Forums » General Roleplay » Roads of the lost

CD scowled, then revved her engine loudly, wincing as smoke starts to pour out. Her scanner starts to respond to the beeping, fading when Clutch would get far away. She tried to move forward, gears creaking in protest as slowly rolled out from the edge and follows her scanners response, engine still smoking badly. ''Gack..These tires aren't fit for these turns..'' She muttered, pulling back onto the road sluggishly, barely moving at first it seemed.

Clutch finally found CD, his sensors picking up the stronger signal until he felt like he'd end up backing into her. He stopped and towed in his tow cable--which had been dragging against the ground. Oops.

"You okay?" he called to what he hoped was the other AI.

Her clear response was a coughing fit for a bit. ''I think...So. My tires lost their grip on the turn and I got slung to the edge..Of a cliff..'' She wheezed, engine bellowing smoke out as she stopped beside him. ''How...About you?''

"There's a cliff?!" If he'd known that, he wouldn't have come this way. But it would explain the presence of a mechanic nearby. "I'm fine, but you're the one in need of a mechanic more than I am."

Clutch sighed; without a cable he wouldn't be able to read her diagnostics--but she didn't sound good. And he could sense the heat coming from her engine. "Can you make it another three hundred feet? We're almost there." He hoped those weren't sirens coming up behind them.

As he replied, the sirens grew louder. CD coughed harder. Her engine gave out and she fell silent, overheated due to stress on a already crippled build. Her systems shuddered before shutting off, gears stuttering to a halt as general power went out without an engine to keep everything running. But her gear remained neutral, though smoke still bellowed out from her hood, from holes where dents lifted it up.

"Hey--hey!" Clutch tried to get her attention but it was clear she was done. He backfired and then decided that maybe she had the better idea.

He copied her, shutting down as well. Hopefully the humans would think they had been abandoned by their drivers--and hopefully they wouldn't be towed to a local impound lot.

The sirens grew louder as two police cars pulled up. Two humans got out, and examined the two cars carefully, seeing of they held anything important. One touched CD's hood and screamed in pain from the searing heat, cursing loudly. They got back into their car and drove off, leaving the other policeman behind with his own car. He snorted, and tapped Clutch's hood lightly. ''Just some stupid car.''

Clutch tried. He really, really tried to keep from saying anything. But he just couldn't do nothing. He sprayed window washer fluid at his windshield, knowing some of it would splash on the officer.

But he figured he could pretend it was a mechanical issue. That was his story and he was sticking to it.

The officer freaks out, staggering backwards. ''Some stupid faulty car.'' He mumbled, kicked the tires, then started to get back to his car. ''One looks like it's seen better days.'' He snorted, looking at CD, who was still silent and unresponsive. He cranks his car up, the engine revving to life. ''Just two stupid faulty cars.''

Clutch would wait for the officer to leave before attempting to get a mechanic. Or maybe a tow truck. He wasn't sure he could pull CD in the condition she was in. He sighed. Leave it to him to get into trouble that would require human help to get out of.

The cop eventually left. CD's engine starts to stutter weakly as she struggled to turn back on, engiine still bellowing smoke. ''Gack...'' She groaned, sputtering loudly again. ''Can't..''

"Don't, the last thing you need to do is catch fire. You do that and you really are ruined. I'll come back with a mechanic. I promise." He recorded the location on his GPS and then started to pull away. Three hundred feet; he could make it that far half blind, couldn't he?

Her engine sputters for a few minutes than shuts off again. How she hoped Clutch was telling the truth as she chamged to her human disquise, leaning against a rock, barely concous, skin seared, and dirt in her nails. ''H..h..hurry..'' She stammered.

Of course he sped for the mechanic's shop as fast as his engine could go. He came to a screeching halt in front of the garage and blared his horn.

"Mechanics! Anyone home?! I need someone immediately!" He honked until he heard shouts and curses. "I need a mechanic just off Exit 32, stat! There's a broken down car there."

He revved his engine and started to pull away, intending to lead them there. "Hang in there, CD," he thought.

CD slinks down the rock, vision faltering, before changing back to car form and resting there, still shut off and silent, smoke blackening her hood badly, heat searing a few wires in the process. All she could do was wait hopelessly, slowly losing her awareness to her surroundings as seconds pass.

Thankfully the mechanics followed him as he led them to the spot he'd marked on his GPS.

He heard the sounds of winches and cables and hooks and realized they were going to fix her. He sighed in relief as they took her back to the garage--himself following behind.

He rolled into the garage after them, trying his best not to order them around. One mechanic began to sort out supplies as another approached Clutch. "Holy crap--this car has no driver!" "Neither does this one!"

"We're new models," Clutch lied, "and it's a test to see if you can restore us to normal. If you can, your garage will get number one status in the state." It was worth a try--and it seemed to work.

CD groaned, and tried to turn on again. Her engine sputtered and stuttered loudly, starting to get hot again. ''W..Who's there?'' She asked, sight failing her.

One of the mechanics looked up abruptly from where he was standing in front of CD. "Hey! Stop trying to turn the key--it's not ready yet!"

Clutch heard from across the garage, but then his rear bumper had been an easy fix. They were still replacing CD's wires that had been sizzled and fried although they'd taken the intiative to replace her battery.

"Just work faster." He muttered.

CD's eyes look at the mechanic, engine sputtering before erupting into blackened smoke once more. ''Who are..You?''

The mechanic hadn't expected the car to look back AT him. He yelped and stepped away from the hood. "I'm a mechanic--or maybe I'm hallucinating. I'm trying to put this car back together..." he looked around as though expecting the rest of his workers were pulling a prank on him.

"Turn this car off!" he yelled. "I'm not done working on it yet--and the engine's not ready--" He coughed as he inhaled a waft of smoke.

Clutch ignored hte mechanic working on him to roll over to CD. "They're trying to fix you up. They have to stop everytime your engine heats up because it burns them." It was an old trick he himself used in the past.