After showing Cryptor to his room, Cyrus went to work. When the day was done, Cyrus stopped by the room to check on Cryptor. He did not manage to get a word from Cryptor before he left to head home for the night. It hurt to be ignored by Cryptor, but he expected as much. What he had done was unforgivable.
The next morning, Cyrus returned to the tower. Right away he went to check on Cryptor. To the inventor's surprise, Cryptor sat in the chair, slouching lazily and was unresponsive. Alarmed, Cyrus rushed to his creation's side. He could see that Cryptor did not have his charger connected. Panicking, Cyrus retrieved Cryptor's charger and frantically connected it to him. The inventor looked at Cryptor with furrowed brows and teary eyes.
"Cryptor, why didn't you charge yourself?" Cyrus asked, hoping to get an answer. Cryptor didn't resist the inventor's efforts to charge him; partly from being so low on battery moving took a lot more effort than needed. The question directed at the Nindroid only received a quick, lazy, glare. Much like last night, he refused to speak to Cyrus. The only reason he didn't charge himself was simply because he didn't want to.
"I'm sorry that you're unhappy, but please don't do this to yourself." Cyrus whimpered. He had a feeling that Cryptor would be having another suicidal phase. "Please..." Cryptor just let out a quiet grumble in response, his gaze having averted down to the ground away from Cyrus. It was highly likely that he would not consent to charging himself on his own for a while. Cyrus sighed, wiping away his tears before they could fall. He hated seeing Cryptor so upset. If only he had never shut him off in the first place. He should have tried harder to reason with the protesters. He was a failure.
"I'm sorry, Cryptor." Cyrus apologized, looking away. "I'm sorry about everything I've ever messed up... You deserve better and I'm going to try my hardest to get your life back on track." Cryptor let out a huff of annoyance as he listened to Cyrus, trying to block out the inventor's voice. Not getting a response from Cryptor, Cyrus left to see what work he would have to do. He knew that he would probably have to keep an eye on Cryptor today. When he returned, he was greeted with the same sight as before. Cryptor had unplugged himself.
Cyrus ended up having to stay by Cryptor's side for several days. Having to stay by Cryptor whenever it was time to charge, Cyrus got little work done. The inventor got little sleep due to Cryptor unplugging himself whenever he passed out.
The lack of sleep took its toll on Cyrus. Dark circles had formed around his eyes and he began to get confused easy. His body ached and he had become more emotional than before.
About three days after powering Cryptor on, Cyrus sat in Cryptor's room, staring down at his lap. The inventor mumbled nonsense to himself at a low volume. His eyes drooped and he suddenly passed out for the fourth time that day. Cryptor was annoyed a bit that Cyrus wouldn't leave him alone, why he wouldn't just let him power off. As the days went on, Cryptor watched Cyrus' condition worsen with the occasional glance he sent to him. Cyrus had been passing out a lot lately and Cryptor knew he had been getting little sleep. Seeing Cyrus pass out for the fourth time that day, Cryptor's light began to flash with his concern, and for once he decided to keep himself plugged in while the inventor was unconscious. Not long after falling unconscious, Cyrus' jerked up again. He looked over at Cryptor to make sure he was fine. Seeing that he had not unplugged himself, Cyrus slouched in his chair again, passing out once more.
The sleepless nights continued until Cyrus was certain that Cryptor would plug himself in and charge willingly. Even then, P.I.X.A.L. had to urge Cyrus to go home and sleep. With the inventor getting regular sleep, his mental and physical health got better. Although Cryptor had finally consented to charging himself, he still refused to speak to Cyrus. For several weeks Cryptor locked himself in the new room, refusing to leave or ever acknowledge that someone entered. As the days passed, Cryptor began to grow bored in the room, but never searched for something to do. Finally having grown so bored he couldn't stand it anymore, when Cyrus entered that day Cryptor finally spoke to him.
"You still have the sparing room?" It was a huge surprise to Cyrus when Cryptor spoke. He smiled a little, though he knew that the speaking did not mean he was forgiven. Steering his chair into the room and out of the doorway, Cyrus sighed. Cryptor would probably not like the news.
"I'm sorry, but we don't." Cyrus answered, shrugging his shoulders. "Since you were... it's been repurposed for testing prototypes." Cryptor frowned with a nod.
"Figured you wouldn't have it anymore."
"I'm sorry." Cyrus apologized. "You are welcome to check out the prototype room if you're curious. Maybe you could try a few out." Cryptor shifted a quizzical look up at Cyrus.
"Something to do would be nice."
"Well, then come with me." Cyrus said with a smile as he turned his chair around. The inventor then led Cryptor out to the elevator, taking them to the floor the sparing room had once been on. The large metal door was still present, but the inside had many stations set up for testing. Employees were at work at the stations, beta testing each new prototype and recording their data. Cyrus led Cryptor in and over to a specific station. At said station stood a familiar man. The inventor smiled as he tapped the man's back.
"Hello, Jackson." Cyrus said.
"Hey, Mister Borg." Jackson said without turning around. "You here to check on me?"
"No, but I brought an old friend." Cyrus snickered, looking up at Cryptor. Cyrus had kept a pretty tight lip about activating Cryptor again, so only a few knew. Jackson was not one of them, mostly because he had been on leave when Cryptor had been activated.
"Old friend?" Jackson questioned, turning his head to look back. He was completely shocked to see Cryptor. Surprised by the sight, Jackson set his clipboard down and turned to face the two. "Cryptor, it that really you?" Even with the name being mentioned, it took Cryptor a while to figure out who it was he was looking at. The shocked tone and familiarity the man had toward Cryptor confused at first before he figured out it was his old friend Jackson.
"You cut your hair." He observed. Jackson laughed and nodded.
"That I did." He replied, grinning from ear to ear. "It's great seeing you again. I really missed having you around... Are... are you here to stay?" Cryptor frowned at the question, looking down at the ground. He didn't know the answer, and right now he wasn't sure he wanted to continue to operate; he still wanted to be shut back down and stay that way for the time being. Cyrus frowned when Cryptor looked down. He knew that Cryptor was still upset. Who could blame him though? Losing a year in a blink of an eye wasn't easy. Not to mention everything that transpired before being shut down. It was all still fresh to him while everyone else seemed to have moved on.
"Uh... He will hopefully be staying for good." Cyrus answered with a faux smile. "I've decided to try to help him get his life on track again."
"Well, it's good having you back." Jackson said. "I should get back to work, don't want to fall behind."
"Jackson, could Cryptor join you?" Cyrus asked. "He's been bored and I think your company might do him some good."
"Well, sure. If he wants to help, I could show him what to do." Jackson stated with a nod. "Do you want to help me beta test?" Cryptor stared flatly. He wasn't all that enthusiastic about the new task, but doing something was better than nothing.
"I guess." He eventually grunted an answer to Jackson.
"Well, I'll leave you two in peace then." Cyrus said. With that, Cyrus turned to leave, giving Cryptor's back a pat before he left. Jackson smiled and waved for Cryptor to join him at his station.
"I'm testing some of Borg's newest prototypes." He explained, picking up a pair of gloves off of the table. "These are shock gloves for self-defense. I'm just about done going over their designs. Haven't found any major flaws other than how long they stay charged. At the moment, they're good for about one zap each, but that will get fixed fairly soon." Cryptor walked over to Jackson, taking one of the gloves to look at it closer. Rotating it in his hands, Cryptor looked fully interested in the object.
"How does it work?" He inquired. Jackson held the other glove and pointed at the mechanisms in the glove.
"This is part on the palm it what makes it work." He explained. "It's like what makes a taser work. See the parts on the knuckles are what shock. When you ball your hand into a right fist, it activates. Basically it for packing more power to your punches." Cryptor nodded; taking the glove he had in his hand and slipping it on and analyzing it on his hand. Finally he took the hand and triggered it, watching a short stream of sparks before he released his fist.
"It looks like it fits you rather nicely." Jackson observed. "I'd let you test it on that dummy out if it weren't already dead." Cryptor looked at the glove still on his hand before glancing over at the dummy and pacing over to it. Attention now completely at the dummy, he analyzed it, his gloved hand unconsciously curling into a fist from memories and triggering the electrical current and practically zapped himself. Quickly recoiling from the unexpected zap, Cryptor looked at it in confusion.
"I thought you said it only works once."
"I... it does." Jackson said, approaching Cryptor and taking a look at the glove. "Maybe it just had a little more juice... if so, you might want to take it off." Cryptor frowned, taking off the glove as he was instructed to, holding cautiously as he examined it.
"I'll have to take a closer look at them." Jackson said as he took the glove from Cryptor. Jackson then put on both gloves and made two tight fists. Examining them, Jackson stepped closer to the dummy. Without them working, he socked the dummy with one first then the other. Neither seemed to have any shock left.
"That's odd." He mumbled, pulling the gloves off. Then he set the gloves down next to his clipboard. "They probably have some bugs to work out." Cryptor walked over to the gloves once Jackson sat them down and picking them back up. Slipping them back on he pulled his hands into fists, watching the gloves let out a steady stream of electricity.
"Are you sure you're using them right?" Cryptor asked, shifting his gaze from the crackling gloves to look at Jackson.
"I'm pretty sure I know how to ball a fist." Jackson said, looking over at Cryptor. Curiously, the employee examined the electric gloves. It was odd that they worked for Cryptor. "I don't know what's going on here..." Cryptor frowned, finally uncurling his fists to analyze the gloves himself. After he had released the tight squeeze of his hands, Cryptor's movements had noticeably slowed down, although not enough for him to take notice of it himself.
"I'm not sure why they're working fine for me and not you." Cryptor mumbled, slowly taking the gloves off his hands. Seeing Cryptor's slowed motions, Jackson gave a suspicious look. He took the gloves from Cryptor and examined them.
"Cryptor, I think the gloves are leaching you're power." Jackson said with a brow quirked. Cryptor looked at Jackson in confusion, then realizing how slow his movements felt. Thinking about it, it made sense that is why they only worked when he wore them. Jackson couldn't supply energy to the accessory where as he could. Frowning, Cryptor looked at the gloves Jackson now held before turning around and heading for the door.
"Sometimes I hate being a robot." Cryptor grumbled as he stormed away. He needed to go charge unless he wanted to power off before he got back to his room.
"I'm sorry." Jackson called as he watched Cryptor walk away, not knowing what to say. He needed to record that the gloves leached power.