Testing DuGalle's Creation

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 33, Post Number 811

-Motor City, Outside Dr. Reid's Laboratory-

Dressed in her white Steel Matron t-shirt and black skirt with black bike shorts, Victoria drove the Centaur to Dr. Reid's laboratory. A day ago she had received a letter from the doctor that while fixing and reassembling her mentor's first creation that she had discovered something about it, something that she dare not say in the letter. Victoria surmised that whatever it was it was something that could be dangerous. The fact that the letter included a special password that she needed to say to gain entry to the laboratory only made the brunette worried about what she was getting into this time.

Victoria drove up to the garage door of the doctor's laboratory and Victoria noticed a newly installed camera sitting above the door. Dismounting the Centaur, the brunette walked over to the door and pressed the button for a speaker. Moments later she was challenged by a female voice.

"Password?" Dr. Reid herself asked. Victoria took a few moments to try and remember it. She recalled that was something to do with the name of a scientist from a faraway land and the name started with the letter M. That scientist also had something to do with work that led to the development of the radio.

Marco?

Mar- MAR- Marcolini?

No. It was Mar... coni! Marconi!

"Marconi." Victoria answered. She heard a buzz and the door opened. Dr. Reid herself was standing on the other side looking more than a bit frazzled. Dr. Reid was wearing a pink tube top and khaki shorts with brown work boots and an open lab coat. In her right hand was her familiar mug full of Motor City Nitro, that brand of coffee touted to have three times the caffeine of ordinary coffee.

"Hello Miss Sheridan. I'm glad to see you!" Dr. Reid greeted the Sabertooth mage.

"It's nice to see you too, Dr. Reid." Victoria greeted the weary doctor. The blonde doctor looked behind Victoria and noticed the DH-40 Centaur Prototype sitting outside the garage door.

"I see that you drove the Centaur here. Would you like to secure it in the garage?" Dr. Reid asked.

"Yes, please." Victoria replied. The brunette had come to value the prototype hovercycle for its speed and cargo carrying ability and did not want some two-bit street thug to hotwire it and drive off with the vehicle while she was talking to the doctor about DuGalle's creation.

"I'll open the garage. Wait just a moment." The blonde requested before shutting the door. Victoria walked back over to the Centaur and sat on it, waiting for the garage to open. After a minute it opened and Dr. Reid stood off to the left side, motioning Victoria in with her left hand. Victoria cranked the Centaur and gently eased the throttle forward, moving at only 2 MPH as she entered the garage and came to a stop once she was well clear of the garage door. Once Victoria was safely inside Dr. Reid lowered the garage door.

-Inside Dr. Reid's Laboratory, the garage-

"I see that you've been driving the Centaur." Dr. Reid said to Victoria as the former walked around it and noticed where driving through the sand had worn down a bit of the paint on the front hoverpad. Victoria nodded.

"Yes, Doctor. I've taken it to Desierto and to Capital Crocus so far." Victoria replied in the affirmative, listing where she had driven it. Dr. Reid appeared pleased to hear that the vehicle was not gathering dust in a garage but was instead being used by its owner.

"I take it that you haven't had any problems with it?" Dr. Reid inquired. Victoria shook her head.

"Not at all, Doctor. It handles very well and it doesn't suffer from overheating. It also doesn't lose performance when it has cargo lashed to it." Victoria replied with a glowing appraisal of the Centaur, omitting to mention what exactly the cargo was due to the legally questionable nature of it. She had not caught the attention of the sultan of the Tri-Council City, the Rune Knights, or Dies Irae yet, but that did not mean that they were not watching and waiting for the right time to go after her. Victoria would do everything she could to avoid incurring their wrath... within reason. She would gladly ferry arms and ammunition to Berreb's allies if it meant giving desert villagers the means to defend themselves from outlaw attacks.

"I see. Well then, I'm glad to hear that the creation that Dr. Hanlon and I worked on is working so well for you." Dr. Reid said in a cheerful tone before a serious expression crossed her face. Victoria was afraid to ask why, but she had to know.

"I know that you didn't call me here to take a survey about the Centaur. What did you call me here for, Dr. Reid?" Victoria asked the blonde. Dr. Reid took a sip of Motor City Nitro and looked the Sabertooth mage in the eyes.

"While fixing it I learned that the creation of Dr. DuGalle's that we found in Motor City Junkyard is actually a military-grade robot." Dr. Reid replied in a serious tone of voice. Victoria's face went pale.

"Oh hell." Victoria replied. The Magic Council probably did not care very much about a lone mage taking a shipment of rifles and ammunition across the desert, but they would care about someone who had a military-grade robot in their possession. They would care so much that the Rune Knights would be sent to confiscate or destroy it and arrest the owner.

"Yeah. This is not a good situation. For either of us." Dr. Reid weighed in. She drank more coffee while the brunette stood in silence and tried to think of something to say. She was also trying to think of a way out of this situation that did not involve leaving Sabertooth and fleeing the country to get a head start on the Rune Knights who would be giving chase. Helping the people of the desert by arming them against outlaws was one thing, but having a robot like Dr. DuGalle had made was another issue entirely. Victoria was not sure how she was going to get through this situation without suffering a major headache.

Dr. Reid looked at Victoria and spoke for the first time in minutes.

"Coffee?" Dr. Reid offered the speechless brunette.

[Post Word Count: 1,074]
[Total Word Count: 1,074/7,000]

-In the laboratory-

"So, what are we gonna do about our problem?" Victoria asked Dr. Reid as she sipped from her own mug of Motor City Nitro. She was trying to figure out how they could move it out of Motor City without incident. The citizens of Motor City and the Motor City Police were wary of war machines ever since what had happened with Dr. Hanlon a little over a year ago and they would not be thrilled to find out yet another war machine was in the city. Victoria took a sip from the coffee and found that while it was making her jittery from the caffeine, the taste was not too bad. It also had the advantage of being more socially acceptable to drink in midday than vodka.

"We need to get it out of the city, Victoria. If someone finds out we have this thing and they steal it, there's going to be a whole lot of trouble for the both of us." Dr. Reid went over the basic plan, then took a sip of coffee. Victoria took a sip from her mug.

"Yeah, getting it outta here's a given, but how are we gonna do that?" Victoria asked the blonde. Dr. Reid took another sip of coffee and shrugged.

"I don't know yet. Maybe we can take it to somewhere like Silent Cemetery and say it's engineered to fight the undead?" Dr. Reid suggested. Victoria frowned. That was not the best idea, but since she was not coming up with anything, that was probably the most logical explanation that stood a chance of standing up to scrutiny. It sure beat trying to explain to the wary authorities that the war machine was restless and needed to go for a walk.

Victoria took a sip of coffee before rendering her verdict in a facetious way.

"I hate those damn zombies in Silent Cemetery. They drive down property values, play their music too loud, terrorize the neighborhood children and the elderly, and don't believe in showers or basic hygiene. I say we test Dr. DuGalle's war machine on them and teach those obnoxious walking corpses a lesson in manners." Victoria made a joke of it, expecting Dr. Reid to either laugh it off or give her a glare that could melt steel. Instead the doctor went with it wholeheartedly.

"Great! In a few minutes I'll get DuGalle's robot loaded up and we'll go to Silent Cemetery to test it out! I'll also bring some defensive measures for me!" Dr. Reid said with a smile. Victoria blinked. She was not sure if Dr. Reid was serious or was just playing off of Victoria's facetious remark.

"But first I need some more coffee!" She exclaimed, still keeping a smile. Normally Victoria would be put off by such cheerfulness, but right now Victoria did not argue. Dr. Reid had just saved them from awkward explanations to the Motor City Police why there was a giant robot tromping around in their streets.

"I need some more coffee too. You might wanna take some with us." Victoria suggested, not quite believing that Dr. Reid was actually going to go to Silent Cemetery. While she was fond of vodka, the coffee was not bad. The caffeine helped her focus and helped her feel alive, but that was probably because she had not yet built up a tolerance to caffeine like she had done with alcohol. Maybe Motor City Nitro would be an acceptable midday substitute for vodka that she should look into making her drink of choice. Dr. Reid nodded.

"I'm way ahead of you. I'll pack a coffeemaker and plenty of coffee for the both of us. Now I need to get the robot loaded for the trip to Silent Cemetery." Dr. Reid said. Victoria flashed a thumbs-up and let the doctor work in peace. Victoria could not wait to be out of the city, even if that meant going toe-to-toe with walking corpses who saw her as a walking meal.

-Two hours later, the outskirts of Motor City-

Victoria was driving the Centaur as an escort for Dr. Reid, who was driving the truck with the trailer that contained Dr. DuGalle's project. The original plan was for Victoria to ride with the doctor, but the doctor had suggested that the Sabertooth mage drive behind the truck so that the latter could prevent someone from hijacking the truck and making off with the war machine. Victoria, not wanting a repeat of what had happened to Dr. Hanlon when his creations got loose, readily agreed to the idea.

The pair were making good time and everything was going their way so far. They had passed through the "bad" part of Motor City without incident, so they were feeling that the hardest part of the trip was behind them. Victoria was wearing a headset so that she could stay in communication with the doctor as they drove.

"Victoria, are you still behind me?" Dr. Reid asked.

"I'm still behind you, Doctor." Victoria replied in the affirmative. She looked from side to side to make sure that no one had taken too much interest in Dr. Reid's vehicle. So far no one had given it a second glance; people seemed much more interested in Victoria's Centaur. The brunette did nothing to discourage that... she wanted to draw attention away from Dr. Reid and onto her so that no one would ask what was in the trailer.

"Great. We're just twenty minutes away from the city limits. Once we're out of the city it's pretty much smooth sailing to Silent Cemetery." Dr. Reid informed her.

"Good. Now let's just keep going and hope we don't run into any trouble." Victoria said. She rode along a short distance behind the doctor and did her best not to inhale too many exhaust fumes from the truck. That was the one bad thing about the travel plan, but it could be worse. It sure beat trying to walk it out of the city.

-Four hours later, Silent Cemetery-

The pair came to a halt about fifty meters from the cemetery gates. Dr. Reid stopped the truck and Victoria pulled to a halt beside the doctor, who got out of the truck and stretched her legs. Victoria dismounted the Centaur and stretched her legs as well.

"I'm glad we're here. Since we're out in the middle of Nowhere, all we have to deal with is the local undead population." Victoria said to the doctor, who had turned around and was digging in the cab for something. Victoria kept a watch out for any zombies while the doctor was digging in the cab for whatever it was that she was looking for. About three minutes later the doctor emerged with her coffee mug and a thermos of coffee while smiling triumphantly.

"I found them!" She exclaimed. Victoria gave a pained smile to the doctor who was obsessed with coffee. The Sabertooth mage would prefer to deploy the war machine now rather than later, but she would wait for Dr. Reid to have coffee first. Victoria could fend off the undead just fine until Dr. Reid deployed Dr. DuGalle's creation.

[Post Word Count: 1,198]
[Total Word Count: 2,272/7,000]

-Twenty minutes later, outside Silent Cemetery-

"OK, I'm ready to move the robot! Please watch my back!" Dr. Reid proclaimed after her fourth cup of Motor City Nitro. She had set up a metal table with a coffeemaker and a plate to keep cups of coffee warm. She had also set up a laptop to run diagnostics on the robot while Victoria tested it. Last but certainly not least was a control panel with sticks for the machinery that was to move the robot into a standing position.

The doctor walked over to the table and positioned the control panel for the machinery in front of the laptop and pressed a green button in the right corner. The lights flashed on and a crane arm slowly folded out of the trailer. The doctor then walked over to her vehicle, opened up a hitherto hidden panel, and pressed another button. Stabilizing legs slammed down and found purchase in the soil.

Victoria stood beside the table as the blonde returned and stood in front of the panel, then began to work the machinery needed to haul the robot out of the trailer. So far no zombies had been attracted, but it was only a matter of time before they put in an appearance. The mechanical whrrrs, hydraulic hissing, and other noises made by the machinery were certain to attract a few of them, which was why the Sabertooth mage was standing by with her Shotgun in hand.

"This shouldn't take too much longer." Dr. Reid said as the robot had been pulled halfway out of the trailer by a mechanical device that looked a lot like the claw in an arcade claw machine, only with arms that were tipped with strong magnetic discs instead of with grasping claws. Victoria watched as the doctor carefully worked the sticks and slowly moved them until the robot was all the way out of the trailer. Dr. Reid then began to slowly and carefully maneuver it into a standing position about four meters away from the trailer, holding her breath as she did so.

Victoria looked around them to make sure that no zombies had gotten the drop on them, then resumed watching the robot be maneuvered into a standing position. Ten tense minutes later D. Reid released the crane's magnets and it was standing proudly upright like it had back in Dr. Reid's laboratory. Dr. Reid loudly exhaled and powered down the machinery. The crane arm slowly folded itself back up and retracted into the trailer.

"Now that that's done, it's time to run the diagnostics on the robot and power it up for its first test!" Dr. Reid said in triumph. Victoria walked around the trailer and made sure that no zombies were nearby and that no one was trying to steal either her Centaur or Dr. Reid's truck, then returned to the doctor's side. She watched the doctor sip from her mug with one hand while typing rapidly with the free hand, then set the mug down and resume typing with both hands without missing a beat.

"Is there anything you need me to do?" Victoria asked Dr. Reid.

"Not yet, Miss Sheridan." Dr. Reid replied without looking up from the laptop. Victoria went quiet and let the doctor work in peace. Victoria did the occasional loop around the trailer to make sure that no shambling corpses had arrived for a midnight snack. After completing the last loop Victoria returned to see the robot's eye flash red.

"It works!" Dr. Reid exclaimed triumphantly. The robot turned to face them and Victoria saw the work the doctor had done on its body. Most of the rust stains had been removed and its armor gleamed in the moonlight. The red and black color scheme gleamed as if the machine was proud of its new condition.

"I've set it up where it obeys voice commands. Say something to it, if you will." Dr. Reid asked Victoria.

"Uh, hi there." Victoria meekly greeted the machine and waved at it.

"HELLO." It replied in a thundering voice that made the brunette jump back. Dr. Reid laughed and typed rapidly for a few seconds.

"Now it's keyed to follow your voice commands, Victoria. Come on, give it an order." Dr. Reid urged the brunette.

"OK." Victoria said to the doctor. The Sabertooth mage turned to the robot and tried to come up with a command as it watched her with a single unblinking eye like the mythical cyclops.

"Wave at me." Victoria ordered. It obligingly waved its free hand at her. Victoria turned back to the doctor.

"I'm impressed." Victoria remarked. The doctor smiled.

"The voice command software took a lot of time and effort to install, but it was worth it. When I was repairing it I learned that it was originally made to respond to a control chip operated by a laptop, but I modified it to take voice commands." Dr. Reid explained how she had gotten the robot to respond to voice commands. Victoria was impressed by that feat.

"Well, I suppose it's time to test it out and see what my mentor's creation can really do." Dr. Reid said, then picked up her mug for a sip of high-powered coffee. Victoria felt uneasy about that. As amazing as Dr. DuGalle's creation was, she felt uneasy about taking a war machine through a cemetery. She did not want to destroy the final resting place of hundreds of people just to kill a few zombies to make their cover story true.

"Are we really going to take this guy through Silent Cemetery?" Victoria asked Dr. Reid in a reluctant tone of voice. The doctor shook her head.

"No, Miss Sheridan. While we were on the drive here I thought of a better place to take it. There's an abandoned city named Fulci a few kilometers from here. It's a much better place because it's a city overrun with zombies and a place marked as a danger zone for travelers. No one will mind if we test my mentor's creation out there." She answered. Victoria sighed with relief. As worrisome as the prospect of destroying a city was, it was much less worrisome when she had been told that it had been overrun by zombies and that there were no innocent people living there. Victoria was free to test the robot without worrying about destroying homes or killing innocent people.

"All right then. Point me in Fulci's direction and I'll go to it." Victoria told the doctor, fully on board with Dr. Reid's idea now that she knew that no sacred ground would be destroyed or innocent people hurt by the test.

[Post Word Count: 1,114]
[Total Word Count: 3,386/7,000]

"Go into Fulci and feel free to shoot any zombies you see, Victoria. I must warn you that the robot has a high-output beam cannon meant for use against armored vehicles, so property damage might be an issue." Dr. Reid warned Victoria that her new metallic pal had anti-vehicle weaponry. So that was what the vacuum cleaner-looking thing was. She wished that the doctor had warned her sooner so that they could have gone somewhere truly abandoned like Morgate Town, but neither one of them had packed a radiation suit and she did not know if the robot was protected against radiation. She was also not sure if she was ready to turn Dr. DuGalle's creation loose against people, even if they were looters who would shoot her on sight.

"Is there any way to lower the cannon's output so that I don't turn the town into a smoking crater?" Victoria asked the doctor. The blonde shook her head.

"Unfortunately, no. At the moment there's no way to alter it. The circuitry is so complex that Dr. DuGalle himself would have to do the work. I have no idea where he is, though." Dr. Reid explained that reducing the weapon's power was not possible at the moment. Victoria shrugged her shoulders.

"That's why we came to a zombie-infested city to start with. OK, I'll take my new pal for a test drive... er, walk." Victoria said to the doctor. Dr. Reid nodded, then pulled out a remote about the size of a standard television remote and pressed a button. Out of the trailer flew a swarm of over three dozen quadrotor drones with machine guns mounted on their bottoms. They flew to a place three meters above Dr. Reid and rapidly formed a circular perimeter above her.

"Don't worry about me during the test, Miss Sheridan. I've brought protection, so you don't have to worry about my safety. Just focus on testing the robot and getting out of there alive. If I really need your help I'll let you know." Dr. Reid assured the Sabertooth mage that she would be well-protected. Victoria looked at the hovering drones and wondered how the doctor had procured them. Maybe she had connections with military people who let a box or two of those drones "fall off the back of a truck" for her. Or maybe she had made them herself. However she had come across them, Victoria would not want to be on the receiving end of the hail of lead that over three dozen machine guns could send her way.

"OK. I'll be back as soon as I can. Is there anything else I need to know about Fulci?" Victoria asked the doctor.

"Yes. There have been reports of scavengers prowling the city. Some of them might be friendly. Some of them might not be. There's no way to tell them apart, so you'll just have to be careful." Dr. Reid told her. Again that was a piece of information that the brunette would have liked to have before she chose this site, but it could not be helped. Beggars could not be choosers, after all. They had chosen this place because there was no other viable option.

"OK. What do I do if I come across hostile scavengers?" Victoria asked the doctor. The brunette knew what she would do, but she was not sure how the doctor would handle the situation. Dr. Reid probably did not want any deaths on her hands if she could help it. The blonde shrugged her shoulders.

"That's up to you, Victoria. I'm a scientist, not a fighter." Dr. Reid told her. Victoria had been given the freedom to do as she saw fit, something that she appreciated. She would try not to kill any more people than she had to, but if she had to act in self-defense she would do so without hesitation.

"OK. I'm going into Fulci now." Victoria said to the doctor and waved. Dr. Reid waved at her.

"Good luck, Victoria. I'll be in touch." Dr. Reid assured Victoria before returning to her laptop. Victoria took the robot and walked towards Fulci while it followed a short distance behind her. She was finally going to see what Dr. DuGalle had created when he had been forced out of the university.

-Inside Fulci, twenty minutes later-

Victoria stepped into Fulci and found that the town had seen better days. Empty cars were everywhere; some of them had been crashed into buildings or light poles and others had been abandoned. A few had broken glass and bloodstains on the exterior of the doors, suggesting that the occupants had been pulled out by zombies. Speaking of zombies, Victoria saw five of them shambling about fifty meters away and closing, though they were closing at a speed best described as "glacial." This was a gift-wrapped opportunity to test the robot's high-output beam cannon without much risk to herself.

"Target those zombies!" Victoria ordered the robot.

"Targeting now." He replied. Victoria looked up and saw him raise his beam cannon, then fire a single shot that vaporized a zombie dressed in a three-piece business suit... and hit a car three meters behind it, setting off an explosion. The brunette was impressed with the unexpected pyrotechnics and with the power of the robot's weapon.

"Acquiring the next target." He informed her. Moments later another shot was fired and a zombie dressed in a paramedic's uniform was vaporized except for its feet, which fell outward and to the sides. It was a darkly humorous end to the "life" of that zombie.

The robot fired a third shot at a zombie who used to be a policeman and vaporized its upper half, leaving its lower half to lurch forward another step and topple to the pavement like a domino that had been pushed over. Only two more were left and they were still about forty-six meters away. Victoria could stand back and let the robot's beam cannon do the talking, which was exactly what she did.

She watched the robot vaporize the last two zombies with about as much effort as it took her to breathe. The last two zombies had fallen and they were definitely not getting back up. Victoria surveyed the area for any more targets for her metallic pal and did not find any.

"Targets eliminated." His voice declared.

"Victoria, how's the robot working so far?" Dr. Reid asked Victoria over the headset.

"It's killed five zombies already. It also killed an empty car. You weren't joking when you said that its beam cannon was high-output." Victoria replied.

"Yes, human flesh doesn't stand much of a chance against anti-vehicle weaponry." Dr. Reid said in understatement. Even though it was stating the obvious, Victoria could not disagree with that remark. She looked around her for more zombies while trying to decided which way to go from here. She could either go left or she could go straight. Either way she chose would lead her deeper into Fulci and provide her with more zombies to vaporize.

[Post Word Count: 1,178]
[Total Word Count: 4,564/7,000]

After spending a minute or two considering her options Victoria opted to take the path to the left. She spotted what she thought were a few zombies in the distance and turned to face them. There were nine of them, but all of them were so slow that they made glaciers look like tuned-up sports cars.

"C'mon, let's go left." Victoria ordered the robot.

"Affirmative." He replied. He followed behind Victoria at a slow pace so that he did not stomp her by accident. Victoria appreciated that because it would be hard to test the robot if she ended up dead after being stomped into the asphalt by it. Together the unlikely pair made their way deeper into Fulci to wipe out some more zombies.

-Downtown Fulci, five minutes later-

Victoria and the robot stopped in the middle of an intersection next to a long-abandoned sporting goods store called Sportsman's Arsenal, which had had its windows broken out and had dried bloodstains on the windowsill from where people were either pulled out of the store or zombies had pulled themselves in. Numerous bodies littered the area and many of them had bullet holes in their heads... it seemed like someone had been here before her and the robot. She was not sure if the local scavengers had been proactive in eliminating zombies or if someone else had done the work, but they had done Victoria a big favor by putting down most of the shambling corpses in the immediate area, leaving her free to concentrate on the enemies looming ahead.

She looked towards the broken display window with her Shotgun raised and did not see any zombies inside, but she smelled the unmistakable stench of death and decay coming from within the store. Victoria turned away from the window and spotted the nine zombies from earlier loitering up the street. They were oblivious to the presence of the Sabertooth mage and her war machine, a mistake that they would pay for with their lives.

"Target those nine zombies up ahead!" Victoria ordered the robot.

"Affirmative. Targets are at 75 meters. Targeting now." He replied. Victoria then realized that she was calling the robot a "he." Why was she doing that?

She watched their sides as the robot began its deadly work of clearing out the undead menace up ahead. The robot hefted its beam cannon into a ready position and began vaporizing the zombies one by one, destroying them in a single blast without missing a single shot. A building on the other side of them took a few hits and had holes the size of a manhole cover blasted into its front, but the building's structural integrity had not been compromised and it remained upright, if a little worse for wear for being the shooting backstop for an anti-vehicle weapon.

"Targets eliminated." He declared. They certainly were "eliminated" because nothing was left of them. At least Victoria would not have trouble telling whether the zombies were really dead or not.

"Nice work." Victoria thanked the robot for taking the zombies out long before she had gotten within range of them. It remained silent and waited for the brunette's next instructions with its beam cannon ready to fire. Victoria looked to their left and to their right, then looked behind them in case either zombies or hostile scavengers were trying to get the drop on them. No one was behind them, so it was safe to proceed deeper into the zombie-infested town.

Together the pair strode straight through the intersection towards a rather tall building that looked like an office building. She would have to be careful in case it was a scavenger stronghold and they had heard all the commotion outside.

-In front of the office building-

Victoria paused in front of the office building and noticed that the thick wooden double doors had bullet holes in them like someone was being shot at when they left the building. Or it could have been that someone had shot their way into the building... Victoria did not know for certain and she was not educated enough in forensics and ballistics to determine the truth and she was not inclined to play detective. She wanted to test the robot and get out of town alive.

"Victoria, are you OK?" Dr. Reid asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How's our metallic pal looking on your end?" Victoria asked Dr. Reid. She heard typing and a few clicking noises followed by the sound of a ceramic mug being lifted.

"All systems are functioning normally. The power source is putting out enough energy and cooling systems are working. The software and hardware are also functioning normally. Operating temperatures are well within safe operating parameters." Dr. Reid replied. Victoria was glad to hear that. When she heard "software and hardware" she took a moment to think and realized that her high-tech war machine could easily be turned against her by the right people with the right tools and skills, but for the time being she was glad that the robot was on her side. She would have to work on securing its systems from outside tampering later.

"Great. Would you like me to press deeper into Fulci or do you want me to return with what data we have?" Victoria asked the doctor.

"Well, it's your choice, Victoria. Everything should work just fine, but I wouldn't go too deep into the city unless you're confident you can get back out if there's sudden trouble. This is the robot's first test, after all. While I worked out all of the most obvious problems, I'm not entirely sure if I fixed them all." Dr. Reid put the choice squarely in Victoria's hands. The brunette was inclined to continue the testing to see how Dr. DuGalle's robot fared in urban combat, but part of her did not want to take too much risk, especially since she had not thought to wear her Azure Armor. If she encountered gangs of hostile scavengers and got in over her head she did not have body armor to give her a chance to survive a direct hit from gunfire; even a hit to a non-vital region would put the brunette at a disadvantage. Victoria tapped her right foot against the asphalt as she tried to reach a decision.

"It's a tough call, doctor. I don't think we have enough data yet. However, since I'm not wearing body armor, if I get in over my head and the robot picks that time to malfunction I'd be in very deep trouble." Victoria summarized her dilemma to the doctor. The brunette could practically hear the doctor shrug through the headset.

"Well, it's your call." Dr. Reid reminded Victoria. The Sabertooth mage was hoping that she would have gotten a bit more advice than a casual and somewhat dismissive reminder that the choice was hers, but whatever. Victoria would just have to make a judgment call.

[Post Word Count: 1,158]
[Total Word Count: 5,722/7,000]

Victoria was faced with the decision to either call it a day and return to Motor City with what data they had gleaned or to press deeper into Fulci and find more targets for the war machine. While she had the means to heal herself should she get shot, she was not certain that she would have the time to heal herself and fend off hostile scavengers should they corner her somewhere in the town and the robot be unable to help her due to a malfunction or a matter of geography. The brunette looked down the street just ahead of her, which according to a nearby green-and-white sign was named Savini Street. It was packed with abandoned cars and emergency vehicles on the side of the roads... and a lot of dead zombies. Someone had clearly swept through here before.

Victoria looked up to the robot, which looked at her with its single "eye" and waited for her to give it a command. Victoria then looked down at the street in front of her and saw that while she and the robot could pass through the main thoroughfare, it was pretty narrow thanks to the parking of the vehicles. While they could make it through if they moved single-file, something told her that her metallic pal was not built for agility. She did not want the robot to get stuck and left as a prize for scavengers if she had to retreat from overwhelming numbers of zombies or hostile scavengers.

Maybe Victoria was developing the rudiments of self-preservation by turning back instead of pressing into a danger zone without body armor. Or maybe she was wanting to stay alive so that she had a chance to learn about her birth parents from Thomas Montgomery. Or maybe she wanted to live long enough to see someone take her old enemy Francesca Corlone down. No matter how she sliced it Victoria decided to quit while she was ahead and leave while she could.

"Let's leave Fulci for now." Victoria ordered the robot. She turned on her heels and faced down the road she had just passed through. She might get a chance to have the robot take down a few more zombies before they left the zombie-infested town for the time being. Once she had returned with her body armor the robot would get the field test it deserved.

"Affirmative." The robot replied. It followed behind her without delay. Victoria did not want to leave Fulci without having fully tested the robot's capabilities, but she did not want to take the chance of it malfunctioning and Dr. Reid having to bring her trailer and the machinery into the town to retrieve it.

-Back at Dr. Reid's field laboratory, twenty-five minutes later-

Victoria and the robot came across Dr. Reid, who was still protected by he floating ring of airborne drones. Victoria looked around the area and saw that nothing or no one had tried to attack the doctor. She approached the blonde and spoke to her.

"Hey Dr. Reid, I'm back. I didn't feel like taking too many risks without my body armor, so I decided to quit while I was ahead. The terrain was also full of abandoned cars and I was afraid that if I had to retreat the robot would get stuck. I didn't want your mentor's creation being left as a prize for scavengers. I also didn't want to risk you going into the danger zone to retrive it" Victoria greeted the doctor and informed her of her decision to leave Fulci, then laid out the reasons why she had made the choice. The doctor turned around and nodded.

"That was a good decision, Victoria. Fulci will be there for later tests. Besides, I looked over the diagnostics for the beam cannon and saw that there might be a problem." Dr. Reid informed her. The brunette blinked.

"A problem with the beam cannon? Are we talking about a "it's not perfect" kind of problem or are we looking at a "the weapon could explode and ruin everyone's day" kind of problem?" Victoria asked the doctor to specify the nature of the problem. Dr. Reid nodded again.

"It's the latter kind of problem. It seems that while the weapon's cooling system is working, it's simply not very effective. I read over the data from the two instances of combat earlier and noticed that when it's fired more than four consecutive times in a short time period the heat buildup is fast to accumulate but kind of slow to dissipate. If you had gotten into a prolonged combat situation you might have run the risk of the beam cannon exploding and possibly catching you in the blast, a blast that you might not have survived." Dr. Reid explained the problem. Victoria blinked.

"Uh, well, OK then. Now that you put it that way, it seems that I made the right call." Victoria awkwardly replied, feeling any lingering regret over leaving early quickly evaporate. Victoria took a deep breath and spoke again.

"Is this a problem you can fix?" Victoria asked the doctor. The doctor shook her head.

"No, not without help. You see, Dr. DuGalle made a robotic marvel, but he also made a serious headache. The circuitry's too complex for me to work on and I'm not a weapons expert. I'm afraid that if I tamper with the beam cannon I'd just create more problems than I'd fix." Dr. Reid explained why she could not help with that issue. Victoria found it funny that the same person who deployed a small drone army for personal defense could not work with a beam cannon, but then the brunette hypothesized that the doctor might be the kind of person who was more adept at refining the work of others instead of designing her own creations. She had worked with Dr. Hanlon to improve the DH-40 Centaur and she was the one who had helped solve the numerous issues of Dr. Hanlon's design.

"OK. Aside from Dr. DuGalle himself, is there anyone you know of who can help you?" Victoria asked. Dr. Reid nodded before lifting her coffee mug and taking a sip.

"There's Dr. Hanlon, but after what happened a year ago he doesn't want to go anywhere near military technology." Dr. Reid listed and disqualified one candidate. Victoria did not blame him for not wanting anything to do with a war machine. Dr. Reid paused for a moment.

"Is there anyone else?" Victoria asked. Dr. Reid nodded.

"I might be able to get in contact with Amanda Barnsworth. She's a friend of mine from school. While she's not a weapons expert, she knows people who knows people. Maybe she can help me find someone who can work with the beam cannon." Dr. Reid answered.

"OK. Works for me." Victoria said. That was a really short list of people who might be able to help, but it was what it was and no amount of wanting or wishing could change that. Dr. Reid powered down the robot and began to shut down the laptop and her other equipment, everything except her drone defenders.

"We'd better get back to Motor City. It's gonna take a bit of time to get the robot back in the trailer and get all the equipment put away, so I'd like you to watch my back." Dr. Reid requested. Victoria gave a thumbs-up.

"Sure thing." Victoria answered laconically. She was glad that she had decided to quit while she was ahead instead of pressing her luck.

[Post Word Count: 1,260]
[Total Word Count: 6,982/7,000]

-Back at Dr. Reid's laboratory, Motor City, three hours later-

After a lot of travel the pair were safely back in Dr. Reid's laboratory without the authorities being any the wiser as to what the pair had been up to. Dr. Reid had taken the robot out of the trailer and had stood it back up near the scaffolding it had been standing in front of a few weeks ago. Victoria stood beside the doctor as the pair looked at the magnificent war machine which stood proudly in front of them. It had performed well; the only real problem with it lay in its weapon, which had shown signs of overheating that were not critical but could have spelled trouble had Victoria gotten into a prolonged fight in Fulci.

"As soon as I get some coffee I'm going to put out feelers and see who wants to help me with the problem. However, I'll have to be discreet. I don't want to advertise that I have a war machine standing in my laboratory." Dr. Reid told Victoria what she was going to do from here. Victoria understood the need for discretion with a piece of technology like the one standing in front of them. She did not want the doctor's lab to be raided by the authorities or by local hoodlums looking for a weapon to give them an edge on the streets of Motor City.

"OK, doctor. You see who you can get to help, but be careful about it. I don't want you to get into trouble for this." Victoria warned the doctor to proceed with caution when looking for help. Dr. Reid nodded.

"I'll be fine, Victoria. This isn't my first rodeo." Dr. Reid said, hinting that she may or may not have been involved in some questionable work in the past. Victoria was no stranger to morally gray decisions herself, so she did not pass judgment on the doctor. Dr. Reid turned to the brunette and smiled.

"In the meantime, do you want some coffee to celebrate the first part of a successful test?" Dr. Reid asked. Victoria gave a thumbs-up. In a rare time the brunette did not feel like going to the local corner store for some vodka, so coffee would do just fine. Besides, she needed to drive back to Ace Of Spades after this and she did not drink and drive.

"Sure. Let's get some coffee." Victoria replied. Together the pair went to the mini-kitchen in the doctor's lab to get some Motor City Nitro to celebrate the first successful test of Dr. DuGalle's creation. While the beam cannon needed some work before it was tested in the field again, Victoria was sure that it was a difficulty that could be resolved by Dr. Reid and her collaborators... after some coffee, of course.

[Post Word Count: 471]
[Total Word Count: 7,453/7,000]