Steel Dragon

The new arm of Chun-Li barely lasted two days. Mei Mei sat at the edge of the sidewalk looking at the disassembled robot, feeling a knot in her throat. The street heat stuck to her skin, people walked by fast, nobody paid attention to anyone fighting to collect scrap. Grandpa's drone hovered nearby, blinking messages on its screen.

"You need a part, Mei Mei. Either you hunt or you'll stay down again. No part is going to fall from the sky," wrote grandpa, projecting a red alert that looked like a bad meme.

She jumped up, fixed the ribbon in her hair, grabbed her backpack and looked at the robot. The virtual panel blinked, showing all the errors: right arm out of action, cooling failing, burned sensor. She couldn't even roll the truck's cargo bed. Grandpa insisted: "Sector seven junkyard has everything. And there's an old factory in the industrial district. Stop complaining and go."

Mei Mei took a deep breath. "Just need to become a trash rat now..." But she had no choice. She clipped the drone to her shoulder, took the VR headset just in case, and went walking to the ugliest part of the city.

The way was full of old cars tossed around, neon signs turned off, smell of burning plastic. Every corner had a group tinkering with something, everyone looking suspicious. The tournament had made the city go crazy: any part could be worth a fortune. And everyone there was a rival, even those who smiled.

She reached the sector seven junkyard. It was an open field, surrounded by crooked fencing and improvised motion sensors. Piles of metal, drone parts, mecha carcasses and robots fallen to time. Mei Mei climbed on a pile, slipped, almost fell headfirst, but managed to find a whole copper tube and two small motors.

Grandpa's drone lit up the darkest corners, projecting a digital arrow: "There, cooling panel. Go!"

Mei Mei squeezed between old plates, dodging nails and wires. She found the panel. Only the main sensor was missing. She dismantled everything quickly, threw it in her backpack, looked to the sides, but soon heard heavy footsteps.

A huge guy, with stubble and a dirty leather jacket, appeared behind a bunch of cables. The accent was strong, rough voice: "What are you doing here, girl? Stealing parts is dangerous."

Mei Mei stood up, arm firm. "Just looking for scrap, not touching what's yours." The drone recorded everything, showing the digital grandpa in alert mode.

The man kept watching, looking at the drone. "That drone... isn't a common model. Are you police?"

She laughed. "Me, police? If I was, I'd be a millionaire. I'm just gathering leftovers not to go broke."

The man relaxed a little. "My name is Ivan. Russian. I'm looking for a transmitter part. I need to talk to my family. Police don't like Russians here."

Mei Mei noticed he was shaking a bit, but kept working. "My name is Mei Mei. If I find a transmitter, you can take it. I just want robot parts."

Ivan looked at her, suspicious. "You work alone?"

She answered straight away: "My grandpa works with me. He lives in this drone. And complains more than he helps." Grandpa blinked a message on the screen: "I heard that, girl. Be smart."

Ivan smiled for the first time, kind of awkward. "If you're not police, you can help. I help you too." He showed a bunch of wires and an old battery. "With this I make a transmitter, you take whatever you want."

Mei Mei thought fast. No option. "Deal. But if security shows up, every man for himself."

They started searching the junkyard together. Ivan was quick, knew how to dismantle a panel with one hand, and found two sensors good for the robot. Mei Mei grabbed everything, thanked him, and kept following Ivan to the back of the junkyard, where the ground was just mud and metal.

In the middle of a pile of carcasses, Ivan found a half-broken antenna. "With this, I can try to talk home." Grandpa-AI sent a message: "Keep an eye out, Mei Mei. I don't trust Russian in a junkyard."

Mei Mei rolled her eyes, but didn't answer. They hid when they heard voices near the gate. Two guards talking, flashlights on, walking slowly. Ivan pulled Mei Mei by the arm. "Quiet. If they catch us here, they'll beat first and ask later."

They stayed hidden until the guards passed. Ivan took a deep breath, started assembling the transmitter right there, using the battery, wires, and the improvised antenna. Mei Mei took the chance to install the new sensor in Chun-Li's cooling panel, using the drone itself to light things up.

Grandpa-AI launched a hologram showing how the sensor worked. "You can turn it on, but watch out for short circuits."

Mei Mei turned it on. The panel blinked, the blue light came back to the screen. The robot made a strange noise, but the system didn't blow up. She quietly celebrated.

Ivan turned the transmitter's knob, said some words in Russian. The radio crackled, but no one answered. He closed his eyes, stayed quiet for a while.

Mei Mei didn't know what to say, so she just sat beside him, fiddling with the parts. "Some days, nothing works, right?"

Ivan gave a tired smile. "In Russia, I learned to wait. Here, I just need not to get arrested."

Grandpa's drone blinked. "Time to get out. Guards coming back."

Mei Mei helped Ivan hide everything quickly. The two ran for a hole in the wall, crawled through, clothes full of grease and mud. At the end of the street, they stopped, laughing nervously.

Ivan raised his hand. "Thank you, Mei Mei. Someday, if you need a Russian to tighten a screw, call Ivan."

Mei Mei shook his hand. "Deal. And if you need a part, come to Steel Dragon."

Grandpa's drone recorded everything, blinking a meme of "unlikely friendship".

They went different ways. Mei Mei went back to the shop with her backpack full of parts, drone flying around, and her heart pounding. She felt that even broken, Steel Dragon was not alone.

She put the new sensor in the robot, turned on the panel, and saw the name Steel Dragon shine on the screen for the first time in a long time.

At the end of the night, the drone showed a message: "Proud of you, Mei Mei. Tomorrow is another day to fight."

Mei Mei lay down in the shop, dirty, tired, but happy. And, for the first time, she dreamed that the dragon could fly again.