[POS Industries]

Rei tumbled backward, reeling from the force of Bruticus' dropkick. She fell awkwardly at first, then more gracefully as she reduced her gravity field to let her bound gently to a stop. Returning the gravity around her to normal, Rei raised up, eyes glowing a bright red as a look of surprise crossed her face. The android had never felt pain before, and as intriguing a sensation as it was from a merely analytical standpoint, she couldn't really say she cared for it at all. No, it triggered an emotion in her that was entirely new.

Anger.

Electromagnetic energy crackled around Rei as she summoned up her next attack, unleashing a massive wave of destruction in Bruticus' general direction as she yelled out, "DOOM CANNON!!"

Bruticus, listening to every sound around him with full intensity, raised his gun in the direction of the energy beam that hurtled toward him and fired off five shots, the first of which struck the wave dead on and detonated as the remaining four sped toward his mechanical opponent.

Rei was suddenly at a severe disadvantage. She could see the explosion caused by the collision of her Doom Cannon and the first bullet, but due to her magical deafness, she was unable to tell how many other shots, if any, had been fired afterward. Her only option was to attempt to take out anything that might be headed for her before it was too late, and so she quickly leaped upward, channeling energy around her and twirling through the air, sending bright white blades crashing down between her and any oncoming projectiles.

"SPIRAL PHASER!!"

As three of the bullets were intercepted by her energy waves, Rei landed just in time to spot the final bullet a split second before it hit and attempted to form a forcefield around herself before it was too late. There was a quick flash of light as the shield formed, but as the dust settled, the android's body laid crumpled on the ground, the red glow fading from her eyes as they stared unconsciously off into the distance.

Rei was, for all intents and purposes, dead.

Bruticus paused for a moment as he blindly discerned his opponents position and slowly made his way toward her lifeless frame. Standing over her, he nudged her with his foot a couple times to she if she would react before reaching down, grabbing her throat with his left hand, and dangling her body in the air before he began to squeeze, digging into the artificial flesh of her neck and slowly crushing everything beneath.

******************

"Okay, you're sure this is gonna work?" the AI's disembodied voice asked nervously.

"I think so," Jimmy the Intern replied, eyes locked on the screen in front of him, "If the status effect that caused your deafness operates like the sort of thing found in a role-playing game, then such an effect should be dispelled if the player dies. Now, while your android body doesn't exactly die like a human being, it's possible that you can simulate death in such a way that would dispel any and all debuffs once you were resurrected..."

"...Or, in my case," Rei completed the intern's exposition, "once I'm reactivated?"

"Exactly."

"Okeedokee!" Rei proceeded merrily, "Let's get on with it, then! REBOOT!"

******************

As Bruticus crushed what would best be described as Rei's spine, his blindness left him very much unaware of the fact that the android's eyes had suddenly begun to glow again. Of course, it should be assumed that he was tipped off about her reactivation around the time his ribs were crushed into about a hundred pieces, a result of her fists pummeling rapidly into his chest at full force.

"The hills are aliiiiiiiiiive," Rei belted out in perfect pitch and with an absolutely lovely vibrato, spinning around to deliver a final kick to her opponent's chest as he reflexively released his group, "with the sound of muuuuuuusiiiiiiiiiic!!"

Bruticus fell to his knees and, whilst coughing up blood, raised his gun toward the approaching andoid, but was unable to fire before she grabbed his right hand in her left and crushed both the gun and the bones of his fingers under her iron grip with a sickening crunch.

"MY GAWD," she yelled out over his gurgles of agony in a thick Oklahoman accent as she reeled her fist back, then slinging it back toward the thug's jaw, blood and teeth spraying forth as knuckles and face connected, "HE'S BROKEN IN HALF!!"

She began repeating this motion over and over, Bruticus' jawbone cracking dully with each stike as Rei continued yelling to no one in particular.

"STOP...."

The punches increased in speed, the sound of cracking being replaced by a wet, nauseating squish.

"...THE DAMN..."

After the last followthrough, Rei delivered a backhand to the red mass of organic tissue that used to be the bald head of Bruticus, breaking his neck with one loud final crack at the exact instant that his master suddenly exploded.

"...MATCH!!"

Bruticus' lifeless body slumped to the ground as the red glow faded from Rei's eyes, returning to their natural sky blue as she looked down at her right hand which now dripped with a thick coating of her fallen opponent's blood. Inexplicably, a flourish of trumpets began playing celebratory music from some internal speaker buried within the android's body as she started jumping up and down a raising her arms excitedly.

"I won my first fight ever!" she cheered, "Yayyyy for me!"

******************

Back in the big, empty R & D department at the POS Industries central office, Jimmy the Intern sat alone, waiting for any news from the field. Finally, he cautiously spoke up.

"So, um, did it work?"

A couple seconds passed before Rei's voice suddenly replied from everywhere and nowhere at once. "It sure did," she said happily, "and the threat has been neutralized! Thank you soooooo much for your help!"

"Oh, heh, sure," Jimmy chuckled shyly, "Just doing my job..."

"Well, actually," the AI corrected, "you were really doing someone else's job, and it occurs to me that we now have a full-time position open in our Research and Development department. Would you be interested?"

Jimmy literally jumped out of his chair. "Uh, yeah! You mean it?"

"Of course! Welcome to POS Industries!" Rei confirmed excitedly, "Oh, and I think that if you leave now, you can still get in on the Kickass Scientist Party upstairs!"

The newly dubbed Jimmy the Scientist started to make his way to the exit, calling out behind him, "Oh, god, thank you!"

"Sure, have fun! Oh, and if you happen to see Johnson, tell him he's fired!"