ORNAGE

[Mac Sirloin]

This is a little something I cooked up for no particular reason. It's not related to anything I've posted here, and there is more, but it will be awhile if I post any of it.

Anyway:

Richard and Marshall stumbled along the cave looking for some kind of treasure or the exit. They had been looking where Hank and Radigan had indicated, but no matter how deep they went, it seemed like they get turned around somehow. Richard sat down heavily all of a sudden, sighing. Marshall shone a flashlight his way and leaned against the cave wall, a thinking look on his face. Richard absentmindedly drew in the sand, his brain churning out simple blueprints.
"What did they say this thing looked like, again?" Asked Marshall.
"About eight feet tall, like a refrigerator, with a hard aluminum shell and shaped like a garbage bin with love handles." Richard replied tiredly.
"How in the name of awful-fuck could we have missed that?" Marshall elbowed the wall and a light 'booong' noise reverberated through the narrow cavern. Richard pointed his flashlight at the wall and saw two bright, green eyes two heads above Marshall. "What?" Marshall said.
"IT'S RIGHT THERE! HOW COULD YOU NOT HAVE FIGURED THAT OUT?"
Richard yelled. Marshall screamed and tripped over his own feet. "ESCAPE IS IMPOSSIBLE!" Marshall yelled.
A groaning noise shook out of the wall behind them, followed by the scraping of rusted limbs that would climb into the deepest, horriblest nightmare hearts of their imaginations for all time.

The enormous steel monstrosity limped into sight of their fallen flashlights. It was indeed, eight feet tall, and stood with enormous, rusted royalty. Marshall scrambled away in horror. Richard spun around on his ass and looked up at the illuminated beast. From here, he could see that it was made of a tall, flattened graduated tube for a body with short, thick legs. It's arms hung almost to the ground, shaped like enormous tear drops. Its head was rectangular and flat, and seemed to precariously sat on the edge of its rusted torso, no mouth, just two big, fist-sized green eyes. It loomed calmly, and Richard climbed to his feet. He could see it was following the position of his face with benign curiosity, stepping out of the way to let Richard stand. Marshall slithered into view, curious of the lack of action. "It's rusted to hell, damn." He said, pointing to the flaky crust of the robot's torso. Richard extended an arm and scratched at its chest at what would be "display a rank/name on this robot here on its chest" level. A dusty shower cascaded off and revealed the peeled lettering of its name in dull industrial yellow. "ORNAGE." Marshall said the name with curious distaste like a burp of a food you like unexpectedly tasting bad. Richard looked the figure up and down and concluded it was probably a robot. A real-life robot. With a stupid name. Marshall picked up his flashlight and gave it a look, not trusting that it would stay in his hands any more. He'd struck a wall during his scramble to safety and was silently loathing the flashlight's poor grip. Still glaring at it, he said. "That's probably what we're looking for." Richard turned to him and nodded. "Let's go."

Hank had left Radigan to watch the mouth of the cave while he went back to watch the cars. Cris and Daniel were scrounging through their bags looking for something, speaking in hushed voices. Marshall wandered out of the cave, turning to pull Richard over the small ridge hanging over the entrance. The robot stomped into view and gave the scrambling lower body of Richard a shove out of the way. Marshall yelped and fell out into the sun, spilling his ass on the bleached concrete. Daniel skittered to his feet and kicked his backpack behind him. "Well?" Cris said irritatedly. "Did you find anythi-...Oh." ORNAGE climbed into view, its oddly shaped arms seamlessly bending to raise it into the air.
The thick, rectangular panel of its face taking in the open sky. "I wonder how long it's been down there." Cris said, examining the caked-on rust. Marshall heaved himself to his feet and tenderly scratched his ass, giving ORNAGE the eye.