[i]The things I do when I’m bored…[/i]

La Màquina was waiting on a camouflaged shuttle sent prior to the Ring’s arrival by the [i]Masked Dreadnaught[/i].  She knew an opponent was coming, and that she had been elected the arbiter of whatever problem there was that needed settling with righteous violence, but she had been told nothing else of importance.  The violence part was fine by her – she liked the violence part – but she was starting to seriously doubt that the Alliance was taking her time seriously.  She was new, after all, and a part-timer besides.

Oh well.  Only one way to show them…and at least she’d get a decent workout out of the deal.

With the arrival of the Ring, and the subsequent appearance of her adversary for this contest, Màquina’s interest sharpened.  Another android – and one that made no attempt to play at being anything but a machine of war.  Unsheathed metal and glowing power, nothing but armor and attitude…this was a fight of a sort she hadn’t seen since that one robo-godlet thing she’d nearly nuked a couple of years back.  Hopefully this one would prove to be a better challenge, but even if it wasn’t, it was always so [i]refreshing[/i] to take on a fellow android.

Ensuring her ECM and cyberwarfare systems were spun up and ready to go, La Màquina went to the shuttle’s transporter system and hit the switch to begin the match proper, the way the Luchalliance’s Code of Glorious Conduct demanded.

With a [i]bang[/i].

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plWGCUAlR2A][u]Terminite: Firepower[/u][/url]

La Màquina appeared inside the ring, opposite her opponent and equidistant between the central Ring and the plasma ropes suspended between the Posts, in a burst of golden flame and amidst a fanfare of music, the high-paced beats of her chosen anthem shaking the stone beneath her feet.  Clad in her signature white bodysuit and boots, wearing the aggressive red-and-gold mask that was her symbol of status and power within the Luchalliance, she was a vision of wrathful femininity framed in fire.  Just over six feet tall on her own, her height had been augmented by the four-inch heels of her utterly impractical boots, and her long, sweeping hair had been tied up high enough to add another inch or two to her normally quite imposing height.  Somehow she didn’t think this nigh-eight-foot mechanoid would be impressed.   Her hair whipped in the gales thrown off by her own pyrotechnics, explosions and fireworks in the white, gold and red which were her colors staining the sky around her.  As her fanfare resounded, she lifted her right arm and stabbed an accusatory finger at her foe as she tipped her head back just enough to glare down her nose at the offending mechanoid.

“You’re the sorry excuse for a crockpot who’s called for Justice?!” Màquina called, allowing a dismissive sneer to color her words.  The crowds loved it when she was a bitch, and she was only too happy to oblige.  “[i]Phfah![/i]  I’ve seen more threatening machines in low-budget video games!  You think you have what it takes to bring me down?  [i]PATHETIC![/i]  When we’re done here I’m going to turn what’s left of you into a pretty little dolly for my collection and perch you on my shelf, next to all the other hopeless fools who made the mistake of stepping into the Ring with me!”

“Now COME ON!  Let’s get this over with quickly, I haven’t got all afternoon to waste on you!”

La Màquina’s stance was…less than perfect, defensively.  In that she simply crossed her arms over her chest, feet shoulder width apart and planted in the rubble of the Ring’s landing, and glared at her foe.  Beneath her skin, combat systems were already spooled up and ready to react, her [i]Fuego de la Orden[/i] spun up to combat strength and brimming with readied energies, putting the lie to her haphazard-seeming guard…but Luchalliance tradition dictated that the challenger was afforded the right to strike first.  

That was fine by her.  First strike didn’t matter for shit.  The only strike that truly mattered in a fight like this was the [i]last[/i] one, and that strike would be La Màquina’s.