Thrown Away (Lock and Witch)

The lengths that Grace would go to just to find a dog surprised even her. At the moment, she wasn't entirely sure how she was going to get back to the motel she had been living in, but that didn't matter. Finding her way back home would be much safer once she finally had a dog at her side.

The black haired girl petted the wild stray. It was a doberman, a very strong breed. Grace had gotten lucky.

Jump City, like any other city, was full of things that it had thrown away. This junk yard was full of thrown away things, things deemed to be unneeded. The stray was the same way, it had no place to call its own. It might have been hard for some people to imagine that nobody wanted this strong, fierce dog at their side.

"But I don't think you're garbage," Grace said to the dog. "You have a place you belong. You belong to me, and I will care for you. That will be our agreement, okay? You will be...Pirate."

The dog that moments ago looked like it was going to attack Grace was now wagging its tail and whimpering in her arms. Grace had always had a way with dogs. Maybe it was because she could identify with them, to some degree.

She spent a few hours training the dog. Pirate was smart, and was picking up these commands with ease. Maybe he had once had an owner. Grace smiled, though no true happiness pierced her heart. Pirate was tearing a couch apart, as per her command. He was really good at it. Finally, they were ready.

Grace heard a sound from nearby. Somebody else was in the junkyard. Grace called Pirate to her side, and the doberman obeyed. Both sets of eyes searched for the intruder.

Steele rolled slowly along the uneven ground, chiming quietly every so often to gain their bearings. The living metal had a huge learning curve in navigating the city, and had become lost attempting to explore. The ambient noise and bustle of downtown did allow Steele to constantly collect information, but at the huge drawback of muddling the echoes not far away, limiting the metal's "sight" to a circle edged in by incomprehensible static. The bustle had quickly died down as Steele continued moving in one direction, until they were able to use their own voice to determine the surroundings.

Not really lost, the orb thought, pausing to allow the echoes from further away reach their body, since I wanted to find something new. This place was littered with many materials, some piled high. Steele recognized the bright reflections of metal wires, and the clear repeat of glass panes, broken with a slight delay where holes had been punched into them. There was also an abundance of the rock-like material that seemed to be very common in the heart of the city, though this was broken into much smaller pieces. Every so often there were large metallic objects, no doubt the growling creatures that moved between the walls of stone, creating so much of the noise downtown. These ones were dull and lifeless, however, and didn't move an inch.

Rolling forward, the space metal suddenly let out a startled chime as the material under them gave way to empty space. A pane of glass shattered as the heavy orb of metal crashed through it, hoping that their careening descent would end soon. A moment later just that happened, as Steele landed with a dull thud on a sheet of metal on top of one of the dead growlers. The sound of metal scraping against metal rang through the area as Steele's spikes slipped against the dented hood of the car, unable to find the traction to push the orb out of the divot they had created.

Steele stopped suddenly. The echo of their spikes scraping against the metal sheet had hit something made of flesh. Two somethings made of flesh. Knowing there was no way to escape detection after the ruckus they had just made, Steele spoke in their metallic voice, hoping the human and the other flesh being would be kind. "Hello?"

Bio skated cautiously behind the strange steel ball that had been traveling through the city. He normally patrolled the outskirts of the city and looked for trouble there, but this was something he had never run across before. He was honestly hesitant seeing something so bizarre. It seemed to not be used to the surroundings as he saw it probe about the junkyard. He also noticed a girl and a dog in the junkyard.

"Hey..."

he said, voice slightly muffled from underneath his breathing mask. He did a little salute to Grace and the dog as the metal thing was in front of them as he walked up to the scene, jacket flowing in the breeze.

"I've been following it. Be careful, not sure what it is or what it's capable of. Hey little guy, do you have a name?"

A little metal ball? Was somebody throwing stuff? No, the ball was moving on its own. It was growing legs and walking under its own power. Grace braced herself. She hadn't seen any of the aliens from the recent war firsthand, but she was sure that some of them were still hanging around. Was this some alien robot spy?

Then the thing spoke. Grace was freaking out. It really was a robot. Before she could react, however, someone else showed up. He certainly looked dressed for hunting a robot through a junkyard. He saluted her. She did not salute back, but studied him cautiously.

The wind picked up, and Grace had to brush her long black hair out of her eyes. Pirate was growling, at the man and at the robot, but Grace held a steady hand out. "Heel, Pirate. Heel." One might find it strange that, at this point, the girl was wearing a collar, but the dog wasn't.

The man said that he had been following the robot thing. He said it might be dangerous, but then tried talking to it like it was a person. Grace would happily let him interact with that thing first. If it was going to shoot a giant laser at someone, she would rather have it be at this total stranger than at herself.

"Just don't bring it over here." Grace said. Her tone was all business.

Steele chimed in surprise as another human spoke from a different direction than the one with the other flesh thing. This new human's voice was muffled, however. Did these humans live here? Steele hoped they hadn't accidentally tumbled into someone's home. From what they understood, the areas humans called homes were forbidden to outsiders except by invitation.

Steele was unconcerned with the fact that this new human might have followed them. Their echolocation couldn't pick up anything beyond what sound bounced off of, and the orb hadn't formed an understanding that once they were beyond "hearing" range of something, that it wasn't in a separate area. It had been common for scientists at the lab, from Steele's point of view, to appear and disappear without warning. They knew of doors, cabinets, and drawers, yes, but their workings were somewhat of a puzzle. A puzzle that had occupied much of the living metal's time when not being tested on.

Busy contemplating "houses" and "doors," Steele had ignored the humans' words to each other, assuming it was none of their business, like the talk between scientists at the lab. They did, however, listen to the tones of the two voices, without bothering to interpret the words. The human with the flesh-beast spoke in dull tones, with little variation. The flesh beast next to it growled like the living counterparts to the metal contraption Steele was currently sitting on, but wetter, with much more variation. The human that had suddenly appeared, the one that clacked when it walked, had an oddly muffled voice. A tiny chime and hair-like spikes of metal investigated the human in more detail. With a start, Steele realized that where most humans had an opening called a mouth, this one had clothing fabrics instead. It must be disfigured. That must be the reason why it hadn't greeted Steele sooner.

The muffled human turned to speak to Steele, grabbing their attention. In their metallic voice, the living metal responded promptly. "Name Steele. Yours?" Tiny spikes extended to indicate both humans, rippling around both sides of the metal orb and then retracting fully, leaving the surface smooth again. Steele was fairly certain that exchanging names was the common greeting, and hoped they were doing well making introductions. Hopefully the polite gestures would make up for the orb falling into the humans' house.

Bio skated around the ball thing in a circle, observing it closer. If it decided to attack or do something unexpected, better him handle it than the girl hanging out in the junkyard.

"Well I'm Bioshock, a superhero of Jump city. Uhhh welcome to Earth?"

The little robot called itself Steele, which sounded like an appropriate name. It seemed to be acting in a friendly way, but Grace was slow to trust things that came from a sci-fi movie. She was slow to trust anyone.

The boy identified himself as Bioshock, a self-proclaimed superhero. Interesting. That meant that he probably had meta-human powers of some sort. In other words, he was dangerous. Grace only felt more tense now. Just because someone claimed to be a 'hero' didn't make them one. She had come from Steel City, where many wolves walked around in sheep's clothing.

The robot had asked for both of their names. Grace would rather not provide information, but not doing so could draw unnecessary attention from Bioshock. "Grace," she said, quietly. Steele seemed to be intelligent enough. Grace decided to ask the little metal thing a question. "Tell me, Steele, what is your purpose? Why do you exist?"

The human with the cloth face moved around Steele, stating that their name was Bioshock. Bioshock moved in an odd fashion, faster and more flowing than other humans' gait. Instead of steps, the human's feet clacked slightly, and below the swishing of their clothing and the air moving around them, Steele could hear a faint scraping noise, not unlike the sound of a drawer closing. Steele emitted a faint chime, extending hair-like spikes from their body's smooth surface to better collect sound vibrations.

The human called Bioshock extended a welcome, but it sounded more like a question than a statement. The other human, the one with the growling flesh beast, stated their name was Grace. This human, too, extended provisional communication, an actual question this time. It was quite an existential query, as well.

Steele extended walking spikes to attempt to push themselves out of the dent in the car hood again. The living metal got a slightly muffled view of the human Grace, with interference from the sides of the dent and less surface area to collect sounds and echoes, since Grace had remained further away. Steele wanted to get a better view of the human, but met failure again as their spikes slipped against the metal of the car hood. Even lifeless, the growling machines were a hazard, and the orb made a mental note to be extra careful around them from this point onward.

Emitting a small defeated coo, Steele attempted to answer Grace's question. "Lost. Stele, eh... confuse. Large space, no wall. Edges blur easy, no see." The living metal had misinterpreted the question. Even having lived two years on Earth after the monotony of floating in space, Steele had not had many opportunities to learn on their own, days being scheduled by the scientists at the lab they had only recently escaped, and nights being locked up in a small cage. The concept of purpose, an end goal behind one's actions was still quite foreign. That isn't to say Steele's life was purposeless; for, really, how can one feel a lack of purpose if they never had a purpose to begin with? The living metal was content to continue learning and exploring at the moment. To that end, Steele asked their own question of the humans. "This place home? Humans and flesh beast live here?"

Bio turned with a hand over his mask as if talking behind him.

"Ya know, I think this guy is an alien. NOT SURE YET but maybe..." he said sarcastically.

"You're not an alien too right? What about you Pirate?" he said to the girl and then the dog. "I got a dog too, border collie, I'm sure you two will get along great!"

He then noticed Steele struggling to get out of the hood and then decided to help out. If it would kill him on contact, well, that's why his friends called him Yolo, always braving the unknown even though it was foolish. Skating over the dusty ground to the car he packed some explosive energy into his grip and lifted the car hood up with gusto.

"There ya go sir. Yup, this is our home. You're currently in Jump City, a city is a place where millions of humans, vehicles, metahumans, and some aliens like you inhabit. It's so big that there are different areas in the city that have different functions. This is the junkyard, where machines that are made of metal like you are discarded. Don't worry, they're not robots like you, they don't really think."

Bio felt great pride in welcoming this new species to the town. He was the go-to superhero for information, helping others get around, and just being the general mascot for the downtown areas since he skated around so much.

"I'm just guessing you're an alien because your design is so different to be a robot. You don't have any memories of being from Earth right?"

Flesh beast? Did they live in the junkyard? That was alien talk if she'd ever heard it. Bio was right, but then he asked if Grace was an alien, too. Grace stiffened. "I most certainly am not, and neither is Pirate." She knew it was meant to be some sort of joke, but she did not find it funny. She was human, and did not like being called anything else. Ever.

Bio said that he had a dog as well, and was certain that it would get along well with Pirate. Grace was certain they would not get along at all, because they would never meet. Her icy glare expressed this.

The superhero helped the little alien robot thing out, and then proceeded to provide a strange explanation for a city. At least, Grace found it strange, but she certainly wasn't going to offer an alternative. But there was something she took issue with. He said this was their home. He may have been referring to the city, but he almost made it sound like he was talking about the junkyard.

"Actually, this is not my home," Grace said. "Not this junkyard, and not even Jump City, though both are places where I am, temporarily." Grace turned her eyes to Steele. "And Pirate here is not a 'flesh beast.' He's a dog. He does what I say." An idea occurred to Grace. If she had a dog and a robot, the possibilities would increase. She knew that she wanted to start an army of loyal dogs, but certainly a robot could do some things a dog couldn't. "If you are looking for a purpose, Steele, I would be willing to give you one. Serve me. Do what I say, and I will make sure you are never lost again. Home is anywhere I am, and that can be your home if you serve me."

The faint sound of a human limb reached Steele a moment before the metal of the dead growler creaked and lifted up, bending some at the weak spot where the orb's body had already dented it. Steele rolled down the grade of the car hood and clunked against the glass of the windshield, sensing an echo of empty space on the other side of the smooth surface, before continuing their descent, landing with a soft thud on the dusty ground. For a few seconds the living metal stayed still where they had fallen, exterior smooth, oddly quiet. It almost looked like the little thing might have been hurt by their rough descent.

Then, with a metallic squeal, Steele rolled forward, this time their protruding spikes able to gain a purchase on the ground underneath them. The human Bioshock answered the sphere's question first, though in a rather vague way. Even so, there was a lot of information in the muffled human's words. Steele had never been voluntarily told anything before, having to eavesdrop on conversations in the lab instead. The orb gave a low vibration, their equivalent of a grunt, at the fact that there were so many living things in... Bioshock called it Jump City. That fact wasn't surprising, judging by the cacophony of noise in the busy streets the orb had come from. Steele spared a thought trying to fit that area into a mental map, but couldn't quite connect it to this junkyard area. The two had to be connected, but the large buildings and sound of many humans were out of the living metal's range of "sight," so surely there must be something separating them, right?

A shiver of protruding and retracting spikes zig-zagged their way down Steele's body as they redirected their attention back to the humans. Bioshock had said something else in that muffled voice. Steele was beginning to grow accustomed to it, since the human was so talkative. "No, not Earth. Empty, then pull, fire. Earth big rock, big pull. No get away." The living metal wasn't certain what a robot was, except for the fact they weren't one, and apparently they were made of metal.

Steele prickled a bit when Grace spoke up. The orb had wanted to see this human better. Steele rolled closer to the human Grace, emitting a few happy chimes, rolling around the human and what they called a dog. The flesh beast, the dog, was a strange sight indeed, completely foreign. It had four legs, and it gave an odd echo, more uniform than the humans, who each had slightly different sounds coming from different parts of their bodies. The hind legs were kinked in a painful-looking manner, and there were no arms, only a pair of less-deformed legs at the front. Steele's examination of this strange beast was interrupted by Grace.

Steele backed away from the human at the tone in their voice. There was still very little variation, but it had taken on a subtle intensity that was unsettling. The offer Grace had proposed sounded a lot like being back at the lab, doing whatever the scientists said, even though it was painful. The orb looked almost deflated, flattening their mass toward the ground and sending sharp spikes straight up into the air in a defensive position. Steele didn't have a gut to have a sinking feeling in, but something seemed off about the whole idea of serving someone else. A moment of silence hung thick in the air, broken only by Steele's occasional metallic chime to make sure nothing in the environment had changed, before their voice vibrated quietly, shaking more than usual, "No, Steele not want that." The living metal had no idea how the human would react, but hoped Grace wouldn't be angry. Angry humans were no good at all.

"Uhhh"

Bio chuckled and was amused at Grace's regal cold stare and words. Was she crazy? stupid? or just trying to reference some show that she liked? It's not like Bioshock didn't understand insanity; his life was bizarre enough. Because of this, he just shrugged off her words.

"I doubt he gets what yer sayin."

 He then turned to the little guy speaking in a calm, more soothing voice. He thought of an asmr video he had watched and used his powers to emulate the tone of voice but with more projection.

"Nah it's okay. You don't have to go with her. Knowledge is power dude, and you need to learn a bit more before you decide what to do. Why don't you come with me and I can show you how humans live? There's so much to learn about: music, education, friends, family, humor... This is music.. "

He pulled out his MP3 player and pressed the play button to resume the track he was listening to. It was a cheesy power metal track called "Fear the Night" by the band, Dream Evil, but it was a good song to get pumped up for the superhero hobby.

He then turned to Grace,

"You can come too, didn't know you were homeless..."

The little metal orb grew spikes to fend off Grace. It seemed to be ready for her to attack. Grace was offended. She had suggested nothing more than that the little robot make itself useful in some way by serving her. She hadn't threatened it or anything. Although, now that it was acting so defensive, Grace actually wanted to hurt it for daring to have such a reaction to her.

Bioshock started introducing Steele to arts and humanities, most prominently to music. He started playing a gut-wrenching song on a personal device in an attempt to force some kind of cheesy revelation in the little robot's life. Surely from this point forward, Steele would continue to seek out music and even become a musician himself.

Not if Grace had anything to say about it. The idea that a little piece of scrap metal was being allowed more freedom than she had been shown made her want to vomit.

"It doesn't need music. It doesn't need friends or family. It's a stupid robot, and if it doesn't work for anybody, it shouldn't be an anything."

Bioshock said that Grace could come with them, and made (what Grace took to be) a snide comment about her being homeless. That did it. Now Grace was furious. She raised her voice. "Hey, do you have a problem with me, Mr. "Superhero?" I don't remember doing anything to you before. You think everything I say is so stupid that it demands a laugh, but I have a question for you, genius. You can run around in a costume enjoying your play time and pretending you're making the world a better place, but where were you when my parents were murdered?"

Grace's arms were shaking. She had a lot of anger built up inside her from many different sources. Truth be told, Steele and Bioshock were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they were being forced to hear her vent.

Pirate remained ever ready to attack, but Grace did not issue any commands.

Steele slowly retracted their nervously prickling spikes as Bioshock spoke. The human's voice had lost some if it's energy and gained a soothing tone. The living metal responded to it well, returning to their orb-shape, cooing happily. Steele decided in this moment that they liked Bioshock. The human was kind and entertaining. While the other humans the orb had met, the scientists, hadn't been unkind, they had always held an air of detachment and near emotionlessness. They had never intended to hurt the little ball of metal, but they hadn't cared that they did cause pain, either. And they had never been quite so forthcoming about education. Yes, Steele had decided that they really did like Bioshock.

At the mention of music, Steele perked up, body quivering slightly in excitement. Steele had heard music before, and they loved it. With hearing being one of the living metal's only two senses, and the strongest besides, it was a great experience, listening to music. The song Bioshock played wavered faintly from a small device that the human held in their hand, much smaller than the device Steele had previously heard melodies come from. The living metal felt the need to get closer to the device, hoping to make out the words of the song more clearly. The first time they had heard music with vocals, Steele had been perplexed, trying to figure out where the human singing the words was hiding. They knew now, however, that it was simply a recording, with a machine vibrating at certain frequencies to produce a voice, the same technique Steele used to speak the human language. A flexible wire-like spike extended out from Steele's body to wrap lightly around the device still held by Bioshock. A happy chime sounded from Steele as miniscule goosebumps raised up along the orb's arm-like extension, rippling into spikes that danced along their body to the beat of the music. Steele had found the mechanical heart of the device that created the music.

Grace's first statement was lost on the living metal. Absorbed as they were in the vibrations of the small music player, they missed the ominous suggestion that without serving a human, Steele shouldn't exist. The orb slowly retracted their arm-like extension as soon as they realized the human was speaking, unable to decipher Grace's words while the tiny vibrations of the music player were coursing through them. In attempting to decipher whether the human was talking to them, Steele caught the last bit of the speech. They weren't quite certain what parents were, or what murder was, but there was a deepness in the human's voice that hid a thick emotion, and as the echoes of Grace's admonishment reached Steele, they could tell that the human was trembling. Steele wasn't sure what to do, hanging back behind Bioshock. They had become accustomed to not speaking unless addressed directly, but these humans seemed to have more fluid interactions. And besides, Grace seemed unhappy, and despite Steele's discomfort at the human's offer, that didn't mean they wanted to see the human unhappy. The orb of living metal rolled forward a pace, hesitated, then rolled back again and uttered a small, sad chime, not knowing what to do. If only Steele knew what was causing Grace to be upset, maybe they could help, but the living metal was completely lost.

Bioshock sighed and folded his arms. From his viewpoint, the thing was definitely alive and feeling emotion. Or maybe that was just his optimism. What he also understood was that Grace was older than him, quite disturbed, and wanting nothing but answers so she was dismissing Bioshock's role and merit because he came off light-hearted and goofy. It was time to knock her down a peg.

 "First off, I'm pretty sure it's common sense that even superheroes can't stop all crime. On top of that, what happened to your parents was horrible, but don't think I don't understand what you're going through. And I know it's weird to say this, but as awful as it is that your parents were taken from you, it's ten times more awful for the people who actually do such bad things. I believe in an afterlife because there's much worse things out there than death. Here, let me show you something."

He opened his jacket a bit and pulled out a strange gun, then offered the grip of the handle to her. He then took off his armor and mask.

"Aim right for here. Make it hurt."

He said pointing for his abdomen, possibly the worst place to be shot.