psl.

[theycalledmeacurse]

the mutant and the machine.

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[redcosmedic]

Rogue's voice is soothing, and he's able to split his attentions between driving, monitoring (he remained tuned into local radio even when the speakers themselves were off) and listening to the tale. He knows who Sherlock Holmes is (or at least the trope of him) by Earth media and culture absorption, but he doesn't know the stories themselves, so this is new for him. He hasn't entirely got a solid grasp of the technical and cultural differences between various eras, so sometimes he has questions about why characters don't do this or that, or why something that seems obvious to them as readers seems to escape the notice of the protagonists.

They're far enough off the main roads now that they haven't seen any other vehicles for little while. They do pass farms in various states of upkeep — some well-manicured, but others clearly abandoned — and overgrown driveways off the chipseal road. He keeps the river on their left and finally finds an old paved road with a faded sign indicating they had found the entrance.

"A-ha," he says triumphantly, as if they'd accomplished some great feat. "Well, we're far enough away from any cities that there should be little in the way of light pollution out here. You'll love Montana though... 'Big Sky Country' indeed."

The old road meanders a little but eventually spreads out into a sprawling overgrown compound with huge cement structures still standing. Knock Out brings them closer and then parks.

"There! No sharing with cows required. Though it's not the first time and let me tell you, getting that smell out of my upholstery was a challenge and a half..."

[theycalledmeacurse]

Answering Knock Out's questions helps to pass the time as well; she does her best to explain whatever he doesn't quite understand, though there are some things that she doesn't have very good answers for. The Victorian era had never been a specialty of hers, but hopefully that didn't impede his enjoyment of the stories.

"Oh lord, sugar, let's definitely steer clear of cows," she says with a grimace. "I don't think either of us would enjoy smelling like them for days on end. There are plenty of other options out there." And if all else failed, they could just sleep under the stars for all she cared. Anywhere but with the cows.

Opening the door, she steps out into the fresh evening air, breathing in deep and being grateful for the lack of eau de bovine in the air. She takes just a few steps away from him, peering up at the large structure he's found them for a night "This is nice, Knock Ou—"

Her voice cuts off with a gasp as one of her greatest nightmares comes back to life and a Sentintel lands in front of her, swooping in from out of nowhere. Panic and fear grip her chest as she takes in the sight of its transparent faceplate and metal limbs, one hand already stretching out toward her with deadly purpose. She doesn't even think then, years of instinct kicking in as she throws herself to the side and runs. There's no contest between fight or flight for her — flight, it's always flight, with her heart pounding in her chest and adrenaline pushing her toward the compound.

[redcosmedic]

Rogue's quick thinking and reaction time causes the Sentinel to miss its initial grab, and its arm crashes into Knock Out's side. The blow sends him skidding on his tires hard enough to leave a smear of rubber on the concrete pad, leaving a swipe of metal bent inward along his side panels, but he hardly notices. Knock Out explodes out of vehicle mode, the transformation which normally takes seven or eight seconds to complete reduced to half that, and grapples bodily with the construct, forcing it back.

It's messy and inelegant, the sound of metals shrieking against each other. The two are almost of the same height, mere feet of difference between them, but that is where most similarity ends. The Sentinel, faced with an unexpected opponent not meeting any of its battle criteria, hesitates to calibrate and that is all the opening Knock Out needs. One leg comes up to plant solidly in the Sentinel's torso and shove it away.

Now he has room to move. Now he has leverage.

One moment Knock Out's hands are there and the next they're not, replaced by two spinning circular saws. His stance is light but not unsteady, and as the Sentinel lunges forward to deal with this new threat, the medic ducks the tackle and retaliates with two deep gouges in the silver and purple plating. Sparks spray across the concrete as the saw blades bite in, severing lines and structure, and just as fluidly he slips back out of reach once more.