Pieces of rusty metal

Silence fell on the place. Marika took the time to finally count how many people were surrounding her: 6 henchmen, each with their weapons out. They were dressed in shirts, leather jackets, fabric pants, some wore a hat. Weapons were 1 dagger, 2 swords, 1 gun, and 2 maces. All of them had a sidearm, mostly pistols; the only one who had a knife was the one who took out his handgun.

Warren was only holding his gun in its holster. After what she saw earlier, she was willing to believe he was more than capable of achieving this, defeating this group of people should be easier. And because of her taunt, they might even believe he is interfering with her, while she is acting like she is not her ally.

“Go away,” said the one closest to Warren. “This is Syndicate business at this point.”

He did not answer, at least not with words. Tension was high; she could feel it, taste it, smell it, and his body did not show it, like this was a common state for him to be at a disadvantage. She saw no doubt in his eyes.

“I will say this only one time,” Warren suddenly said, and it felt familiar, “drop your weapons and surrender.”

Again with that? Marika asked herself. He did the same thing when he confronted Darel, asking them to surrender. But he could drop them, most likely. After the stunt he pulled earlier, she was willing to believe he was serious about that threat.

“What is wrong with this guy?” Asked the same goon that told him to leave, and everyone started to laugh.

Now, he is going to attack them and-

“Lucy!” he yelled.

What?

From her left, metallic sounds started to threaten in proximity between a couple of buildings, followed by steps that seemed to be a tad bit too heavy. Marika took a step backward while the henchmen all did the same and prepared their weapons.

That is when only Lucy came into view from between the buildings. When did she get in there? And she was smiling innocently as she walked out into the light.

“Hi, Miss Marika!” She said, waving.

In confusion, Marika responds by waving her right hand too… D-did Warred just send her to fight? Marika was wondering even more about the sanity of the gunslinger.

“W-what the fuck is this?” Asked the henchmen, “She is just a kid!”

But what were the metallic sounds?

“What do we do with them?” Asked one that was closer to Marika.

“Hey, you! You know him!” Said another one, aiming at her.

“Yeah, well… I stole his knife.” I don’t even know what is happening here… Marika felt completely confused at the situation. She was expecting Warren to attack and be flashy to help her make an escape or to join him, but this was something else.

And Warren? He was standing there, as if the tension of the situation was still there, ready to pull out his gun.

“All right, I am done!” The one with the gun aims at Warren, and the click of the trigger can be heard when-

Once again, metallic sounds from between the buildings, right from behind Lucy. When Marika turned her head to where it came from, she managed to see something jump over Lucy, with a rusty appearance, and towards the gunman. With quickness, it managed to break the distance and jump towards him, and then she noticed it had a humanoid form, as it managed to hit with its arm the face of the henchman in question, sending him flying towards the wall of one of the buildings.

W-what…? Marika’s mouth went open and her eyes were wide, trying to understand what just happened.

Everyone stood in place for a moment to look at the assaulter and it was something Marike did not expect. It was a robot, not higher than a meter, made of rusty metallic trash. Its head was a literal trash can, and its arms were metal pipes and other discarded materials. It was made of rusty scrap and took a combat stance while looking by raising its hands over its face.

“A-a robot?!” yelled one of the henchmen.

“Yeah, I made it with trash from around here,” Lucy suddenly commented, “This one was the hardest to make.”

Then, and without much more notice, a big robot jumps from the top of the building and falls behind Lucy. It was a huge thing, around 2 meters of height. Similar to the other one, it was made of rusty metallic trash, but it was built sturdier with a piece of metal attached to the front of it.

WHAT THE FUCK?!

Marika felt like she had lost all sense of reality after this. She builds robots, the little girl who was just threatened to be punished by not receiving more cookies from grandma was building robots from trash like nothing. Where is even the logic on that?!

The giant robot took Lucy with a hand and, with care and delicacy, placed her on its shoulder, where she sat down and started to quicken her feet carefully.

“Please! Do as Warren said and surrender!” Lucy said, smiling while having a smile that was too innocent for her capacities.

“That is my only demand, I hope we made each other clear!” Warren demanded, showing his left hand to her, signaling to return what is hers.

“Y-you better give back the knife, lass” said the one closer to her.

Here they are, the most dangerous gang of the whole city… cannot blame them, they are facing a giant robot.

But still, this is not how Marika wanted things to go, it escalated too quickly. She was looking at the rest of the gang members, who were horrified by the look of the giant metallic monster. And that was not counting the fast one behind them, although smaller heavy hitter. She needed them to fight so no one would be left seeing when she asks him to help her… she needed to improvise after improvising!

She sighs, “Ugh! Fine!” She rolls her eyes, trying to act like that was what was annoying her. Then, she started to walk towards Warren and between the gang members, seeing how afraid they were.

“Here, your precious knife…” She said when she reached him. That is when she noticed that they were at a good distance from the group. He or she could have whispered something at that point… “I need your help, follow my lead,” she said in a low tone of voice when a quick plan.

Warren was taking the knife back when Marika whispered to him. The fine handle, carved with complex decorations handle felt nice to recover from the hands of the thief. But he was paralyzed for a few seconds when he heard her say those words. He was, however, confused at the request.

Before he could respond or do anything, Marika immediately pressed her hands against her chest and took a step back. She made her tail get between her legs and wrap around one and her ears fell back.

“W-what?! Y-you are going to kidnap me now for stealing from you?!” Marika exclaimed in a most dramatic voice. Then, with the same energy, she drops to the floor and falls on her right leg. “P-please, no! I am too young and innocent to be forced to do anything you want to make me repay you!”

“Huh?!” Warren reacted in confusion at the sudden act of Marika. “H-hey, I don’t like what you are impl-”

“Y-you! What are you planning to do with her?!” Asked one of the gang members, “Hey! The Snake Twins are not going to be happy you are stealing her from us!”

Shit, they had to use their name… She thought, not moving from her position to not raise suspicion. If he knows who they are then he would be scared.

“Snake Twins, huh?” He said, and Marika saw a grin forming on Warren’s face for a few moments. He immediately moved his hand to his gun and was about to grab it when.

“Yes! We are kidnapping her!” Marika, who was not expecting Warren’s sudden move to enter the fight, was surprised to hear Lucy’s voice.

Then, she felt that someone, or better yet something, scooped her up. “Eeeep!” She complained, and then she found herself being grabbed by the smaller robot, which was holding her over its head.

The other robot ran towards Warren who was also surprised and did not manage to evade him, and got grabbed too. Then, both metal automatons pulled them towards the carriage, which had the front door open already, and shoved both Marika and Warren inside by throwing them.

“Ah! Shit!” Marika complained when thrown and then fell to the ground, rolling a bit on the wooden platform. “You damn piece of rusty metal I will kick your ass!” She yelled while sitting, angry and mad at how she just got treated.

Then she saw Warren thrown towards her, she yelled and then moved to the side, managing to dodge the gunslinger’s body.

“Okay! Bye, it was nice to meet you all!” Lucy said outside while she got in front of the carriage and took control of the horse, making it turn around with the transport and move away as fast as it could.

“Hey! Get back here!” Yelled one of the members of the gang when the robots stepped in to stop them, causing them to flinch and step back.

“Okay! What the fuck just happened out there?!” Marika asked to Warren inside, while he was standing up, looking at her and he was pissed off.