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"Alright, BREAK!" Exclaimed one of the children. This was its queue, UNIT-26-008-07897-30, reasoned. The children were going on the offensive.
This was a problem. Federation protocol dictated that children, especially ones as young as those before it, were not acceptable targets for directly inflicted harm. However, the children were currently in unacceptable amounts of danger due to the tools they were now using as improvised weapons.
Stuck at an impasse, the A.I. elected to search its memory banks for a solution. Perhaps those would yield answers.
Surprisingly, the fragments of its epistatic memory banks did yield a result. When moral conundrums were experienced, it asked a higher-ranked official for a solution. Upon closer examination of the memory, it turned out that the part containing the actual solution was corrupted. To its frustration, it appeared that repair on the memory was feasible, but it would take entire minutes. Minutes it did not have.
Moving on to the far more intact somatic memory banks, it was greeted with the same lack of solution, aside from contacting a superior officer. However, due to its long-range transceivers being offline, it was currently the superior officer.
As there was no other contact option, it was about to compose a message to itself, but hesitated. Was it really a good idea to waste the time of the ranking officer by talking to itself like an insane organic? Especially during a combat situation that involved endangered children?
No, it was not.
Now back to square one with all other options exhausted, the A.I. went back to calculating a solution to its problem. In an uncharacteristic bit of creative insight, it found a way out.
If a situation caused an unsolvable problem with the most relevant pieces of protocol, then it should base its decision on less important or relevant pieces of protocol. Finally seeing a way out of its issue, it immediately devoted its primary processor towards scouring every last bit of protocol for an answer.
First-off, self-preservation protocol: If there was a threat that could render it non-functional, it should remove that threat. Seeing as the children were just wielding civilian (and quite primitive) machining tools, they weren't a threat to its survival, so this protocol was not useful.
Moving on to the next, it examined the Utilitarian protocol, which, if harm to organics could not be entirely prevented without needlessly risking even greater harm coming to them, it should take the course of action which would create the least net harm.
Seeing an obvious source of a solution, the A.I. immediately began weighing its options. On one hand, it could return the children to their guardians, though at this point they would have to be physically restrained, probably causing injury, or it could let them continue to use the power tools unsupervised.
Unlike the previous time it considered these courses of action, the best option was far clearer: The war machine was under no obligation to use excessive amounts of force, and while children were fragile, they would recover far better from bruising and minor fractures from blows it could control; rather than open, infected wounds and missing extremities from accidents it couldn't.
Returning its focus outward, the A.I. immediately took stock of its surroundings. As expected, the children had not moved in the quarter of a microsecond it took to have its introspection session. It appeared that human nerve impulses had not gotten too much faster in the time it was inactive.
Satisfied that its knowledge of human anatomy was still valid, it moved on to planning its assault. Based on the impromptu leader's orders, they were going for a pincer attack, hoping to overwhelm it with numbers while one of them would get to the child it had restrained, and another would presumably go get reinforcements.
Satisfied with its prediction on what the children would do, it moved on to plotting its own course of action. Attacking the children coming at it from the front would be exactly what they wanted, and it would not be able to restrain them without hurting at least some of them quite severely if it got surrounded.
However, if it went for the sides, it would have a far better chance of success. While it would be closer to the walls, and could possibly get cornered, it would keep it from getting surrounded, and it was far easier to hold onto captured children when it could hold them away from their free comrades.
Next, it would have to design a disarmament procedure. This was far simpler: The backpacks had straps made of treated animal hide, and could be snapped by one of its mechadendrites without bringing harm to the children. While this would probably occur only when its mechadendrites were occupied, its arms could do the same, though more brutishly. As fine as its control over its body was, fingers the diameter of human wrists were fingers the diameters of human wrists.
Moving onto the order of restraining, it elected to go in order of proximity to itself. Unfortunately, due to the shifting nature of battle, it would be unwise to create an order ahead of time, as the circumstances could change during the battle. As good as it was at crunching numbers, it simply did not have enough data on the behavior of these children. It would have to come up with the direct order on the spot, and what better rule for grabbing children than 'do the one closest to you first?'
Satisfied with its plan, it began to move. The children couldn't have moved during the microsecond it took for the A.I. to have its thinking session, and so it planned an intercept course for the closest child that was assigned to the war machine's right side. She would be the first to be restrained.
Upon completion, the A.I. slowed down its perception of time and began to put its plan into motion.
At a velocity more closely resembling low-speed aircraft than a several-ton bipedal machine, it leapt at the first child. With a bizarre sort of grace spawned from the efficiency of its trajectory and body position, it soared past the now-accelerating children, which rapidly went from expressing determination, to fear, to bewilderment after it started extending its mechadendrite after it passed by them by two feet.
Realizing its mistake, the man of iron once again decreased the speed at which it perceived the flow of time. It had underestimated the speed of the children. Somehow, they were accelerating like trained athletes at the prime of their life. Something was wrong here, and it would find out what.
Unfortunately, it could not dwell on the reason behind this phenomenon, as it was currently sailing through the air at over 200 miles per hour, and it couldn't just immediately decelerate. It still had its captive, and while the children might be abnormally fast, he wasn't willing to take any risks in regards to their durability.
Fortunately, compensation for the child was quite simple. Simply turning her so she would decelerate eyeballs in and reducing the force it would exert on the ground would allow it to decelerate at a rate that would likely only leave her with severe bruising and minor fractures. Far better than bursting major blood vessels and shattering bones.
Returning its perception of time to normal, it executed its planned maneuver with an unparalleled degree of precision, grinding to a stop just before it hit the wall of the workshop, knocking over several tables, tools, and artifacts in the process.
Quickly recovering it immediately took stock of its surroundings, slowing down its perception of time in the process. The children had once again demonstrated to be abnormally fast, having already started to accelerate toward him, while one of them had gotten itself latched onto the ceiling with crude mechadendrites. There was still no sign of the one which went to get reinforcements.
Remembering the reason that it took so long to decelerate, it swiveled its ocular towards the child that was restrained. Surprisingly enough, a quick scan showed little sign of visible injury, and rather than expressing pain, she just seemed a bit dazed.
Taking this information into account, it indicated the possibility that the children were far more durable than normal. If this was true, it could use techniques and maneuvers which required significantly larger amounts of force to pull off, increasing combat efficacy. As the war machine was neither designed nor equipped for non-lethal close combat, it would have to take what it could get.
Armed with this knowledge, it drew up another trajectory that both accounted for the children's abnormal speed and durability. This time, it hoped, it would not miss.
Returning its perception of time to normal, it leapt towards the child on the ceiling. Quick spectroscopy of the backpack straps indicated that two of its mechadendrites were sharp enough to cut through the straps. If it could bisect one of the straps, it would be able to grab the child and pull her off, leaving the backpack still attached to the ceiling.
At the very last moment, it extended its mechadendrites. First, the one designated for cutting the straps, followed moments later by the more dextrous one. As soon as the war machine was in range, it swung its sharpened mechadendrite at the child's backpack straps, followed shortly by the dextrous one.
The maneuver was a total success. As the mechadendrite swung towards the straps, the child could only reflexively close her eyes and turn away before the straps were cut in half. As she began to fall, her eyes snapped wide open in surprise, but this expression was immediately replaced by a stunned visage as the dextrous mechadendrite slammed into her and quickly restrained her.
Less than a second after the mechadendrite had secured the child, the man of iron ended its jump, twisting its body so it landed upright and facing the group of children.
The A.I. once again took stock of its surroundings. The children had barely moved during the jump, only four had actually begun to move, the rest had only just turned towards the machine. Their gazes were fixated upon it, though the A.I. paid them no heed. Judging by the children's previous inability to stop it, the element of surprise would not be needed.
Now that the A.I. had data on the speed and durability of the children, it could effectively plan its actions much further in the future and could get much closer to the children without risk to either party.
However, Engiseer L3sl13-Theta was no longer on the ground near Ms. Jia, and it would violate its objectives to harm an unconscious woman and a bystander keeping watch over her. New information from its audio sensors indicated that Ms. Jia had elected to start dragging Engiseer L3sl13-Theta towards the nearest exit, presumably to keep her safe.
Satisfied with the safety of the engiseer, the A.I. readied itself for another charge. The data it gathered throughout the battle made this process far smoother, being done in the same time using only a fraction of the processing power it needed prior.
Transferring the squirming children to a single sharpened mechadendrite, it readied for another attack. This time, it would charge into the group to disperse and stun them. This would make them far easier to disarm and secure, which would make dealing with the incoming reinforcements far simpler and less likely to cause injury to the children. Fewer children trying to attack it means fewer children that could be hurt.
With its preparations complete, it began to sprint. As it approached the group of children in various states of widening their eyes and bringing their impromptu weapons to bear, it brought its left arm in front of it.
With a precisely calculated amount of force, the man of iron swung its arm, scattering 7 out of the remaining 9 children, though this maneuver was not without consequence. While the scattered children appeared to only have suffered minor injuries, one of the children remaining had slashed its arm with a power saw. While it was unable to leave scratch its state-of-the-art armor, the blade had shattered, riddling the children with shrapnel. While a scan revealed no serious injuries, the children were still covered in lacerations, and some of the shrapnel would lead to further damage if not removed soon.
This stark reminder of the danger the children were in was not ignored by the A.I. It would need to end this debacle as soon as possible, lest a similar situation occurs. It was unlikely that the children would be so lucky twice in a row.
This did not change the fact that the injured children would have to be restrained. Before it pursued any other course of action, the A.I. carefully secured the two children in a single mechadendrite.
Within less than a second, the man of iron was on top of the first of the scattered children. Before it even had a chance to recover from being sent flying across the room, it was secured by a mechadendrite and transported across the room, where the A.I. gave it a partner.
After the fourth scattered child was collected, the A.I. hesitated for a moment. Its mechadendrites were occupied to capacity, which meant it would have to use its arms to restrain the remaining children. This would leave its defenses severely compromised, and considering that the child who went to get reinforcements still hadn't returned, this could prove to be a problem.
However, the remaining children were no longer staggered, instead opting to perform another futile charge against the machine, this time focusing on its joints. It could not risk another child getting riddled with shrapnel, so it set its sights upon the closest two children. It would restrain them with its left hand, disarm the remaining one, and then preemptively eliminate the reinforcements, assuming they hadn't yet arrived.
Satisfied with its plan, the A.I. assumed a defensive stance to better shield its joints. While a spectroscopic scan of the blades used by the children revealed that the blades were not strong enough to get through its joints, getting shrapnel jammed into them was bad for long-term survivability. Self-repair systems could only go so far.
When the first child was in reach, it acted. With mechanical precision and the bizarre grace that came with it, the machine dodged the primitive mechadendrites swinging towards its joints, grabbed it, and gave it a tug.
While the child put up an abnormal degree of resistance, it was unable to resist the man of iron's adamantium grip and rocketed towards the machine, which caught and disarmed it with its free hand.
Within less than a second, the nearest child was disarmed and secured in its left hand, leaving just enough time to drop the newly-freed backpack and swing its right arm towards the second-closest child, blocking a strike in the process.
As soon as the child's mechadendrite started to slow down for another blow, the war machine struck. Grabbing the offending mechadendrite, it gave it a yank, sending the child hurtling towards its left hand, already prepared for a new occupant.
It was at this opportune moment that the man of iron's sensory array picked up two incoming entities, soon followed by two sets of rhythmic metallic clacks that could only be the aforementioned entities' footsteps.
At the speed they were moving, they would enter the workshop in seconds. While it could bring its free arm about in far less, it had to contend with the final child, which was still armed and on the offensive.
Its decision was made for it when the footsteps stopped.
Snapping its ocular towards the sudden absence of sound, the A.I. bore witness to the source of the footsteps: Two crude automata fashioned in the likeness of a horned human female. Despite the investigation-prompting nature of their visual similarities to its creators, it was not that which drew the A.I's attention.
The weapons they were pointing at it were significantly more attention-grabbing.
The A.I. did not need to slow down its perception of time to plot its course.
Gambling that the weapons' function was similar to the stubbers they resembled, it twisted its torso to bring its ventral armor towards the weapons. While its ventral armor wasn't thicker than its dorsal plates, the maneuver would place its child-carrying mechadendrites behind it keeping them out of the line of fire and the path of any ricocheting rounds.
The A.I. noted that its decision to save the children over opening fire proved correct, as the automata opened fire right as it finished turning around. Its satisfaction was immediately replaced with concern when the projectiles appeared to be energy-based.
The A.I. disregarded this concern. No matter the nature of the weapons used, they had fired upon it, knowingly placing the children at great risk. The threat would have to be neutralized before any investigation could take place.
As the bolts of violet energy drew closer, the war machine opened the top of its index finger. While it loathed to reveal its concealed weapons system against such a foe, further injury to the children was an even worse outcome.
It pointed its faux finger at the target. The violet projectiles impacted.
There was an audible hiss.
And then there was a roar.
"My apologies." The gyobo-danuki known as Ms. Jia whispered to the unconscious cyborg as she hefted her up onto one of the gremlin's beds. "I'll leave you a note for when you come to."
Grabbing a pen from a nearby desk, she scrawled a quick overview of what had happened since the cyborg had lost consciousness and where she went. While she didn't know whether Robes could read their language, she picked up speaking it disturbingly quickly. It wouldn't be a stretch to assume she picked up reading as well.
She pressed the note into Robe's hands. While she would have wanted to wait until she woke up, she was pressed for time. The machine was not manomo. There was no guarantee it wouldn't finish off the gremlins if it was victorious.
She opened the only window in the room and squeezed through it. While this was quite uncomfortable and undignifying, she wasn't about to go back into the room with the rampaging mechanism.
She face-planted into the sandy ground. While falling out of a first-floor window did not injure her, a face-full of sand was only slightly more preferable.
She stood back up. Dusting herself off, she sprinted off into the distance.
The nearest guard outpost was quite an attractive destination in these circumstances.
AN: Aaaaaand this (comparative) behemoth of a chapter is done. A nice little combination of this chapter actually containing a fight scene, inexperience, and real life events made me write excruciatingly slowly.
With real-life out of the way for now, my pace will start to speed up. The next chapter should be quite dialogue heavy, so I expect it to be done in a much more sensible amount of time.
On a much more positive notes, thanks for the reviews and favs! Your reviews are making me write faster, and I appreciate any and all criticism y'all have for me. Just keep it polite.