Gray wandered along the assembly line, his gaze taking a sweep of the many lines of Medibots that stood before him, deactivated. Behind him trailed a Mecha-Engineer, obediently following the wiry old man like a dog, eager to serve anything that was asked of it.
The old man continued to walk along the line of robots, all built to serve at his command. He had big plans for them, but those plans had to wait. Something else bothered him, something about Mann Co. Well, Mann Co had always bothered him, but two specific mercenaries belonging to that wretched Saxton Hale bothered him most.
"What exactly are you looking for, Maker?" The Mecha-Engineer asked quietly. It had just been asked to follow him, and so he did. But Gray hardly ever just wanted company for company. There was always a purpose, and up till now Gray hadn't shown it.
Gray paused, turning to take a good look at one of the Medibots on the line. It looked like any other. Cold, soulless, polished and ready to go once it was powered it. He snorted and kept on walking, not giving the Mecha-Engineer an answer. The robot behind him lapsed into silence again, deciding against pressing on for an answer.
"You know Makina, don't you?" Gray asked, as he continued to walk, pausing every so often to inspect a Medibot before walking on.
Everyone knew Makina. He was the malfunctioning Sniperbot that'd somehow become Gray's personal assistant. None of the bots knew how, or why, but no one ever questioned it. The Mecha-Engineer nodded.
"I want to assign him a personal Medibot for all his repairs and whatnot. I need one that's built to last." If anything, Makina was old. A lot older than most other bots. All the bots Gray had created were meant to last up to 3 days of intense physical action, a week without it if they were active, and maybe 3 weeks if inactive. Most of the bots he'd sent out before to fight Mann Co never came back. No reason to build robots with materials made to last if they were just going to get destroyed.
The Mecha-Engineer remained silent for a moment, thought processes running to try and come up with a solution. Of course, there was always the option of building a new Medibot from scratch. "Well I can-"
"Actually…" Gray cut the bot off before it could speak, heading to a control panel. "I want you to find me a bot that acts the same way as Makina. Find it, upgrade it so it lasts, and return to me when you're done."
At once the Mecha-Engineer sprang into action, beginning to tap on the control panel. It started up all the bots on the assembly line, all of them raising their heads as their eyes lit up, cold and blue all over. The entire room seemed to get a bit brighter with all the light.
On the screen of the control panel every bot standing was identified as a circle arranged in neat rows of fifty by five. The Mecha-Engineer did a little more tapping, keying in lines of codes. One of the circles among the throng of them on the screen lit up red. Presumably, the Mecha-Engineer had entered a code that searched for a specific bug within the bots's systems. It was a protocol that was done on each batch of bots, but not a search for such a specific glitch. It was a one of a kind glitch, a rare one that hardly showed up. It had only started with Makina, but it seems that Gray had gotten lucky by finding a Medibot with the same thing.
"Medibot ID 208-07, Maker. The same glitch as Makina," The robot reported. It looked to Gray for its next orders, lit blue eyes unblinking.
A malicious grin formed on Gray's thin, cracked lips, that were almost as pale as his name. Being over a hundred years old and only living off a supply of Australium drilled into his spine did not make you look any younger. "Perfect," he snarled. "Get it upgraded and bring it to me when you're done." Having given the bot its orders, he turned around and stalked out of the assembly room, leaving the Mecha-Engineer to get to work.
Having worked tirelessly for hours, the Mecha-Engineer was as proud as a robot could feel when it stepped back to take a look at the deactivated Medibot in front of it. It looked the same, felt the same, but all its inner gears and wiring and systems had been replaced with good, high-quality parts. Stuff that was meant to last for years if kept properly. It was time to activate it and show Gray the work.
The metallic Engineer pressed a switch on the back control panel of the Medibot, waiting patiently as it powered it. Its head lifted up, eyes brightening as it turned active. The robot took a moment to start up, giving the room a quick glance before settling its gaze on the Mecha-Engineer.
"You… activated me?" It asked. The Mecha-Engineer nodded, turning to lead the new Medibot to see Gray.
"Yes, I did. The Maker wants to see you now."
Medibot wasn't sure what to feel about that. Wait- feel? Robots couldn't feel, but why was there a certain sense of fear tingling inside him as he followed the metal man out?
Makina was standing next to Gray's desk silently as Gray waited for the Mecha-Engineer to return to him. The Sniperbot had gone idle, conserving his battery power as he waited for this 'surprise' Gray had told him about. In all four months of his life he had never had a surprise, except when Gray made him his assistant instead of sending him to the incinerator for being broken.
Gray was busying himself with flipping through two folders on his desk. Makina had no idea what was in the files, or what they were for, but they were presumably important, for Gray kept them locked in a drawer where no one but himself could get it. Makina had asked once what the files were about, but all he had gotten was Gray telling him he'd find out soon enough.
Gray looked up and Makina snapped out of idle mode when someone knocked on the office door. The wiry old man let whoever it was enter, a small smile breaking out onto his face as the Mecha-Engineer stepped in with the Medibot in tow.
"Good that you've finally arrived. Makina, I'm assigning this Medibot to you personally. You will see it for all repairs and whatever," Gray explained. For a moment the two robots stared at each other. Both of them were capable of feelings, yet neither of them were sure how to feel about this.
"So… I don't just stop any Medibot anymore? I have to go to this one personally?" Makina asked. Gray nodded.
"Yes." He took a quick moment to dismiss the Mecha-Engineer. "Now, I've arranged for some robots to clear out a small room that this Medibot can make an office in. It's the small one along the level 6 hall, just turning out to R&D. You know the one. Take it there," He instructed Makina.
Makina didn't particularly like how Gray called Medibot an 'it'. He didn't mind when he did it to other normal bots but he knew what was going on with Medibot and he didn't like it. He'd make an effort to call the Medibot as a he.
He nodded, leading the Medibot out of the office and down to the so-called 'office'. It was a closet really, but in there had been nothing but dust and cobwebs in there for however long. By the time the two got down to the room, it had been cleaned out already and a table shifted in.
"So… I assume zhis is it?" Medibot asked. He wandered inside, taking a look at everything. It must have been a real privilege to have his own office. He noticed none of the other Medibots had an office of their own.
"Yep. So uhm… I'll come by and see ya later. Gray probably wants me to do something. See ya, Doc." The Sniperbot turned and left the Medibot to himself, the latter watching him go as he considered several things.
The office had to be filled with things. A recharging station, for one. And second, had the Sniperbot really just called him something other than Medibot? That was something to think about. Quietly, he closed the door and got to moving things around the dimly lit office.