As Aurora flew to the rooftop of the precinct building where Kirby served, she saw the said familiar figure standing on the ground near a robot that had been brought here.  He looked up and waved enthusiastically and gave Aurora a rousing thumbs up.

 

She glowed a bit no matter what time it was, but if it was night, she’d have stood out even more.

 

Aurora descended and landed by him, wearily.  She shot him an equally tired smile. “Hello, my friend.  Did anyone get hurt in all this?”

 

She unclipped Mr. Mechanical’s head from her waist and held it up with a wry expression.

 

Kirby blinked as he looked at the head.  They inspected each other and Mr. Mechanical was the first to speak,  “Hmph. A run of the mill and not to say, downtrodden and grossly underpaid officer.  Do you intend to leave me here with this fool?”

 

Kirby blinked again, looking to Aurora as he responded to her question first, “There are a few reports of injuries, but no fatalities, thanks to you!”

 

“It’s due to my benevolence that no lives were taken!” The head intoned with a glowering.

 

One of Kirby’s eyebrows raised and he looked carefully at the robot’s face. “Looks familiar, somehow,” Kirby mused.

 

“Yeah… it’s Mista Michael.” Aurora grinned as Mr. Mechanical started screaming like a modem again and every officer and civilian in range turned their head and many clapped their hands over their ears.

 

“More like Max Modem. I haven’t heard anything like this in ages.” Kirby pointed out, dryly.

 

“Shut the HELL UP!” Aurora yelled at the shrieking talking head, having lost her patience.

 

Mr. Mechanical froze and eyed Aurora with an annoyed expression.  “Are you mentally unable to properly introduce a person with some decorum? You idiot! What fool of a parent raised this cretin of a superhero with paradoxically abysmal manners?!”

 

“Sorry about that outburst,” Aurora apologized for the beheaded guy. “He’s a copy of a super old and probably dead supervillain.”

 

“Allegedly! I’m… he’s very much alive! Your logic leaves much to be desired,” he shot back, baring his fake teeth.

 

“Think you can quiet him a bit, so we can get somewhere with this conversation sometime soon?” Kirby asked, hopefully.

 

“YOU! YOU CAN’T SILENCE M------”  Aurora slapped a halo across his mouth extra tightly.  He glared and spluttered beneath her halo which compressed tightly across his nose and chin.  For a person, that would be a no-no, but in his case since he didn’t need to breathe. This made absolute perfect sense.

 

A smattering of applause was offered by the onlooking officers and people standing before the precinct building. “Nice work on stopping the robots. Also, kudos on allowing it to defeat you to get an advantage. Brave strategy.  Hold on.” Kirby stepped past Aurora who was blinking and he yelled to someone behind her.

 

“SANTOS! KEEP THESE PEOPLE BACK UNTIL WE CAN GET THIS HUGE ROBOT EXAMINED!  MAKE SURE THE OTHERS ARE UNDER GUARD!”

 

Aurora blinked and looked over her shoulder to see Santos flinch and salute as he ordered to have the robot cordoned off.

 

Kirby shook his head and turned back to Aurora. “Sorry… just another person was just trying to get a selfie with the robot.” His lips twisted. “Been happening for hours since these things shut down.  When I showed up here, there were a couple of girls giggling and sitting up at that one’s feet,” he said sourly.

 

He pointed at the robot and hesitated when a truck with another one strapped across its flatbed rumbled along the streetway.  “We’re going to have to split these between all the precincts. There’s no way we can handle them all here!  This will turn into a junkyard!” He spread his arms and growled.  “They all look alike, like walking toys.” He turned to Aurora, ranting.

 

“They’re like ones in old Christmas cartoons. Like some guy who saw those, thinking ‘that’s gotta be a real robot looks like’.” He facepalmed and shrugged. “People.”

 

Mr. Mechanical thrashed and his modem-like shrieking was slightly audible even through her halo-gag.  Aurora rolled her eyes.  Maybe Kirby had been the only one who earned a new arch-villain today.

 

Aurora suppressed a giggle.  “Well, um… I think it’s time to introduce this august and dignified personage.” She lifted the head again with decorum and dignity.  Dignity. 

 

“I’m happy to introduce you to the robotic representative of Mr. Mechanical, who was the mastermind behind all this mischief back on Glass Bridge and this last robot attack.”  She lowered her arm and pitched the head to Kirby who blinked and reacted quickly by catching him.

 

It was a low toss rather than a fastball pitch, so no problems. “Anyways, I can’t raise Midnight Avenger or Vanguard right now.  They’ll be very interested in meeting him.  I’d suggest leaving a message with the Society of Sentinels.” She gestured and removed the halo gag from Mr. Mechanical.  

 

He shrieked again and berated her, “CAREFUL, you fool! Your grubby hands have been smudging my opticals for ages now! How much sweating do you think you do?  If I could smell, I’d tell you that YOU STINK!”

 

Aurora flinched and sniffed at herself. She had sweated more than a bit for the first time in a while in this form, aside from during her time with Mistral.  Did she really stink? She really couldn’t tell.  “Do I stink?”

 

“Probably!” Mista replied quickly, glaring.

 

“What the hell have you done? Please stay until we can find an elegant solution for the problem!” Kirby protested, gingerly holding the head by its hair.

 

“Sorry… I can’t stay here forever. I’m exhausted after… if I told you what I just went through, you’d understand.” Aurora sighed.

 

“Hah… we’ve had worse here… the screaming is a new thing here, though.  We’ll have him locked up and checked out soon enough, and I’ll call the Society.  I gather you don’t have a place to stick him.” Kirby half-asked.

 

“Cease your fumbling, fool!  Are you a MAN?” Mr. Mechanical’s eyes rolled upwards, though he couldn’t make eye contact with Kirby who held him still by his hair.  “I very much look forward to working with your so-called scientists, assuming you have anything approaching my talent, here! Must I endure their bumbling examinations? DO NOT DARE to do any more damage to me than this FOOLISH FLOOZIE already has!”

 

Kirby blinked and eyed Aurora. “Floozy?” Kirby looked down at the head and turned his face up towards him. “Just how freaking old are you?”

 

“I am a mature scientist. That is all you need to know, brilliant detective.  At least I imagine you must be one with such questionable prowess of deduction. Hmph… only a police officer of your station could be dressed so shabbily.”

 

Kirby smiled slightly, looking back at Aurora. “So, is this like, some kind of a prank, or is it a real piece of evidence to impound? I mean, really… it’s cute the way it insults me, but it’s not really effective.”

 

“Defective model?” Aurora grinned, chiming in.

 

“Pfft, my intellect again is wasted on babbling monkeys,” Mista said. “Let me speak in small words so that your little brain might understand … HEY!”

 

Kirby duplicated Aurora’s action by tossing his head to another of the watching uniformed officers.  The unlucky man flinched and fumbled to catch it.

 

“IN-- MY--- OCULAR SENSOR!” Mr. Mechanical screamed again.

 

“Bag it for evidence,” Kirby said tiredly as he walked back to Aurora and the unlucky man dropped the head onto the pavement with a resounding and very metallic crashing.

 

“I DECLARE AN ACT OF POLICE BRUTALITY! DAMN YOU ALL! I WILL DESTROY YOU!” The man picked him up and resignedly headed into the precinct, looking embarrassed for dropping him, although no one called him down for it, let alone Kirby. Mr. Mechanical’s screaming faded into the distance, but took a good while to stop.

 

“So anyway,” Kirby asked Aurora, “you say that some of the other Sentinels might know this guy?”

 

“Oh, yes.  Apparently he was a big villain in ancient times back around when the Society was starting.  Vanguard and Midnight Avenger fought him, according to what the Society’s network had to say about him.  He’s supposed to be dead, the real guy, that is.  This robot said he got reactivated somehow, and only someone with the necessary knowledge would be able to.  That means the real Mr. Mechanical might still be around, somehow.  We know at least that he was activated by someone else with that knowledge and that means that this case isn’t resolved, yet.” Aurora said thoughtfully.

 

Aurora finished with, “If he’s alive, he’s gotta be super old right now… I’m not sure how old, exactly… The low eighties?”

 

Kirby chuckled. “Well, if it’s him, his head doesn’t look a day over the age of 30. Maybe he’s like 100, if not.  Anyway, it was reported that a truck booted these things out onto the streets downtown,” he said, waving toward the robot which was in the process of having a companion set beside it by a team of workers.

 

“They were like cubes that unfolded into robots, and the traffic cams caught it happening. Once we find out where the truck we’re tracking came from, maybe we’ll know where the villain hides.” Kirby turned his eyes on Aurora again.

 

“I’ll keep you informed about what we find, but for now we’ve got to get some guys who are able to make these things fold back up, so they’ll take up less space.  Do you have any other ideas or information?”

 

Aurora thought it over and tilted her head. “If you wanted information, you could nicely ask Mr. Mechanical’s talking head. All I can tell you is that they lack a source of power right now. That doesn’t mean this will always be the case. If there’s a mind behind all of this beside Mr. Mechanical’s robotic doppelganger, they could activate the robots any time and cause even more trouble.  

 

“They used a radio station to broadcast energy over a decent distance directly into downtown to supply the bots with juice.  Anyhow, at the moment, this old villain here has resurfaced, and at the same time, a new superhero to serve San Isidro made his splash.  He’s a green-suited guy. The outfit’s a tight-fitting zentai costume and he calls himself Utility.  Thanks to him, the broadcasting of the energy was interrupted and maybe was destroyed.

 

“It was a radio tower off in that direction.” Aurora pointed. “You can’t miss all the extra hardware installed onto it.  Anyhow, this guy… he’s got a tech origin too and said that I inspire him.  I don’t know his whereabouts right now, though.  If you find him, I’d ask him more about this technology, though it was kinda new to him, he did manage.”

 

Kirby nodded. “I’ll send a car over there and see if we can get and talk to him. Oh, hey, I got a couple of calls from Seaside about you, by the way.” He grinned. “A couple of firemen wanted to know how to get in touch with you.”

 

Aurora shivered.  “I guess they would.  I’ll keep an eye out for any fireman stalkers, thanks for warning me.  Anyhow, I hope there wasn’t any bad news they passed on. The way that building came down had a certain finality to it, and it’s been bothering me all day.”

 

“Well, I doubt it was for professional purposes, certainly.” Kirby winked. “One did say you were owed a dinner for your heroic rescues.  So, I told them I’d pass it along and you’d contact them as you were able. I’m going to have to get someone to start screening calls for you if this keeps up. I’m not a PR agent.  But, seriously, you’re making a noticeable impact around here. Congratulations.”

 

Aurora smiled, happy for the compliment.  Her smile widened into a broad grinning. “Thank you for that, Kirby.  Just what I needed.  Anyhow, do you think you all can handle these robots? I’m not a robotics geek, but if they’re still a threat, I can try to help you with getting rid of them.  When I recover a bit, at least.  Into the orbit? Somewhere deep in a trench in the Pacific Ocean?  A fumarole somewhere?  Even so, if they have some value and we need to study the technology, I think Utility will be the most useful to you.”  

 

She couldn’t help plugging the guy, even though she didn’t know if she could trust him entirely, he was a fellow superhero and another fighting crime here would be helpful.

 

Kirby nodded. “Well, when my guys get him, we’ll see if he’s willing to help.  Otherwise, though, we have people to disassemble stuff like this, and they might do the job just fine.” Kirby offered a shrug. “If you think they’re still dangerous and you wanna wreck ‘em up a bit, I wouldn’t mind it.  If not, we’ll handle things from here.  I bet you’ve probably got other things on your mind.”

 

Aurora laughed. “Relaxation.  A big steaming cup of tea.  This is the first fight that’s nearly killed me.” She wasn’t sure crashing into Earth would have ended her life, but given Dark Angel’s panicking, it was fairly certain that striking the surface at a high velocity might be fatal, or was her words just her doubts and fears coming at her in an oblique way.

 

It was a toss-up as to what Goonie would prepare for dinner, but she was severely tempted to ask for a hearty meat-laden dinner.  She laughed and grinned as she leapt into the air, calling her parting words over her shoulder, “Take care, Detective.  See you later!”

 

Kirby gaped, watching her zoom away.  He rubbed his chin and mused, concerned.