View source for 戦闘機械綾子 - Battlemachine Ayako/Interlude

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<div style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 130%; line-height: 90%; margin: 2ex 0px; background: transparent; border: none;">/-------------->-----><br />| 戦闘機械　綾子<br />| Sentō Kikai Ayako<br />| Battlemachine Ayako<br />+--------------<-----------<<br />| Written by [[User:darkbutflashy|darkbutflashy]]<br />| Originally released on fembotwiki<br />\---------------<-----------<-------<------<</div>
==3 Interlude==

Thomas nervously gazed at the clock. Ten to eight and still some kilometers to
drive.

"Get green!" he begged. Eventually the traffic lights had mercy, he stomped on
the accelerator and the small van responded with a racing start. Not exactly,
well. The engine howled, yes, but the thing sure ran on molasses as fuel. But
Thomas was lucky, even going at "reasonable speed", he arrived at Ayako's place
in time. Just a minute to eight! He reached for the remote laying on the
dashboard and pressed the button. The rolling grill in front of the van began
to move up and gave way into the underground garage. Thomas circled around the
parked cars and stopped the van near the elevator. Only seconds later, a tall,
bulky woman dressed in a far too tight sweater and jeans got out of the lift.
She opened the sliding door of the van, chucked the big sports bag she'd
carried on the back seat and stepped inside.


"Hey, careful!" Thomas commented the noise coming from of his passenger and
peeked her in the interior mirror. Ayako couldn't answer. After closing the
door she immediately had pulled the sweater over her head.

"Phew, away with you," she gasped and turned over to her trousers.

"Woo-hoo, never got a girl in here stripping so eagerly," Tom snickered and
Ayako threw the sweater at him.

"It's too tight! And the tickle from that thing makes me crazy!" she shouted.

"Why do you have put it on at first then? I mean, it's only a few steps from
your flat into the van. I doubt anyone would have seen you," he asked.

Ayako tried to pull the jeans over her boots. "I just wanted to do it the right
way at least once. No need to have everyone in the neighbourhood know an ESWAT
member lives here... Oh shit!" she exclaimed when the jeans ripped up on the
heels.

Thomas turned over to see what had happened. Ayako had already pulled
the rag back upwards and straightened her legs.

"Maybe you could help me?" she asked in a demanding tone.

Thomas grabbed the jeans at the lower end and could pull them over the heels
with relative ease. "Better get some long skirts," he smiled, "hey, they would
look nice on you."

"As a dress uniform, eh?" she huffishly responded, "I think it would look
ridiculous!"

Nervously, Thomas tugged his own uniform - which he seldom wore at all - into
place while Ayako was buckling her seatbelt. He turned over again: "Sorry, but
at least you have to tell me where to go."

"Second primary school in Lima-4 district," she briefly answered.

Thomas silently entered the address into the navigation system and circled the
van out of the garage.


Traffic was low at that time of the day, but the frequent red traffic lights got
on Thomas' nerves soon. "When we are expected to be there?" he asked. There was
no answer. "Sorry. I really think you would look nice in a skirt."

"Hmm? I've been absentminded, sorry. What did you say?" Ayako apologized.

"The time due.  When we are expected?" Thomas left out his latest comment.

"Oh, not before nine o'clock. We have plenty of time," she answered him.

She was right, it was half an hour left and they already were in L4. It was a
more suburbian district of Olympus, nevertheless the most buildings were at
least six to eight stories high and the streets narrow and full of people. They
passed a small park and the nav advised Thomas to turn and to look for a
parking spot.

"This remembers me of the time when I was a kid," Ayako mused aloud when she
saw the school building.

"Just a feeling or something in particular?" Thomas asked charily.

"Feelings," Ayako continued, "but... aah, I don't want to tell."

"You screw me up again," he whined but she teased him further.

"A small girl playing rough with the boys in the streets of the badside," she
told the story, "neither mother nor father, raised by an older cousin," she
made a dramatic pause, "that's what you wanna hear, hu?"

"You almost had me there," Thomas lied cheerfully, "but I know the files.
You've come from Europe, right?"

"Cheat!" Ayako rocked forward and complained, "You are such a nerd, Thomas.
Browsing the files; you should have talked to me!"

"Sorry. I was just curious. I...", he stuttered. Ayako sunk back in her seat
and sighed: "Tom, I understand you need all that documentation when... ," she
hawed, "...when you fix my ... equipment, but..."

"I have understood, I'm sorry," Thomas nervously interrupted her. To his luck,
just at that moment he found a free spot on the parking lane near the entrance.
He stopped the van and pressed a button to let the vehicle find its way into
the spot.


Ayako opened the side door and put her feet on the sidewalk. "There we go," she
announced, hurled the sports bag over her shoulder and stood up. Thomas took a
tablet computer from the side pocket of his door and got off the van, too. He
locked it with the remote and while the door behind his colleague was slowly
sliding to its home position, she in contrary didn't move at all. "There we
go... ," passed her mind again - the school, it was...


----


The girls are running. Have to run, too. Don't miss start of classes! Up the
stairs, through the corridor. Ugh, the backpack is heavy. Take it off, the
jacket, too. Into the classroom. Sit down on my seat, take my paper and pen.


Waiting. The bell rings. Waiting. Mrs. Jung is late. She finally arrives, with
her a man and a woman. Policemen. Mrs. Jung explains. The man talks about what
the police is for. The woman talks about when to call the police and how. They
show a film about the police. I draw her.


All of a sudden, Mrs. Jung is yelling angrily at me: "Ayako, träumst du?"


----


"Ma'am, we should go inside, shouldn't we?" Thomas asked Ayako in all
innocence.  She had stood there for a minute or so, not moving at all, at best
blinking. He wasn't worried. In fact, he envied her ability to calm down
herself so quickly; It even came in handy for the job. He was wrong this time,
of course: the situation begged for the flashback and still it had striked her
out of the blue.

"Well then," she focused, "let's go," and marched to the school's door. Thomas
followed a step behind her. She took the cell phone from a fastener on her hip
and called that teacher.


When they stepped inside the building, the phone echoed a voice from the end of
the hallway.

"Oh hi, we are over here!" a young woman shouted happily and waved at the two.
Two men in police uniforms stood near her. The teacher hastily came up to Ayako
and Thomas but when she got nearer her cheering changed to a more timid look.
"You... are... Ayako?" she looked up into the face of the armored woman before
her. Before Ayako could answer, she apologized. "Oh, sorry. I had expected...
err... Sorry. Wow!" the teacher fumbled for words. Sure, she had expected a
tough policewoman showing up in her class but that...

"Nice to meet you," Ayako broke the silence and put forth her hand to the
teacher, who girlishly responded the greeting. After a few seconds of shaking
hands and silent gazing, Thomas interrupted the two.

"Hi, I'm Thomas Boyd, a colleague of Ayako."

"Oh, hi, I'm Erica Young," she turned to Thomas, "nice to meet you. You both,"
she turned back to Ayako, still intrigued by her looks. "I had not expected you
coming in ... combat gear, is it the correct term?" she asked.

"Yeah, combat gear," Ayako confirmed and Thomas nodded eagerly.

"Tee-hee, now I feel really foolish," Mrs. Young continued, "I heard from the
kids they had been saved by a policewoman who took care of a bandit alone,
still I had the picture of some meter maid in a nice dress in my mind. ... But
this is ... you are ...  really imposing!"

"Thanks," Ayako laughed, "I do my best."

"By the way, who are these men over there?" Thomas asked while they were slowly
walking through the hall.

"Oh, I thought you know them! Okay, then I'll introduce you," Mrs.  Young
started, but the older one of the two men had already come along and hijacked
the talk.

"Mrs. Ontemba, nice to meet you," he keenly greeted her.

"Nice to meet you," Ayako replied in bewilderment, "and you are?"

Thomas haven't had an idea who the guy was either.

"Oh, sorry," the man explained, "I'm Captain Neigher, from Metro Police Public
Relations. Neil for you," he tried to chum up with her.

Thomas nervously looked the other way. To his amazement, the climate was still
... friendly? The storm should have broke loose already. Instead, Ayako
politely responded the greeting of that apple-polisher.

"Nice to meet you, Neil," she said with a winning smile, and squeezed the hand
he gave her. Tightly.


Captain Neigher, no ... "Neil", failed at keeping a straight face. When Ayako
had loosened her grip, he simpered and then turned over to his assistant: "We
should go, eh? Ready, Mike?" Mike nodded silently and took the two large cases
he brought. Obviously a tech.

Mrs. Young interfered immediately: "STOP! Mr. Neigher, this is MY class and
Mrs. Ontemba is MY guest. Please respect that."

Neigher's astonishment only lasted for a second, then he started to brag again:
"Haha, where are my manners; of course you ladies take the lead today."

Now really fed up, she walked silently to the front of the small group and lead
them to the classroom door. "Just wait a moment while I prepare the kids," she
wispered, then put on her teacher smile and entered the classroom.


"Good morning, Mrs. Young," the kids stood up and greeted their teacher in
unison.

"Good morning, children, sit down please," she acknowledged her class, "we have
some guests today for our lesson, like I have annouced some days ago. Do you
remember?"

A boy raised his hand, "The police!" he shouted.

"Yes, Alan, but don't be so cheeky to our guests," Mrs. Young spoke to her
class, "I've gone through the questions to the police you've written down as
yesterday's homework and sorted out the duplicates. Some questions are very
interesting, we will ask them these." She smiled and focused another boy and a
girl, the two kids Ayako saved from the robber a week ago. "Erin, Robert, you
are our interviewers, please switch seats with Tamara and Karen." The two took
the seats near the teacher's desk.


Bob and Erin were both nervous about their new role. Erin remembered last week's
events only cloudily and haven't talked about it a lot. There was that
policewoman who took her on her arm and carried her to mommy. Would she come
here today? Bob in contrast bounced like a super ball. His strongest memory was
Chip's and Milan's exos rumbling through the mall. Sure they would bring one of
their police robots with them today! That would be über-cool!


"You all, please give our guests a great welcome!" Mrs. Young shouted happily
and clapped her hands. The kids followed immediately and that applause was
easily being heard by the group in the hall.

"Our signal," Neigher commented and opened the classroom door for Ayako and the
others.

Mike in the meantime had shouldered a professional telecamera from one of his
cases; "go forth, I'm staying in the background," he said. Ayako coyly smiled
into the cam and denoted Thomas to go in first, which he did.

"Let me carry that," Neigher took the sports bag from Ayako's arm and nearly
dropped it on the floor. With Mike grinning behind his cam, she couldn't help
smiling, too, and went into the room. Mike and Neigher followed.


Erin recognized her savior immediately, as Ayako did with both the kids in the
straight line of her sight. With a "Hi you both!" she squatted before them.

"Hello, Mrs. Policeman," Bob greeted her in a shy tone. Erin didn't say a word
but eyed Ayako's smile thoroughly.

"Well, our four guests from the police will now introduce themselves", Mrs.
Young interrupted the two, "listen carefully!" The four tried to agree with
hand signals who should begin but Mrs. Young intervened and picked Neigher.

"Ah, okay," he nonchalantly began, "I'm Captain Neigher from Metro Police
Public Relations. I'm here to... ," he paused, "supervi... look over this
meeti... confer... get-together." Mrs. Young had to hide a big grin; she had
successfully unnerved that buffoon.

Mike was unperturbed: "Hi, I'm Mike Holden," he turned the camera around to the
class, "I'm filming ya! Hands up!" The kids laughed into the lens.

"And I'm Thomas Boyd", Thomas introduced himself, "I'm a police technician and
a colleague of your main guest today," he showcased Ayako with his hands.

Ayako reassured herself with Mrs. Young, then she greeted the class: "Hello
Kids, I'm Ayako Ontemba and my job is to arrest people who try to harm you."
The kids babbled about her not wearing a police uniform, some whispered she's
thick and others said that's armor on her. Mrs. Young could feel Ayako was
uneasy about the situation but she was prepared.

"Children, we already talked about yesterday what the police is for and when to
call them. Officer Ontemba and Officer Boyd will now explain to you what they
do when you call them for help." - "Is that correct?" she addressed Ayako and
Thomas.

"Yes, but it's Constable, not Officer," Ayako replied. Mrs. Young nodded and
made room for the two.


"And I only had time for a short presentation," Thomas apologized. He took his
tablet computer and arranged it on the desk. It's internal video projector
displayed a video of the interior of the Olympus police headquarters on the
whiteboard.

"Here, that's the place where your emergency calls finally arrive. They get a
call from the hotline where the police should go to and what they have to
expect."

The presentation switched to a video of a police car with the christmas tree on
the roof switched on. Thomas raised the volume and the kids cheered at the
siren sound.

"Usually, your emergency is only a burglary or someone yelling or battering
someone else", he explained further while the video was showing policemen
pushing aside two loudly arguing parties of people.

"Not 'only a battering'. Please always report people beating up each other,"
Neigher interrupted from off-stage but Thomas didn't put up with it and
continued.

"Yes, always report them. They start with arguing, then beating up
each other but suddenly one takes out a knife and hurts the other really badly.
Call the police as soon as possible!" The kids frightened a bit on the idea, so
Thomas tried to lighten them up a bit.

"Don't worry, if you are fast to call the police, we would be there and noone
gets hurt. Do you know the emergency call?"

"911" the children answered in unison.

"Ah, I see you learned it well," he assured the kids and got back to his
presentation. He leaned towards Ayako. "Now it's your turn. The next video is
from a bank robbery."

Ayako was feeling uneasy again - was it really the right thing to show to
nine-year-old children? She looked over to Mrs. Young, who didn't seem to be
concerned. Thomas started the next video, which showed a highly illuminated
branch bank in an otherwise dark and emptied street. She knew that scene very
well - it was a mission three years ago. No shooting, Tom had selected it
wisely.

"I'll explain it to you, children," she angled for their attention, "that was
an armed robbery, like in the criminal stories in television. But that one was
real. There had been two robbers in that bank building, they had taken hostages
and we should let them go." The video showed two persons going inside, and
Ayako explained. "That's me and our colleague Jean, we are going into the bank
- we told the robbers we want to check that the hostages are allright."

A crushing sound was coming from the speakers of the tablet computer. "That was
the back door where two other colleagues broke through at the same moment. The
robbers had been distracted by that so Jean and I could take their weapons and
arrest them." It continued with Jean and Ayako frogmarching the two robbers out
of the bank. The kids became all very silent during the last video. Maybe still
too much for them?

Mrs. Young cheered them up again: "Constable Ontemba caught the gangsters!
Let's celebrate her: thank you, Ayako!"

"Thank you, Ayako!" the children shouted.

"More important, nobody was injured," Ayako added aloud, "the hostages had been
okay, we had been okay, even the two gangsters had been okay afterwards. This
is how we want it to end." After those closing words from his colleague, Thomas
stopped the presentation and put the computer aside.


"Thank you for the presentation!" Mrs. Young took over, "the children have
written down some questions," she gave Erin and Bob two sheets, "Erin, would you
please begin with the first question on your sheet?"

Erin cleared her throat and read aloud: "What does happen to the people you arrest?"

"We take them to the police headquarters, where my colleagues interr... ask
them what happened in their view and why," Ayako answered to the class, "and if
they committed violent acts, we put them into a special jail cell until a judge
decides what to do with them next."

"Robert?" Mrs. Young invited Bob to ask the next question.

"Have some bad guys ever escaped?" he read and Ayako cheered.

"Not from our arrest cells! But yes," she seriously continued, "sometimes the
bad guys escape. We let them go if it's too dangerous for the hostages to try
to arrest them. But we then chase them afterwards, when they had left the
hostages alone."

The class listened carefully and Erin continued: "How often the police is
called a day?"

Ayako couldn't answer that question, so Neigher felt obliged to answer: "about
100 times a day, but these are mostly traffic accidents, disturbance of night
peace, whippings and burglaries. Violent crimes are rare here in Olympus, it's a
safe place to live."

"Our hostage rescuing unit has less than 10 operations in one year," Thomas
added, "not much to do. We'll do our best it keeps being that way by catching
all the criminals. So you can feel safe anytime."

"What do you do when there is no crime happening?" Bob read the next question
on his sheet. Ayako resumed on it.

"Oh, we are practising all the time. We have a training area which is very dark
and intimidating so we can get accustomed to such situations. The police even
has an aircraft at the airport where we can learn to tell apart gangsters from
hostages from the way they act on a plane. And we have to learn to be quick and
see the mistakes a felon makes to overwhelm him."


"A question, Constable," Mrs. Young interrupted, and Ayako turned to her. "do
you ever feel anguish when you deal with criminals?"

Ayako paused a moment, then talked to the class: "oh yes, all the time. But I
overcome it because I know that I'm experienced and I won't give them the
chance to hurt me. The training is very important for our work, children."

Mrs. Young asked for more: "could you give us a demonstration how you overwhelm
a criminal?"

"Aww, sure," Ayako answered and looked over to Thomas, who immediately denied
with his hands. "Captain Neigher, then it's you. Remember your Aikidō
lessons?"

Neigher was surprised but took the chance to exhibit himself. "How can I help?"

"Pick a weapon and attack me."

Neigher took a free chair, hoicked it, and rushed over to Ayako. She turned her
body around and tripped him up. He fell over the teacher's desk and let go the
chair, which scrunched on the floor. She then grabbed his arms, pulled them on
his back and let her handcuffs click. The kids were astoundend how quick and
effortless she had dodged the attack and arrested him. While they were shouting
with joy she opened the handcuffs and helped up Neigher, who, despite looking
very messy, already found back to his role as a spokesman. 

"That's what's happening to you when you attack a cop, kids!" he babbled,
"Don't even try it."


"Okay, let's go on," Mrs. Young stopped the laughing, "next question."

Erin giggled when she read it: "can girls join the police, too?" and Ayako,
Thomas and even Mike couldn't help snickering, too.

"Of course," she answered to the class, "as you have seen, it's not who's more
powerful or who has the bigger weapon. Most times it's only who's better
prepared and faster in thinking. You have to practise a lot. I get the most
scratches in practising with my colleagues, not from fighting with criminals.
They are often completely inexperienced."

"But even when you don't like fighting, there are a lot of other carreers at
the police, children," Neigher cut her off in his matchless manner.

"Hmm, yes, last question, Robert."

"Have you been injured once?" Bob read from his sheet. Ayako wasn't sure how to
answer that question honestly and looked over to Thomas who haven't had a clue
either

"Yes... , sometimes," she answered shyly and the kids accepted it to her
surprise.


"I have another question, Mrs. Young," Bob raised his hand.

"Then ask it to our guests," she acknowledged him.

"Do you have robots at the police?", he sputtered. The four were confused about
the question and wagged her heads, Mrs. Young and her class were puzzled, too.

"But I saw them last week in the mall. Really big robots!" Robert insisted.

"Ahh, the exoskeletons," Thomas concluded and answered the boy, "we call them
'Exos'. There's a pilot in these machines, so they aren't really robots."

Robert was very upset: "do you have one with you? I told Alan you have robots
at the police and he says I'm lying!"

"I'm sorry we don't have one here. They won't fit into the classroom, you
understand?" Thomas tried to calm him, but Bob was near crying. In the meantime
Ayako had silently walked over to Neigher and carried the bag she brought over
to the desk.

"Robert, please look here," she demanded his attention but the class already
stared at her, too. She had taken a shiny black bowling ball from her bag and
had raised it over her head. Bob finally looked at her and she slowly pulled
the ball over her head. The locking clicked and instead of Ayako's winning
smile, the glossy black front of her helmet faced the audience.

With its power supply connected the helmet immediately came to life. Various
status messages flickered through the head-up display and after a second the
camera view and user interface appeared. Ayako turned to Robert and switched
the speaker on.

"Hi, Bob, do you recognize me now?" a slightly distorted female voice spoke.


"The other robot!" Robert shouted as he realized, "Alan, there was another
robot like this in the mall. It was just like Mrs. Ontemba. It was... ," he
slowly turned over to Ayako, "Mrs. Ontemba, was it you?"

"Yeeessss," Ayako cheered through the speaker. Inside, she selected the lower
front shutter of the helmet which slowly slid aside. The following "It was
me-eee." chanting through the speaker mixed with her real voice from her lips. 

"See, there aren't any robots at the police," Alan bossily exclaimed, "you've
lied."

Mrs. Young rebuked him: "Alan! Don't be cheeky, I said."

"It isn't a lie when you just tell with your own words what you've seen,"
Thomas interrupted and addressed the whole class, "that's very important to the
police. It's only a lie when you know it's wrong what you say. And our Exos and
policemen in combat gear sometimes look like robots who had jumped out of some
cartoon."

During Thomas' speech, Erin asked Ayako to come over to her. She wanted to
whisper something into her ear but the helmet blocked her plan. Robert, and a
second later the other kids, watched them intently; when Erin noticed it she
blushed heavily and withdrawed. Ayako again squatted before her table and tried
to comfort her with a smile but from Erin's view that was the smile of a big
black globe centimeters before her.

"What's up, tell me," the globe asked, "hmm?  Don't be afraid, it's okay to
ask." it moved its lips

"Okay," she said quitely while looking elsewhere, "Mrs. Ontemba, do you ... are
you a robot?"

Alan bursted out again: "Silly Erin! There are no robots at the police! Mr.
Boyd just said..."

"ALAN! SHUT UP!" Mrs. Young commanded fiercely.

Ayako pressed the unlock buttons at her jaw and the helmet popped up. She took
it off her head and placed it on Erin's table, right next to her so she could
see into her eyes.

"Why do you think I'm a robot? Because of my helmet and my clothes?" she asked
the girl.

"No, because... ," Erin wavered, "... I don't know..." she lied coyly.

Ayako reflected a second, then bent over to Erin and whispered into her ear:
"What if I say 'yes'? Would it be okay to you? Don't you want to come back at
Alan?"

After a short moment of shock, Erin whispered back: "It is true?"


Ayako gave her a smile and a single nod and stood up again.

"Thomas, could you help me?" she asked but Thomas had yet no idea how. She
posed in front of the teachers desk, what challenged Mrs. Young to ask what she
was up to. "Another demonstration," Ayako hushed her and turned over, "Thomas,
please take my left arm."

"What? No way! ... That's no good!" he denied her request.

"Thomas, just grab my arm or deal with the damage later!" she hissed at him. He
demonstratively folded his arms to stop her, but no use: the audience hadn't
noticed yet, but he had the expert's eye to see what was going on: the central
bolt of her left shoulder joint moved out a tiny bit, loosening the rubber
sleeve which usually protected the joint. A few seconds later, anyone in the
room had noticed the exposed machinery at Ayako's shoulder. Mike was even going
sloppy with his camera but Neigher nudged him to keep on filming.

"Mrs. Ontemba, something's wrong with your combat gear." Mrs. Young worried.

"No, nothing wrong," she smiled at her and with a twitch on her face her left
arm came off. Thomas had already jumped by and snatched it before it could
fall to the ground.


The children and Mrs. Young stared in disbelief. Robert was the first one who
recovered.

"SHE'S A ROBOT! See, Alan, they have robots at the police. NYAH-nyah-nyah
NYAH-nyah," he poked his tongue out at him.

"ROBERT! DON'T BE GROSS!" Mrs. Young intervened again, but she was too
impressed to say anything else.

But Erin rised to speak anyway: "Mrs. Ontemba, so it's true? You are really a
robot?"


With insecure steps due to the missing weight of her arm, Ayako went over to the
girl and kneed down, with the open shoulder joint facing her. She moved her hair
aside and looked over to Erin.

"Please touch it," she asked her but Erin hesitated to move at all. "Hmm, we
already touched each other's faces when we had whispered with each other,
remember? You can touch my shoulder, don't worry!"

With caution Erin streched her arm and forefinger and carefully pressed on the
jutting stem. Nothing to worry really. Erin concentrated on the stem and
suddenly, it moved.

"Yikes!" she exclaimed loudly and the class startled, too; even Mrs. Young and
Mike. Thomas was unimpressed of course, and Neigher hid his excitement very
well.


"Nothing to worry about," Ayako turned over to the class, "it's me moving it. I
turn it forward," she moved her left arm - well, if her left arm had been still
connected there -, "and now I turn it backwards again. See?" The spindle was
rotating slowly following her announciations. "Pretty normal for a robot, don't
you think?" she asked but the visual impact had silenced the class effectively.
Ayako snuffled and turned back to Erin.

"Erin, could you help me? Take my helmet and put it back on my head, please."
She tamed her long brown hair with the remaining hand and held her head towards
the girl. "Erin?"

"Oh, yes," the girl lifted the helmet and pushed it onto Ayako's head clumsily.

"Mwoo, whth twhe frompt doo my wais," Ayako complained with a muffled voice.
The children snorted with laughter. Erin noticed her mistake and yanked the
helmet. "Ouch!" Ayako yelled.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Ontemba!" the girl got frightened and Ayako noticed Thomas had
come by to help. She denied his offer quickly.

"It's okay, Thomas. Erin, try it again, please," she encouraged the girl and
this time, Erin got it right. The helmet slid onto Ayako's head and locked into
the latches on her neck. "Thank you," the globe spoke and closed the shutter
over its lips. Ayako stood up and posed in front of the teacher's desk again.


"THAT'S PRET-TY NOR-MAL FOR A RO-BOT!" she droned through the speakers. She had
set the volume very high and her voice was heavily distorted because of that.
Chopping it up was completely manual, of course. Through the helmet cam, she
checked the reactions of the children. No fright. In fact, the kids seemed to be
really excited about their new guest.


In a instant, the robot's head turned right ninety degrees and faced Mrs. Young,
who had stood there like transfixed for the last five minutes.

"MRS. YOUNG, I HA-VE PO-LI-CE PRO-CE-DU-RES TO FUL-FILL IN YOUR CLA-SS. MAY I
PRO-CEED?" it droned. Mrs. Young almost fainted but played along well
nevertheless.

"Yes, robot... err... Mrs. Ontemba, you may proceed." The kids were very
attentive. A red spotlight lit up on the robot's head, which turned left again
as fast as before and aimed for Alan. The robot turned his body around without
losing the aim and walked a straight line to Alan's table.

"A-LAN. YOU HA-VE WRON-GLY AC-CU-SED RO-BERT BE-ING A LI-AR. YOU HA-VE
IN-SUL-TED E-RIN BE-ING SIL-LY. THE-SE ARE OF-FEN-SES A-GAIN-ST THE LAW. I
HA-VE TO AR-REST YOU."

Alan fought back his tears but put his arms onto the table in front of him,
like he expected to be handcuffed any moment; it had scared the wits out of
him. The robot hunkered down and from within the blackness of its head, the
face of a young woman appeared. Ayako had opened the shutters again.

"Alan?" it asked. Alan was still frozen.

"ERIN, I'M SORRY!" he shouted suddenly, "ROBERT, I'M SORRY. YOU AREN'T A LIAR.
YOU AREN'T SILLY. THEY HAve robots at the police."

"So you believe me I'm a robot?" the face asked.

"Yes, Mrs. Ro... Mrs. Ontemba," he admitted and continued immediately, "Mrs.
Ontemba, do you have to arrest me?"

"Hmm, let's ask Erin and Robert if they insist," Ayako spoke out loudly and
turned to the two. They shook their heads after a short while and Ayako could
assure Alan: "No, I don't have to arrest you. You may continue with classes." He
breathed a sigh of relief and Ayako returned to the front of the room.


"Mrs. Ontemba, what was that?" Mrs. Young hissed at her after regaining her full
senses, "what's up with that robot roleplay? I thought you are from the police,
and not an illusionist."

Thomas jumped by: "No, we are from the police, it's..."

"Don't take me for a fool, Mr. Boyd," she whispered, "you are the one who's
inventing those technicals gimmicks, aren't you?" Neigher noticed there
wouldn't any presentable material come out of this, so he asked Mike to stop
the camera and prepare the other stage outside the classroom in the meantime.

"Children, would you like to hear the story how I've once arrested Santa
Claus?" he tried to distract the class from the heated talk at the teachers
desk. The class wasn't impressed but he continued anyway: "Not the real Santa
of course, it was a pickpocket dressing up as Santa..." His yackety-yak seemed
enough to amuse the kids.


Meanwhile, the bickering continued: "Mrs. Young, It's true I'm inventing those
gimmicks, but this isn't a magical mystery," Thomas whispered back but Mrs. Young
wasn't really listening.

"Ah, yeah, right. Mrs. Ontemba, I'm badly disappointed about you. Really gutted
about this... performance. I've wanted to show the girls in this class they
don't have to become a nurse or a clerk or a secretary... or a teacher..., but
they also could become a policewoman or do another non-stereotypical job... And
what do you do? You show them a 'woman' has to be a combat robot in order to
work at the police force. Mr. Boyd, "she turned to Thomas, "what do you intend
with this show? Discouraging girls from joining your little men's club? Huh?"

Ayako had been rendered speechless.

"Mrs. Young," Thomas caught her with both hands, "Ayako IS a combat robot!" he
exclaimed, even drowning out Neigher.

Still, Mrs. Young met him with a skeptic look, so Thomas became angry.

"Class, we're kidnapping your teacher for a moment. Captain, do you get along?"
he asked. 

"No problem, tell me when you and Mike are ready!" Neigher nodded.

"...and when we searched his house, we found... who has a clue?..." he babbled
further while the three were leaving the room.


Outside, Mike was preparing a photo set with screen, lighting and flashlights.
He was almost done when the three stumbled over his cables.

"Mrs. Young," Thomas leaned on her, "what can we do make you believe us we're
not fooling around?" His stare into her eyes was rock-solid.

Mrs. Young didn't answer. She could not believe something like that. That woman
- she was roughly her age, a little younger - she had such a pleasing face -
her voice was soft and feminine - that woman, a combat robot? A machine? All
fake?


Thomas couldn't read her thoughts but the disbelief in Mrs. Young's face was the
telltale sign.

"Ayako, could you please lock up?" he asked his colleague.

"Yep", was her short answer. Her sulky face vanished when she pressed the upper
shutter of the helmet down. She browsed through the menus in her view and found
the correct option: 'Service Mode'. "Just actuators or full?", she asked back.

"Actuators is fine," Thomas replied.

When she selected it, the usual safety procedure started - move the cursor to
all corners of the screen, then blink.  With that final blink, the helmet
partly took control over her bodily functions.


'Service Mode, Actuators' - that mainly meant the nervous endings of her spinal
cord which normally would control her motor functions were branched off from the
reflex action circuits of her mechanics. Instead, she could move any of her
hydraulic pistons, piezoelectric actuators and shape-memory metal chords by
selecting the appropiate parameters in the helmet menu. Or a service technician
could do.


"Okay, I've liked your little play until now," Mrs. Young moaned, "but enough
is enough."

"No, you wait!" Thomas stopped her, pointing her towards Ayako

The woman before her in that ridiculous robot outfit wouldn't move at all. No
faltering, no balancing. "She's a ballerina," Erica thought, but on second
thought, she was too bulky for that. "Oh well, yeah, I bet he had put her in
layers and layers of fabric to hide the trick behind it," was another thought.

Thomas kneeled down in front of Ayako and fumbled for the zipper of the rubber
coating on her belly.

"Mr. Boyd, don't you dare to strip your colleague - if she really is a
colleague of you - in public! In a school, besides," she complained.

"Mrs. Young," Ayako argued, "we have to do that to prove to you that I'm a
machine."

Mike demonstratively boondoggled with his photo equipment. The teacher leered
over to him and as she found the stage clear, she commanded: "Okay, get on with
it! The sooner this show is over the better."


Ayako knew what Thomas was up to do - and he was right to let her brain not
interfere - at least she had not yet the fine control over her body to move a
single motor with her will alone. He pulled the zipper open and tugged the thick
black rubber layer aside. Below it, an array of gray plates appeared. Mrs. Young
wanted to interrupt again but Thomas was faster.

"Ayako, open the belly array."

She browsed again through the menu and found the option. A drawing of her own
belly area appeared on the screen.

"Hey, that's pretty nifty, Thomas. Where should I blink?"

"Just in the upper right corner, on 'unlock all'. The rest is for the
individual panels."

When Ayako finally blinked on that button, the crackle from more than a dozen
opening lockings echoed through the hall. Thomas folded the panels aside and
Erica marveled in total disbelief at the view into Ayako's innards.

That wasn't a human woman. She slowly collapsed on the floor and Thomas
barely caught her before she could hit the ground.


Half a minute later, the teacher regained consciousness. In the meantime, Ayako
had exited her service mode and closed the access panels on her belly by hand.
Thomas was helping her with the zipper when Mrs. Young focused her again.

"Have I dreamt this?"

"NO", Thomas, Ayako and Mike shouted. The teacher sat down on her bottom and
looked up the tall figure.

"So it's true, you are a machine. But why," she stood up tipsyly, "why the
female apperance?" She turned over to Thomas.

"I bet you don't have a girlfriend, right? That's why you build a police robot
resembling a lovely girl..."

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Ayako cut her off, "but I simply was born this way.
But thank you anyway. You are very kind." she continued with a mix of sarcasm
and girlish behaviour, she even bit her finger.

"What do you mean, 'born this way'," Erica drilled deeper, "I thought you are a
machine. Machines are built, not born."

"I'm both," she replied, "born and built... a human and a machine."

"If we talk in correct terms, Ayako is a cyborg," Thomas resumed, "from her neck
down she's a machine."

"But cyborgs are relicts of the great war," Erica tried to teach them, covering
the eerie feelings inside her. "you aren't that old."

"Thomas remodeled me into a cyborg quite recently, only some months ago," Ayako
explained.

Erica was shocked.

"Thomas, why have you done this...  why? Such a beautiful young woman..."

"All her limbs had been severed on an accident a year ago, so... ," Thomas
tried to excuse himself but Ayako had flared up already.

"Come off it! Do only males have the right to decide for themselves they want
to be converted into a machine? Your whole talking about showing the girls in
your class an alternative role model is completely superficial!"

Dang. He knew this could've ended only awkward.


Erica stood still and silent for a while.

"I'm sorry," she said when she had reconsidered the dumb things she had said
before, "you are right. I guess you had the choice between becoming a pencil
pusher or..."

"...becoming a machine, yeah," Ayako was still upset.

"I'd like to bury the hatchet with you," the teacher offered, "I think you are
a positive role model not only for the girls but for all kids. You live your
dream of helping people by rescuing them from the hands of criminals, no matter
what." She put forth her hand and Ayako reluctantly accepted the invitation.
Instead of shaking hands, Erica hugged Ayako to reassure her the change of
heart. The cop put her artificial arm around the teacher a moment later.


Both Thomas and Mike had been relieved this day wouldn't end in a cat fight.

"We only have 10 Minutes left for the photos, I think," Mike hurried them
along.

Mrs. Young opened the classroom door and found Neigher still prattling about his
ancient achievements.

"Mr. Neigher, we are ready outside. Children, Mike wants to make a group
picture of our guests and us. Please come into the hall and listen to Mike's
instructions," she told them.

While the kids were spilling out of the room, Thomas reattached Ayako's left
arm to her.

"Mrs. Young,... Erica", she called the teacher, "do you like to reconnect it?"

"I... what do I have to do?" she asked and Thomas replied, 'just push firmly
and press that little button here at the same time'. Erica tried to push, but
it had no use as she pushed Ayako sidewards.

"You have to embrace me again," Ayako giggled. Erica did and with her whole
force, the arm finally fitted in its locking with a click.

"Thanks, now I feel complete again," Ayako played with her newly connected
fingers.


The kids arranged themselves in front of the photo screen without big hassle.

"Your pupils are really well-behaving, Mrs. Young, please come over here to the
middle, right behind them," Mike said and pulled her at her blouse, "Ayako,
Thomas, would you kneel down with one leg before her - Ayako, please open the
hatch so we can see your face - Erin, Robert, please stand right and left of
Ayako," Mike hasted back and forth the lines and his camera.

"Captain, please stand right of Mrs. Young," he ordered Neigher. Ayako was just
about pressing the lock buttons for her helmet when Mike interfered: "No,
Ayako, keep your helmet on. Just the upper shutter!" She responded with a shrug
and opened the shutter as Mike wished. He checked the motif in the camera
display and rearranged the floodlight a little bit. After another check he
sighed but wasn't entirely pleased yet. He went over to Ayako's back and pushed
her hair over her shoulders, The mirror display on top of the camera guided him
to find the best arrangement.

"Okay kids, and the others, too," he returned to the camera, "I need your
sweetest smile now. Just look into that display here and see what you look
like." After a few seconds, he began a countdown "Ready, steady, go," and
pressed the shutter button. The flash triggered, but Mike wanted another
picture, just for safety, so they repeated the procedure. "That was it," he
exclaimed, "thanks for holding still."


While Mike was beginning to pack his cases immediately, the school bell rang.
The kids got nervous and Erica asked them to get back into class and eat and
drink something during the break. Most of the kids didn't want to follow their
teacher's advice this time. Instead they built a knot of people surrounding
Ayako, touching her arms, legs, chest and of course they reached for her face,
too.

"Children, please don't compass our guest so much. It's bad manners!" the
teacher adviced and luckily, nearly all of them had been satisfied with
touching the police robot once.

A group of three - Erin, Robert and Alan - stayed at Ayako however. Ayako
wondered what they wanted from her.

"Well? You three in a pack?"

"We always play together at home," Alan explained.

"So you are the one playing rough, Alan?" she countered,

"I've said I'm sorry.  That's true.  I've not known they have robots like you
at the police," Alan excused again.

"One cannot know anything, Alan," Ayako replied, "Come on, I tell you three a
secret. But don't tell anyone!" The three nodded curiously.

"You had been both right. I'm a half-robot. I once was a normal policewoman,
as you saw me in the video. I became a robot only a few months ago."

The kids were struck by total awe. Who would become a ... robot?

"Don't you lie to us," Alan pushed in again but Robert chimed in: "She won't
lie. She's from the police, remember? Right, Mrs.  Ontemba?"

Ayako nodded: "It's our little secret, okay? Don't tell the other
kids. Now go eat and drink something." Ayako stood up. Still struck by the
latest reveal, the three went into the classroom.


"Very clever," Thomas noted, "now they will tell anyone..."

"That's what I've intended," Ayako smirked, "working against gender bias and
stereotypes, you understand?" Erica scratched her head, again challenging
Neigher to start his chatter.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Young," he tried to comfort her, "we are all working on the
same side. It's only our methods which differ."

Erica hadn't the nerve and time to discuss this now but instead shook his,
Mike's and Thomas' hands and gave Ayako a goodbye hug. "I have to return to my
work," she waved goodbye and closed the classroom door behind herself.


"We should go now, I need something to drink myself," Mike declared. With
Thomas' help, he had put away the numerous cables and tools at record speed.
The hall was as tidy as they hadn't been there.

"Do you want to come with us?" Neigher asked.

Ayako denied at once: "No, thanks, I'm not thirsty."

"I've cared more about your colleage, Mrs. Ontemba," Neigher gave her a wink
but Thomas saw through her expression and hurried to say "thanks, but I'm not
thirsty either" to Neigher. So the four shook hands and headed for their
vehicles.


"Go. GOOOO!" Ayako yelled when she again sat in the back of the van.

"Pleased by your wish," Thomas smiled and started the engine, "any special
place?"

"No, just goooooooooooooo", she chanted while he was reversing out of the
parking space. They passed Neigher, who stood at the curbs and waved. Ayako
grinned and waved back through the window.

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<pre style="background: transparent; border: none;"><nowiki>
           .----------------------------------------
           |  Hi folks, it's Irina speaking again!
           `-----
       ___    /    Woah! Three chapters and 20'000 words later and we didn't
    mm´   `~.      even had a glimpse of sex in the story. Dark, you rattling
  mmm   mMMm \     cuboid, are you sure you're pressing the right buttons on   
 mmm[ ___\/o_]     our audience?
mmmm| [[____]]
mmmm` (   J  )     What, I should just ask them? Okay, but if you care about my
 mmMM\\ .__  )     opinion, we need a fair amount of action in any case. Ayako
 mmmM/`\___.'      should kick serious ass. What's the point in having an
.MMmm. _.\mMm      armored power-body when you are only socializing? "Some tea,
 /    --[_v_]-`.   Darling?" - "With milk and sugar, honey?"
[    ]   \  \  \                                                                
[    \    \  \  \  Really? More action in the next chapter? Nice. When I think
[\    `.  ø   ø ]  about our readers being turned on by fighting robot women, I
 \\dbf  `v  _/  /  can't help being turned on, too. Play up!
</nowiki></pre>

</div>
==Along the story==
<div style="float: left;">[[戦闘機械 綾子 - Battlemachine Ayako/Things To Remember|Chapter 2 - Things to remember]]</div>
<div style="float: right;">[[戦闘機械 綾子 - Battlemachine Ayako/Rough'n'Ready|Chapter 4 - Rough'n'Ready]]</div>
<div style="margin-left: 40em; margin-right: 40em; white-space: nowrap;">[[戦闘機械_綾子_-_Battlemachine_Ayako#The_Story_thus_far|Chapter Index]]</div>

[[Category:Darkbutflashy]]
[[Category:Stories]]
[[Category:Transformation]]