Ionia had been spinning round in circles for around half an hour and Blanky had been sat watching her with a smile on her face. They had been in Birkin's lab for quite some time and had grown bored since Birkin had stepped out to do some chores.

"Here. Have a spinning chair instead!" Blanky wheeled over one of Birkin's office chairs and Ionia's eyes lit up. She dived onto it and began spinning round and round like a mad woman.

"Turbo come and try this, you buttface!" Ionia called for Turbo who was in the bathroom to come and join in the fun.

Blanky raised a brow. "Buttface?"

"Mmmmhmmm Turbo is a buttface."

"Oh... My god." Blanky just couldn't help but laugh at the nickname and was still laughing when Turbo wandered back in. He gave her an odd look before turning to face Ionia.

"Whath her problem?"

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Heyo buttface!"

"WHO ARE YA CALLIN' BUTTFATHE!?"

Ionia pointed as she continued to spin on the chair and nearly knocked Birkin, who was just entering the room again, off his feet. "Yooou, Turbutt!"

"How DARE you make fun of the greatetht rather ever? Don't you know who I am?"

"Take it easy, Turbutt...I mean Buttface...no! I mean Turbo." Blanky stifled giggles with her hand. She couldn't help it, the words just seemed to fall from her mouth.

Turbo stomped up to Blanky with a menacing look on his face and snorted. "What did you call me?"

"Tu... Turb... TURBUTT!"

Turbo launched himself at the officer and proceeded to try and strangle her in his rage, but was drastically unsuccessful.
Blanky giggled. "Hey, get off!"

"Hey, hey, hey. Easy." Birkin made his way over with a deadpan expression and grabbed him by his collar, lifting him up.

"But, the wath mocking me!"

He looked down at the small racer and heaved a sigh. "You sure have a temper on you for the supposed hero of your game."

Blanky brushed herself off and thanked Birkin. "Thanks. I appreciate that. I thought I was gonna die from laughter."

Turbo snorted and folded his arms. "Never underethtimate me becauthe of my thithe. Everyone hath it in for me, alwayth making fun of me. Well, I've had enough."

"Come on Turbo, we were only having some fun." Blanky smiled at him sympathetically and sipped on a glass of water to ease her coughing fit that had been brought on by the laughter.

Turbo gave her a dark look in return and mumbled something under his breath.

"Well, that's not very heroic of you." Birkin chuckled over just how personal Turbo was taking everything and couldn't help but wonder just what sort of a character he had been coded as.

"We didn't mean to hurt you, right Ionia?" Blanky gestured for Ionia to help them try and appease Turbo's temper and watched as the blue woman made her way over to him and tickled his belly as Birkin kept a firm grip on his racing suit collar.

"Aww, likkul babbeh!"

"Thtop that!" Turbo writhed as she tickled him, his face growing more red by the second. "THTOP! I THAID THTOP, YOU WRETCHED WOMAN!" He reached out in an attempt to punch Ionia away from him, but failed and just ended up looking ridiculous.

"You're right, Birkin." Blanky tilted her head. "The way he just acted was by no means heroic."

Ionia pouted and stopped tickling him. "He's MY hero."

Birkin gave Ionia an odd look. He knew that she liked him, but was interested in the fact that Turbo had allowed that remark to slip. Normally he shot down all comments that were even remotely affectionate in nature.

Turbo tried to squirm out of the scientists grasp, but just couldn't manage it. It was then that Birkin released his grip and Turbo fell to the ground with a thud. "Oh, whoops! Clumsy me." Birkin grinned down, dusted his hands off and stood over him proudly.

After a very girly shriek, Turbo landed on his butt pretty hard. He rubbed it, grumbling away over just how much it hurt. Ionia just smiled down at him as if everything was normal which made Turbo stick out his tongue at her.

Blanky walked over to Birkin and wrapped an arm round his shoulder. She gave Turbo a light helmet tap and laughed. "Well well! How that the tables have turned, its not nice is it?" She was, of course, referring to when Turbo kicked Birkin a few days previous. This, of course, meant nothing to the racer and he just sat there and raised his nose in the air defiantly.

Birkin folded his arms and smiled down at him, amused that the 3 of them had formed a circle around him. He wondered just what Turbo must have been feeling being so small and being surrounded in such a way.

There was silence as the group decided to leave the lab and head outside to part ways for the night. They exited the lab and Birkin locked everything up securely. They all wandered side by side up the dark roads and watched the stars sparkle in the sky.

It was then Ionia finally piped up. "Kicks hurt. It's awesome." She tilted her head and stared down at Turbo who was walking next to her. "Why do you never kick me?"

Everyone stopped and stared at her.

"Er." Blanky raised a brow at her a little shocked. "You WANT to be kicked? Are you like a masochist or something?"

Ionia didn't reply, instead she just stood there grinning like an idiot.

Birkin just shrugged it off and stuffed his hands in his lab coat pockets. "Well, you learn something new every day..."

"Oh yeah. You sure do." Blanky grinned at Birkin in a suggestive manner. Something that Turbo instantly picked up on.

"Hey, wait... No way!" A grin spread from ear to ear.

"What?" Birkin just tilted his head a little wondering what on earth the racer was babbling on about. It was as if he had caught Ionia's random and vague side all of a sudden. But even she didn't know what he was talking about.

"Whats so funny?"

"I think that fall has sent him even more crazy." Birkin sighed and rubbed at his eyes.

"Stop it Turbo. It's none of your business anyway." Scolded Blanky realizing what he was referring to. "And you could get 20 years for making fun of an officer! I could see to that!"

"What's funny, Turbutt?" Ionia had no idea what was going on and stared at him innocently.

"Ionia," he laced his fingers together and looked up at her, "Thothe two are..."

Blanky instantly pulled out her tazer and shot him with it. "Hey! I warned you Turbo!"

Ionia instinctively jumped upright and readied her water cannons defensively as she watched Turbo writhe around on the road as electricity surged through his body. "Ssss what the..."

Blanky switched off the current and sighed as Turbo managed to force out a few words. "I hate you Blanky Wood!"

Ionia's left eye was twitching, a sure sign that her coding was trying to make sad, angry or nervous emotions and failing miserably causing her to glitch. Blanky patted her arm lightly. "He'll be ok. He just needed a light shock."

"I think it'll do him good." Birkin grinned and watched as Ionia bent down to look at Turbo who was in a messy heap on the tarmac.

"Poor lil guy. He's all pooped." Ionia made kissy faces at the downed racer before patting his helmet lightly.

It took a while, but Turbo finally came to and shot Blanky another death stare before brushing himself down weakly.

"So," Birkin broke the silence, "Have you guys... You know... Yet? I mean, properly?"

Turbo and Ionia's faces flushed bright red. "Heyyyyy! Why you wanna know?"

"Curious. I can't help but wonder how it all works. She's not programmed as a human and you're... Well.." He pointed at Turbo, "You're you."
Turbo scoffed and folded his arms. "Whatth that thuppothed to mean?! It'th not that it'th any of your buthineth, but yeah we did. What of it?" He jutted out his lower jaw defiantly.

"Oh? You did, did you?"

Ionia couldn't handle it anymore and burst into fits of giggles like a young school girl.

"And here I thought there was nothing going on between you two." Birkin felt proud of his witty remark until Turbo retorted with his own.

"Heh, look whothe talking."

"I'll have you know that it is not in my nature to blab about my personal life. I am much more focussed on professional things."
Turbo was just about to make another sarcastic remark when Ionia snatched him up and winged him around in circles.

"Heyy, put me down! I'm not a baby!"

Blanky giggled to herself. "Baby..."

That did it. Ionia instantly picked up on the word baby and began to squeal. "BABY! AHHH!"

Birkin raised a brow with mild curiosity. "What?"

"Babies are so cuuuute!" She snuggled Turbo and went a little weak at the knees. It was no secret that Ionia had a fondness for babies of any form. She loved them. She loved how big their heads were, how squishy they looked, how soft they felt. She had protected them in her game and admired them from other games.

Blanky let out another chuckle and Birkin gave her a puzzled look.

"Oh, I wasn't laughing at you. Just thought it was funny the way Turbo says he's not a baby, but actually he behaves like one."

Turbo growled. "I HEARD THAT!" He squirmed in Ionia's arms in an attempt to free himself again. He hated how easy people found it to manhandle him in such a way. He narrowed his eyes at Ionia. "Put me down thith inthtant, unleth..." He raised his hands and wiggled his fingers in the air. "Unleth you wanna be tickled!"

Ionia flinched. "What? NO!"

"Oh yeahhh, baby." He instantly dug his fingers into her her arm pit space and began frantically tickling her with an evil smile spread across his grey face. This sent Ionia bawling her eyes out with laughter and she crashed to the ground in a messy pile.

Birkin hopped backwards to avoid getting squished and watched with a serious look on his face. "Turbo. There's something I need to ask you."

Turbo, still busy tickling his companion, looked up to acknowledge Birkin's comment. "What?"

"You said that you two had..." He made hand gestures to signify sexual activity and averted his eyes.

Turbo instantly shot to his feet and waved his hands out in front of him. "Uh, no! No, no, no! Forget about that!"

"So, you haven't?"

The racer heaved an irritated sigh and folded his arms. "I will not thay anything more!"

"There's a reason I ask, I'm not being nosey or asking to poke fun."

Blanky scrunched up her face, completely puzzled by the sudden serious attitude he had. "Birkin, what...?"

Turbo flashed his big, yellow teeth at Ionia who was attempting to recover from her tickling session. "Perhapth you'd like to tell him, Ionia."

She flapped her hand and stared at Birkin. "Wh... What was it... You said? HAHA... Horizonta..."

"Horizontal muchacho mambo?" Birkin raised a brow as Ionia fell back in a heap laughing herself almost to death. He didn't know he was so funny. Perhaps he should take up comedy...

Turbo just groaned at Ionia and wiped a hand over his face. "He needth to know. I don't know why, but he doeth."

Ionia shot upright and grinned widely. "Yes. Yes, we did that. BWAHAHA!"

Birkin couldn't help but pull a disgusted face at the thought of the two being intimate. Those were mental images he certainly didn't want. It wasn't that Ionia was unattractive, far from it. It was more the idea of Turbo being naked. He shuddered. "Ugh... Well... I've been doing research."

Turbo tapped his foot impatiently. "Yeah, and?"

"Into our coding. I mean, all of the characters in the arcade."

Ionia wiped away the tears that had formed from laughing so much. "Why would you do th-that?"

Blanky looked at Birkin, then to Turbo and Ionia, back to Birkin again and let out a sigh. She felt suddenly so excluded. After a moment of thought she slowly slipped off from the group seemingly unnoticed.

"This is going to sound like a horribly personal question, but... Did you use code safeguards when you..." Birkin sighed and rubbed his temples. "I can't believe I'm going to say this... Bumped uglies."

Turbo instantly flinched and coughed into his hand awkwardly. "Uuhhh...why do you need to know about code thafeguardth?"

"Well... How can I put this in laymans terms?" Birkin cringed before squinting at them. "When two digitally coded people love each other very much..."

Ionia had no idea what Birkin meant and tilted her head as Turbo picked at his teeth absentmindedly. "Go on..."

"And they... Well... Join codes. Sometimes there can be an after effect that is not expected."

"Aaaaand why do you wanna know thith?" The racer gestured to the scientist in an irritable manner. He had no interest in discussing such things and he felt it highly insulting that he would even want to talk about something so private.

Ionia raised a hand to her mouth. "I knew he had cooties."

Birkin couldn't help but chuckle at that and especially the reaction it got from Turbo. "COOTIETH!?" He looked genuinely hurt.

"No, no. Not cooties."

Turbo frowned at Birkin. "Then what?"

"Sometimes when codes are joined they can create a branch code."

"And what of it?" The racer couldn't help but be confused about where Birkin was going with the interrogation.

"That branch code develops into its own life." Birkin looked at Turbo with a serious expression.

Turbo just shrugged. "Oh. Tho what do you wanna know about that?"

"You mean like a virus?" Ionia piped up. Her head was trying to figure out what on earth Birkin was blabbering on about.

Turbo grinned at her and patted her leg. "No, thilly. My thilly thweetfathe, you don't know nothing."

Birkin had just about had enough. He ran a hand down his face in desperation and yelled to high heavens. "BABIES, PEOPLE! I'M TALKING ABOUT BABIES!"

Ionia fell backwards over his outburst.

"Yeah, I know what you mean about babieth. But, why do you wanna know?"

Birkin's mouth hung open. He couldn't believe just how nonchalant Turbo was being about such a serious topic. He flapped his arms in frustration. "Did you two at least use code safeguards?"

Turbo shrugged and went back to picking his teeth. "Er, no, we didn't... But why ith that tho important to you? Ith it for thientific thtuff?"

This was just getting stupid. Birkin gritted his teeth and heaved a sigh. He swore any moment he would tear his own hair out. "The percentage of branch codes is very, very..." He suddenly thought about his own situation and felt a bead of sweat drip from his face. "VERY high."

Ionia tilted her head. "I don't get it, bub."

"Look... If you didn't use a safeguard," he pointed at Ionia, "I'd have her coding checked."

Turbo flicked a piece of food he had managed to fish from between his teeth and shrugged again. "He'th right, we'd better get your coding checked. Hey..." The racer frowned up at Birkin. "Why do you care tho much about that?"

"Because, Turbo, you could have created a life."

Ionia, still not following, let out a strange 'eep' sound. "Wait... What?"

"A code baby, he'th talking about a code baby! Jeeeethe!"

Ionia's voice became glitchy. "Sorry. I no here now. Check back tomorrow. BEEP!" She instantly fell backwards with a 'thud' onto the road. Turbo just shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"From what I heard you were not the most keen of individuals to be father material, Turbo. And, weeeelll. My theory needs proving. I can do the checks myself back at my lab. I have the protocol all set up."

Turbo grinned confidently and nodded, but inwardly he was screaming. He would never let on, but inside he was a mess. A horrible, panic-stricken mess.

Birkin walked over to Ionia and lightly tapped her with his foot. "Hey. Hey!" There was no reply besides a horrendous 'spool' sound as she dribbled all down the side of her face. Birkin turned round and was about to ask Blanky for help when he noticed that she had vanished. "Hey? Where's..."

Turbo shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe the got bored of you quethtioning me! Hah."

"Hmph." Birkin leaned down and began to slap Ionia around the face a little in an attempt to wake her up, but Turbo was not impressed. He stomped over and took hold of Ionia's head in his arms and patted her cheeks.

"Heeeey, handth off! The'th my thilly thweetfathe! Get your own thweetfathe."

Birkin grinned at him being so protective and unusually affectionate and laughed lightly.

Suddenly, Ionia shot up causing both men to leap in shock. "Barium, cobalt, Einstein, Kool-aid!"

Birkin cleared his throat awkwardly. That outburst certainly was unexpected. "We need to find Blanky and head to my lab for tests."

"I need a driiiiiink." Ionia began to whine and shuffle on the spot.

Turbo couldn't help but agree. The events had taken its toll on his nerves and he was gagging for a glass of root beer. "Me too."

"But the tests!"

"Drink."

"What the lady wanth, the lady getth." Turbo helped Ionia to her feet and walked closely by her side.

Birkin had been defeated. He knew that it was just a few drinks and they'd be back at the lab before he knew it, but inside he wanted to get it over with. His brain was nagging him and he was not one to ignore it. He heaved a sigh and followed them.