After everyone passed out Tom went around cleaning up the beer cans and bottles of spent wine coolers through the house. All the girls were sleeping on the couch so he cut off the T.V. and went into his room to see Larry sprawled across his bed while Mike was snoring on the floor.
Once he made sure everyone was asleep he threw a couple of his robots into a sturdy tote and dragged them to the front porch before running to the basement to grab some Bud and a grinder. On his way out he overheard Chelsea talking in her sleep, she must have been having a nightmare about losing her nose because she kept grabbing her face...
After making sure everything was set he went outside and grabbed the tote while making his way to the garage on the side of the house. while Tom does most of his programming for running scripts in his room for the Bots the garage is where all the magic happens. His dad was so excited when Tom showed an interest in robotics he bought him a high end 3D printer with metal extruding capabilities, and gave Tom a Lowe's gift card so he could purchase whatever tools he may need.
Needless to say the garage was turned in to Tom's fortress of solitude, even his friends didn't go in there while he worked on his projects so they would never know about the collection of custom bongs and pipes he made with the printer. As Tom's printer was warming up he packed a bowl and started smoking while typing new ideas into his laptop.
"Hmm I feel like Mrs Crawley just looks like a spider.. I need to give her a web to make it more realistic". While Tom mused to himself about the upgrades he could come up with he started researching home made grappling hooks and fishing nets. After some browsing on YouTube he finally decided how to go about his project and jumped on Amazon to purchase a few different sized industrial springs before opening up his Lowe's mobile app for different types of cable and chain.
"Dad did say he would keep the balance up on my card.. and if I win the invitational and get into the top three in the finals I would have even more money." Rationalizing his expenditures he went ahead with a few purchases and made sure to use the gift cards he got on his birthday so it would look like he spent less.
"I could go ahead and start designing a mounting bracket and a winch to draw the web back after firing.. maybe I should make an interchangeable spike so it can just pierce the Bots that are too big for the net." Once Tom finished his design on the Tinkercad software he sent it over for the printer to start running. "And now we wait..."
The process of 3D printing is actually quite time consuming and unlike those that set and leave Tom prefers to watch the extrusion process in case a flaw appears, so he can stop it and correct the mistake instead of coming back to a hot mess. As the printer begins moving Tom pulls out his 'babies' and sets them out in chronological order starting with his trusty 'Snail Gunner' that was basically a glorified set of treads with armor and an air compressed nail gun modified to shoot 10 inch spikes "Oh man I can't believe this thing almost got me to the finals".
Tom started getting nostalgic while looking at his 'First born' before moving on to his 'Manic Mantis' which until recently was his most complex creation. The 'Mantis' proved to be a major pain in Tom's @$$ during production and due to bad luck was taken out in an early round two years ago at the Juniors league because of a bad match up against a rolling sledge hammer on wheels. He almost cried when his poor 'Baby' got whacked on the lead left leg causing it to bend right into the path of the rear left leg making it immobile for the ensuing pounding.
"It took me three days of constant work to get you back into shape.. your lucky I'm such a good father." The 'Mantis' is most likely Tom's Cruelest invention and the only one that is limited to melee combat with it's razor sharp sickles operated by an electric piston the 'screaming' noise it makes when they descend is soul scarring and the speed they can slice apart sheet metal is nerve wracking for anyone operating a speed oriented robot.
Tom continues on to pull out Mr Crawley the only Bot that wasn't designed to go into direct conflict. This disgusting little b@$t@rd is all about speed with six highly mobile legs and it's compartment full of thermite pellets. It took a while to figure out a way to make wireless ignition switches that he could activate individually but hard work pays off. Mr Crawley was designed to harass the opponent to death while keeping a safe distance leaving a veritable mine field between itself and the enemy. The only other weapon it has is a pair of jury rigged miniature skill saws that pop out from the sides underneath his wings.
Before Tom pulled out his latest creation he stood up to check the printer. Seeing as everything was running smooth he hit the bong again before coughing a lung up and retrieving Mrs Crawley. Where Mr Crawley was a harasser Mrs Crawley is designed to tank the damage and drag her opponents into a slug fest. Equiped with the same thermite pellets as Mr Crawley, a mini compressor similar to the snail Gunner, and a mini saw in place of fangs. Once he finishes her 'web gun' she will be ready to take on the world.
"Baby me and you are going to rule the ring this year." Tom says as he sets Mrs Crawley on his work bench next to the others "Talking to a robot spider that can't talk back is kinda creepy you know?" "HOLY F∆¢K!NG SH!T!!" Tom jumps up and turns around to see Mari standing behind him smirking.
"Don't you know what knocking is? If I had a something in my hand I might have whacked you or hurt myself Christ!" Mari just looks at Tom with her hands on her hips "Since when have I ever knocked? It's not like you were masturbating or anything" Tom sighs "What ever.. what's wrong why'd you wake up?".
"Nothing's wrong, I didn't fall asleep yet when you left I was trying to but when you opened the door I kinda got freaked out and wanted to make sure you weren't going to Harikari yourself over Ashley.." Tom raises an eyebrow before dignifying Mari with a response "We both know that would never happen, I love me too much to kill me besides.. Ashley is just a crush anyways no love lost there and she decided to go with Chad so I wouldn't even touch her with a ten foot pole".
"So you gonna show me what your 'Baby' can do? or do I have to wait like the other plebs?" "Eh I could give you a short demo, but let me check my printer first. There's some Bud in the grinder if you wanna smoke, the bowls cashed." As Tom gets up to check the printer again Mari empties and packs a fresh bowl into the bong before taking his work chair and spinning in circles while she smokes.
"Why don't we ever smoke out here? It's even big enough to run a game." After Tom Triple checks the printer once again he looks over at Mari still spinning in HIS chair before replying "Because this is the only place in the house I can be alone, Mike and Larry crash in my room every time, you and the girls take the couches, and if I go anywhere in the house and cut the lights on while y'all sleep Vicky might stab me for waking her up, Now gimme." Tom reaches out for the bong only for Mari to hold it away "Don't wanna it's mine now" Tom grabs the chair to stop her from spinning.
"Gimme or no demo.." "Oh please you have all the controllers right here I could probably show myself" Mari says indignantly as she reaches for a random controller. Tom frantically jumps in front of her to stop her and gets in her face to make a point.
"They are all fully loaded and looking right at us... If you push the wrong button a hospital trip would be the good ending, NEVER touch my robots these things could kill a man quickly as fast as you mash buttons". Mari begins to blush. "Fine I'll give you the bong if you tell me why My picture was in the drawer next to the wine..."
ROBOTS!!!! eh and maybe some romance find out more Next time on...
Tom blinks a few times and snatches the bong from Mari while she's preoccupied. "Because I put all my photos in that drawer yours was just on top.." Tom walks over and checks his printer which is almost a quarter of the way finished as he hits the bong. "Why was mine on top then? Why not your dad's or Mike's?" Mari continues to badger Tom before snatching the bong back.
"Because my dad's is in a frame on top of the desk and Mike doesn't take pictures jeez you should know that by now..." Tom continues deflecting and circles his way back to the desk before picking up Mrs Crawley and setting her down. "Did you wanna see her move or not?"
Mari huffs and crossed her arms. "Yes I wanna see the d@mned bug move, AFTER you answer me.." Tom just looks at her in mock confusion "But I did answer you? anyways stand back she's booting up I'm gonna run a diagnostic test and make sure everything works like it's supposed to."
As Tom starts messing with the controller Mrs Crawley begins to move first spinning clockwise then counter clockwise, moving forward and backwards before setting down. All this time Mari starts thinking that maybe she misread the situation and Tom really was telling the truth.. it's just that his initial reaction seemed off.
"Ok if the picture wasn't a big deal why didn't you want me going through that drawer?" "Because I had something embarrassing in there that I didn't want anyone to see, lucky me you completely over looked it and now it's locked up somewhere safe." Tom said with a look of complete victory. He has had a major crush on Mari since middle school but since they have been best friends for years he decided to just suck it up and find someone else he'd rather not risk her saying no and making things awkward.
"Then why did you let me win?" "Because I was thirsty.." Tom replied before opening Mrs Crawley and taking out the spikes and thermite pellets. "Ok you can pilot her now just don't push any of the buttons that have a flame on them." He hands the controller over to Mari and backs away from the robot as Mari takes it for a spin.
A couple of minutes later and Mrs Crawley has travelled the entirety of the garage multiple times with out bumping in to anything. "You're pretty good maybe I'll let you pilot for me at the tourney this year, everyone else runs in teams and it gets kinda lonely being by myself over there."
"You're just saying that because you think the other teams will go easy on a pretty pilot besides I haven't even used the weapons yet, how do you know I won't just flub it in the first match?" Mari smiles while watching the mechanical tarantula walk in figure eights. "Why do you call it a her when the others are all boys?" Tom shakes his head and starts explaining "Actually snails are hermaphrodites, and I was originally going to make her a black widow but the design is too bulky so instead of lady black she's Mrs Crawley, why you got a problem with it?" Mari frowns a little before she answers him "Well she's not very feminine maybe give her some bright colors? or a bow or something?"
Tom scratches his head for a second "Huh? maybe I could change up the colors but no bow, how about painting the blade pink to look like lipstick? I mean it will rub off basically the first time it cuts something but it would be easy to repaint".
Mari walks Mrs Crawley back to the desk before handing Tom the controller. "No to the lipstick but if you need color scheme ideas I could give you a hand some time, I'm going to go get some sleep." as Tom reaches for the controller Mari rushes in and kisses his cheek.
"Tom you're so far in denial you could see Egypt.. you're a sh!ty liar but I think I know why you won't tell me.. look I haven't went out with anyone for a reason and as long as you ask me out before we graduate I would probably say yes.."
Just as Tom opens his mouth Mari puts her hand over it. "Not tonight, I want you to do it on your own and it better involve a real date not the robo league thing deal?" Before Tom could answer Mari she ran out the door and went inside the house.
Tom stood there for an a few moments thinking about what happened before touching the cheek she kissed.. "Well d@mn.. I thought she fell for it" Toms free hand slipped and accidentally pushed on the joystick at the moment Mrs Crawley stepped on his foot eliciting a few profanities from Tom before he set her on the desk next to the others and powered her down.
"It's not creepy talking to you guys right?" Tom says while staring at his creations and for just a moment he thought he felt sympathy from their cold lifeless eyes.. "Hmm maybe a little".
After Tom cleared his head (and the bowl) he checked the printer again to see that his work was almost complete just a few more minutes and his new bracket would be ready, seeing this he removed the part on Mrs Crawley that would be considered the top half of her abdomen and started tracing out where he would mill the holes to mount his bracket.
Just as he finished drilling the holes his 3D printer shut off and made a loud beep informing Tom his new part was ready Before picking it up he put on his thick leather welding gloves then he lined up the bracket with the holes and luckily everything looked like a smooth fit. "Hmm anything else I need to make tonight?" Tom asked himself this time instead of his quite companions before deciding he needs to get some sleep. Tom decided to leave the robots in the garage tonight. On his way inside he found that Mari locked him out...
"Heh at least I have a key" as Tom reached for his key a felt something cold brush against his finger tips, he pulled it out and realized that he left the necklace his dad gave him in his pocket.
Tom whispers to the stone "Hey mom I guess you heard all that.. looks like me and Mari may actually go out like you always said.. I miss you" Tom decides to put the necklace on and tucks the stone under his shirt before reaching back for the keys again. On his way to his room he does another double check of the house, locks all the doors and makes a PBJ in the dark to eat before going to his room. Larry is still asleep in Tom's bed... until Tom rolls him off, Larry complains about Tom's heartlessness for a second before passing out again, Mike jumps awake when he hears the thud only to realize what happened causing a smirk to light his face before he goes back to sleep. "G'night guys" ""night"" two muffled voices reply.
I know I said no love interest for Tom but I couldn't help it guys.. it just wrote itself but I do promise that I will postpone it as much as possible and it won't be an integral part of the story, also who I've been letting my brother each chapter before I release and he thinks that I should make more robots, but since there is already a really good novel about that out already I told him no.. if you wanna see a few more 'Baby' Crawley's let me know
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