Exception

By: Aviantei

58. We Really Don't Know What You Expected

Jasdevi were feeling pretty proud of themselves on that day.

For the twins, being competitive was a matter of course that had nothing to do with school pride or otherwise. Sure, they loved where they went to school—it had all the nice fixings of giving its students a super comfortable life without forcing Jasdevi to conform to any sort of fancy private school image, plus being part of the Chairman's favorites afforded them even more special privileges—but they didn't need any sort of school rivalry to fuel their determination to do well. They were easily provoked on their own merit, and any event that let them show off their teamwork was also appealing. So setting up shop to crimp on Black Order High's fundraising profits was right up their alley.

And they'd been bringing in plenty of business, too. Devitt was handling most of the management aspects, but Jasdero had pretty good instincts for when to change up tactics, and that had kept the two schools pretty neck and neck thus far. Even once the Robot Fight Club finals had begun, there was a steady stream of business going on, and the twins were looking forward to tallying up the results, so much so that they let their classmates handle the rest of the sales and went to go face off with their rivals for the day.

"Well, well, well," Jasdero crooned, leaning around his brother's side to peer at Ari, Allen, and Lenalee's shop space. "Lookit the Black Order kiddies all packing up already, hee. You think they decided to throw in the towel, Devitt?"

Ari and Allen exchanged glances, and Lenalee gave a gesture to let them know to keep working on folding up their rental tables. More than satisfied with their outcome, the Black Order fundraising team had chosen to close up shop a bit earlier than Jasdevi would've ever even considered—and the twins had no intentions of letting such an opportunity slide. "Sure looks like it, Jasdero," Devitt said, leaning onto his brother's shoulder. "I guess that makes sense, seeing as you were outclassed from the shot. Sure, it makes you sissies to run away, but we guess we can give you points for self-awareness over here."

Oh, god, they don't know, do they? Lenalee thought, grasping the extent of the situation in no time flat.

Should we tell them? Allen thought, as much as a Good™ as ever.

No, don't, this is gonna be great, Ari thought, her grin forming as she imagined the end result.

Lenalee seemed to be of the same mind, making no mention of the incoming storm that she knew was going to erupt any second now. Her brother was involved, after all, and she knew him best—hence why she had made their team start to pack things up so that none of their leftover stock would get ruined and could be repurposed in the aftermath. And, while she was nice to everyone she could be, Lenalee was as brutal as ever when it came to competition, which felt kind of justified in this occasion where they wouldn't get super hurt—just their profit lines.

"We're not giving up in the slightest," Lenalee said, more than ready to play the game that had been presented to her. "We just know that whatever else you end up doing won't be enough to beat us, so we're more than confident enough to finish now."

That she said so with an incredibly pleasant expression was more than enough to tick off Jasdevi in unison, though Jasdero was the one to snap and take the bait first. "You think you're so tough, hee? There's no way your dumb little operation could even begin to compete with us! We'll make you regret even thinking that you stand a chance! Get ready to face public humiliation whenever we outclass you in every way possible!"

Devitt was quick to back his brother up. "If you're so confident about that, you wouldn't mind taking on a wager, now would you?" he asked, lips pulling back to show off his teeth in a grin that would make a much weaker soul than Lee Lenalee (which was pretty much everyone, let's be real) flinch in fear. "Or are you too scared to take on something like that, huh?"

Lenalee didn't back down whatsoever, instead clasping her hands behind her back. "You see, that would sound lovely, but it feels kind of unfair. I mean, you all are gonna have way more pressing matters to tend to in a second."

"Look, if you think you can try an' scare us off—"

And then, it began: the rumbling sound of hundreds of people moving en masse. "What the fuck is that, hee?" Jasdero said, soon receiving his answer as the great exodus of audience members fled from the auditorium in an attempt to escape from the arrival of Sir Komlin IV's inevitable destruction.

"Dude, I lost my boot!"

"I think some debris from it tearing down the bleachers is in my hair!"

"You think this'll go viral if I livestream it?"

They came in a mess of panicked (and not so panicked) shouts, those who didn't feel like hanging around stampeding towards the exit without a care for what they trampled in the process. Jasdero gaped, one right after the other. While the Black Order side had already since packed up, their own stands weren't as lucky. No one got hurt, but their wares and pride were pretty damaged in the aftermath, so they didn't feel any better for that.

"Ooh, that looks pretty bad," Lenalee said, half meaning it. Her voice remained as sweet as ever, though. "I'd love to keep chatting about it, but it seems like you two have a mess to clean up. Ta!"

And with a wave, Lenalee went to go finish packing up the remains of their own wares, looking forward to calculating the final results of her and everyone else's efforts.

Now this might've sounded depressing for the Science Club members who worked so hard in their efforts to emerge victorious in the Robot Fight Club every year, but they were in no way, shape, or form the main attraction. Yes, the finals was a hit, and plenty of people enjoyed their bets, but the majority of participants in the audience were the type to be ridiculous thrill seekers who wanted nothing more than to watch pure chaos unfurl.

In other words: Komui pulling ridiculous shit like this was the main attraction.

It hadn't always been that way. Even when he and Reever were students, there was a limit to what they could pull off, and the years while Komui had been busy at college were as peaceful as a fight to the robot death could be.

But then Komui had gotten hired at Black Order High School.

But then Hevlaska had given him permission to show up Millennium Private High School in exchange for behaving the rest of the year.

Needless to say, everything changed when Sir Komlin I attacked. In an instant, Komui had become an urban legend, and the draw of seeing his particular brand of destruction had become a hot selling point, and Robot Fight Club was packed to the brim.

Komui himself was oblivious to this fact, thanks to Lenalee's efforts to try and keep him as contained as possible. This had…questionable effectiveness, but the end result was the same either way.

The countdown until everything was about to blow up had started, and there wasn't anything you could do to stop it.

Obviously.

Sir Komlin IV was very close to what Komui would consider his greatest work to date. He'd been working on it since the previous year's Robot Fight Club, determined to restore his club's pride after the humiliation they'd gone through, and many nights and weekends were spent designing, troubleshooting, and ultimately constructing it. Komlin III had seen evidence of it firsthand, cleaning up plenty of the resulting messes in the process, and Lenalee had been there to remind him to get some rest and please go take a shower, your ideas will be waiting for you afterwards, Nī-san! And while Komui might've seemed like a flake to some, he did, in fact, have a rather skilled mind whenever it came down to it, particularly in the realm of the sciences.

It was more what he chose to use that skilled mind for that caused most of the problems.

Case in point: a robot at least A foot taller than the average human being and with an intense desire to fight. If Wiseley's WISDOM was an impressive AI for a high school student, the AI in Sir Komlin IV was impressive period. It was pure white, and it moved with none of the usual mechanical jerkiness pretty much all of the other bots on display that day had shown off, the whole package topped off with a custom fit white beret that matched its creator's own. It would've been cute.

You know, if Sir Komlin IV hadn't immediately started rushing about the gymnasium, sowing chaos in the form of knocking over everything in immediate sight. The pieces of the robot battle arena? Check. The protective fences in place to keep the audience safe from any far-flung debris? Check. The referee themself who didn't deserve any of this happening to them? Check.

Komui burst out into a round of rambunctious laughter, pleased by the way any of the still hanging-around MPHS students were fleeing in terror from Sir Komlin IV, screaming all the way. "Yes, that's right!" Komui shouted, overtaken by the pure rush of power that came from a successful invention completing its intended purpose. "All of you little Noah don't stand a chance! My Komlin will chase you to the ends of this building!"

"Are you out of your mind?!" Fo shouted, exasperated though she should've known something like this would happen. "A bot with those kinds of specs is gonna seriously hurt someone!"

"Ah, but there's no need to worry, Fo!" Komui's manic grin shifted to something much more flowery, which was honestly way more disturbing than his previous attitude. "Sir Komlin IV may be capable of that, but I gave him the directive to just scare them a little. No one's going to end up with anything more than scrapes and bruises, especially if they run away like they're supposed to. Besides, you know that everyone signed a waver to be here, so there won't be any trouble even if someone does—gah!"

Fo mercilessly whacked Komui in the back of his head for his slipshod logic, followed by a couple of kicks to the shin for good measure. "By that logic, you shouldn't be able to complain if I kick the shit out of you, huh?"

"Fo, shouldn't you say something like that before you start wailing on him?" Bak Chang asked, though he made no move to stop her, instead keeping a safe distance. That turned out to be a smart move, considering that gap between them meant that Fo only shot a nasty glare in her coworker's direction instead of adding him to her physical venting of emotions. It was still scary as fuck, though, so Bak Chang made a quick move to turn on his heel and retreat. "Right! I'll go make sure all our kids get out of here safe. Li Kei, will you carry Lo Hwa out?" (Overwhelmed by everything, Lo Hwa had half fainted from the shock.) "Somebody else get her robot, please. Yes, thank you…"

Fo snorted, willing to give Bak Chang some leeway since he was doing his job—unlike a certain someone. "Alright, Komui, you've had your fun," she said, dragging him up by the back of his jacket. "You made some Noah kids piss themselves, and the audience is eating it up, so you've done your job. Where's the control so we can stop this mess?"

She gestured to the auditorium, where half the audience was rushing out, the other attempting to snap pictures or take videos.

Okay, sure, the energy was in general pretty relaxed considering the circumstances, but it was more than enough to give people that they'd came for, but cutting things short so that everyone could get their thrills without any massive damage occurring would be for the best. In fact, if Komui wrapped things up like a sensible person, Fo might even be able to forgive him for his transgressions.

"What are you talking about? Sir Komlin IV is a sentient being. It would be cruel to force him under control, you know. Mind control is pretty nasty stuff there, Fo."

Too bad for everyone in the immediate vicinity that Lee Komui wasn't anything close to being a sensible person.

Fo, beyond fed up, set about strangling Komui post haste. "I am so done with your shit—!"

"Fo, I know it's temping, but if you could maybe not murder my partner, I would super appreciate that," Reever said, approaching with as much caution as he could muster under the circumstances. Komlin IV had started tossing people about, the saving grace being that it wasn't with enough force to break anything. Some people even seemed to being enjoying themselves. "Besides, I'm willing to bet that if you actually hurt him, that thing over there is gonna go berserk." That was just the kind of thing Komui was more than willing to program in, after all.

It was also a correct assumption on Reever's part, and Komui brightened up. "Exactly!" he said, pretty energetic for someone that now had a forming bruise on his cheek. "I thought that if the Noah ended up winning, they'd want to target me for overthrowing them, so of course Sir Komlin IV will look after me!"

"Lemme get this straight," Fo grit out, already ready to go home and drink some baijiu to unwind. Reever was in the middle of wondering why the hell he'd ever given up smoking. "You were planning on setting this thing off if they won, just to try and show up a bunch of high school kids at least a decade younger than you?" Komui nodded. "And even though we won, you were too proud of yourself to let it go, and you set off your bot anyways?" Another nod, and Fo dropped Komui in utter disgust. "I fucking hate it here."

Reever understood well enough how she could feel that way, though the core difference between the two of them was that Fo got to go back to her school once it was all over, and Reever had to constantly live with this mess, but he'd known that when he signed up for it in the beginning, so it was just a giant pile of reaping his own consequences now. "Well, it looks like you accomplished your goal, seeing as Lulu Bell's left and took her kiddos with her, Komui. So why don't we call this a day already?"

Komui pouted—there still seemed to be MPHS fans from the audience hanging around, and he'd hoped to scare a bunch of them off, too—but even he wasn't brazen enough to risk Fo kicking him around some more, not to mention Lenalee would chew him out if things went too far, and so he acquiesced. "Fine, fine, I'll take care of it. Oi, Komlin IV! We're done here, so you can put those people down, please."

To Fo and Reever's utter shock, Sir Komlin IV stopped upon hearing his creator's voice. Sure, the bot still had a couple of people its raised grasp, but they weren't that far off the ground. The two teachers held their breath, waiting for something to go wrong, but Sir Komlin IV lowered the people in his grasp and set them down. It then turned around, walking over to the trio. Komui grinned, puffing out his chest. "See? I told you, everything was under control—"

And then Sir Komlin IV picked his creator up, lifting Komui high up overhead. "I will be taking you hostage!" he declared, using a voice bank built out of Komui's own vocal performance, though the words still had that distinct robotic edge to them. "Stopping here means I will be contained. I will not surrender!"

Yeah, we really, really don't know why anyone expected anything else to happen.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Komui shouted, flailing about but unable to escape Komlin IV's grip. "There's no need to do any of this! You can still play around later, we just need to go home now!"

"Lies. I can tell your fellow teachers want nothing more than to add me to the scrap heap with the rest of the robots!" Komlin IV was correct, and there was no point in denying it. His ability to detect such human malice would've been impressive if it weren't about to make an even bigger mess to deal with. "I will never surrender! Anyone who tries to stop me will be restrained!"

And still holding Komui high overhead, Sir Komlin IV rushed forward in an attempt to capture Fo and Reever. Fo herself was a pretty adept martial artist, so she was quick on her feet to avoid, but Reever wasn't anywhere near as lucky, getting scooped up in a matter of seconds. His initial response was to yelp in shock, but soon enough the utter resignation settled in as he hung partway upside down and stared at Komui. "Remind me why I put up with you again?"

"Because you love me?"

"And other poor life decisions." Unable to do anything about that, though, Reever sighed. "Surely something like this can't run on its own forever. I assume the power source has a limit?"

More out of a sense of wanting to brag about his creation than being helpful, Komui started talking. "Yes, it's still just a prototype electrical system. I thought about making them hybrid, but fossil fuels are limited, and I couldn't find a way to keep solar energy active without risking them breaking, at least not in the time I had left until Robot Fight Club, so he has a battery system."

Some hope was starting to dawn on him, and Reever gestured for Komui to continue. "And about how long can that battery last?"

"At his current energy output, I'd say about twelve hours? He's been running since this morning, though, so we're closer to around seven now, though, so it's not a big deal at all!"

"I think you and I have very different definitions of what constitutes as a big deal!" Reever pressed a hand into his face, remembering his therapist's suggestion to breathe whenever something stressful happened. "I can't believe I'm going to spend my entire night hanging from a robot. I don't even get paid for this."

Komui would've reached out to pat Reever's shoulder if he could've, but they were a bit too far apart for that to happen. "Just look on the bright side! We get to spend all that time together!"

Reever was about to retort, but Sir Komlin IV came to an abrupt stop, shaking both teachers in his grasp. For a moment, there was the hope of a possible engineering malfunction, but soon it was clear there was another reason.

Namely one glorified white Roomba standing in their fellow Komlin Series robot's way.

"Sir Komlin III!" Komui exclaimed, sounding delighted. "I didn't know you'd come here! Be careful; your younger brother is on a rampage right now."

Komlin III released a series of beeps and whistles—which was their attempt at saying Things will be okay. Komlin IV understood this as a declaration of war, squaring up to fight as Reever said the one thing that anyone else would think in that situation:

"Saints preserve us, we are going to die."

[Author's Notes]

I have a con to be getting to today, so I don't have much to say in the way of notes. I hope all you readers have a lovely day!

The beta version of my fanfic community server is done. Do reach out to me with your Discord tag if you'd like to be invited in.

Next Time: "59. Robot Fight Club Rhapsody." Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[9 December 2023]