A/N. I know, it's been really long and I haven't been updating. I'm a bad person. Also, I know magpies don't really like collecting shiny things, but I like playing on that. I think that's enough of a hint for what's coming.
The flight had taken longer than expected. Bidwell did his best to make the ride as smooth as possible, but Makina could not get much idle time as he wished he could have.
Instead of landing at the Charles de Gaulle airport itself and being bombarded with questions, Bidwell made a redirection to an abandoned private airport not too far off. Someone was bound to notice the illegal activity, but he was certain he could drop the two robots off and take off before being noticed.
"You're both free to go." He just lightly touched Makina to get the bot up and going. "I need to fly off soon. The plane shouldn't be here."
Makina's joints creaked as he got up after sitting for so long. If they continued to creak, he'd just oil them again later. He said nothing, but offered a nod of thanks to Bidwell before heading out of the cockpit.
Medibot was waiting patiently next to Dave, the man still curled up in his seat. "Wake him up. We have to go." He didn't wait up for either of them, cranking open the door and heading out.
There was a certain, very odd sluggish-ness to him. His feet dragged more on the ground, feeling like heavy lead blocks were tied to his legs. It was an odd sensation, seeing as how his batteries did not need charging yet.
Medibot noticed the sluggishness in his friend. "Herr Makina, are you alright?"
His eyes were too focused on nothing, drifting around lazily. It took him awhile to register that Medibot had said something. "Oh. What?" He looked up from where he was gazing - nothing more than the pavement. "I'm fine. Just…" He searched for the word. "Tired."
He had never used the word to describe himself before. Robots shouldn't have to know what being tired was like.
"Is it your batteries?" Medibot pressed. Batteries were easy enough to change if they had the right ones.
"No. My batteries are fine. It's… something else." Before Medibot could say anything, he interrupted. "Let's just get somewhere before we do anything."
The walk into town was not too long. By following the empty side road, they reached the town near the main airport in no time. The setting sun cast a warm, golden glow over the town, illuminating all it's residents. Soon, it would be dark out.
They wandered deep into town, streets lit only by pale lamps that shone harsh, white light onto cold concrete. Bars began to get noisy, as people took time off to get drunk. To avoid being spotted, the two went to the alleyways behind buildings.
They didn't think much of making sharp turns down other alleys, until they ran into a gang situated at the end of the path they were taking.
The gang comprised of less than eight guys, all of which were marked with tattoos, piercings, and the like. Some of them were sitting on posts and old boxes that had been discarded by the shops around them, drinking their night away. Others smoked and laughed.
What got Makina's attention was the black and white bird two of them had. The bird struggled to get out of the grip of the boys, but it had been wrapped in tape, pinning its wings down. "You wanna fly, birdie?" He tossed the taped bird into the air. "Then fly!" It landed on the ground with a soft thump, calling out in desperation. The guys roared in laughter, picking up the frightened bird again.
Medibot looked up, hearing the bird's distressed calls. He rolled forward, not caring if he had to forcefully take the bird.
"Doc, wait-"
"Ahh, excuse me," Medibot greeted as he approached. "I notice you have a common magpie. Please release it. Birds aren't meant to have zheir vings tied down like zhat"
The two guys turned their attention from the bird to Medibot. The biggest one with the most piercings, seeming like the leader, snapped his fingers. All eight guys stopped whatever they were doing, hopping down from their seats to join their leader.
"This your bird?" The leader asked, waving the bird in front of him. When it called out, the leader flicked it's head. It flinched, looking to Medibot for help.
If he could frown, he would have. "Vell, no. But vhat you are doing is wrong. Birds are meant to fly, not sit zhere for your entertainment. I ask again. Please release zhe bird."
One of the guys whispered to the leader. "Ah, wait. You know what's funny? You're robots. We don't take kindly to robots."
Makina was ready to step in, but he could tell Medibot was ready to punch the sucker. "And vhy is zhat?"
"One of our boys died some years ago. News has it that robots went rampant and started murdering things. Bots like you."
Makina was very interested in knowing about the guy who got killed, but Medibot wasn't going to let them leave until he got the bird. "Vell, zhat is completely unrelated to vhat I am here for. Give zhe bird."
The guy holding the bird tossed it behind them effortlessly. It shrieked in distress. Medibot curled his fingers and gave him a good, hard punch.
The advantage of being a robot was being able to hit as hard as he wanted without feeling any pain in his hand. The leader went down on the ground. For a split second there was total silence, including the magpie, as the gang waited for their leader to get up, before utter chaos began.
Half of the remaining guys went for Medibot and the other half went for Makina. Being a doctor, Medibot knew how to disarm a man and knock them out without having to kill them. He was swift, hitting pressure points hard and fast and dodging whatever he could. He twisted the arm of the one guy who rushed him from afar until he screamed and begged to be released.
"You broke my arm you bastard!" He shrieked.
"I am a doctor. I know how to bruise arms. It's not broken, stop complaining." The man's yells quietened into pained whimpers.
Makina was a little less kind in dealing with the guys who rushed him. He grabbed the one clinging to his back and flipped him over, smashing his back into the ground and leaving him groaning. He was stepping on someone else and knew he was not light at all. The third one had his head rammed into a wall, leaving trails of blood on the concrete as the man slid down, unconscious.
Medibot lunged for the bird before anyone could accidentally step on it. "Zhere, zhere. Medibot's got you." The magpie remained silent as Medibot rolled a little further away from the chaos, slowly picking off the tape as carefully as he could. Behind him, Makina was shoving the guys into a corner and covering them with boxes so no one would notice. The thrill of the fight sent shivers through him.
He grabbed the last guy still conscious by the collar. "Who is the guy who died?"
The man refused to say anything. Frustrated, Makina delivered another punch, not hard enough to knock him out. "Who is he?" He demanded again. The guy coughed out blood.
"I… don't know…" Makina punched him again. His head lolled to the side and he didn't respond again. He growled in frustration, standing up. Everything they did was a dead end, just like the alleyway.
Medibot had gotten most of the tape off the magpie except for small bits of glue, but one wing drooped lower than the other. It didn't fly off either, simply sitting in his hand which had turned warm from the bird. "Ah, I see. Herr Makina, vhere are ve going?" He asked.
The Sniperbot was peering out from the alley and onto the main street. "We keep moving."
"But Carrion needs to be bathed."
"Carrion? Don't tell me you named the bir- and you did."
Makina was not surprised to see Medibot still holding the magpie in his hands. Seeing as the doctor had named the bird, it didn't seem like there wad any way to convince him not to bring the bird along. He sighed. "Fine. We can find an abandoned building with a sink."
Medibot would have grinned is he could. He knew the BLU Medic - what was his name again? Horst, that's right - He knew he had a cat, so why not he have a bird himself? He was hoping when Carrion could fly, he wouldn't leave, but that was for Carrion to decide.
The magpie stayed silent throughout the wander around town to find an abandoned or closed shop they could sneak into. After some wandering, they noticed a shop that looked ready to close. It was a small convenience store. The CLOSED sign had been put up for some time now, but the owner was still in.
"I have to say, Doc," Makina commented as he stared out into the dimly lit street, waiting for the owner of the store to leave, "you throw a great punch."
"Zhank you. All bots can do it, but ve just tend to forget." He looked down from time to time to make sure the magpie wasn't slipping off his smooth hand. From time to time it would look up at Medibot with its beady, shining eyes, and try to pick as his shiny hand.
After fifteen more minutes of waiting, the clerk finally left the store. Only when he disappeared down the street did the two bots leave their hiding spot.
Lock picking was something Makina had picked up way back then when Gray Mann was still alive. The store was definitely set up with an alarm, so breaking the lock was not a solution.
"Do you have a pin or something?" Makia asked, peering into the hole. He could scan any lock and know how to pick it well, but he needed a pin or a hair clip. Of course, neither of them would have a hair clip since they didn't have hair.
Medibot didn't have pockets to check in. "No. Sorry." Makina sighed and continued to stare into the lock, hoping he could open it some other way.
Carrion began to trill, raising its head and looking ver interested at something. It leaned over his hand, trilling at something shining under the lamppost. When Medibot approached, it found it was a paper clip. "Ah! Vell vhat do ve have here?" He picked it up, opening the clip.
Makina had resulted to trying to break open the lock without triggering any alarms, but wasn't having success with opening the lock.
"Carrion found you somezhing, Herr." Medibot passed the opened paperclip to him, much to his delight.
With ease, he picked open the lock and the shutter opened. The inside was filled with aisle after aisle of food, toiletries, drinks, and other things Makina did not understand why anyone would ever need. As Medibot headed straight for the bathroom, Makina closed the shutter again and decided to take a gander through the aisle.
Hand cream? Why would anyone ever need hand cream? What did it do? He put the small container back on the shelf and moved on. The next few aisle were chock full of instant noodles. He knew what that was. Back on the base, the cupboards were full of them. Once, he had opened a cupboard and out came stacks of stacks of these packets.
Medibot went straight for the bathroom. There were two at the hallway, one with a pink interior and one with blue. Deciding Carrion might like pink more, he went inside. He placed Carrion on the sink counter.
The magpie called after him as he left to get supplies to splinter the bird's wing. He came back not too long later, having brought back gauze and tape. He hid the tape, in case Carrion decided he was going nowhere near tape.
For the most part Carrion was quiet, letting Medibot do his work, only complaining when he was put on his back to secure the gauze. "Zhere, you're good as new. Of course, you can't fly yet but you vill in two to four weeks, ja? I'm sure you don't really understand me but, ah… zhis is a little awkward. Come on." He trailed off when Carrion only responded with a tilt of the head. Scooping the bird up again, he headed out of the bathroom.
Makina had torn open some packets of many things out of curiousity, and was now fiddling with a packet of Q-tips. "Hey Doc, do you know what this is?"
"Ah, no. Humans are weird."
He set Carrion down on the cashier counter. "Vait here. Let me find you food." Magpies ate both plant and animal matter, but Medibot could not find any animal matter that looked in the least bit appetising. The freezers had pork and beef cutlets, but they looked so awfully red and God knew how long they had been there.
He found himself at a shelf with packets of wild berries. He turned on his scanner and began to dig around for the freshest packet of raspberries to take back.
Carrion was almost tempted to go find what was taking Medibot so long, when the doctor returned with a small plastic box of raspberries.
Makina watch with half-interest as Carrion started to tear the berries apart. "I'm guessing this is our new companion?"
Medibot watched Carrion with great interest. "Only until he decides to fly off. I mean, if you vant no part of it I am villing to take care of him myself."
"How do you know it's a male?" Makina idly asked. He put his legs on the counter and leaned back in the chair.
"Zhat's actually quite easy to tell, Herr." He pointed to a white patch on the back of the bird's neck. "Female hoods are much grayer. Zhis is very white, so he is a male."
"Have you studied birds before?"
"Oh, all zhe time. Before I vas assigned to you, I took every moment off I had to go watch birds. Zhere veren't zhat many around the facility, but since zhe last time ve vere running around, I take the nights off to watch birds as vell."
He lightly stroked Carrion's head as the bird decided he was done tearing and eating raspberries. "I alvays wanted a bird."
For the first time in a very long time, Makina chuckled. A genuine one. "I guess you got what you wanted." He shifted his foot to touch Carrion. "He's quite cute."
Medibot stayed where he was, watching Carrion do his thing until he went idle. All the same, Makina shut off too for the night.
Freedom had spent the last few days helping the old lady he was staying with, and he had picked up a little French as well.
"Veux-tu du café?" The old lady asked.
Freedom looked up. He was still studying the photo of the boy from earlier, trying to figure out what about him seemed so familiar. In shaky French, he managed a "Non… merci."
She shrugged, settling down in her cushioned chair that was a little tattered from years of use and abuse. Curiously, she watched Freedom stare so intently at the picture. "Y at-il quelque chose sur cette photo?"
"Non.Il est… familiar."
"C'est mon petit-fils. Je ne l'ai pas vu depuis un moment."
"Qu'est-il arrivé?"
"Je ne sais pas. Quelque chose sur les robots."
"Robots, huh?" He muttered to himself. The familiarity he could not put a finger on was like an itch that could not be scratched. It was frustrating, to say the least. He put the photo back. It was a mystery that could only be solved another time.
He left the old lady a note that he was going out. Something to clear his mind, and maybe he'd go back and ponder over the photo more later.
He walked wherever his legs would carry him. Eventually it took him to the stores. He stared at the ground as he walked, not noticing his surroundings until he bumped into someone.
"Watch it, man!" The man hissed. Freedom immediately looked up, coming face to face with who he immediately recognised as a Scout.
Both of them screamed, Scout pulling out his pistol.
"Don't hurt me!" Freedom yelled. "I'm harmless, I swear!" Makina had uploaded pictures of every RED and BLU mercenary to a folder he thought was private in the cloud, but Freedom had access. This was the RED Scout he was staring at.
"I thought I killed all of you dime-a-dozen bastards already."
People were staring for sure, a wide circle having formed after Scout pulled out the weapon. "Look man! I'm friends with Makina! The Sniperbot! You know him, right?"
Scout narrowed his eyes in suspicion, pulling out his phone. He lowered the gun and pocketed it again, keeping on wary eye on Freedom. If there was anyone he could verify with, it was two idiots on holiday.
"Oi, pick up the phone!" Axel called. He was sitting on the floor of Horst's house, playing with the doctor's two cats. Horst grumbled, but begrudgingly picked it up anyway.
"Hallo?"
"Hey uh- wait. You're not Pyro." The voice crackled.
Horst glanced to his friend on the floor, trying to entertain both cats at once. "No, but I can pass zhe phone to him."
"Yeah, you do that."
"Axel, zhe phone is for you." The Pyro groaned at having to get up, scooping up Schnaps as he went. The cat wiggled until she was comfortable in his hold.
He took the phone, cradling Schnaps as he went. "Hello?"
"Oh hey! So like, you were friends with those two robots from Gray Mann and all that crap right? So like I was walking down the street and I-"
"Get to the point. I gotta go entertain some cats." Schnaps meowed loudly, demanding he put down the phone and give her his attention.
"Yeah so like, I ran into the robot, but he ain't the ones staying with us. He says he's friends with them though. Do I shoot him?"
"Is he a Soldier?"
"…Yeah."
"Then no. He's fine. A little old and crazy, but he's fine."
Scout groaned at not having been given permission to kill. "Fine." He hung up, turning his attention to Freedom, who could have taken the opportunity to run, but did not, for some reason.
"Okay, so you're cool and all. Now what the hell are you doing here?"
"Mac told me to go away, so I did. I bunked at some lady's house. She's nice. Are you doing anything? Can I follow you?" He was so hopeful.
Scout looked up to the sky and sighed. It was going to be a long week with him trailing.
A/N. Translations! I used Google Translate so forgive me if anything is wrong to those who speak French.
"Veux-tu du café?" - Do you want coffee?
"Y at-il quelque chose sur cette photo?" - Is there something about that photo?
"Non.Il est… familiar?" - No, he's just familiar.
"C'est mon petit-fils. Je ne l'ai pas vu depuis un moment." - He is my grandson. Haven't seen him in awhile.
"Qu'est-il arrivé?" - What happened?
"Je ne sais pas. Quelque chose sur les robots." - I don't know. Something about robots.