Mark looked at the wanted poster in his hand then zooming his vision looked at Steam who was meditating in the center of the courtyard a staff sticking out of a hole in the ground in front of him. Mark was confused why there was a bounty of three million on his head but taking out the outdated trash was a chore that must be done. He took aim from the outcropping on the mountain that he stood on.


xXx


Steam on the other hand saw Mark standing on the mountain outcropping and noticed him taking aim. It was pretty easy especially when you take the fact that Steam’s vision could also zoom. Then like the flap of a dragonflies wings the shot was fired. Steam picked that exact moment to shift position moving his head out of the way of the bullet which made a soft piff when it hit hit the dirt. That was when Sythia decided to walk out of the monastery.

“Good morning Dad.” She yawned rubbing her eyes. She stretched and her joints cracks as the gears were pushed to their limits in range of motion. Steam turned dodging another bullet from mark with a tilt of his head.

“Good morning Syn. I left some charcoal for you in my workshop.” Synthia took this information and in her sleepy mind didn't notice the bullet holes in the ground.

“Thanks.” Synthia turned and headed for her father’s workshop to get her breakfast. Once the door shut Steam turned and looked directly at Mark glaring.


xXx

Mark was practically fuming at the way Steam seemed to be dodging the bullets without even trying. Then Steam looked directly at him a definite glare on his face. Then Steam pulled out a pistol and fired. Mark calculated the trajectory of the bullet and didn’t flinch as the spherical bullet carved it’s own hole in the mountain side. Mark got the message as Steam wouldn’t miss the next time.

“Hey sniper get you mechanical ass down here and fight me like a proper robot.” Steam’s voice echoed up to Mark.


xXx

In short order Mark took this challenge and accepted it like any robot would. It took Mark about ten seconds to jet down from the mountain and now towered above the still sitting Steam. Steam looked up at him and stood up to his full height which bested Mark by a few inches. Both robots extended their blades and swiped at each other.

ZZZZT

Went Mark’s blade as it connected with Steam’s. Then Mark’s other arm shifted to a machine gun and Steam pulled out his pistol. Both guns fired continuously bullets rained between them as each bullet from one gun took out a bullet from the others. They both did a quick millisecond calculation and Steam disengaged jumping into the air as he discovered that his opponent had more ammo than him. Mark however didn’t stop firing tearing several holes in Steam’s shell before he could take cover behind a tree. Then all was silent for the moment. Both robots tried to calculate what the other would do. Then the sound of grinding gears bellowed from behind the tree. Mark’s calculations stopped and he blasted the tree to bits before Steam could do whatever he was planing. The tree didn’t stand a chance versus Mark’s onslaught. Behind the tree was a floating black oval. Mark ran over to the oval and stared at it.

“Hah hiding behind a shield?” Mark taunted. He raised his blade and brought it down on the oval. His blade went right through it. Then Steam grabbed the arm from the other side of the portal and pulled Mark through. Mark flew through the portal caught off balance.

“I could say the same about you.” Steam said as Mark picked himself up off the ground. Then Steam slammed his foot on the ground and the room started moving. Mark switched his vision to thermal and Steam shown red like a bonfire against the blue and green of the huge cavern that they stood in. Steam calculated that Mark would use thermal on account of his own power source. Steam’s shell opened up and he vented creating a cloud of boiling steam filling the cavern. Mark was blinded as the steam filled his vision with bright red. Steam took these seconds and charged toward where Mark was. But when the fog broke before him he saw nothing. Steam was stumped for a second but a second could have been an eternity as far as Mark was concerned. Mark decloaked and his blade flew toward Steam’s head. Steam reacted as soon as he saw the shimmer in the air. He blasted a plume of steam forward and got thrown across the room. Mark charged after him a grenade launcher coming out from his back launching ten grenades at Steam with great speed.

“Hey no fair.” Steam pouted pulling out his pistol. He pulled the trigger but nothing happened. “SHIIIIII-” Then the lights came on and the gears that both of them were standing on started moving and Steam was moved out of the course of the grenades. But that didn’t help much the bombs detonated mid air and Steam was blasted to the side into the shadows at the side of the room. Mark fired a few bursts of machine gun fire into the unmoving body before calming down and walking over to claim the head of his enemy. That was when Synthia ran into the room.

“Stay away.” She yelled. Mark looked incredulously at the little automaton. He pushed Sythia aside and walked over to the corpse of Steam. His blade sliced through Steam’s neck and the head came cleanly off. Synthia fell to her knees her fears coming to life before her eyes. Then mark turned the head around and was faced with empty eyes. Steam wasn’t there. That was when Steam walked out from the shadows in his black skeleton of a body.

“Why do all you lot from the future fall for that trick. First Katrina now you like really?” Steam said crossing his arms disappointed. Then he was brought to the ground by Synthia who tackled her father like a bullet train.

“DAD.” Synthia cried hugging her not dead father. Steam hugged his daughter back and got her off him.

“Syn do you Father a favor go to my workshop.” Steam asked, Sythia got the message as go get the best weapon from his workshop but she quickly launched off Steam and ran out the door which locked behind her.

“Well now that that is over.” Steam turned to Mark his eyes changing from blue to red and Mark froze as a wave of power emanated from Steam.

“Now where were we?” A much darker voice asked, Then Steam vanished and reappeared in front of Mark. His fist on mark's chest a blade partially extended digging into his black alloy skin. Mark hopped back just before Steam could fully impale him. Mark’s arm shifted back into a machine gun and fired of a volley of rounds carpeting the area around Steam. The bullets seemed to phase through Steam as if he wasn’t there. Steam pulled out his own pistol reloading the clip in an instant. Then Mark looked down the barrel as the trigger was pulled. The single bullet hit Mark’s right knee and he plummeted to the ground. Steam smiled.

“Boom.” The bullet exploded spreading shrapnel and water vapor through Mark’s leg shredding the limb beyond usefulness. Then Mark began to short circuit as all the water vapor invaded his systems. His eyes died as he powered down. Steam took a deep breath and released it his eyes fading back to blue.

“Well that was fun.” Steam said walking over to his defeated opponent. “Now what pieces of technology can I scrap from you?”

xXx

Three days later Mark awoke in a bar with a pile of empty bottles in front of him. There was a message also it read as follows.

The bill for your repairs is three million. Since you only had 2.5 mil You own me a drink.

Steam

End

Assassination attempt: Steam

Mark was looking at the wanted bulletin board for bounties at his local black market when one caught his eye. There was a picture of an older looking automaton with a three million dollar bounty. There was no reference of his abilities on the paper or the entire world web database in his head. Mark thought to himself “risky” , Then he reassured himself that “It's just some piece of junk to outdated to be allowed to live”. He inputted the location on the poster through his GPS.

A few hours later He arrived at the location that was high in the mountains in Nepal. As he scanned the horizon he spotted a forest near a lake where he decided if it came to close quarters he would avoid the area , for if the water hit him it would fry him. A bit higher up in elevation was what looked like a Japanese Monastery and on closer scans Mark’s target quietly meditating. Mark noticed a staff close to the enemy robot’s grasp and strategized that he would be able to break the staff with simple machine gun fire if it became a problem.

Situating himself on a small outcropping with perfect view of his target Mark was on the lookout for any more enemies when he decided it was clear to take a shot. Taking aim Mark decided it would be best to get rid of what appeared to be a red casing and then shoot what was inside. Lining up his shot with perfect precision Mark fired the sniper silently at the sitting figure in the distance. The automaton shifted just enough that the bullet missed and hit the ground with a slight “Pff”. “I think he see’s me” Mark muttered to himself with worry. Just to make sure Mark began to line up another shot when a smaller shape sorta skipped out of the monastery. Mark quickly readjusted his aim but thought better at shooting the small figure, as scans showed nuclear capability that could blow the mountain out of existence if hit with to much force.

The two began to exchange a few words and the smaller figure , which Mark had identified as another smaller robot similar to his own target. It was when the the smaller robot began to stretch that Mark took his next shot which his target once again dodged with a slight movement of his head. Mark now definitely knew his opponent could see him and narrowed his eyes in frustration. As soon as the mini-automaton left His target glared at him. “Hey sniper get you mechanical ass down here and fight me like a proper robot.” he yelled to Mark.

Mark accepted the challenge and in a few seconds able to thrust next to his still sitting target who stood to greet him. With an apparent blade to the face. Mark unleashed his own energy blade which connected with his enemies with a resounding electricity sound. Mark then shifted his sniper to his machine gun as the other robot took out a pistol and the two exchanged shots with their bullets colliding off of eachother. Mark then did a extremely short scan with his predictive analytics to attempt to find out what his opponent would do.

The automaton disappeared in a blur of movement which mark tracked to a solitary tree. As soon as he did so a great grinding sound came from behind it. Mark charged the tree slicing it with a eerily calm expression on his face. Behind it was what seemed like a shield the color of obsidian.
“ahh hiding behind a shield?” Mark said and stabbed his blade into it. It was revealed to him it wasn't a shield at all but a portal leading to a place Mark hadn't been before.
“I could say the same about you.” his target responded to Mark’s earlier statement on the supposed shield. Mark’s counterpart then stomped on the floor and large gears began to lift them up. Mark staggered in surprise and activated his thermal vision to properly see in the pitch black room. His target glowed a blazing red against the regular blue and green which surrounded them both. His targets shell began to open up and release what looked like steam disrupting his thermal vision. He knew his enemy would attempt to kill him while he was blind. He accordingly activated his invisibility to counter that. He saw a shape rush past him and decloaked and swung his blade towards it. The other robot blasted his way back across the room with a trail of steam following in his wake. Mark stood his ground and activated the grenade launcher on his back and fired a volley of grenades toward his opponent.

His grenades were under their intended target so Mark had to remotely detonate them. Before he could however his opponent pulled out their aforementioned pistol to shoot them out of existence. Mark prepared himself for a new attack once the grenades exploded but they didn’t. They still remotely detonated with his target screaming “SHIIIIII-”. Mark saw his opponent's body fly to the corner of the room as the lights turned on and the gears stop moving. Mark fired a few more bursts of machine gun fire before beginning to walk to the other side of the room.

It was then that Mark heard a high voice plead “Stay away!”. Mark glanced over at the smaller automaton from before. He gently shoved her to the floor. He didn't want the place to be blown to bits. He also had questions as the little automaton’s nuclear capability was based around the same time period as the one he had previously come to this world from. First however he had to collect his bounty. He severed the head off of the corpse of his target but almost immediately noticed something off. The head was to light. Almost like it was empty…

Then a skeletal body stepped from the shadows. Mark immediately knew it was his old target and dropped the head he had severed from the fake cadaver. “DAD!” The smaller robot yelled and Mark instantly felt horrible. As much of a evil hitman he was he hated dismantling families more than anything else. “Syn do your Father a favor go to my workshop.” The older automaton said to his daughter. The daughter rushed out of the room the door locking behind her. Mark was about to surrender when the older automaton whispered “Now where were we?” in a demonic voice. It suddenly vanished however reappearing next to Mark attempting to stab him in the gut. Mark quickly activated his forcefield snapping the blade in half. The Father leapt back preparing to attack again but Mark had to stop this. He grabbed the older one and put both his machine gun and energy blade to his head.

“Stop” Mark muttered “I'm done”. His counterpart gasped in surprise when Mark let him go. “I just have some questions about your daughter and I need to talk to you then I will leave”. The other robot stopped and muttered “ok” cautiously...