Thunder Child
First: Hardships
by Lady Virgo
"Seeing the light
flicker far off
Brave the night
Shine, shine"
///
"...DRN#008: Elec. Designation: electrical specialist, alternative power source. All systems check."
The aged face cackled happily, clapping his hands. Behind him, he could see another, plumper man, an unruly beard of pepper poofing off his chin.
"Good, good." The first man said. "Do you know who I am?"
The information had already been accumulated and recognition flashed in his mind. He had known who he was already, even if he hadn't known that he already knew. If he had been asked before hand, he wouldn't have known until he was told to remember what was already pre-inscribed in his memories.
"Dr. Albert Wily. And that is Dr. Thomas Light."
"Very good." With a wide, Wily turned triumphantly to his... cohort. "Well? What do you think? All six of them, up and running without so much as a pause."
The other just turned away, a disapproving frown on his otherwise detached face. "So it seems." He uncrossed his arms. "Elec, why don't you go to the main room, acquaint yourself with your 'brothers'. One of them will have a set of clothes for you. I trust," he said with a brief pause, "that you know the way."
Without a word, Elec slid off the table, padding quietly after his dismissal.
Before he even left the room, the doctors were already arguing.
It didn't take too long to get to the main room, there sat five other bioroids, one with a small pile of folded clothing by his side.
They all looked up as he entered, standing to greet him.
"So you're finally up, huh?" Said the largest one. His broad shoulders seemed to take up half the ceiling, amazingly well-balanced on much slimmer hips and legs. His large hand on Elec's shoulder nearly encased the upper half of his back. "I'm DRN#004, Guts."
He already knew. He already knew all of them just before they each introduced themselves. But, he decided in an odd way, he might as well humor them. Introductions seemed an integral part of society, much to his newborn confusion.
Only one didn't stand to shake his hand, and that was the one sitting next to the clothes. "Here," Fire waved a hand to the pile, "put these on."
Elec's lips twitched slightly. The least he could have done, he figured to himself, was hold them out. But something deep inside told him that something was wrong with the flame haired robot. Oddly enough, he could feel an immense heat emanating from the taller bioroid, even from the thick gloves he wore on his hands.
He picked them up, leisurely looking through the articles, cataloguing them. As he picked up the trousers:
"Okay, I've made lemonade for everyone in case he-EEEEEK!" There was the crashing of glass on carpeted floor and all six turned to see a young, blonde haired girl turning away, bouncing and flushing brightly behind her hands. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't know you were up yet!"
From the sides Bomb and Cut snickered and Elec felt heat well up in his own cheeks. Though he had no problem at his own nudity, simple cause and effect tended to make one shy of themselves. With a scowl, he briskly lashed the claps of the pants around his waist. "Okay, I'm decent, now." He said tersely.
Cautiously, Roll turned, peeking from between her fingers as Elec struggled into the white t-shirt given to him. "I'm sorry." She apologized again. "I really, /really/ didn't mean to... you know... look."
"Don't worry about." Was all that he could come up with. The others still snickered behind their hands at him. Even Fire had to hide a grin behind his hand.
"Ah! Roll!" A young voice said from the behind her. "What happened? Look at this mess!"
She pouted cutely. "Rock~," she said with a flat look, "because you wanted so badly to make sandwiches, I had to come out here first!"
"Yeah, so?"
With a growl, she pinched his cheeks. "Elec was getting dressed, you jerk! Because of that, you get to clean this up!"
"What?" Rock finally managed, freeing himself from his sister's deadly grasp. "How come?"
"Because you were taking too long, I had to come out here first and had to see...." She trailed off, blushing again.
"Huh?" The logic, or the allusion, for that matter, failed to make its way into Rock's dark haired head.
"Mou! It doesn't matter! I say the mess is your fault, so /you/ have to clean it up!"
"Wah! That's not fair! Roll~!"
"Don't argue with your big sister."
"You're younger than me."
"I said don't argue!"
Elec leaned up against a wall, chuckling into his palm. Well, so much for making a lasting, first impression.
....a /good/, first impression, anyway.
~*~*~*~
Elec enjoyed spending his time working, being idle made him bored. And after the first couple days they realized, his being bored tended to be somewhat... dangerous towards others.
His mentality, as the others had quickly learned was: If I have to be bored/miserable/doing something I hate/etc., etc., why should I be the only one? So he was put to work on the house.
Yes, actually /on/ the house. He made it more energy efficient, cut the electricity bill down impressively, fixed all the plug-in appliances, speed up computer connections and re-powered an old generator to be three times more powerful. After the first week, he was the first of the robots to be commissioned by someone else. Even Dr. Light was impressed with his ability.
Though not the friendliest of bioroids, Elec's sharp sense of humor and quick wit made him rather well liked with everyone. Even with Fire, after a few false starts, the two became bantering partners of sorts, one of the few that the flame creator would freely talk to.
However, out of all of them, Rock was the one Elec liked spending the most time with. Despite the time difference between their activation, Rock treated him like he was his big brother, always wanting to play and laugh, coming to Elec whenever he need help or wanted to talk seriously. For a bit, Roll got a bit jealous because Rock was suddenly ignoring his 'big sister', but Elec explained to her that it was 'guy talk'. Though that wasn't what convinced her to let it alone, it was for the fact that, even though Rock had a 'big brother', Roll was still that one that he got in trouble with, always the one that he wanted to help out. And that was fine with her. So long as she could still scold him, it was fine.
These days, though, Elec had taken to spending his free time with Fire, lounging around on the roof.
"Shouldn't you be working?" Fire asked, idly. He wasn't much for conversation, but he had the rare occasion to actually start one.
"Eh." He shrugged. "I'm gathering energy."
"You're hardly solar powered, you know."
"Hush. Photosynthesizing."
Fire's lips pulled back in a snicker despite himself. "Of course. I suppose I should tell Roll to come up twice a day to water you. Do you have a preference in fertilizer?"
"Yeah. Do you know if they make chili dog flavored ones?"
"I'll be sure to ask around for it."
The two suddenly found themselves peering into Guts' sharp eyes. "Hey, Fire." He rumbled. "The doctors want to see you." The good thing about having Guts around was that he was tall enough to look onto the roof if he stood on tiptoes. "Do you need help getting down?"
"No." Fire replied, standing and brushing himself off. "I'll be fine." As a rule, no one ever touched Fire. It wasn't just for the fact that he didn't like being touched as it was that the doctors told them never to.
As the older bioroid left, Elec narrowed his flashing blue eyes. He had always wondered why the scientists called Fire in, day after day, and never gave him work to do. Not that he was jealous, after all. Elec not having anything to do was a bad thing, remember? Making up his mind, Elec hopped off the roof, slinking over to the main computer room.
He had a way with computers. Not so much as programming or anything, but he knew intimately the flow of energy and used it to his advantage. Crossing a few wires, he managed to reroute the camera system to the lab into the living room.
Carefully, Elec made his way there, turning on the television, eyes widening to the view in front of him, shown at various angles.
Fire lay on the lab table, stripped, system on suspended, chest open all the way from the thorax to the navel. Both scientists stood over him, in heavy suits and thick gloves, guiding machines equipped with scalpels, screw divers, wire clippers and scissors around the table.
"What.... What are they doing?" He asked the TV in confusion.
"What're who doing what?"
With a noise that sounded suspiciously like a startled squeak, Elec jumped to his feet, slapped the TV off and whirled around, trying to hide the screen with his thin body as if it were still on.
Cut and Ice looked at him, arching a brow.
"Oh, come /off/ it, Elec." Cut said. "We know you can re-route things after you merged our TV signals with the neighbor's cable so Bomb could watch porno." He suddenly looked thoughtful. "Unless, of course, you're hiding it because /you're/ into it and you don't want anyone to know."
"Of course not!" Elec snapped. "It's just... nothing for kids to see, all right?"
"Oh?" Ice asked. "And just /who/ is the youngest, here?" Behind him, Elec could feel the television turn on again as the tiny robot tossed the remote over his shoulder. "Don't think we're children just 'cause we're built small. Now move, kiddo."
With an aggravated frown, Elec reluctantly stepped out of the way.
It took a moment, but the two gasped.
"Wh-What /is/ this?" Ice managed to get out, watching as the two men dug the machine's around in Fire's abdomen. Well, what was left of it.
"....definitely not porno." Was all Cut could say. Elec felt inclined to say some smart-assed remark to that, but decided against it.
"It's apparently what the doctors have been calling Fire in for every day."
"But... what are they doing to him?"
"I don't know."
"Don't you ever ask him?"
Elec frowned at the 'tree trimmer', as he had been so 'lovingly' dubbed by the other bioroids. "Of course I have. But he always ignores me ever time. I wonder, really, if he knows what they do to him, as it is."
"I'm sure he does." Ice said. "I mean, why would they do anything to us without telling us what it is, first?"
Elec shrugged. "I don't know. But why haven't they told us about /this/, yet?"
Neither had an answer.
~*~*~*~
They didn't let on about what they knew. After all, it was kept a secret from them for a reason. The only other person they told was Bomb. Guts was a good, dependable guy, but he was also rather simple minded- most of his brain being taken up to move his impressive girth so only a small portion was given to common sense. Bomb, however, was Ice's best friend and tended to know exactly when something was kept from him. He was a very perceptive sort.
However, even from seeing what they had, they still didn't know just what was going on. It didn't take that much persuasion, but a bit of hinting, to get Elec to do the job, after all, he was just as curious as the rest. It did, though, take a lot of thought to figure out how exactly he was going to go about it.
As was typical of any other brilliant scientist, the doctors had to have kept a journal of some sort. The question was, in which terminal was it kept? And how exactly would Elec go about to crack it open?
After two days of planning, he finally went into action, rerouting the images from the cameras in the main room to see where they exited. From there, he found out which computer they used and then came the tricky part.
It was much easier to splice around array data than it was hard digital. But, with Ice's help, he managed to maneuver the network from the terminal they were working at into the central star network inside the lab. From there, it was just a matter of time until they finally...
"Got it!" Ice called out. The other three quickly crowded around the computer, trying to squeeze a look over his shoulder.
"What's it say? What's it say?"
"Hey, quit pushing!"
"I can't read it!"
"Quiet!" Ice hissed, skimming through the information. They had apparently broken into Wily's journal, he tended to be much more flourish and wordy with his writings. "It says.... Hang on, hang on." He ran a finger over the screen, immediately throwing out the useless words and trying to form the reconstructed sentences in his mind.
"What? What is it?"
Abruptly, Ice sat back, a stunned look on his face.
"Ice? What's wrong?"
"Something went wrong in his construction." Ice said. "The generator inside of him keeps on generating heat, and the conductors are overly sensitive, so it says. It's been getting worse each day and they're trying to figure out what's wrong. But every time they look at him, everything they do seems to have no affect."
They looked at him with apprehensive eyes. "You're saying..."
"Fire is being burned alive. And anything he touches will be burnt up with him."
~*~*~*~
Perhaps knowledge really is a dangerous thing. Especially when no one is suppose to know that you know what you're not supposed to. They tried not to act differently around Fire, they tried not to act nicer, or more worried around him, but it was hard to. Every time they saw him, or one of the doctors asked for him, they'd flutter about nervously, wondering if he was fine. And when he returned, they tried their best not to seem so concerned.
One day, though, there was a small accident. No one really got hurt, but it was enough to make the scientists panic.
Fire was working on re-tarring a section of the road not far from the house. He had taken off his gloves- which managed to insulate the heat -in order to quicken the process. However, a driver had ignored the caution signs and came hurtling down the street. And straight at Fire.
He was down on his knees when he saw the car coming, not having enough maneuverability to get out of the way. All he had time to do was hold his hands out and catch the front bumper as it plowed into him, the force driving grooves all the way down to the engine.
Bomb, who had been on a nearby section of the road, had seen what happened and knew what was going to happen. He tore the car door off its hinges and dragged the frozen man out of the vehicle, ripping the seatbelt as he went. With his rounded body built to handle explosive stress, he covered the man as pieces of car went flying around them. And, in the midst of it all, Fire stayed, hands outstretched, shocked at his own, potentially fatal mistake.
The doctors ran out the moment they heard. The man suffered only minor bruising, too shocked to even move his mouth. Bomb had only superficial cuts and burns. Fire, however, was literally aflame. The force of the explosion had torn at his clothes that protect outside elements from his burning body. The speed in which his blood coursed in his veins conducted the flammable chemicals even faster, turning his conductive skin prime to light up and the sparks and flames from the burning wreckage turning him into a walking pyre.
It wasn't the doctors that wanted him back in his hydraulic capsule. After the ordeal, leaving Fire badly shaken and shocked beyond belief, he had requested to be put in suspension until they could figure out how to help him. Right in front of the others. Only Guts was confused at the entire exchange, but everyone else was stunned at the request.
In the end, though, Wily and Light were more than willing to put him under, just in case something else would happen.
However, they couldn't think of what to do. And so, there was only one thing that they could do.
~*~*~*~
He'd never seen him look so shocked before in his life, so shaken.
"They're taking away Fire!" He said.
What could he say? He didn't really know what to do. When he thought about it, he didn't even really know him to begin with. They were brothers, of course, and possibly even on the verge of being friends, but...
"What're you talking about?" Was the only thing that would come out of his mouth.
"Fire..!" Cut repeated. "They went up to Fire, took him out of his capsule and just hooked him up to their main computer and began downloading!"
Elec couldn't help but continue to stare in disbelief. "What do you mean?"
"They're getting rid of him! /That's/ what!"
He froze, the information slowly sinking in.
Fire? Downloading? Taking him away?
They were going to get rid of him?
"Why?"
"I don't know." Cut said, looking so lost. "No one knows why, they didn't say anything."
Elec looked up at Guts and Ice, the two as obviously confused as him.
"You're kidding. Why on earth would they do that?" Ice asked.
"Because..." he shook his head, trying to think. "I don't know. They won't tell us anything and they won't turn on Fire's matrix, either."
"They can't do that. Why would they do that?"
Guts looked doubtful. "Is it because he keeps burning? Is that why?"
"That's not his fault!" Ice cried. "He can't help it! /They're/ the ones who made him like that! They put him in the capsule until they could figure out a solution, anyway!"
And that makes a difference how? Elec had wanted to say, but it wouldn't come out. Nothing would. It didn't seem real, it didn't seem right. It was almost like a dream, where he just... couldn't seem to understand that... this was happening.
As the others warred with each other on the reasoning behind this... odd event, what the possible reasoning could be, Elec stood up from his place at the work table and walked out of the room, down the hall, along the metallic corridor and into the containment room.
There, near the rear wall of the room, stood Wily and Light, hunched over a computer terminal surrounded by bits of metal pieces and next to them, draped in wires and connectors, long frame bent over in a way too unnatural for his straight silhouette, was Fire.
And it hurt... a lot. Seeing him hunched over like that, slack, lost of his familiar strength and confidant poise.
Elec didn't really get a chance to know Fire very well to be sure, but he was a good guy, someone Elec had begun to respect and admire like he had no one else. Fire was harsh, straightforward, blunt to the point of brutal honesty in its finest form. But he was never overbearing, he never snapped out except in the rarest of cases, his demeanor demanded respect, whether you liked him or not.
And now... he had to go?
Elec growled to himself, or at least tried to find some energy deep within that wasn't completely frozen up in shock to do so.
Because Fire stood there in a sullen silence, unwilling, but passively taking the process. Though he wasn't fully 'conscious' through the whole procedure, standing with his circuits exposed and wires clipped together and spread out, fluids drained and blocked from the open panel on his back and collar and head, Elec could see it in his dead eyes.
Why me? Why are they doing this to me?
I don't know. Elec thought back. Did /they/ say anything? Don't you know what's going on?
I don't know. Fire echoed, burning eyes dim and glazed. I don't know.
And all Elec could do was stand there and do nothing.
First: Hardships
by Lady Virgo
"Seeing the light
flicker far off
Brave the night
Shine, shine"
///
"...DRN#008: Elec. Designation: electrical specialist, alternative power source. All systems check."
The aged face cackled happily, clapping his hands. Behind him, he could see another, plumper man, an unruly beard of pepper poofing off his chin.
"Good, good." The first man said. "Do you know who I am?"
The information had already been accumulated and recognition flashed in his mind. He had known who he was already, even if he hadn't known that he already knew. If he had been asked before hand, he wouldn't have known until he was told to remember what was already pre-inscribed in his memories.
"Dr. Albert Wily. And that is Dr. Thomas Light."
"Very good." With a wide, Wily turned triumphantly to his... cohort. "Well? What do you think? All six of them, up and running without so much as a pause."
The other just turned away, a disapproving frown on his otherwise detached face. "So it seems." He uncrossed his arms. "Elec, why don't you go to the main room, acquaint yourself with your 'brothers'. One of them will have a set of clothes for you. I trust," he said with a brief pause, "that you know the way."
Without a word, Elec slid off the table, padding quietly after his dismissal.
Before he even left the room, the doctors were already arguing.
It didn't take too long to get to the main room, there sat five other bioroids, one with a small pile of folded clothing by his side.
They all looked up as he entered, standing to greet him.
"So you're finally up, huh?" Said the largest one. His broad shoulders seemed to take up half the ceiling, amazingly well-balanced on much slimmer hips and legs. His large hand on Elec's shoulder nearly encased the upper half of his back. "I'm DRN#004, Guts."
He already knew. He already knew all of them just before they each introduced themselves. But, he decided in an odd way, he might as well humor them. Introductions seemed an integral part of society, much to his newborn confusion.
Only one didn't stand to shake his hand, and that was the one sitting next to the clothes. "Here," Fire waved a hand to the pile, "put these on."
Elec's lips twitched slightly. The least he could have done, he figured to himself, was hold them out. But something deep inside told him that something was wrong with the flame haired robot. Oddly enough, he could feel an immense heat emanating from the taller bioroid, even from the thick gloves he wore on his hands.
He picked them up, leisurely looking through the articles, cataloguing them. As he picked up the trousers:
"Okay, I've made lemonade for everyone in case he-EEEEEK!" There was the crashing of glass on carpeted floor and all six turned to see a young, blonde haired girl turning away, bouncing and flushing brightly behind her hands. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't know you were up yet!"
From the sides Bomb and Cut snickered and Elec felt heat well up in his own cheeks. Though he had no problem at his own nudity, simple cause and effect tended to make one shy of themselves. With a scowl, he briskly lashed the claps of the pants around his waist. "Okay, I'm decent, now." He said tersely.
Cautiously, Roll turned, peeking from between her fingers as Elec struggled into the white t-shirt given to him. "I'm sorry." She apologized again. "I really, /really/ didn't mean to... you know... look."
"Don't worry about." Was all that he could come up with. The others still snickered behind their hands at him. Even Fire had to hide a grin behind his hand.
"Ah! Roll!" A young voice said from the behind her. "What happened? Look at this mess!"
She pouted cutely. "Rock~," she said with a flat look, "because you wanted so badly to make sandwiches, I had to come out here first!"
"Yeah, so?"
With a growl, she pinched his cheeks. "Elec was getting dressed, you jerk! Because of that, you get to clean this up!"
"What?" Rock finally managed, freeing himself from his sister's deadly grasp. "How come?"
"Because you were taking too long, I had to come out here first and had to see...." She trailed off, blushing again.
"Huh?" The logic, or the allusion, for that matter, failed to make its way into Rock's dark haired head.
"Mou! It doesn't matter! I say the mess is your fault, so /you/ have to clean it up!"
"Wah! That's not fair! Roll~!"
"Don't argue with your big sister."
"You're younger than me."
"I said don't argue!"
Elec leaned up against a wall, chuckling into his palm. Well, so much for making a lasting, first impression.
....a /good/, first impression, anyway.
~*~*~*~
Elec enjoyed spending his time working, being idle made him bored. And after the first couple days they realized, his being bored tended to be somewhat... dangerous towards others.
His mentality, as the others had quickly learned was: If I have to be bored/miserable/doing something I hate/etc., etc., why should I be the only one? So he was put to work on the house.
Yes, actually /on/ the house. He made it more energy efficient, cut the electricity bill down impressively, fixed all the plug-in appliances, speed up computer connections and re-powered an old generator to be three times more powerful. After the first week, he was the first of the robots to be commissioned by someone else. Even Dr. Light was impressed with his ability.
Though not the friendliest of bioroids, Elec's sharp sense of humor and quick wit made him rather well liked with everyone. Even with Fire, after a few false starts, the two became bantering partners of sorts, one of the few that the flame creator would freely talk to.
However, out of all of them, Rock was the one Elec liked spending the most time with. Despite the time difference between their activation, Rock treated him like he was his big brother, always wanting to play and laugh, coming to Elec whenever he need help or wanted to talk seriously. For a bit, Roll got a bit jealous because Rock was suddenly ignoring his 'big sister', but Elec explained to her that it was 'guy talk'. Though that wasn't what convinced her to let it alone, it was for the fact that, even though Rock had a 'big brother', Roll was still that one that he got in trouble with, always the one that he wanted to help out. And that was fine with her. So long as she could still scold him, it was fine.
These days, though, Elec had taken to spending his free time with Fire, lounging around on the roof.
"Shouldn't you be working?" Fire asked, idly. He wasn't much for conversation, but he had the rare occasion to actually start one.
"Eh." He shrugged. "I'm gathering energy."
"You're hardly solar powered, you know."
"Hush. Photosynthesizing."
Fire's lips pulled back in a snicker despite himself. "Of course. I suppose I should tell Roll to come up twice a day to water you. Do you have a preference in fertilizer?"
"Yeah. Do you know if they make chili dog flavored ones?"
"I'll be sure to ask around for it."
The two suddenly found themselves peering into Guts' sharp eyes. "Hey, Fire." He rumbled. "The doctors want to see you." The good thing about having Guts around was that he was tall enough to look onto the roof if he stood on tiptoes. "Do you need help getting down?"
"No." Fire replied, standing and brushing himself off. "I'll be fine." As a rule, no one ever touched Fire. It wasn't just for the fact that he didn't like being touched as it was that the doctors told them never to.
As the older bioroid left, Elec narrowed his flashing blue eyes. He had always wondered why the scientists called Fire in, day after day, and never gave him work to do. Not that he was jealous, after all. Elec not having anything to do was a bad thing, remember? Making up his mind, Elec hopped off the roof, slinking over to the main computer room.
He had a way with computers. Not so much as programming or anything, but he knew intimately the flow of energy and used it to his advantage. Crossing a few wires, he managed to reroute the camera system to the lab into the living room.
Carefully, Elec made his way there, turning on the television, eyes widening to the view in front of him, shown at various angles.
Fire lay on the lab table, stripped, system on suspended, chest open all the way from the thorax to the navel. Both scientists stood over him, in heavy suits and thick gloves, guiding machines equipped with scalpels, screw divers, wire clippers and scissors around the table.
"What.... What are they doing?" He asked the TV in confusion.
"What're who doing what?"
With a noise that sounded suspiciously like a startled squeak, Elec jumped to his feet, slapped the TV off and whirled around, trying to hide the screen with his thin body as if it were still on.
Cut and Ice looked at him, arching a brow.
"Oh, come /off/ it, Elec." Cut said. "We know you can re-route things after you merged our TV signals with the neighbor's cable so Bomb could watch porno." He suddenly looked thoughtful. "Unless, of course, you're hiding it because /you're/ into it and you don't want anyone to know."
"Of course not!" Elec snapped. "It's just... nothing for kids to see, all right?"
"Oh?" Ice asked. "And just /who/ is the youngest, here?" Behind him, Elec could feel the television turn on again as the tiny robot tossed the remote over his shoulder. "Don't think we're children just 'cause we're built small. Now move, kiddo."
With an aggravated frown, Elec reluctantly stepped out of the way.
It took a moment, but the two gasped.
"Wh-What /is/ this?" Ice managed to get out, watching as the two men dug the machine's around in Fire's abdomen. Well, what was left of it.
"....definitely not porno." Was all Cut could say. Elec felt inclined to say some smart-assed remark to that, but decided against it.
"It's apparently what the doctors have been calling Fire in for every day."
"But... what are they doing to him?"
"I don't know."
"Don't you ever ask him?"
Elec frowned at the 'tree trimmer', as he had been so 'lovingly' dubbed by the other bioroids. "Of course I have. But he always ignores me ever time. I wonder, really, if he knows what they do to him, as it is."
"I'm sure he does." Ice said. "I mean, why would they do anything to us without telling us what it is, first?"
Elec shrugged. "I don't know. But why haven't they told us about /this/, yet?"
Neither had an answer.
~*~*~*~
They didn't let on about what they knew. After all, it was kept a secret from them for a reason. The only other person they told was Bomb. Guts was a good, dependable guy, but he was also rather simple minded- most of his brain being taken up to move his impressive girth so only a small portion was given to common sense. Bomb, however, was Ice's best friend and tended to know exactly when something was kept from him. He was a very perceptive sort.
However, even from seeing what they had, they still didn't know just what was going on. It didn't take that much persuasion, but a bit of hinting, to get Elec to do the job, after all, he was just as curious as the rest. It did, though, take a lot of thought to figure out how exactly he was going to go about it.
As was typical of any other brilliant scientist, the doctors had to have kept a journal of some sort. The question was, in which terminal was it kept? And how exactly would Elec go about to crack it open?
After two days of planning, he finally went into action, rerouting the images from the cameras in the main room to see where they exited. From there, he found out which computer they used and then came the tricky part.
It was much easier to splice around array data than it was hard digital. But, with Ice's help, he managed to maneuver the network from the terminal they were working at into the central star network inside the lab. From there, it was just a matter of time until they finally...
"Got it!" Ice called out. The other three quickly crowded around the computer, trying to squeeze a look over his shoulder.
"What's it say? What's it say?"
"Hey, quit pushing!"
"I can't read it!"
"Quiet!" Ice hissed, skimming through the information. They had apparently broken into Wily's journal, he tended to be much more flourish and wordy with his writings. "It says.... Hang on, hang on." He ran a finger over the screen, immediately throwing out the useless words and trying to form the reconstructed sentences in his mind.
"What? What is it?"
Abruptly, Ice sat back, a stunned look on his face.
"Ice? What's wrong?"
"Something went wrong in his construction." Ice said. "The generator inside of him keeps on generating heat, and the conductors are overly sensitive, so it says. It's been getting worse each day and they're trying to figure out what's wrong. But every time they look at him, everything they do seems to have no affect."
They looked at him with apprehensive eyes. "You're saying..."
"Fire is being burned alive. And anything he touches will be burnt up with him."
~*~*~*~
Perhaps knowledge really is a dangerous thing. Especially when no one is suppose to know that you know what you're not supposed to. They tried not to act differently around Fire, they tried not to act nicer, or more worried around him, but it was hard to. Every time they saw him, or one of the doctors asked for him, they'd flutter about nervously, wondering if he was fine. And when he returned, they tried their best not to seem so concerned.
One day, though, there was a small accident. No one really got hurt, but it was enough to make the scientists panic.
Fire was working on re-tarring a section of the road not far from the house. He had taken off his gloves- which managed to insulate the heat -in order to quicken the process. However, a driver had ignored the caution signs and came hurtling down the street. And straight at Fire.
He was down on his knees when he saw the car coming, not having enough maneuverability to get out of the way. All he had time to do was hold his hands out and catch the front bumper as it plowed into him, the force driving grooves all the way down to the engine.
Bomb, who had been on a nearby section of the road, had seen what happened and knew what was going to happen. He tore the car door off its hinges and dragged the frozen man out of the vehicle, ripping the seatbelt as he went. With his rounded body built to handle explosive stress, he covered the man as pieces of car went flying around them. And, in the midst of it all, Fire stayed, hands outstretched, shocked at his own, potentially fatal mistake.
The doctors ran out the moment they heard. The man suffered only minor bruising, too shocked to even move his mouth. Bomb had only superficial cuts and burns. Fire, however, was literally aflame. The force of the explosion had torn at his clothes that protect outside elements from his burning body. The speed in which his blood coursed in his veins conducted the flammable chemicals even faster, turning his conductive skin prime to light up and the sparks and flames from the burning wreckage turning him into a walking pyre.
It wasn't the doctors that wanted him back in his hydraulic capsule. After the ordeal, leaving Fire badly shaken and shocked beyond belief, he had requested to be put in suspension until they could figure out how to help him. Right in front of the others. Only Guts was confused at the entire exchange, but everyone else was stunned at the request.
In the end, though, Wily and Light were more than willing to put him under, just in case something else would happen.
However, they couldn't think of what to do. And so, there was only one thing that they could do.
~*~*~*~
He'd never seen him look so shocked before in his life, so shaken.
"They're taking away Fire!" He said.
What could he say? He didn't really know what to do. When he thought about it, he didn't even really know him to begin with. They were brothers, of course, and possibly even on the verge of being friends, but...
"What're you talking about?" Was the only thing that would come out of his mouth.
"Fire..!" Cut repeated. "They went up to Fire, took him out of his capsule and just hooked him up to their main computer and began downloading!"
Elec couldn't help but continue to stare in disbelief. "What do you mean?"
"They're getting rid of him! /That's/ what!"
He froze, the information slowly sinking in.
Fire? Downloading? Taking him away?
They were going to get rid of him?
"Why?"
"I don't know." Cut said, looking so lost. "No one knows why, they didn't say anything."
Elec looked up at Guts and Ice, the two as obviously confused as him.
"You're kidding. Why on earth would they do that?" Ice asked.
"Because..." he shook his head, trying to think. "I don't know. They won't tell us anything and they won't turn on Fire's matrix, either."
"They can't do that. Why would they do that?"
Guts looked doubtful. "Is it because he keeps burning? Is that why?"
"That's not his fault!" Ice cried. "He can't help it! /They're/ the ones who made him like that! They put him in the capsule until they could figure out a solution, anyway!"
And that makes a difference how? Elec had wanted to say, but it wouldn't come out. Nothing would. It didn't seem real, it didn't seem right. It was almost like a dream, where he just... couldn't seem to understand that... this was happening.
As the others warred with each other on the reasoning behind this... odd event, what the possible reasoning could be, Elec stood up from his place at the work table and walked out of the room, down the hall, along the metallic corridor and into the containment room.
There, near the rear wall of the room, stood Wily and Light, hunched over a computer terminal surrounded by bits of metal pieces and next to them, draped in wires and connectors, long frame bent over in a way too unnatural for his straight silhouette, was Fire.
And it hurt... a lot. Seeing him hunched over like that, slack, lost of his familiar strength and confidant poise.
Elec didn't really get a chance to know Fire very well to be sure, but he was a good guy, someone Elec had begun to respect and admire like he had no one else. Fire was harsh, straightforward, blunt to the point of brutal honesty in its finest form. But he was never overbearing, he never snapped out except in the rarest of cases, his demeanor demanded respect, whether you liked him or not.
And now... he had to go?
Elec growled to himself, or at least tried to find some energy deep within that wasn't completely frozen up in shock to do so.
Because Fire stood there in a sullen silence, unwilling, but passively taking the process. Though he wasn't fully 'conscious' through the whole procedure, standing with his circuits exposed and wires clipped together and spread out, fluids drained and blocked from the open panel on his back and collar and head, Elec could see it in his dead eyes.
Why me? Why are they doing this to me?
I don't know. Elec thought back. Did /they/ say anything? Don't you know what's going on?
I don't know. Fire echoed, burning eyes dim and glazed. I don't know.
And all Elec could do was stand there and do nothing.