[center][img]http://txt-dynamic.cdn.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjQ0LjNjZDNjYy5RWFYwYjIxaGRHOXUuMAAA/th3-machine.regular.png[/img][/center]
[center][sub][i]Immediately concerned: [@Duoya] [@Sickle-cell]
Not immediately concerned but still in the area (I think?): [@Migyudon] [/i][/sub][/center]

Arriving at the Circus, Automaton's first priority had been grabbing a program - if only to figure out who she'd be fighting. Not that it was particularly good news once she opened it, either. There were two things that jumped out at her about the billing. First, her opponent. Sickle-cell. Leader of the Covenant, blood-bender, and the guy who'd almost killed Juggernaut last time. The same one Askaryan had been telling her about this morning - what had been an interesting anecdote transformed into a warning of what she was about to deal with.

And with that realisation, was the second one. First fight in this type of thing tended to be a warm-up. A prologue to the main event, so to speak... basically, they were expecting her to get her ass handed to her. A nice little beat-down to get the crowd hyped up for the [i]real[/i] fights later on. Which kind of annoyed her on a personal level. Written off, again. Inconsequential.

[color=cyan][i]Then again, everyone loves an underdog story, right?[/i][/color]

Would she be able to win against Sickle? Maybe. Probably not, but she at least had the advantage of knowing what he could do - for example, she knew the blades would have to stay well out of this fight. Not that the idea of losing bothered her; winning wasn't something she was too concerned about, but she'd be damned if she wasn't going to make one hell of an impression. Glancing down at her right arm, she experimentally opened and closed a gloved fist. When she thought about it, Sickle was an ideal challenge to test out that new trick.

As for her, her tech wouldn't be visible at all until she got rid of the jacket and gloves - for now, there was no sign of her even being a tinker at all. So, she had the element of surprise. And... yeah, that was about it. Maybe there was still time to go pick out some nice flowers for her funeral? [color=cyan][i]Dwelling on it won't do any good anyway, right?[/i][/color]

Glancing up from her program, she looked over to the guy running the betting stand. Wonderland, presumably, but she didn't exactly know all of her new allies at this point. [color=cyan]"Up against Sickle, huh... guess that's one way to do a first encounter."[/color] She chuckled, seeming quite relaxed about her imminent near-death experience. You got used to that kind of thing after spending a while in Boston. [color=cyan]"So, how bad are my odds?"[/color]