent. Within acceptable parameters."

"Fiiiine. Just start blasting, while I... What was the plan again?"

"Engage for additional combat data, and retrieve the control unit on the E-Phas we lost. Elimination is secondary."

"Sure, whatever. Just make sure you turn the recorder on this time, alright? I don't wanna have to do any more combat in this hunk of chunk than I have to. Damn thing handles like an apartment block on legs."

The Orange MW would stop short after the radio tranmission ended, the cannons on each shoulder lighting up a distinctive purple as the other two turned upwards to escape its firing line. After a couple of seconds to charge the beams would rip loose, cleaving through the debris in a blast that was aimed mostly at the Gunleon. With both other machines advancing it'd be fairly easy to get a bead on them, their sheer size precluding most attemts at mobility. Each was almost as tall as the Gunleon itself, and moved like it was having to propel just as much weight.

"Alright! Time to get this party started!"

While the green machine was keeping its distance, the purple one seemed hell-bent on ramming the Gunleon. Not even activating any weapons yet, just trying to leverage its own massive bulk against the opposing mobile weapon.
 

Theoran54

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#14
Adrian nodded to his sister before readjusting his position in his seat. "Im going to g-" He was then cut off by sensors screaming about an incoming attack. Acting on reflex he flipped the thrusters into reverse and took them backwards away from the debris and the approaching laser that just cut through the space they had been occupying. "Hold on tight!" He called back to his sister as he threw things into gear. With the one closing distance he didn't have the momentum that the heavy machine did and they weren't exactly a hard target to hit. It rattled Adrian to his core that they would be attacked before being questioned. "Merida, get on coms and start spouting that we're a non-hostile salvage crew!" He barked back at her, working the controls to push them off the other machine and going as quickly as he could to put a many large boundaries as he could between him and the charge happy machine.
 

Hitura Rael

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#15
This was beginning to feel like a luck issue. Second time in a mobile weapon and they were getting shot at. Again. There was no question about it. They were getting shot at, she could feel it in her damn gut and she wasn't even a psychodriver like James. She gripped her seat tightly, drawing in deep, rapid breaths. Keep it together. Don't panic. Don't panic. Don't panic. It wasn't working. She could feel it starting to squeeze her chest. Adrian had to shout louder at her to break her out of it enough to reach for the line. Her voice initially cracked, "H-hostile units stand down, we're a non hostile salvage crew. Repeat, stand down, we are a non hostile salvage crew." She gripped the seat of her chair tighter, "This isn't going to work... it didn't work last time." Her hand went to her pocket to slip her phone out. She sent a single message, 'SOS', paired with their coordinates.
 
Aug 4, 2018
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Somewhere in the UK
#16
The lead machine jerked back after the charge, letting the Gunleon gain distance before igniting a blade on one of its arms. It paused for a moment once Merida's message was recieved, having some kind of debate before returning the favour with a broadcast of its own.

"Really? Those stupid bots seem awful sure you're the ones who broke this thing. Sixty-five percent, my ass... Ah, what do I care about their probabilties. S'not why I'm here~"

A short laugh echoed as the E-Bit's thrusters lit up once more, her machine accelerating almost ponderously for dramatic effect. She sounded rather young, and was unsettlingly carefree about the situation. While they talked the other two mobile weapons circled like sharks, their weapon systems attempting to keep track of the Gunleon's movements. But not firing - not yet.

"If you're salvagers, why don't we make this fun? I'll tell the bots to back up, and if you give me a good fight you can have the bits we don't care about."

Her request was followed up by a sharp burst of acceleration, the ray blade on the other arm igniting as well. Both were held at the front of the machine, raising this from simply another half-baked ram into an actual attack as it bore down on the Gunleon.
 

Theoran54

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#17
Adrian turns his machine slightly to look back at the pursuing machine. He chewed his lip anxiously as he weighed his options.

First he could fight this thing, he'd have a half decent chance of winning, but if he gets the upper hand whats stopping the intervention of the other two machines? Nothing, thats what. Theyre out in the middle of no where and they could do anything they wanted.

Could he hold out long enough for help to arrive? Unlikely, they were hours out from anything that could stand a chance to help.

What if he went all out? He'd stand a decent chance of a fight, with the multitude of tools he could use as weapons, like his nailgun, the giant wrench. Hells even the standard sized spanners could be used as weapons and they connected, for some strange reason, with wires inside to make curious nunchucks. There were the metal shredders too, they could take off a limb or even rip the machine in half if he was lucky. Or he could go with the traditional actual weapons he had that were SMGs. Gunleon and these machines were about the same size, they wouldn't be that big of a threat if they didn't have those energy blades.

Adrian continued to chew his lips for a few seconds more before fully turning Gunleon to face his foe.

"You want a fight? Fine! You can have one!"

He yelled it into the comms and reached back, pulling the giant wrench from its spot on Gunleon's back and swinging it in a wide horizontal arc when the E-Bit got close enough, to knock it off course and damage it's plating.
 

Hitura Rael

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#18
"With a wrench?" she responded flatly to the woman. "There'd be a lot more sheared metal from the torque, not clean cuts. Your bots need their analytics checked." Merida tensed, the three machines circling like predators around cornered prey. Her hands gripped the seat tightly, knuckles blanched from the pressure. Deep breaths, focus on your own senses. She tried to remember her therapists coping techniques. Oh she hoped James would get his ass here soon. But it was a vain hope, they were so far away. Even as fast as the GAI could go... it'd take ages. They'd be wreckage by the time he got here.

It got worse. This girl was crazy. Despite acknowledging their role, she still wanted to fight? Why didn't it surprise her. Ah, yes... that's right. The whole death of faith in humanity. That would be why. The color drained from her face as Adrian gave the response. Oh shit, she goaded him successfully. That damn idiot! Why now of all times does that fight or flight response pick FIGHT?! She swallowed hard and squeezed her eyes shut, drawing in deep quick breaths. Focus on your senses, focus on your senses, focus-
 
Aug 4, 2018
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Somewhere in the UK
#19
One of the E-Bit's blades clashes with the wrench, and while the Ray Blade was burning enough to melt metal... that didn't help one bit against the impact. Her machine was sent spinning away, the energy blade spluttering out as the arm was left useless. But the pilot doesn't let that set her back for long, intermittently firing her thrusters at seemingly random intervals to force her machine upwards. Once the spin ended she still had enough momentum to circle above the Gunleon, shoulders igniting as the Ray Focus began to charge.

"Yeah, they're dumb. That's why I'm chaperoning them! Speaking of which.."

She wasn't letting the fight distract herself from talking to her foes either, still disturbingly upbeat about the situation. Her comment was followed by a soft click, but the line remains open - continuing to broadcast her communications with the bioroids over open airwaves.

"Oy, Shoulderpads! Cover the perimiter, make sure nobody interrupts. Alpha should go cut the.. important stuff out of the wreck. And tell me when you're done - I don't wanna stay in this hunk of junk any longer than I have to."

"Parameters accepted. Commencing retrival... will destroy remaining scrap when done."

"Nah, scratch that last bit. Gotta leave something for these guys if they survive. 'Sides, it'll save time!"

"This decision is strategically unwise. Standard procedure dictates elimination of all-"

"Oh, shut up. I make the decisions here, droid. Just do your job, and stop distracting me from mine!"

Mid-conversation the E-Bit opened fire, one of the emitters lighting up as a single - but rather short - beam of energy was launched at the Gunleon. Followed by a second and third shortly afterwards. While each individal beam was weaker than the twin shot one of the Bioroids had opened with, Kath was timing their recharge so that she could effectively rapid-fire the single shot weapon.
 

Theoran54

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#20
Good, his plan worked how he wanted it to. Send her spiraling and buy him some space. Now what can he do to turn the tides further into his favor...oh. That would do it. They were surrounded by massive plates of metal and armor. He could work with this. But how to go about it. Using the momentum from his swing he fired thrusters to put more space between them, and giving him room to put the massive wrench back onto its holster on Gunleon's back. He then darted behind a plate about half the size of Gunleon. He eyed it quickly and nodded. Thin enough to work with, thick enough to give some defense and prove a huge inconvenience.

"This'll do. But where to stick it." He muttered to himself before having to use the plate for shielding against the beams.

Damn things were quick but he'd just have to power through it. He took a brief moment to eye the E-bits field of motion. Could those arms move fully around? He scratched his scruffy chin before just shrugging. He planted a hand on the edge of the plate and charged forward with it while using it as cover from any other shots, his other hand pulled out one of the two nail guns attached on the machine's hip. Hopefully if the plate made contact with the E-bit, he placed the nail gun to the back side of the plate and when metal met metal he'd pull the trigger in rapid succession to attach it to the other machine in an inconvenient spot.